“YOU CAN’T BE SERIOUS,” I SAID WEDNESDAY AFTERnoon. “You’ve completely lost your mind!”

　　“Say whatever you like about me,” Alice answered. “The party is still on.”

　　I stared at her, my eyes so wide with disbelief it felt like they might fall out and land on my lunch tray.

　　“Oh, calm down, Bella! There’s no reason not to go through with it. Besides, the invitations are alreadysent.”

　　“But . . . the . . . you . . . I . . . insane!” I spluttered.

　　“You’ve already bought my present,” she reminded me. “You don’t have to do anything but show up.”

　　I made an effort to calm myself. “With everything that is going on right now, a party is hardly appropriate.”

　　“Graduation is what’s going on right now, and a party is so appropriate it’s almost passé.”

　　“Alice!”

　　She sighed, and tried to be serious. “There are a few things we need to get in order now, and that’s goingto take a little time. As long as we’re sitting here waiting, we might as well commemorate the good stuff.

　　You’re only going to graduate from high school — for the first time — once. You don’t get to be humanagain, Bella. This is a once-in-a-lifetime shot.”

　　Edward, silent through our little argument, flashed her a warning look. She stuck out her tongue at him.

　　She was right — her soft voice would never carry over the babble of the cafeteria. And no one wouldunderstand the meaning behind her words in any case.

　　“What few things do we need to get in order?” I asked, refusing to be sidetracked.

　　Edward answered in a low voice. “Jasper thinks we could use some help. Tanya’s family isn’t the onlychoice we have. Carlisle’s trying to track down a few old friends, and Jasper is looking up Peter andCharlotte. He’s considering talking to Maria . . . but no one really wants to involve the southerners.”

　　Alice shuddered delicately.

　　“It shouldn’t be too hard to convince them to help,” he continued. “Nobody wants a visit from Italy.”

　　“But these friends — they’re not going to be . . . vegetarians, right?” I protested, using the Cullens’

　　tongue-in-cheek nickname for themselves.

　　“No,” Edward answered, suddenly expressionless.

　　“Here? In Forks?”

　　“They’re friends,” Alice reassured me. “Everything’s going to be fine. Don’t worry. And then, Jasper hasto teach us a few courses on newborn elimination. . . .”

　　Edward’s eyes brightened at that, and a brief smile flashed across his face. My stomach suddenly felt likeit was full of sharp little splinters of ice.

　　“When are you going?” I asked in a hollow voice. I couldn’t stand this — the idea that someone might notcome back. What if it was Emmett, so brave and thoughtless that he was never the least bit cautious? OrEsme, so sweet and motherly that I couldn’t even imagine her in a fight? Or Alice, so tiny, so fragile-looking?

　　Or . . . but I couldn’t even think the name, consider the possibility.

　　“A week,” Edward said casually. “That ought to give us enough time.”

　　The icy splinters twisted uncomfortably in my stomach. I was suddenly nauseated.

　　“You look kind of green, Bella,” Alice commented.

　　Edward put his arm around me and pulled me tightly against his side. “It’s going to be fine, Bella. Trustme.”

　　Sure, I thought to myself. Trust him. He wasn’t the one who was going to have to sit behind and wonderwhether or not the core of his existence was going to come home.

　　And then it occurred to me. Maybe I didn’t need to sit behind. A week was more than enough time.

　　“You’re looking for help,” I said slowly.

　　“Yes.” Alice’s head cocked to the side as she processed the change in my tone.

　　I looked only at her as I answered. My voice was just slightly louder than a whisper. “I could help.”

　　Edward’s body was suddenly rigid, his arm too tight around me. He exhaled, and the sound was a hiss.

　　 But it was Alice, still calm, who answered. “That really wouldn’t be helpful.”

　　“Why not?” I argued; I could hear the desperation in my voice. “Eight is better than seven. There’s morethan enough time.”

　　“There’s not enough time to make you helpful, Bella,” she disagreed coolly. “Do you remember howJasper described the young ones? You’d be no good in a fight. You wouldn’t be able to control your instincts,and that would make you an easy target. And then Edward would get hurt trying to protect you.” She foldedher arms across her chest, pleased with her unassailable logic.

　　And I knew she was right, when she put it like that. I slumped in my seat, my sudden hope defeated.

　　Beside me, Edward relaxed.

　　He whispered the reminder in my ear. “Not because you’re afraid.”

　　“Oh,” Alice said, and a blank look crossed her face. Then her expression became surly. “I hate last-minute cancellations. So that puts the party attendance list down to sixty-five. . . .”

　　“Sixty-five!” My eyes bulged again. I didn’t have that many friends. Did I even know that many people?

　　“Who canceled?” Edward wondered, ignoring me.

　　“Renée.”

　　“What?” I gasped.

　　“She was going to surprise you for your graduation, but something went wrong. You’ll have a messagewhen you get home.”

　　For a moment, I just let myself enjoy the relief. Whatever it was that went wrong for my mother, I waseternally grateful to it. If she had come to Forks now . . . I didn’t want to think about it. My head wouldexplode.

　　The message light was flashing when I got home. My feeling of relief flared again as I listened to my motherdescribe Phil’s accident on the ball field — while demonstrating a slide, he’d tangled up with the catcher andbroken his thigh bone; he was entirely dependent on her, and there was no way she could leave him. My momwas still apologizing when the message cut off.

　　“Well, that’s one,” I sighed.

　　“One what?” Edward asked.

　　“One person I don’t have to worry about getting killed this week.”

　　He rolled his eyes.

　　“Why won’t you and Alice take this seriously?” I demanded. “This is serious.”

　　He smiled. “Confidence.”

