Eclipse (33 page)

"Are you all right?" Edward whispered when he helped me from the front seat in the school parking lot.

"Nervous," I answered, and it wasn't even a lie.

"You are so beautiful," he said.

He looked like he wanted to say more, but Charlie, in an obvious maneuver that he meant to be subtle, shrugged in between us and put his arm around my shoulders.

"Are you excited?" he asked me.

"Not really," I admitted.

"Bella, this is a big deal. You're graduating from high school. It's the real world for you now. College. Living on your own. . . . You're not my little girl anymore." Charlie choked up a bit at the end.

"Dad," I moaned. "Please don't get all weepy on me."

"Who's weepy?" he growled. "Now, why aren't you excited?"

"I don't know, Dad. I guess it hasn't hit yet or something."

"It's good that Alice is throwing this party. You need something to perk you up."

"Sure. A party's exactly what I need."

Charlie laughed at my tone and squeezed my shoulders. Edward looked at the clouds, his face thoughtful.

My father had to leave us at the back door of the gym and go around to the main entrance with the rest of the parents.

It was pandemonium as Ms. Cope from the front office and Mr. Varner the math teacher tried to line everyone up alphabetically.

"Up front, Mr. Cullen," Mr. Varner barked at Edward.

"Hey, Bella!"

I looked up to see Jessica Stanley waving at me from the back of the line with a smile on her face.

Edward kissed me quickly, sighed, and went to go stand with the C's. Alice wasn't there. What was she going to do? Skip graduation? What poor timing on my part. I should have waited to figure things out until after this was over with.

"Down here, Bella!" Jessica called again.

I walked down the line to take my place behind Jessica, mildly curious as to why she was suddenly so friendly. As I got closer, I saw Angela five people back, watching Jessica with the same curiosity.

Jess was babbling before I was in earshot.

". . . so amazing. I mean, it seems like we just met, and now we're graduating together," she gushed. "Can you believe it's over? I feel like screaming!"

"So do I," I muttered.

"This is all just so incredible. Do you remember your first day here? We were friends, like, right away. From the first time we saw each other. Amazing. And now I'm off to California and you'll be in Alaska and I'm going to miss you so much! You have to promise that we'll get together sometimes! I'm so glad you're having a party. That's perfect. Because we really haven't spent much time together in a while and now we're all leaving. . . ." She droned on and on, and I was sure the sudden return of our friendship was due to graduation nostalgia and gratitude for the party invite, not that I'd had anything to do with that. I paid attention as well as I could while I shrugged into my robe. And I found that I was glad that things could end on a good note with Jessica.

Because it was an ending, no matter what Eric, the valedictorian, had to say about commencement meaning "beginning" and all the rest of the trite nonsense. Maybe more for me than for the rest, but we were all leaving something behind us today. It went so quickly. I felt like I'd hit the fast forward button. Were we supposed to march quite that fast? And then Eric was speed talking in his nervousness, the words and phrases running together so they didn't make sense anymore. Principal Greene started calling names, one after the other without a long enough pause between; the front row in the gymnasium was rushing to catch up. Poor Ms. Cope was all thumbs as she tried to give the principal the right diploma to hand to the right student.

I watched as Alice, suddenly appearing, danced across the stage to take hers, a look of deep concentration on her face. Edward followed behind, his expression confused, but not upset. Only the two of them could carry off the hideous yellow and still look the way they did. They stood out from the rest of the crowd, their beauty and grace otherworldly. I wondered how I'd ever fallen for their human farce. A couple of angels, standing there with wings intact, would be less conspicuous.

I heard Mr. Greene call my name and I rose from my chair, waiting for the line in front of me to move. I was conscious of cheering in the back of the gym, and I looked around to see Jacob pulling Charlie to his feet, both of them hooting in encouragement. I could just make out the top of Billy's head beside Jake's elbow. I managed to throw them an approximation of a smile.

Mr. Greene finished with the list of names, and then continued to hand out diplomas with a sheepish grin as we filed past.

"Congratulations, Miss Stanley," he mumbled as Jess took hers.

