I ignored the second question.

"Why did she ignore the second question?" Emmett asked.

"I don't know," Edward shrugged.

"No, we didn't find anything out about my, um, visitor."

"Then I'll be around," he said as his eyes slid closed.

"Jake . . . ," I started to whine.

"Hey, it's the least I can do - I offered eternal servitude, remember. I'm your slave for life."

"I don't want a slave!"

His eyes didn't open. "What do you want, Bella?"

"I want my friend Jacob - and I don't want him half-dead, hurting himself in some misguided attempt -"

He cut me off. "Look at it this way - I'm hoping I can track down a vampire I'm allowed to kill, okay?"

"Well, if you put it that way..." Emmett laughed.

"I don't think that's going to keep Bella from worrying," Edward sighed.

I didn't answer. He looked at me then, peeking at my reaction.

"Kidding, Bella."

I stared at the TV.

"So, any special plans next week? You're graduating. Wow. That's big." His voice turned flat, and his face, already drawn, looked downright haggard as his eyes closed again - not in exhaustion this time, but in denial. I realized that graduation still had a horrible significance for him, though my intentions were now disrupted.

"No special plans," I said carefully, hoping he would hear the reassurance in my words without a more detailed explanation. I didn't want to get into it now. For one thing, he didn't look up for any difficult conversations. For another, I knew he would read too much into my qualms. "Well, I do have to go to a graduation party. Mine." I made a disgusted sound.

"Alice loves parties, and she's invited the whole town to her place the night of. It's going to be horrible."

"Sixty-five isn't the whole town," Alice rolled her eyes.

His eyes opened as I spoke, and a relieved smile made his face look less worn. "I didn't get an invitation. I'm hurt," he teased.

"As if I want him there," Alice scoffed.

"You might not get your wish in that," Emmett laughed. "I bet Bella is going to invite him."

"Whatever... it's not like he would come, even if she did invite him," Alice shrugged.

"You want to bet on that?" Emmett asked.

"Not particularly," Alice said. "Betting's not really my thing..."

"Really?" Emmett raised an eyebrow. "What about our previous bet?"

"Oh, that wasn't betting," Alice waved him off. "I know I'm right! But this... you could be right..."

Emmett stared at her oddly for a second.

"What?" Alice asked.

"But that's the fun of betting... not knowing," Emmett explained.

"And that's why I find that I don't like betting," Alice smirked.

"You're really weird, Shorty," Emmett said, shaking his head.

"Consider yourself invited. It's supposedly my party, so I should be able to ask who I want."

"Thanks," he said sarcastically, his eyes slipping closed once more.

"I wish you would come," I said without any hope. "It would be more fun. For me, I mean."

"I might find it entertaining too," Emmett laughed.

"Is that you or your book self?" Jasper asked.

"Well, I definitely will, but perhaps my book self will too," Emmett chuckled. "Depends on what the pup does."

"Sure, sure," he mumbled. "That would be very . . . wise . . ." His voice trailed off.

A few seconds later, he was snoring.

Poor Jacob. I studied his dreaming face, and liked what I saw. While he slept, every trace of defensiveness and bitterness disappeared and suddenly he was the boy who had been my very best friend before all the werewolf nonsense had gotten in the way. He looked so much younger. He looked like my Jacob.

Edward frowned at that.

You don't like the possessiveness there, Alice thought. She didn't really like it either.

I nestled into the couch to wait out his nap, hoping he would sleep for a while and make up some of what he'd lost. I flipped through channels, but there wasn't much on. I settled for a cooking show, knowing, as I watched, that I'd never put that much effort into Charlie's dinner. Jacob continued to snore, getting louder. I turned up the TV.

I was strangely relaxed, almost sleepy, too. This house felt safer than my own, probably because no one had ever come looking for me here. I curled up on the sofa and thought about taking a nap myself. Maybe I would have, but Jacob's snoring was impossible to tune out.

So, instead of sleeping, I let my mind wander.

Finals were done, and most of them had been a cakewalk. Calculus, the one exception, was behind me, pass or fail. My high school education was over. And I didn't really know how I felt about that. I couldn't look at it objectively, tied up as it was with my human life being over.

Everyone was frowning at this, especially Edward.

I wondered how long Edward planned to use this "not because you're scared" excuse.

"As long as it's going to work," Edward said, almost smiling, but it didn't last long.

I was going to have to put my foot down sometime.

If I were thinking practically, I knew it made more sense to ask Carlisle to change me the second I made it through the graduation line.

"I might have to wait a little longer than that," Carlisle said. He too was trying to smile, but this train of thought was putting a damper on everyone's mood.

Forks was becoming nearly as dangerous as a war zone. No, Forks was a war zone. Not to mention . . . it would be a good excuse to miss the graduation party.

