Bella honestly thought that the group/friend therapy had worked. James was learning to keep his mouth shut a bit more; Bella was learning not to have a panic attack every time someone mentioned Geoffrey; Lauren was learning to curb her desire to be more than friends with Bella; Angela and Jessica were learning to play their princess game when Bella wasn't around; Alice was learning to date boys her own age; and Katie was learning the art of seducing an older woman so as they could actually get inside Tillicum Park Prep.

Bella was constantly waiting for Edward to contact her. It had only been three days, but her hands would sweat whenever she would think about him. Her stomach would also do flip flops, and she felt like she was having a heart attack whenever she pictured his perfect face and rather sculpted ass. She didn't realize that she was still thinking about him during Mrs. Goff's class, when her teacher asked her a very important question.

"Bella, what are the main applications of modern biotechnology?" she asked. It became apparent to Bella that—since mid-winter break was just around the corner—they were reviewing for a quiz.

Bella stammered. They were halfway through the lesson, and her pencil was gripped tightly in her hand. The only thing written on her paper in front of her was, rather pathetically, Edward Cullen, over and over again. She nibbled at her bottom lip, when a rather interesting thing happened. Lauren passed her notes across the desk towards Bella—thankfully unseen by Mrs. Goff. Lauren subtly pointed with her pencil to the exact answer to the question that Mrs. Goff was asking.

"The answer is microbes, plants, animals, and humans," Bella said quietly, hoping to god that Lauren hadn't led her astray.

"That's right," said Mrs. Goff. "Now, Lauren, could you please tell me what microbes do for biotechnology?"

"They stop pollution from entering your body," Lauren replied. "In a basic sense, they clean up your body."

"Very good," said Mrs. Goff. "You two have obviously done your essay, which is due today."

Thankfully, Bella had only been spacing out for the past half hour. She opened her binder and found her typed, three-page essay. As they handed their work up front—Lauren's four-page essay going on top of Bella's—Bella peeked over at Lauren and mouthed, "Thanks".

Lauren nodded at Bella. "Can I ask something?" she asked.

Bella nodded. "Yes, of course," she replied.

Lauren sighed. "I...I was wondering if..."

"What?" asked Bella.

"Can I be in one of your stories?" she asked.

"Oh," said Bella. She opened a notebook—it was a pink composition notebook, with the bedazzled word 'Paris' on it, with an Eiffel tower under it. Bella opened it to the first page, where the words, The Olympic National Diaries were placed center stage. "You're on chapter two," she told Lauren.

Lauren grinned. "Thank you," she said.

"You're welcome," Bella replied.

"Can I ask something else?" asked Lauren.

Bella nodded, returning the book back into her backpack, hitching it over her shoulder. "Yes, you may," she said quietly.

"Why does it say 'Paris'?" asked Lauren.

Bella shrugged. "I don't know. I guess because I've always wanted to go there. I want a little adventure."

Lauren grinned. "I think you're about to have one," she said.

Bella put an arm around her and put her head on Lauren's shoulder. "Every day, my friendship with you and everyone else, is an adventure."

~*~

Bella went to the library to study and check her email. The email was pretty restricted at the library at Olympic National. While you were allowed an infinite amount of study time—provided that you didn't skip class (if you were on a deadline, on weekends, you could reserve a computer and work late)—the rules stipulated that you could not be on your email for more than forty-five minutes.

Emails were for communicating with your family, for summer jobs or internships, or for college counselor communication purposes.

She logged on and went to her Hotmail account. There was an email from her father about the latest scores of the Seahawks game. She would check that email on her phone. Since she was a junior, she'd already applied to various universities—but for fun purposes, considering Geoffrey, of course. It was very surprising to see that she'd already heard back from nearly every university she'd applied to.

She had this feeling that they'd figured out her past and had essentially said via email, Thanks, but no thanks. She noticed the first one was from the University of Notre Dame, as well as UCLA, the University of Washington, Oxford University, Dartmouth, NYU, the University of Oregon... The list went on, and—as she clicked and clicked at every email—she saw congratulations after congratulations. It truly shocked her, so she forwarded them to her mother and father.

