The second semester of the gang's senior year was already in full-swing by the third week of January. Bella knew that Katie had had a wonderful time in Denali with Tanya—who had thankfully decided to stay for their second (and last) semester of Olympic National and Tillicum Park Prep—and never tired of showing Bella pictures of them in the Denali National Forest, as well as with Tanya's family—among other things, of course.

"I even took some time to apply for this really good-sounding school," Katie said one afternoon as she and Bella walked to their physics class.

"What school?" Bella asked.

"University of Alaska in Anchorage," she replied.

Bella smiled. "How does Tanya feel about it?"

"Well, she is thinking of relocating back to Alaska..."

"And did you get in?"

Katie grinned at Bella. "Yes," she said as they headed into their physics classroom and sat at their high lab table together.

Mr. Pickford was the physics teacher. He had wispy silver hair like Einstein which stuck out in different directions. His clothes looked like they were from the bad era of the 1960's, and his ties were always checkered and ugly. He also looked like he needed to get laid big-time, according to James.

There was a quote written up on the whiteboard in blue pen, and the students were supposed to guess who wrote and/or said it. They were also required to write it down in sort of a mini-composition book. James came in late in his Victoria form, and wedged himself in between Bella and Katie before taking out his quote book and a pen.

"Mike keep you?" Bella whispered.

A flush appeared on his face. "Sure did," James whispered.

The quote hastily written in blue pen on the whiteboard said that morning: "Reflections of this type made it clear to me as long ago as shortly after 1900, i.e., shortly after Planck's trailblazing work, that neither mechanics nor electrodynamics could (except in limiting cases) claim exact validity. Gradually I despaired of the possibility of discovering the true laws by means of constructive efforts based on known facts. The longer and the more desperately I tried, the more I came to the conviction that only the discovery of a universal formal principle could lead us to assured results... How, then, could such a universal principle be found?"

"What does this even mean?" asked James, trying his best to sound feminine in his whine. It was even more amusing because he'd decided that Victoria had been in English boarding schools since the age of six, and therefore was required by law to speak with an accent. "I spent the last twenty bloody minutes snogging my boyfriend!" she cried in an overdramatic voice to Bella and Katie. "How am I supposed to know who said this?!"

Bella smirked, trying her best not to laugh at him. She was already on the second sentence of the quote. She believed that it was just cause for this quote to be found riddled with run-on sentences. "I lost my virginity to your boyfriend," Bella reminded James. "Trust me, his 'snogging' isn't brilliant. Edward, on the other hand..." She felt herself grinning and biting her lips in an effort to remember said 'snogging'. "...way better, girlfriend."

Katie moved uncomfortably in her seat. "I'm surprised Mr. Pickford hasn't come over here yet," she said quietly.

"Please, honey," James said. "I have him wrapped around my little finger," he said proudly.

"What do you mean?" Katie asked, although Bella was afraid to ask for a deeper understanding to the potentially raunchy question.

James grinned. "That man taught me a thing or two..."

"A thing or two?" asked Bella.

"Everything I know," said James, winking at him.

Bella looked at Mr. Pickford and then at James. "Seriously?!" she demanded in disgust, shaking her head.

"Him?!" asked Katie. "I mean...his hair...!" she cried. "Almost as bad as that thing Donald Trump!"

"And those ears," groaned Bella, shivering, a disgusted expression on her face. "Have you seen the wax build-up in those things?!" she cried, waving her hands in a finicky manner.

James grinned. "I'm beating you in quote writing," he said. "We can talk about this later...if you like."

"I don't like," said Katie and Bella together.

~*~

Bella and Katie decided to go for a pleasant horseback ride together later that afternoon. Bella, of course, rode Ruby Silk while Katie was doing very well with Amber Ayorthia—apparently Coach Clapp had a thing for the novel, Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine. The pair of them decided to meet up with Edward and Tanya for a double date—something they hadn't done before; it was also something they believed would be fun.

They met their significant others on the beach and decided on two races—one between Bella and Katie and Edward and Tanya, and the second between couples. Katie and Bella won the first, while Katie and Tanya won the second. Then sunset came—after a period of the respective couples disappearing into the trees for some heavy petting in the growing darkness—and they had to return to school.

"Have you two...?" asked Bella as they rode back to the stables.

Katie rolled her eyes. "She was in her element in Denali."

Bella blinked. "Oh, no, I didn't mean that," she said quickly.

Katie raised her eyebrows. "What did you mean, then?" she asked.

"Well...I was talking about...you know, love," Bella said.

It was now Katie's turn to blink. "Love?" she asked.

Bella nodded. "Do you love her? Does she love you?"

Katie smiled. "Well, I don't know..."

"Do you?" asked Bella, pushing Ruby Silk ahead and blocking Katie's path, thus making her unable to continue. "Tell me."

She sighed. "This isn't an easy—"

Bella reached out in the dimming light and grabbed a bit at Katie's reigns, nearly pulling her to a complete stop. "Just say it," she said.

"I do, okay?!" she said.

"Love her?" Bella asked.

Katie nodded as the sun fell into the horizon completely, leaving them alone in the darkening forest. "I love Tanya FitzGerald!" she cried, managing to break away from Bella's hold on her and gallop into the darkness.

