Bella was very excited because mid-winter break was just around the corner. It was depressing because she would be away from Edward for a week—because he was going skiing in Aspen at one of his many family properties. She hadn't been invited to her mother and stepfather's house—the disappointment of a pregnancy last year, a serious accident a few weeks ago, and a suicide attempt just last week had apparently proved too much for them Plus, her father was working double shifts, and likely wouldn't have time for her anyway.. Bella, thankfully, would not have to remain on Olympic National's campus. She would be going back home with Alice, because Alice's wonderful parents, Mr. and Mrs. Brandon, cared a lot about her—and it did prove to be a plus that they weren't judgmental, not in the slightest.

Bella and Edward promised to keep in touch during the break. You were not allowed to leave campus forty-eight hours before any break. You were only permitted to eat, sleep, use the facilities, study, and pack. Tillicum Park Prep was a bit different, considering that they were dealing with teenage boys instead of teenage girls. They had inexplicably arranged for some alone time—James was off somewhere not glued to Mike's lips (when he obviously was); Angela and Jessica were studying in the library; Katie was spending some quality time with Tanya; Alice was at a lunch date with her newest conquest, Jasper; and Lauren was off somewhere with Jacob—who was now her official boyfriend. Everything was perfect, down to Edward getting into their now-girl-free (almost) dorm room—through the window.

Everyone left and Bella quickly slipped into a perfect little black number. She'd had some pizza personally delivered from someone who owed her a favor—she'd helped them get a 2150 on his SAT test. He wasn't a big nerd, and her methods of studying—banging his desk with a ruler whenever he tried to sneak in a nap—and various other things apparently did the trick. He was a second year at Tillicum Park Prep, and Bella had assured Edward that Eric Yorkie was not—and could not ever be—her type.

After pushing all of Alice's teen magazines under her bed, Bella crossed back to the table and quickly dusted it. Then she cleared the chairs of any miscellaneous objects and put them on either side of the table. She put the flowered paper plates on the table and the pizza box in the middle. It was half chicken and feta with a pesto sauce, while the other half was pepperoni, olives, and pineapple. Not Bella's cup of tea, but still...

She dashed some perfume under her arms and opened the window a bit so as Edward's arrival would not surprise her. She took the roses that he'd sent her for Valentine's Day and placed them in a visible place. She removed one from the vase and pulled its petals off. Then, she lay down on her bed, and dropped all of the petals around her. She shut her eyes and fixed a coy smile onto her face; she also made sure here hair was fanned on her pillow. Everything was set down to the last detail; almost like a play.

She heard the window quake open a moment later and forced herself not to move an inch. He crossed the room and leaned down, brushing his lips with hers and encircling his arms around her waist.

Her eyes flew open. "Edward!" she cried.

He grinned down at her. "Hello, Bella."

Bella sat up and quickly walked away from him. "Some Tillicum Park Prep guy who owed me a favor delivered this for us," she said, shooting him a grin. "And I got our favorites," she said, opening the box.

Edward crossed the room, putting his hands on Bella's shoulders. As she began putting a slice on their plates, he moved her hair out of the way and began to caress her neck with his lips.

"Edward," Bella said, a smile coming to her lips at the sensations that flowed through her. "Not now, okay? I mean..." She sighed, turning around. "We only just decided to be a couple. I don't want to move quickly, okay?"

Edward cocked his head to one side. "What do you mean?"

Bella sighed, allowing her hands to roam upwards around his neck. "I mean, could we just take this slow?"

"Slow?" he asked. "Sure," he said. "Slow is good."

Bella smiled. "I'm glad." She turned around again and placed the pizza box on the large window sill—paper towels placed under it so as it would not leave an unattractive grease mark. She sat down, and invited Edward to do so as well. He smiled across the table and raised his plastic up of sparkling cider at her. He took a bite of the pizza and nodded in approval.

"So," he asked, after swallowing his first bite of pizza, "what are we celebrating exactly?" he asked.

"Our one-week anniversary," Bella replied. "And this is the probably the last time I'll see you before break, you know."

Edward nodded. "I am going to miss you."

Bella smiled, reaching across the table. "I'll miss you, too."

Edward took her hand. "Are you going to be seeing anyone else during your time in Mississippi?" he asked.

Bella shook her head. "I'll just be seeing old friends and stuff. I'm staying with Alice, but you knew that."

He nodded. "I knew that. But...no guys, right?"

Bella shrugged. "No. No guys. Alice's little sister, Cynthia, will be around, though."

He smiled. "Well, I'm glad you'll get to see her." He looked around. "Look, I know we said no going-away presents, or no week anniversary presents, but I really thought—"

Bella grinned. "We said no such thing!"

"Well, good. I did actually get you something."

"I did, too." Bella crossed to her bed and rummaged around beneath it. She found the box and took it out. It was just a cardboard box from Amazon and she'd spiced it up with a massive red ribbon. "Remember how you told me how your laptop broke?"

"Yes," said Edward. "It was a drag, too. It was a great machine."