She quickly typed several essay rough drafts for her classes; did some necessary research on the colleges she got into; and logged off. She went upstairs to her dorm room where Angela and Jessica were playing their princess game with James. When Bella walked in, they gasped and pretended to be doing something else. Bella told them to carry on. Katie was studying for a chemistry quiz, and Alice was plugged into her iPod and reading some vapid-looking teen magazine called Sweet 16. She went to her bed and put her head on her pillow and her hands behind her head, letting out a contented sigh. She then lifted her legs and began kicking the air and laughing.

Meanwhile, everyone in the room seemed to hear her and they turned to see why she was making a nuisance and a spectacle of herself. They immediately demanded to know what was going on. Of course, Bella kept laughing and laughing and refused to tell them anything until Lauren got there. When Lauren arrived, they all jumped on her bed and demanded an answer.

Bella wordlessly handed her phone over to Alice, who read out all the early acceptances she'd gotten from all of the aforementioned universities. "Are these all the ones you applied for?" she asked.

Bella shook her head. "No, there's probably a dozen more, I think."

"Where else did you apply?" asked Angela.

"Harvard, Yale, Princeton..." Bella said, counting on her fingers in a methodic manner, her forehead puckering as she considered for a moment. "Cambridge, Exeter, Eaton..." She shrugged and finally shook her head. "I don't know, too many to count, really. You were saying, Alice?"

"Well, they've all accepted her—the ones that are here, anyway—with full scholarships," Alice said proudly. "Well done you!" she cried, throwing herself forward with a victorious hug for Bella.

Bella felt like she was flying. "I've got to text Edward," she said gleefully, pulling out her phone from her mattress.

"Who's that?" asked Angela.

"Is he some vampire?" demanded Jessica.

"That would be funny," said Katie, giggling, "considering that her name is Bella."

"It's some guy whose name she was writing all over what should've been her biotech notes. It was a good thing Mrs. Goff didn't see them," reported Lauren, smirking.

"Thanks a lot, Lauren," Bella said under her breath.

"No, it's the junior class president at Tillicum Park Prep," James said quietly.

Bella shot him an amused look as she texted Edward. All she said was she'd been accepted into a few colleges.

"Why did you put it that way?" Alice wanted to know, peering at her phone.

"Yeah," Angela agreed. "I mean, it's more than a few..."

Bella shrugged it off. "I don't know. I guess because I don't want to sound stuck up or anything like that..."

Everyone nodded as if they understood.

Bella put down her phone, and noticed that they were all staring at her. "So...?"

"So where do you want to go?" everyone demanded.

A sudden buzz from Bella's phone cut off the question. She promptly picked up her phone and peeked at it. "Oh, it's an email from my dad," she said. She touched the screen in order to access her email. Her face soon fell.

"Well?" asked Angela.

"What does it say?" Alice asked.

Bella's eyes filled with tears. "It says, 'I guess having that baby didn't completely ruin your life'..."

~*~

It had been a difficult thing to handle—that email from her dad. She had logged out of her email for three days, in order not to see it. She attended her classes in a daze, until finally Alice snapped her out of it. She came up to Bella's bed and crossed her arms.

"Give me your phone," she ordered.

Bella sighed, but handed it over.

"Now, give me your email password," Alice said.

Bella did as Alice said.

Alice logged in and found the email from Bella's dad. With a quick finger movement, she deleted it. Looking up and down the screen, she smiled. "You've got emails back from Princeton, Exeter, Cambridge, Yale, and Harvard," she said quietly.

Bella turned her head. "And?" she asked.

"You got into all of them," Alice said with a smile. "I mean...this is incredible! Full scholarships all around!"

She smiled at Alice. "Thank you," she said.

"Don't thank me, thank yourself," Alice said. "I mean...you earned it." She handed over Bella's phone and went back to her magazine. This week, apparently, fashion was in.

Bella picked up her phone, and saw that there was a text from Edward. She clicked on it, and saw that there were three. They all wanted to know where she was, and if she was available to hang out two days from now. Bella told him yes, as it was a Wednesday, and on Fridays, curfew was much later.

~*~

Bella stepped outside and into the rain two days later. It was a light sprinkle, but she'd still hadn't brought a jacket. Edward and Bella had been texting at any given moment between classes for the past two weeks and he'd requested to seeing her again after classes that day. It was a Friday—and normal week night curfews were nine-thirty; but Friday and Saturday curfews were wonderfully different—they were one in the morning. Bella had arranged with Coach Clapp for her to take out Ruby Silk again that evening.

