It was hard to keep myself composed, to act happy and normal. Having Alice there, sitting on the sofá seguinte to me, rubbing my hand and whispering reassurances when Charlie wasn't paying attention, helped considerably. It was hard, but thinking about the life I had ahead of me helped...and it didn't. On the one hand, I would be able to catch the most preacious thing in the world. I would be beautiful, strong, graceful, and I would at least have Alice if nothing else. On the other hand, I wouldn't have Jacob, who knew what I would be like for a while. Would I want to kill Charlie? How could I know at this point? And also, what if my chasing didn't matter? What if he still didn't want me, no matter how improved I was? I would have an eternity to suffer that new blow. I had to think of a bright side to keep from screaming. If that were really to happen, I could always track down Victoria. The thought sent chills down my spine, but it was a much better fate then the one I would have. That did make me feel a bit better.
Charlie excused himself from the conversation I wasn't listening to, to go to the restroom. As soon as her was gone Alice turned to me and wrapped an incouraging arm around my shoulder.
"It will be okay," she promised.
"I know," I whispered back, and sighed. I wasn't sure if it was a lie or not.
"We have to get this over with, Bella." she told me. I was confused.
"Get what over with?" I asked, turning towards her. She took an exasperated sigh, and said, "Telling Charlie, of course."
"Oh. Right." I hadn't been thinkng of that. I had just said goodbye forever to my best friend, and now I was going to do the same to my father. Would he be okay without me? What about my mom? I started hyperventalting. What if she needed me? She always got herself into trouble, what would she do? She's been without you for over a year, I reminded myself. Plus, she has Phil. He will take care of her.
Charlie came back into the room before I could really answer Alice. She gave me a meaningful look, and turned to Charlie. "Charlie," she began, and I felt like I was about to have a full-scale panic attack.
"Bella and I have decided to mover in together. It will be rather far away, but we're going to go to college in Alaska, where Bella has already been accepted. We're leaving as soon as possible." she said with confidence. What was she thinking? How could she just say it like that? She couldn't ease him into it a little?
His mouth popped open and his eyes grew wide. He froze. He just starred at Alice. I was about to ask if he was okay, but Alice gave me a look that said, wait. I did. After a few mais moment he looked at me, closing his jaw.
"Well," he said "That's...that's...great." he was still recovering, but he seemed to mean it. "But...Alaska? Why so far away?" a crease lined his forhead as he said this. I felt a lump in my throat. I looked to Alice for help. She was frozen, eyes wide and far away, lips in a tight line. I was about to ask her what was wrong when the phone rang. Charlie got up to answer it.
"Bella," she whispered urgently to me. "What is it?" I whispered, paniced.
"Hello?" Charlie said into the phone.
"This is very bad." she whispered to me.
"May I ask who's calling?" Charlie sounded a bit rude to who he was speaking to.
"Oh. Yes, of course," he muttered, friendly again. He took the phone away from his face, and turned to Alice.
"It's for you," he told her. She got up stiffly and walked to the phone.
"It's Carlisle," he said, before I could panic too much. He must have gotten back from the hunting trip.
"Hello." she said into to phone. From that point she just sat there, listening. Whatever Carlisle had to say, there was a lot of it. Charlie sat back down of the recliner.
"Why didn't you tell me you were applying to colleges? I mean, I figured you'd have to go sooner or later, but a little warnig might have been nice." he didn't seem mad or hurt. He seemed sad, but also excited.
"I'm sorry, dad." I apoligized. "I didn't think I would get accepted to anywhere," I lied quickly.
"You have almost perfect grades, Bella." he looked confused. I shrugged.
"I can't explain right now," Alice finally spoke. I could understand why. Well, you see Carlisle, I was a vision of Bella becoming a vampire, so I came as fast as I could. That wouldn't be hard to explain to Charlie.
"Don't worry. I'll come back soon. I'll call you tonight. Bye." I couldn't be sure, but it sounded like there was someone yelling on the other end when she hung up. That was out of Carlisle's character. Must have been someone in the background. Alice came and sat down seguinte to me.
"So when are you planning on leaving?" Charlie asked.
"Tomorrow or the seguinte day." Alice said matter-of-factly.
"Tomorrow?!" Charlie asked in shock. "What's the rush?"
"I found a nice appartment there, and it will only be available so long. We want to be able to find jobs before the semester starts." This all sounded so normal, I had to keep myself from laughing.
"But, tomorrow?" he asked again.
"I'm afraid so, Charlie."
"But of course I'll keep in touch," I blurted out without thinking. He looked so sad, I had to comfort him somehow. Alice glared at me from the corner of her eye.
"E-mail you as much as I can," I added, thinking it through a bit more. I wouldn't even sound like myself on the phone.
"You better," he said sternly, but he was visablly relieved. That made me feel better.
He seemed to realize something. "What about highschool?" he asked urgently. I hadn't thogut of that either. Come to think of it, I had already missed some school. Oh no.
"That's already been taken care of, Charlie." Alice answered, saving me again. "We've already spoken with her school, and they just need your signature so she can be transfered." When had she done that? She was always twenty steps ahead of me. I just nodded, as though I had really gone with her.
"Well, that's good. It seems like you two have put a lot of thought into this. I'm impressed. Very responsible." he approved. I felt bad. Almost all of these things were lies, and I was going to Alaska to do something very differant.
"Thank you, Charlie." Alice said to him. "We do still have a lot of planning to do, so we should probably get going."
"Going?" Charlie asked.
"Well, I do, really. I have a few thing to do in town, and I'm sure Bella has some mais people to tell that she's leaving." That was true. "I'll be por to pick you up in an hora or two," she said looking at me now. Not that I was paying closer attention, her eyes were still black. Hadn't she gone hunting?
She stood and walked to the door. "I'll be back soon," and with that, she left. Charlie and I sat there for a moment. A few moments, actually.
"Well, I better get to it," I said when the silence began to get awkward. I stood and headed for my room. First things first, Renee. Charlie still seemed a bit in shock over the whole thing. He just sat there.
I went up to my room and started packing, saying goodbye to everything that I knew.