A person once told me a strange thing.

That it would be better to die in the place of someone you love, rather than spending the rest of your life without that person.

I think you know who I'm talking about. But did you know that she told me this at a party, drunk with her head between her knees?

She'd just had a sip of apple cider. That Bella was such a lightweight it was almost pitiful. She'd been a bit of a recluse for the last couple of months – ever since her boyfriend up and left her – and now that he was back, she was suddenly a whole lot more social again.

I didn't really know her. I mean – I was in her biology class, but we never really talked face to face. It wasn't until this party, two months before the end of our junior year. The Cullens always stuck to her like glue, but they never went to these parties, hosted by us mere mortals, her other, less polished classmates. But in my opinion – seeing Bella without the frat pack was like watching a baby animal try to survive in the wild jungle that is high school parties. The music was loud, and nobody really cared or payed attention to what the song was, as long as you could dance to it. It was usually overcrowded, someone always spiked the beer and Mike was always found sleeping in the bathtub. A long, self-tanned arm stretched up over the crowd, waving to get my attention, the motion making jingling sounds due to all the bracelets.

"Becca! Come over here!" Lana shouted, wanting me to join her for another drink. She was on the track team, like me. I whipped my head around, my long reddish hair following the motion, my eyebrows knitted in a small frown.

People always said I looked serious, even when I didn't mean to be.

"Just a minute kay? I'm just gonna head to the bathroom!" I hollored back, going up the stairs of Mike's family home. His parents were often gone, for work or for seminars. Which meant that his house was more often than not used as a party venue. As I walked down the upstairs hallway, I spotted people making out in one of the bedrooms, but soon it would inevitably escalate. It always did, at parties like this.

That was how I found Bella Swan, almost passing out on the bathroom floor. When I came in, she was staring blankly at the tub – eyes glazed over with alcohol.

It wasn't really my responsibility. I could have called out to Mike – who was still sober at that point – and ask him to deal with it. This wasn't my house, and she wasn't my friend. But then her blank stare caught me, and she smiled in a drunk, stupid way.

"Hey, I recognize you." she said in her strange, husky voice. I closed the door, narrowingly avoiding a drunk somebody tripping on the carpet outside. I was stuck with her for the time being. I shrugged and waved at her.

"Yeah, hi." I said, my voice sounding dull and uninterested. But either Bella was too drunk or just didn't notice. She squinted up at me, frowning for a moment.

"Rebecca right?" she asked, and despite myself I was impressed. I didn't have a lot of friends at school, except for a few girls from gym class and from the track team. My name was rarely mentioned, except for a few times in the school magazine, whenever I won state competitions and the like. On the weekends I mostly trained a lot, or went running along the beaches. Salt always clinged to my hair and face, either from sweat or from the ocean spray. My dad had been a coach for olympic champions, once. He wanted that for me as well.

I'm not really sure what I want anymore.

Meanwhile, Bella was looking more and more like she was ready to projectile vomit, and I had a choice to make.

"You look angry, why are you angry?" she asked me, tilting her head and looking too knowing for her own good. I looked away from her and huffed.

"I'm not angry, I just don't know what I should do with you." I protested, sighing. She was silent for a beat.

"Can you drive me home? Please?"

Well, I very well couldn't just leave her like that could I? Besides, her dad was a police officer – if he found out that his daughter had been abandoned by her friends at a party like this, we might not have another one like it for quite some time. I didn't have a car, but I knew Lana wouldn't be mad if I borrowed hers for the night, which was parked outside.

It was during this car ride that things began to unfold. After telling me the adress to her house, she also told me a little bit more about herself – and the reason behind her sudden disappearance a few months ago, right before the Cullens returned to forks, and moved back into their old house like nothing had happened. A lot of people at school wondered about that.

"Holy shit, you went all the way to Italy!?" I asked, genuinely fascinated by the story she told me, full of strange guys in capes and a boyfriend who would literary die if he couldn't be with her.

The look on her face was freaked, like she had just told me too much. I thought that was strange, perhaps her dad didn't know about her boyfriends previous suicidal tendencies? I thought it was a little dramatic sure, but all teenagers are. We're supposes to be.

"Well uh, I also went there to hear about a... summer exchange program!" she said quickly, her voice wavering.

"Really?" I asked, surprised. Bella glanced at me quickly, looking nervous.

"Yes. I found a website about it."

"No kidding, I didn't even know we could apply for that as juniors, not seniors." I said, and some of her uneasiness melted away as she turned to me, her posture more relaxed.

"Of course you can, I mean if you want to. "

"And these Volturi people you talked to, were they it then?" I asked, and she turned strange again, looking down at the dashboard like it was suddenly very interesting.

"Uh sort of. I mean I didn't apply for it, in the end. It wasn't right for me."

I took about fifteen minutes to drive to her house. She had sobered up some during the journey, which meant that i wouldn't have to carry her or anything like that. We simply said our goodbyes and that was it. I drove the car back to Lana's house and walked the short walk back to my own fathers house, where the porch light was always on. A comforting sight.

It had been one of mom's rules. Always keep the light on so that the cat will know where the door is. Which really isn't necessary, since all cats can see in the dark. Not that she believed that.

There wasn't any reason for the rule to still be in effect, since she hadn't lived with us since I was six – taking the cat with her.

Despite it being so late already, I couldnät get that conversation out of my head. About Italy, about suddenly going away to some far off country without looking back. How crazy, I had thought at the time. I would never do something like that, I thought.

But then I realized why I thought it was crazy. It was because my father would think it was. How he would react if I proposed it, to go abroad.

Which was why I planned it all in secret.

Because was it really such an outlandish idea? I already took italian at school, and was proving to be surpisingly good at foreign languages. I was not the only one who was surprised – I was certainly not the best student in any other subject than sports. I had never been called dumb, but I was used to teachers sighing over me and my chicken scrawls, my neverending questions.

"What are all those papers for honey?" Dad asked, looking over my shoulder – application papers in italian, he had no idea what it was. I shuffled them away and brought out a textbook, and he immidiately grew bored, eyes zoning in on the hockey game on tv once more.

"Just some extra homework."

"Well, just dont let it get in the way of your training Beccs."

And I didn't. I left the planning for the evenings and recesses at school. Turns out, Italy had a lot of places that had summer programs available for junior students from the US. I scoffed seeing the list for Fashion programs, and blanched a little at all the museum programs, not looking forward to spending all my time inside in a sunny place like italy. Wasn't there one single place that offered a bit of both?

I had applied for about 13 different offices when I suddenly, out of the blue, recieved a cryptic but promising email from an italian adress.

Dear Rebecca Somersten,

We recieved your application one month ago, and now after a process of evaluation have decided to offer you a summer internship program at our offices as a secretary to our CEO. If you accept, you shall be personally trained for a week before applying yourself completely to the job. An apartment will be available to live in during your stay in lovely Volterra, but other alternatives are also available.

Please notify us as soon as possible about your decision.

King Regards,

The Volturi secretarial offices