Ruby Silk was one of the few horses allowed out in the rain, due to the fact that she actually didn't mind the rain. Bella was soon trotting in the direction of Tillicum Park Prep and was soon very close to the clearing. She jumped off of Ruby Silk at the edge of the trees and walked into the stable-like place where she'd first seen James and Mike together.

"Edward?" she called as she stepped inside the place.

She felt something behind her and tensed up automatically. The person covered her face with their hands and said, "Guess who?"

"Edward," she said, a smile coming to her face. She turned around and grinned up at him. He was an impressive six foot two—and at nearly a foot taller than she was, he was an extraordinary sight. "How...how are you?" she asked, wondering why her voice had suddenly caught.

"I'm good," he replied. "How are you?"

Bella nodded at him. "I'm fine, thanks." She looked around him and saw that he was holding something in his other hand. "Um...what's that?"

"What, this?" asked Edward, his voice sounding deliciously Hollywood. "It's just a gigantic boom box."

Bella smiled. "And you have that because...?"

Edward smiled back and put up a finger. He found a chair covered with hay and quickly pushed it off. He placed the boom box on the chair and pressed the play button. The song Just Breathe by Anna Nalick began. It was a romantic, sad, and slow song, and Edward soon proved to be a wonderful dancer. He danced over to Bella, a smile on his face, and took her hands.

Bella grinned and pulled away a bit, shaking her head.

"What?" he asked. "You don't like dancing?"

Bella shook her head. "No, I love it, but..."

"But what?" asked Edward.

"I can't...dance," she said.

Edward smiled. "It's easy," he assured her, grinning. He drew her close to him and put his hand on her back and the other on her shoulder. "Here, just step with me. And one, two, three...one, two, three..."

A smile came to Bella's face, and she tried her best not to laugh. "You're not seriously trying to waltz with me, are you?" she asked.

Edward smiled. "You know what a waltz is?"

Bella gave him a look. "Why do you think I was accepted into all of those prestigious universities?" she asked.

Edward gave an 'Oh, duh' face and smiled. "But, why?" he asked, obviously curious. "You don't like to waltz?"

Bella smiled and shook her head, gasping slightly as his hand crept closer to the small of her back, pulling her closer. "I... I guess it reminds me that there are some gentlemen still left in the world."

Edward shook his head.

"What?" Bella asked.

He grinned. "I think you have me pegged all wrong."

Bella cocked her head to one side. "I don't know what you mean."

"A gentleman wouldn't do this on the first date," he said, dipping his head down and immediately kissing her.

Bella responded to the kiss, but pulled away all too soon. "Um...did we say that this was a date?" she asked.

Edward smiled. "We didn't...but it could be. If you want," he said quickly.

Bella pursed her lips, cocking her head to one side. "You sound like you don't want it to be a date," she said quietly to him.

"I do want it to be a date," Edward said promptly. "Besides, I am the one who kissed you in this situation..."

Bella nodded as the song ended. She stepped away from him. "Let's just say something entirely hypothetical," she said.

"Okay," said Edward.

"Okay. Let's just say that those early acceptances were early acceptances," she said quietly, knowing that she had to test the waters.

"What do you mean?" Edward asked.

Bella hunched her shoulders. "Well...let's just say that after June, that's it. I leave and go to school...a university school."

"As in...gone, gone," Edward said.

"Yes," said Bella. "I go on to college and don't go to senior year."

"But..."

Bella put her head to one side. "But what?" she asked.

"What about us?" he asked.

Bella blinked. "Well, that's what I'm asking," she replied. "If I go away—and skip senior year—what would you do?"

Edward lowered his eyes. "I don't know."

"Well, you must want to do something," she said quietly.

"Yes," he said. He crossed over to her and kissed her, but wouldn't let her go in the process. "I'd say that was a kiss goodbye."

Bella blinked. "I...what?!"

"Well, you've already decided this, I think," said Edward. "Goodbye, then."

Bella dashed after him. "But, why?" she cried.

"Because you've decided, and so have I," said Edward. He took off into the woods and onto the grounds proper of Tillicum Park Prep.

Bella turned and shakily walked up to Ruby Silk. The horse whinnied as she detected a sadness within Bella. As she looked up at the great animal, she felt her lip trembling. "It was all hypothetical," she said brokenly as she mounted her by herself and went at a steady walk back to Olympic National.