Bella grinned. "Well, I hope this solves the problem."

Edward took the box and looked at Bella. "What did you do?"

She shrugged. "Maybe you should open it and find out."

Edward pulled at the ribbon and the rest of the box followed suit. He opened the box and took out the latest Samsung Chromebook and looked up at Bella. "What...?"

"I thought it was high time you got a decent upgrade. And your mom told me that you'd been eying this one up."

Edward smiled and looked down into the box itself. "Instruction booklet, power chords..." He shook his head. "Man, you sure know how to treat a guy."

Bella smiled. "I try."

Edward placed the laptop back into the box. "That must have set you back...like, a lot."

Bella shrugged. "It's okay."

Edward reached into his pocket and took out a box. It was much smaller than the laptop's box, but Bella quickly put that thought aside. Edward handed it over and Bella took it carefully into her hands. As she opened it, a silver heart studded with diamonds gleamed up at her. It was attached to a silver chain, and it sparkled in the dim light of the dorm room.

"Edward..."

"Do you like it?" he asked.

Bella's eyes filled suddenly with tears. "Like it?" she whispered. "I love it!" she cried, standing up and throwing her arms around him.

"It was my grandmother's," Edward said, kissing her cheek.

"Are you kidding me?!" she cried, turning over the heart.

"I am not," Edward replied.

"Would you mind putting it on me?" she asked.

Edward smiled. "No, that's okay." He stood up and took the necklace from Bella and walked around her. He unclasped it and put it around her neck before fastening it perfectly. "There you go," he said.

"Does it look all right?" Bella asked.

"You look beautiful," Edward replied.

Bella smiled. "Thank you," she said, touching his cheek. "I'm really going to miss you. You know that, right?"

"I do."

"I'm glad."

Edward leaned in and kissed her. "Got to go," he said, stealing the rest of the half of his pizza, knowing entirely well that Bella wouldn't want it. "It's almost eight-thirty..."

"Oh," Bella said, disappointed. "Yes, I suppose it is."

Edward smiled. He leaned in and kissed her again. "Happy anniversary," he whispered before grabbing his box filled with laptop and escaping out of the window.

~*~

Angela, Jessica, Alice, Katie, James, and Lauren returned to the room soon after nine. They all wanted to know about each other's evenings, and Bella revealed her necklace. Everyone deemed it fabulous, and then they resumed packing and studying for an hour before lights out.

"I have two essays due tomorrow," Alice said. "One for history, one for English, but this way, I don't get a test."

"I have my math, chemistry, and Spanish tests tomorrow," said Angela, wrinkling her nose in dismay. "Not looking forward to that..."

"Victoria has a French test, English paper, and marine biology lab due," said James, a laugh escaping his lips as he removed his wig and took out his lopsided tissue boobs. "That'll be so suckish..."

"What's suckish is how you even pass for a girl," said Jessica with a laugh. "I have an American Lit final, Advanced Poetry book, and a French test," she said, flopping on her bed. "I don't wanna do them..."

"I have marine biology—lab; computer software—presentation; and a pottery final—a pot, how original," said Katie.

Lauren straightened up then. "I have an essay for Liberal Arts, and a PowerPoint for Women's Studies," she said quietly.

"Advanced Creative Writing—my whole comp book," said Bella. "And I also have the AP Euro essay, and then I grade papers in that Government class that I TA for," Bella said. She crossed the room and lay down on her bed. She shut her eyes for a brief moment and saw Edward smiling at her. Then he waved, and walked away. "Edward..." She whispered.

Alice crossed the room and poked Bella. "Keep packing, girlfriend," she said, shaking her head with a smile on her face. "We need to be quick tomorrow."

~*~

Bella went to the library the following morning to print out her AP Euro essay, and was pleased to see that there were computers available. She logged onto one and easily found her essay entitled Six Queens for One King. The assignment was to pick an English monarch and write down some accounts or trials and tribulations that they'd gone through. The obvious choice—for Bella, at the very least—was King Geoffrey VIII.

It was a wonderful six and a half pages long, and thankfully, there was a printer right nearby. She printed it easily, three hole-punched it, and placed it into her binder full of essays. All of her essay's grades would be averaged out, as per usual—she'd received all A's (and only one B+) on all of them. She would get a final grade based on the average.

Just as she was about to log out, the email sign popped up, telling her that she had two new emails. She clicked to open her email, because she figured that she had fifteen minutes and that would be enough time. The first was from Edward that said, Thank you again for the awesome laptop. Good luck today. I will miss you so much. Love, Edward. She was touched by the email, and smiled as she quickly wrote: Wishing you luck on your exams and such. You're welcome for the laptop. I will miss you more than you know. Love, Bella.

She then saw that the other email was from the University of Washington admissions office. She clicked the email, and read: Congratulations, Bella Swan, you have been accepted into the University of Washington. She smiled, tears filling her eyes and she quickly saved the email before closing out of her Hotmail account and logging off completely.