"Congratulations, Miss Swan," he mumbled to me, pressing the diploma into my good hand.

"Thanks," I murmured.

And that was it.

I went to stand next to Jessica with the assembled graduates. Jess was all red around the eyes, and she kept blotting her face with the sleeve of her robe. It took me a second to understand that she was crying.

Mr. Greene said something I didn't hear, and everyone around me shouted and screamed. Yellow hats rained down. I pulled mine off, too late, and just let it fall to the ground.

"Oh, Bella!" Jess blubbered over the sudden roar of conversation. "I can't believe we're done."

"I can't believe it's all over," I mumbled.

She threw her arms around my neck. "You have to promise we won't lose touch." I hugged her back, feeling a little awkward as I dodged her request. "I'm so glad I know you, Jessica. It was a good two years."

"It was," she sighed, and sniffed. Then she dropped her arms. "Lauren!" she squealed, waving over her head and pushing through the massed yellow gowns. Families were beginning to converge, pressing us tighter together.

I caught sight of Angela and Ben, but they were surrounded by their families. I would congratulate them later.

I craned my head, looking for Alice.

"Congratulations," Edward whispered in my ear, his arms winding around my waist. His voice was subdued; he'd been in no hurry for me to reach this particular milestone.

"Um, thanks."

"You don't look like you're over the nerves yet," he noted.

"Not quite yet."

"What's left to worry about? The party? It won't be that horrible."

"You're probably right."

"Who are you looking for?"

My searching wasn't quite as subtle as I'd thought. "Alice - where is she?"

"She ran out as soon as she had her diploma."

His voice took on a new tone. I looked up to see his confused expression as he stared toward the back door of the gym, and I made an impulse decision - the kind I really should think twice about, but rarely did.

"Worrying about Alice?" I asked.

"Er . . ." He didn't want to answer that.

"What was she thinking about, anyway? To keep you out, I mean." His eyes flashed down to my face, and narrowed in suspicion. "She was translating the Battle Hymn of the Republic into Arabic, actually. When she finished that, she moved on to Korean sign language."

I laughed nervously. "I suppose that
would
keep her head busy enough."

"You know what she's hiding from me," he accused.

"Sure." I smiled a weak smile. "I'm the one who came up with it." He waited, confused.

I looked around. Charlie would be on his way through the crowd now.

"Knowing Alice," I whispered in a rush, "she'll probably try to keep this from you until after the party. But since I'm all for the party being canceled - well, don't go berserk, regardless, okay? It's always better to know as much as possible. It has to help somehow."

"What are you talking about?"

I saw Charlie's head bob up over the other heads as he searched for me. He spotted me and waved.

"Just stay calm, okay?"

He nodded once, his mouth a grim line.

In hurried whispers I explained my reasoning to him. "I think you're wrong about things coming at us from all sides. I think it's mostly coming at us from one side . . . and I think it's coming at me, really. It's all connected, it has to be. It's just one person who's messing with Alice's visions. The stranger in my room was a test, to see if someone could get around her. It's got to be the same one who keeps changing his mind, and the newborns, and stealing my clothes - all of it goes together. My scent is for them."

His face had turned so white that I had a hard time finishing.

"But no one's coming for you, don't you see? This is good - Esme and Alice and Carlisle, no one wants to hurt them!"

His eyes were huge, wide with panic, dazed and horrified. He could see that I was right, just as Alice had.

I put my hand on his cheek. "Calm," I pleaded.

"Bella!" Charlie crowed, pushing his way past the close-packed families around us.

"Congratulations, baby!" He was still yelling, even though he was right at my ear now. He wrapped his arms around me, ever so slyly shuffling Edward off to the side as he did so.

"Thanks," I muttered, preoccupied by the expression on Edward's face. He still hadn't gained control. His hands were halfway extended toward me, like he was about to grab me and make a run for it. Only slightly more in control of myself than he was, running didn't seem like such a terrible idea to me.

"Jacob and Billy had to take off - did you see that they were here?" Charlie asked, taking a step back, but keeping his hands on my shoulders. He had his back to Edward - probably an effort to exclude him, but that was fine at the moment. Edward's mouth was hanging open, his eyes still wide with dread.