Emmett snorted at that.

I smiled to myself as I thought of that most trivial of reasons for changing. Silly . . . yet still compelling.

This time, Edward joined him with a chuckle.

But Edward was right - I wasn't quite ready yet.

And I didn't want to be practical. I wanted Edward to be the one. It wasn't a rational desire. I was sure that - about two seconds after someone actually bit me and the venom started burning through my veins - I really wouldn't care anymore who had done it. So it shouldn't make a difference.

"But it's kind of romantic to think of it this way," Esme supplied.

It was hard to define, even to myself, why it mattered. There was just something about him being the one to make the choice - to want to keep me enough that he wouldn't just allow me to be changed, he would act to keep me.

Edward sighed at that.

"What is it?" Jasper asked.

"It sort of makes sense when she puts it like that," Edward said. "But I still don't like the idea of..." he trailed off with a shiver.

It was childish, but I liked the idea that his lips would be the last good thing I would feel. Even more embarrassingly, something I would never say aloud, I wanted his venom to poison my system. It would make me belong to him in a tangible, quantifiable way.

"You already do," Edward shook his head.

"She wants you to poison her system, Eddy," Emmett laughed.

"Shut up!" Edward growled.

But I knew he was going to stick to his marriage scheme like glue - because a delay was what he was clearly after and it was working so far. I tried to imagine telling my parents that I was getting married this summer. Telling Angela and Ben and Mike. I couldn't. I couldn't think of the words to say. It would be easier to tell them I was becoming a vampire.

"Well, they wouldn't think that was real, so of course it is," Alice said. "But they get over it when you tell them that you're marrying Edward."

And I was sure that at least my mother - were I to tell her every detail of the truth - would be more strenuously opposed to me getting married than to me a becoming vampire. I grimaced to myself as I imagined her horrified expression.

Then, for just a second, I saw that same odd vision of Edward and me on a porch swing, wearing clothes from another kind of world. A world where it would surprise no one if I wore his ring on my finger. A simpler place, where love was defined in simpler ways. One plus one equals two. . . .

"I like that world," Edward smiled.

"Looks like she's already coming around," Alice smiled as Esme beamed.

"Damn," Emmett muttered.

Jacob snorted and rolled to his side. His arm swung off the back of the couch and pinned me against his body.

"Stupid mutt," Edward muttered. He looked like he wanted Bella to keep thinking about the simpler place.

Holy crow, but he was heavy! And hot. It was sweltering after just a few seconds.

I tried to slide out from under his arm without waking him, but I had to shove a little bit, and when his arm fell off me, his eyes snapped open. He jumped to his feet, looking around anxiously.

"What? What?" he asked, disoriented.

"It's just me, Jake. Sorry I woke you."

He turned to look at me, blinking and confused. "Bella?"

"Hey, sleepy."

"Oh, man! Did I fall asleep? I'm sorry! How long was I out?"

"A few Emerils. I lost count."

He flopped back on the couch next to me. "Wow. Sorry about that, really."

I patted his hair, trying to smooth the wild disarray. "Don't feel bad. I'm glad you got some sleep."

He yawned and stretched. "I'm useless these days. No wonder Billy's always gone. I'm so boring."

"You're fine," I assured him.

"Ugh, let's go outside. I need to walk around or I'll pass out again."

"Jake, go back to sleep. I'm good. I'll call Edward to come pick me up."

"Yeah... I'm sure that will make him listen to you," Emmett chuckled.

I patted my pockets as I spoke, and realized they were empty. "Shoot, I'll have to borrow your phone. I think I must have left his in the car." I started to unfold myself.

"Great," Edward groaned.

"Why do you care so much?" Emmett asked.

"I'm just going to be worried more," Edward shrugged, but he seemed to be a little too tense right now for it to just be that.

"What is it?" Jasper asked.

"I don't think I'm going to like what's coming next," Edward shrugged.

"No!" Jacob insisted, grabbing my hand. "No, stay. You hardly ever make it down. I can't believe I wasted all this time."

He pulled me off the couch as he spoke, and then led the way outside, ducking his head as he passed under the door frame. It had gotten much cooler while Jacob slept; the air was unseasonably cold - there must be a storm on the way. It felt like February, not May.

The wintry air seemed to make Jacob more alert. He paced back and forth in front of the house for a minute, dragging me along with him.

"I'm an idiot," he muttered to himself.

"Can't agree with you more there," Rosalie smirked.

"You just agreed with him," Emmett pointed that out to her and she growled in response.

"What's the matter, Jake? So you fell asleep." I shrugged.

"I wanted to talk to you. I can't believe this."

"Talk to me now," I said.

Jacob met my eyes for a second, and then looked away quickly toward the trees. It almost looked like he was blushing, but it was hard to tell with his dark skin.