Bella stared after her. "FitzGerald, huh?" she asked herself.

~*~

When Katie didn't speak to Bella—or walk with her to physics the following day—Bella believed she may have pushed her a bit too far. She decided to write a poem for her on a sheet of notebook paper and hope for the best. She wrote it out when she was supposed to be having a study date with Edward, who was giving her a back rub and massaging her with not only his hands.

"At least let me read it," Edward begged.

Bella smiled and leaned in to kiss him. "When I'm done," she said.

Edward rolled his eyes, but sat back to wait. "Waiting," he replied.

"Don't stop rubbing..."

A few minutes later, Bella handed it over to him and waited.

"Predict it so, predict it not, just go with the flow, when the going gets hot. I know in your heart, that you'll forgive me, make a fresh start, and set our argument free. Just think about it, don't run away, don't throw a fit, and just listen to what I have to say. Predict it so, predict it not, just go with the flow, when the going gets hot."

"Well?" Bella asked.

Edward smiled. "It's really wonderful."

Bella smiled. "And your prize is..." She leaned in and whispered something too dirty to even write down.

"When?" asked Edward eagerly.

Bella smiled. "Summer break," she said.

"When?" he asked.

Bella grinned and kissed him. "Whenever you want it," she whispered.

~*~

Bella found Katie alone in their dorm room just ending a Skype session with none other than Tanya. Bella sat on her bed and mutely waved to her, antagonizing Katie when she received a verbal hello in return. Bella removed her shoes and took a look at her physics notes, and decided to present Katie with the forgive me poem before questioning her about Mr. Pickford's lecture earlier that afternoon.

Katie signed off the Skype session after blowing a kiss to Tanya. She completed this action by swiveling around dramatically to Bella and narrowing her eyes all at once, crossing her arms in a frustrated manner. "May I help you?" she asked.

Bella smiled. "Wrote you something," she replied.

Katie blinked her sea green eyes in confusion. "Why would you do something like that?"

Bella felt her smile quickly forming into a grin. "Because I wanted to," she said simply, crossing the room and promptly handing Katie the paper. "And I thought that I stepped over the line last night..."

Katie read the poem and smiled. "I'm sorry," she said. "I...I just told Tanya and let's just say that she was going to offer me something else before you arrived and...accidentally ruined the moment..."

Bella rolled her eyes. "Like what?" she asked.

Katie shrugged. "I'm sure we'll all know soon enough..."

"Can I just have a hint?" Bella begged.

Katie smiled and wiggled her fingers. "You'll see," she said.

~*~

Bella met up with Alice, Angela, and Jessica for a tour of the new museum on campus. It featured dinosaur bones, rocks and minerals, a history of Europe, and many other things that teenagers could conceivably be interested in at any age, for educational purposes, of course. All four girls agreed that the Europe bit was the best part.

"What's happening with Katie?" asked Jessica.

Bella shrugged. "I don't know."

"What do you mean?" Angela asked.

"She wouldn't tell me," Bella said.

"I wonder why," said Alice.

Bella smiled at them. "Maybe she wanted to be completely sure of the situation before she said anything. Although she did hint at it..."

"Tell us!" the girls all cried.

Bella shook her head. She walked into the art section of the museum and stared at a painting by Van Gogh called At Eternity's Gate. "No wonder all these artists committed suicide," she said, shaking her head.

"Why?" asked Angela, who was looking at The Starry Night. "This one doesn't look very depressing."

Bella sighed. "I'm sure the stars had a different meaning."

"What do you mean?" Alice wanted to know.

"Well, stars die, so he probably thought that this painting signified that even beautiful things only have a matter of time..."

"Astute," said Jessica.

"You probably learned that in 101 in first year," said Angela.

"Funny," said Bella, shaking her head at the both of them. "Take this one... Wheat Field with a Lark," she said, gesturing to it. "The bird clearly represents freedom in a world where he couldn't have it."

Alice blinked. "How do you come up with this?" she asked.

Bella shrugged. "Hey, I'm a writer. I have to create somewhere."

~*~

Bella met up with Katie in physics the following week—the last week of January, marking just over five months of their time at Olympic National left to complete. She and Tanya had spent the night in the barn together, so Bella was surprised to see her. Katie explained that she'd given James twenty bucks to ditch physics so as she could have a conversation with Bella. She made sure that Pickford was out of earshot before she began.

"So...she got all serious and stuff..."

Bella nodded. "Know what that feels like..."

Katie smiled. "And then she got this sad look in her eyes..."

"She didn't break up with you, did she?!" Bella demanded.

Katie shook her head. "No. We're very much together."

"Then, what...?" asked Bella.

Katie smiled a second time and raised her left hand. "This is what," she said softly, revealing a sparkling almost two-carat engagement ring. "It's been in her family for generations," Katie went on with a grin.

"You're...?"

"Engaged," Katie said, quickly hiding her hand. "You're the first one to know about it officially."

Bella smiled and put her arms around Katie. "I'm so happy for you," she whispered.

"My prediction is that you're next," Katie said.

Bella blinked as she pulled away. "Can you hold that thought?" she asked, feeling her face drain of color.

"What? Why?" asked Katie.

"I don't know," Bella said. "But I think I'm going to be sick," she said as she quickly ran out of there.