I hope you guys don't mind, actually I don't care if you mind or not because I already wrote it, but I skipped a few days until we get to graduation night.

Chapter 21: Graduation

It was graduation night already. It seemed like only a month ago we were coming back from Christmas vacation. But so much had happened in the last few weeks my head was just starting to stop spinning. Seth stopped in some nights to tell me goodnight, and the nights he didn't, he made sure he called me. It was really sweet, but I still felt really bad because Ben had only broken up with me two and a half weeks ago, and though my heart still loved him a little, Seth had overtaken the rest.

I had spent a lot of time with Seth in the past week. We mostly hung out in LaPush, sometimes on the beach and other times walking through the not so touristy areas of town. I spent time with my mom too. She asked a lot about Seth, so it was almost like he was still with me. I spent some time with Bella too. It was very interesting to spend time with her. She seemed happy now that I knew and didn't take sides, but more just sat and listened and gave what little advice I could.

I finished twisting my hair into a fancy braid and admired the outfit Mom and I picked out last week. The dark green off-the-shoulder shirt looked really nice with the black skirt I picked out. It would work for Alice's party as well.

"Are you ready yet, Angela?" Dad called up the stairs as I opened my door carrying the ugly yellow cap and gown along with my favorite flats.

"Right here, Dad," I answered sweetly. I knew he was sad and happy at the same time. His little girl was growing up and he could do nothing about it. Lucky for him, I would never be moving too far away, though he would never understand why.

"You look very grown up, dear," Mom complimented.

"You're very pretty tonight," Josh said with a smile.

"She's beautiful, not just pretty," Isaac said, outdoing Josh for once.

Josh opened his mouth to say something, but Dad cut him off, "I don't want any arguing. This is a special night, let's not ruin it."

"We're going to be late if we don't leave soon, Dad," I said offhandedly as a stepped into my shoes. If there was anything my Dad hated more than sin, it was being late.

"Alright, boys, get in the car." I followed them out and slid into the backseat, next to the twins. We would be meeting the rest of my family at the school. They all knew how to get there seeing as they all grew up in Forks. We probably could have walked to the school, it only took me 5 minutes in the morning, but I don't think Dad really felt like walking, I think we may be going out to dinner seeing as Mom didn't get anything out of the freezer.

"When are we going to eat?" Isaac asked.

"After the ceremony's over. We'll be going out to eat tonight. It's a special occasion after all," my Dad smiled into the rearview mirror so that I could see. I smiled back. This was a special night for him too. For me, it was that I would finally be getting out of this tiny town. This might have appealed to me a month ago, but now, I didn't really want to leave Seth. But when I went to Seattle, I would only be four hours away. I think I'll come home at least once a month, well, officially. Since I can easily run to Seattle and back in about 2 hours, I might come home more often. I'd stop in and see my Mom, making sure that no one else would be home, and I'd go down to La Push and spend some time there.

"We'll see you soon, sweetie," Mom said as they dropped me off at the gym door. They would park closer to the auditorium entrance and find the rest of my family.

"Bye, Mom." I closed the door and walked through the gym doors, wondering who else would be here. There were a few girls I knew, but didn't talk to very much. Bella and Jess weren't here yet, neither were Mike, Eric, or Ben. I was the first of my friends that was here, but that wasn't surprising seeing that I lived the closest. I zipped up the graduation gown and walked stood in line just like we practiced this morning as the teachers present shooed us into line.

I saw Jess walk through the door and a smile lit up on her face as she saw me. She flashed me a huge grin and took her place in line. That was odd. She was still mad at me this morning. I wonder what happened in the in between time.

Everybody arrived in short order after that. Alice showed up, but not Edward. He must be coming with Bella. And he, too, arrived after that, Bella followed him in and took her place in line. She looked as if she were in a daze, as if she just realized something. She shot me a glance while Jess was gushing something to her. I shrugged. I had no idea what was up with her either.

Soon we were marching into the auditorium. It all went by so fast. I couldn't believe that I was actually graduation already. I received my diploma and tossed my cap when I was supposed to. Once the ceremony started, it sped on by. I couldn't believe that I was now a high school graduate.

