Disclaimer: I do not own the Twilight Saga or anything related, it is owned by Stephanie Meyer.

Chapter Twenty-Four: College Applications.

"Have you put much thought into what colleges you're going to apply for?" Leola asked sitting across from Bella, she had been surprised when the teenager had asked for some help filling out her college applications. The month of January was over and Leola was surprised how slow the month had dragged on, it seemed never ending and not much had changed in Forks; the town only just shaking off the hold that the snow had on them.

Leola was thankful that she didn't have to drive through the sludge that had been left behind when the snow had melted slightly and it wasn't cold enough for it to freeze entirely. It had resulted in Leola heading shopping for warmer clothes especially after the first time that the power had gone down; she had always put together a little emergency kit for when it did happen again.

"Not really," Bella replied shrugging, honestly it wasn't until Angela had mentioned working on her college essays that she'd even given much thought into what she would do once school was finished. She was mid-way through her senior year and exams were right around the corner, there wasn't much time for her to get her applications sent out.

Already she had missed most deadlines for college applications and Bella didn't want to find herself in a position where she had no idea what she was going to do when school finished. Of course, she still had her job working at Newton's Outfitters but the position was never intended to be permanent; lunchtime had become a source of dread at school listening to everyone talk about their after-graduation plans.

"We can start there. Are you interested in moving out of state?" Leola asked reaching for her laptop, it had been a little while since she had been in Bella's situation but she remembered some tricks to applying for colleges. There was a moment of pause while Bella didn't reply and Leola looked up from typing in her password to see the look on the girl's face; she had been doing so well recently and had started to put her life back on track.

"Let's see. Western Washington University, Whitworth University have March deadlines. Eastern Washington University, May," Leola mumbled checking which had later deadlines in the local area, she wasn't going to push Bella but she knew that having options wouldn't hurt.

"University of Washington Tacoma Campus, June. Northwest University, August," Leola continued knowing that was probably the latest that she would want to go, there were colleges in other states but now they had a good idea what was available around here. Changing tactics, Leola started to look into colleges deadlines in Arizona recalling that the girl had originally lived down there with her mother.

Thankfully it seemed that the deadlines there were later in the year and Bella still had time to apply to them; she searched a couple of other states to see what options were open for Bella and made note of them. It wouldn't hurt Bella to have some options if she made the decision to move away from Washington for college; she had decent grades and she worked hard at school.

"You have quite a few options still open to you. What are you planning to study?" Leola questioned her, she slide the list over to Bella so that she could see just what was still possible for her. If she decided that she wanted to think about her options about what she was going to do after school then she still had time for that; there were places with deadlines still open but the sooner she sent off her applications the better.

"How did you decide what you wanted to do with your life?" Bella asked nervously, she stared down at her hands knowing that the future that she had once hoped for with Edward was gone. Now she was having to live a life that she had never wanted to imagine, it was hard and she was thankful to have someone in her life like Leola that made her see that it would get better.

"My father's a firefighter and my mother's a nurse… I always wanted to help people, I did consider studying to be a doctor for a long time but I decided against it," Leola admitted with a shrug of her shoulders, she couldn't imagine herself being anything but a cop now. It hadn't been an easy road but she had worked hard to get where she was and Leola didn't regret not becoming a doctor.

"My parents probably would have preferred me to become a teacher but I found my calling and I know that they are proud of me," Leola told her, she could recall the moment where she had told her parents that she had enrolled in the police academy. It had taken them a bit of time to accept and Leona had tried to talk her out of it, she didn't want her daughter doing such a dangerous profession and had hoped she'd stay a meter maid for her entire career.

Bella didn't speak, her eyes focusing on the paper that Leola had passed to her with the names of colleges; her bottom lip caught between her teeth as she considered her options. If she was going to live her life without Edward, then she needed to accept that he would never come back for her; she could not live her life just waiting for him to show up.

Her life before coming to Forks had been focused on taking care of her loving, erratic, hare-brained mother; even when she had come to Forks, she had found herself taking care of Charlie by cooking all the time. The silence in the room made Leola uncomfortable, she set down her laptop and watched Bella seeing how lost she looked and wishing that she had some way in helping her with this.

Leola recalled what Charlie had told her about how Bella had been before she had gone to speak with her; the girl had certainly struggled and was still finding her feet. Charlie had even mentioned that she was hanging out with friends more and he was relieved to see her act more like a teenager by doing so than she had done since she had first arrived in Forks.

"Maybe it's time to put what you want first? What do you want do in life?" Leola asked her, she searched Bella's face and waited to see what she would say; it didn't have to be a distinct idea or something that she was entirely sure of. There was an endless world of possibilities and Bella had all the time in the world, she didn't have to go off to college in September; she could take a gap year and decide what she really wanted to do.

Sitting quietly, Bella thought about what Leola had said; she had always found herself living her life for other people and what they expected of her, never had she truly gotten to choose for herself.

"I'd like to be a writer… maybe go into publishing, see the world," Bella said shrugging, it seemed simple enough and she'd always loved reading. Her collection of books at home were something that she had always found herself preferring to read than go out with friends even before she came to Forks; to escape to worlds where she could go on adventures instead of caring for her mother.

"Then lets find you something where you can do that," Leola encouraged her, she was sure that they would be able to find something for Bella and now that they had an idea of what she wanted to do they could focus on that. She patted the seat next to her for Bella to take a seat before they both started to work through some of the colleges that Bella could attend; picking through the ones that had good English Literature courses that Bella could apply for.

Talk started to flow as they worked through the colleges that Bella might like to attend, a smile forming on the teenager's face while she discussed some of her options. Charlie had saved up for a college fund for her since she was a little girl, she still had quite a bit of money saved up and she was going to put it to good use.

It didn't take long for Bella to select a few colleges that she liked the look of and wanted to attend, it felt like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders as she discussed her future plans with Leola. Her list of colleges making her feel secure in a future that had once seemed so bleak without Edward in it didn't seem that way now; she was doing something for herself for the first time.

"I can't believe we managed to do that," Bella said staring not only a list of colleges but her college application was sat before her ready to send out; she just needed to work on her essay to send and she already knew what she wanted to write about. It seemed unreal how much they had gotten done in such a short space of time, once she had decided what she wanted to study and what she wanted to do.

"All it took was a little teamwork," Leola replied with a smile, she peeked at the clock and couldn't help but wonder if she'd see Sam today; he'd been pretty busy for the past week with the new member of the pack. He hadn't told Leola much about them but Leola had picked up at the newest wolf on the block had caught them all unaware; that it hadn't been someone that they had been watching.

It seemed there would be plenty of surprises in Forks going forward even if Leola thought things were calm.

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