"Yeah," I assured my father, trying to pay enough attention. "Heard them, too."

"It was nice of them to show up," Charlie said.

"Mm-hmm."

Okay, so telling Edward had been a really bad idea. Alice was right to keep her thoughts clouded. I should have waited till we were alone somewhere, maybe with the rest of his family. And nothing breakable close by - like windows . . . cars . . . school buildings. His face brought back all my fear and then some. Though his expression was past the fear now - it was pure fury that was suddenly plain on his features.

"So where do you want to go out for dinner?" Charlie asked. "The sky's the limit."

"I can cook."

"Don't be silly. Do you want to go to the Lodge?" he asked with an eager smile. I did not particularly enjoy Charlie's favorite restaurant, but, at this point, what was the difference? I wasn't going to be able to eat anyway.

"Sure, the Lodge, cool," I said.

Charlie smiled wider, and then sighed. He turned his head halfway toward Edward, without really looking at him.

"You coming, too, Edward?"

I stared at him, my eyes beseeching. Edward pulled his expression together just before Charlie turned to see why he hadn't gotten an answer.

"No, thank you," Edward said stiffly, his face hard and cold.

"Do you have plans with your parents?" Charlie asked, a frown in his voice. Edward was always more polite than Charlie deserved; the sudden hostility surprised him.

"Yes. If you'll excuse me. . . ." Edward turned abruptly and stalked away through the dwindling crowd. He moved just a little bit too fast, too upset to keep up his usually perfect charade.

"What did I say?" Charlie asked with a guilty expression.

"Don't worry about it, Dad," I reassured him. "I don't think it's you."

"Are you two fighting again?"

"Nobody's fighting. Mind your own business."

"You
are
my business."

I rolled my eyes. "Let's go eat."

The Lodge was crowded. The place was, in my opinion, overpriced and tacky, but it was the only thing close to a formal restaurant in town, so it was always popular for events. I stared morosely at a depressed-looking stuffed elk head while Charlie ate prime rib and talked over the back of the seat to Tyler Crowley's parents. It was noisy - everyone there had just come from graduation, and most were chatting across the aisles and over the booth-tops like Charlie.

I had my back to the front windows, and I resisted the urge to turn around and search for the eyes I could feel on me now. I knew I wouldn't be able to see anything. Just as I knew there was no chance that he would leave me unguarded, even for a second. Not after this. Dinner dragged. Charlie, busy socializing, ate too slowly. I picked at my burger, stuffing pieces of it into my napkin when I was sure his attention was somewhere else. It all seemed to take a very long time, but when I looked at the clock - which I did more often than necessary - the hands hadn't moved much.

Finally Charlie got his change back and put a tip on the table. I stood up.

"In a hurry?" he asked me.

"I want to help Alice set things up," I claimed.

"Okay." He turned away from me to say goodnight to everyone. I went out to wait by the cruiser.

I leaned against the passenger door, waiting for Charlie to drag himself away from the impromptu party. It was almost dark in the parking lot, the clouds so thick that there was no telling if the sun had set or not. The air felt heavy, like it was about to rain. Something moved in the shadows.

My gasp turned into a sigh of relief as Edward appeared out of the gloom. Without a word, he pulled me tightly against his chest. One cool hand found my chin, and pulled my face up so that he could press his hard lips to mine. I could feel the tension in his jaw.

"How are you?" I asked as soon as he let me breathe.

"Not so great," he murmured. "But I've got a handle on myself. I'm sorry that I lost it back there."

"My fault. I should have waited to tell you."

"No," he disagreed. "This is something I needed to know. I can't believe I didn't see it!"

"You've got a lot on your mind."

"And you don't?"

He suddenly kissed me again, not letting me answer. He pulled away after just a second.

"Charlie's on his way."

"I'll have him drop me at your house."

"I'll follow you there."

"That's not really necessary," I tried to say, but he was already gone.

"Bella?" Charlie called from the doorway of the restaurant, squinting into the darkness.