"Angela! We did it! We graduated!" She pulled out her camera, where she had hid it I don't know. "Say, 'Class of 2006!'" She squealed as she took the picture.

"Hey, I want to go find my grandparents, do you want to come with?" I asked.

"I think I saw your parents over there," she pointed to the right. "And I think I saw my parents over there," she pointed to the left. "I'll catch you later at the Cullen's party."

Jess and I parted ways, each knowing we would meet up again later. Probably at the restaurant.

"Congratulations, baby!" my grandma cried as she caught sight of me and wrapped me up in a hug. I was the oldest of her grandchildren so this was no surprise to me that she was excited.

I was then subjected to a few rounds of congratulations from various relatives that had come in for my graduation. My dad then rounded everyone up so that we wouldn't be late for our reservations.

It seemed as though my whole class was at The Lodge. I ordered a hamburger and picked at it. I was nervous about tonight. I had been in the Cullen's house only once. But hopefully this time it would be easier since there would be more people there to dilute the smell.

I socialized as best I could, to keep up appearances with my Dad and the rest of my family; they didn't need to be wrapped up in this supernatural mess. I talked to my cousin; she was a year younger than me, so we had a lot of things in common. We talked about her boyfriend, she asked me about college, mentioned that we should spend more time together, even though it would be tough. But soon it was time for me to leave for the Cullen's house.

I caught a ride with Jess and Mike and Lauren, us not wanting to waste gas as well as the fact that the party would be over late and no one's parents would want to come and pick us up.

"Can you guys believe it? I can't believe we've actually graduated! It seemed like this day would never happen. It always seemed so far away…" Jess rambled. I tuned her out. It wasn't like I didn't like Jess, but tonight I had quite a few other things on my mind. It seemed like so many things were happening at once.

Graduating only took school off my mind, but there was still the whole mystery vampire, Ben, Seth and imprinting on my mind as well as college, even though that is still a little ways away.

"Don't you think so, Angela?" Jess asked.

"I'm sorry, Jess. What did you say?" My inattentiveness went right over her; she didn't care that I wasn't paying complete attention to her.

"Don't you think all the lights are pretty? They draw you to the house. I want to know how long it took to put them all up."

"They are pretty. And knowing Alice, I'm pretty sure it didn't take long at all to put them up."

"I guess you're right." She started talking again about something else. We were nearing the Cullen's house and my stomach was starting to get butterflies again. Mike pulled up to the front and to what looked like a make shift parking lot. We all climbed out of his mom's van.

Despite the butterflies, I put on a brave face and smiled as I led my friends up to the front door. I didn't even have to ring the doorbell because Bella was already there waiting to greet us.

Alice did a wonderful job decorating and no one would be able to do better. The lights were in colors that made the Cullen's skin look odd, but everyone else look normal. No doubt she planned it this way.

My butterflies were gone but I suspected it was due to the fact that Jasper was in the room. Emmett was by the punch bowl so I went over to greet him.

One by one, more cars showed up and before I knew it the party was in full swing. The atmosphere made it easy to forget everything I was worrying about, but also easy to remember that I wouldn't be hanging out with the same people come next fall.

I found Jess again talking to Bella and Mike and Ben. I joined their conversation about planning a small camping trip at the end of summer to have one last time to spend together before we all went our separate ways.

"When do you think? Middle of August or end of July?"

"I think July would be best."

"If we want it to be that last thing we all do together before we leave for college, don't you think it should be in August then?"

"Not necessarily, we all have summer orientations to go to as well, so maybe we should see when we're all free. We'll compare schedules sometime real soon. Not tomorrow, we'll all be—"

"Excuse me for a minute, Jess," Bella interrupted as she pulled away and headed towards the stairs. I didn't see who she was after but it looked important.

To be honest guys, I've been so busy and writing this chapter bits at a time, so I'm really sorry if it doesn't exactly flow or seems a little choppy. I'll try to get the next chapter out sometime in the next 2 weeks, but I have 2 research papers due in that time, but I'll try to make time to write this for you. As always, I love reviews guys :)