She gathered her book bag and tucked her binder under her arm. She was fully prepared to march into Mr. Mason's class and hand over her notebook. She smiled as she exited the library, feeling complete.

Mr. Varner was very impressed with Bella's work, and gave her a solid A in her creative writing class. She'd written about the bond between mother and child and about how there is not an assigned age when you're supposed to be a mother. Despite being an atheist, she used the Virgin Mary as an example, and the whole of the class was quite impressed.

Mr. Mason—her AP Euro teacher, was also impressed with her notebook. It was apparent that, since the beginning of their time together, that Mr. Mason liked Bella's style. He knew about her past—what teacher at Olympic National did not?—but nevertheless treated her justly and fairly in comparison to the other children. He gave Bella an A+ and told her to keep writing for the rest of her life.

She was given a stack of Government essays by Mr. Jenks and was told to have them all graded within the hour. If she completed the task, and, in doing so, with accurate notes, then she would get an A. Bella promised she would do her best and actually completed the task. She failed one, gave two D's, three C's, and twenty B's. The last dozen or so she gave A's, and Mr. Jenks was very impressed with her. He gave Bella an A and told her she could leave during the last ten minutes of class.

Bella quickly dashed out of there, as it was almost three and Government was her last class of the day. She ran back to her dorm room and quickly finished all the packing for herself and for Alice. Alice had left out a list of things she wanted to bring and she managed to fit everything into one suitcase for each of them. It would prove to be easier once they got to the pick-up point on campus for the bus to the airport.

When Alice returned, she was happy to hear that all the packing was over and done with. They cleaned up their parts of the bedroom and then decided to go to Sandwiches Deluxe for an early dinner. Angela, Jessica, Katie, Lauren, and James joined them. James was dressed as Victoria, and had to put on his syrupy-sweet (pretty disgusting once you think about it) high voice so that he really passed for a girl.

"All A's, baby," said Angela.

"One B+, two A's," said Jessica.

"Victoria got A's," said James with a smirk.

"A's," said Alice.

"A's," said Katie.

"A's, too," said Lauren.

"Same," said Bella. "And...another acceptance," she said quietly.

"Where?" they all wanted to know.

"University of Washington," she replied.

"Any thoughts about where you might want to go yet?" asked Jessica, trying to figure it out on her own. "You know, you should totally got to Oxford or something like that..."

"Jessica, if you want me out of America, all you have to do is say so," Bella said, flashing an innocent smile at her.

Jessica blushed and looked away.

"You excited?" asked Alice.

"About what?" asked Bella.

"Going home, you know," she replied.

"Yes," she said, having always known that Mr. and Mrs. Brandon considered their home her home as well. "Although, you'll be going home more than I will."

Alice grinned. "But my parents love you."

"And I'm glad they do," said Bella. "Because I love them, too..."

Alice checked her watch as the sandwiches arrived. "Half an hour to eat and chat, then we'd better get our stuff..."

"And get to the airport shuttle," Bella said, biting into her chicken and pesto sandwich.

"Right," said Alice, biting into her BLT.

When everyone had finished, Bella and Alice quickly washed their hands and ran upstairs to their dorm room. Carts had been placed in the hallway for them to put their belongings on and push out to the shuttle. They loaded their bags on the carts; put on their coats; put their book bags over their shoulders, and got out of there.

The shuttle was stuffy and quite dusty as usual, and Bella and Alice put their bags into the bag compartment and stepped outside. There was a chill in the air which made them shiver, but they knew that the bus would be warm enough for their airport journey. Bella put her arms around Angela, Jessica, Katie, Katie, James, and Alice in a mighty group hug.

"We'll miss you," said Bella and Alice together.

Then they got on the shuttle and waved to them. It took about twenty minutes for Alice and Bella to arrive at SeaTac Airport, and they soon managed to find a cart and lug all their bags onto them. The flight would take about seven and a half hours, from SeaTac to Mississippi which was the main convenient thing about the whole not going to school in the same state as their families originally lived arrangement.

Alice and Bella checked in and received their boarding passes. They also checked their larger bags and a helpful airport attendant relieved them of the nuisance of a cart. Alice and Bella then went through security, and tried their best not to roll their eyes when they were asked to remove their shoes and things like that. Soon, however, the airport security realized that they did not pose as a threat of any kind, and were cleared. They went to their gate—32 A—and were checked in and cleared to get on the plane.

Alice and Bella sat together. Bella thankfully got a widow seat, and Alice didn't seem to mind sitting in the aisle seat. They ordered drinks soon after the plane took off—ice-cold cokes for them both. They also got their too-salty complimentary pretzels and giggled that the bags were a pain to open. Bella soon noticed that Alice was asleep and she turned to look out the window, where she saw the sun setting.

Alice should fall asleep anytime now, she decided. Bella pressed her hand to the window as Washington State disappeared behind them. She touched her necklace from Edward with the other hand, and felt a rare moment of happiness fill up her heart completely. As the pilot began to speak to them, welcoming them into the air, she wondered if a gift from Edward would ever turn out to be an engagement ring.