　　“Wonderful,” I grumbled. I picked up the phone and dialed Renée’s number. I knew it would be a longconversation, but I also knew that I wouldn’t have to contribute much.

　　I just listened, and reassured her every time I could get a word in: I wasn’t disappointed, I wasn’t mad, Iwasn’t hurt. She should concentrate on helping Phil get better. I passed on my “get well soon” to Phil, andpromised to call her with every single detail from Forks High’s generic graduation. Finally, I had to use mydesperate need to study for finals to get off the phone.

　　Edward’s patience was endless. He waited politely through the whole conversation, just playing with myhair and smiling whenever I looked up. It was probably superficial to notice such things while I had so manymore important things to think about, but his smile still knocked the breath out of me. He was so beautiful thatit made it hard sometimes to think about anything else, hard to concentrate on Phil’s troubles or Renée’sapologies or hostile vampire armies. I was only human.

　　As soon as I hung up, I stretched onto my tiptoes to kiss him. He put his hands around my waist and liftedme onto the kitchen counter, so I wouldn’t have to reach as far. That worked for me. I locked my armsaround his neck and melted against his cold chest.

　　Too soon, as usual, he pulled away.

　　I felt my face slip into a pout. He laughed at my expression as he extricated himself from my arms and legs.

　　He leaned against the counter next to me and put one arm lightly around my shoulders.

　　“I know you think that I have some kind of perfect, unyielding self-control, but that’s not actually thecase.”

　　“I wish,” I sighed.

　　 And he sighed, too.

　　“After school tomorrow,” he said, changing the subject, “I’m going hunting with Carlisle, Esme, andRosalie. Just for a few hours — we’ll stay close. Alice, Jasper, and Emmett should be able to keep you safe.”

　　“Ugh,” I grumbled. Tomorrow was the first day of finals, and it was only a half-day. I had Calculus andHistory — the only two challenges in my line-up — so I’d have almost the whole day without him, and nothingto do but worry. “I hate being babysat.”

　　“It’s temporary,” he promised.

　　“Jasper will be bored. Emmett will make fun of me.”

　　“They’ll be on their best behavior.”

　　“Right,” I grumbled.

　　And then it occurred to me that I did have one option besides babysitters. “You know . . . I haven’t beento La Push since the bonfire.”

　　I watched his face carefully for any change in expression. His eyes tightened the tiniest bit.

　　“I’d be safe enough there,” I reminded him.

　　He thought about it for a few seconds. “You’re probably right.”

　　His face was calm, but just a little too smooth. I almost asked if he’d rather I stayed here, but then Ithought of the ribbing Emmett would no doubt dish out, and I changed the subject. “Are you thirsty already?” Iasked, reaching up to stroke the light shadow beneath his eye. His irises were still a deep gold.

　　“Not really.” He seemed reluctant to answer, and that surprised me. I waited for an explanation.

　　“We want to be as strong as possible,” he explained, still reluctant. “We’ll probably hunt again on the way,looking for big game.”

　　“That makes you stronger?”

　　He searched my face for something, but there was nothing to find but curiosity.

　　“Yes,” he finally said. “Human blood makes us the strongest, though only fractionally. Jasper’s beenthinking about cheating — adverse as he is to the idea, he’s nothing if not practical — but he won’t suggest it.

　　He knows what Carlisle will say.”

　　“Would that help?” I asked quietly.

　　“It doesn’t matter. We aren’t going to change who we are.”

　　I frowned. If something helped even the odds . . . and then I shuddered, realizing I was willing to have astranger die to protect him. I was horrified at myself, but not entirely able to deny it, either.

　　He changed the subject again. “That’s why they’re so strong, of course. The newborns are full of humanblood — their own blood, reacting to the change. It lingers in the tissues and strengthens them. Their bodiesuse it up slowly, like Jasper said, the strength starting to wane after about a year.”

　　“How strong will I be?”

　　He grinned. “Stronger than I am.”

　　“Stronger than Emmett?”

　　The grin got bigger. “Yes. Do me a favor and challenge him to an arm-wrestling match. It would be agood experience for him.”

　　I laughed. It sounded so ridiculous.

　　Then I sighed and hopped down from the counter, because I really couldn’t put it off any longer. I had tocram, and cram hard. Luckily I had Edward’s help, and Edward was an excellent tutor — since he knewabsolutely everything. I figured my biggest problem would be just focusing on the tests. If I didn’t watchmyself, I might end up writing my History essay on the vampire wars of the South.

　　I took a break to call Jacob, and Edward seemed just as comfortable as he had when I was on the phonewith Renée. He played with my hair again.

　　Though it was the middle of the afternoon, my call woke Jacob up, and he was grouchy at first. Hecheered right up when I asked if I could visit the next day. The Quileute school was already out for thesummer, so he told me to come over as early as I could. I was pleased to have an option besides beingbabysat. There was a tiny bit more dignity in spending the day with Jacob.

　　Some of that dignity was lost when Edward insisted again on delivering me to the border line like a childbeing exchanged by custodial guardians.

　　“So how do you feel you did on your exams?” Edward asked on the way, making small talk.

　　 “History was easy, but I don’t know about the Calculus. It seemed like it was making sense, so thatprobably means I failed.”

　　He laughed. “I’m sure you did fine. Or, if you’re really worried, I could bribe Mr. Varner to give you anA.”

　　“Er, thanks, but no thanks.”

　　He laughed again, but suddenly stopped when we turned the last bend and saw the red car waiting. Hefrowned in concentration, and then, as he parked the car, he sighed.

　　“What’s wrong?” I asked, my hand on the door.

　　He shook his head. “Nothing.” His eyes were narrowed as he stared through the windshield toward theother car. I’d seen that look before.

　　“You’re not listening to Jacob, are you?” I accused.

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