A week past by and it was finally graduation day for Emmett, myself, Bella and Edward. Along with Jasper and Alice. We sat in a row together wearing our caps and gowns. Dad sat in the family section next to Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie, and Henry. They called the class valedictorian Jessica Stanley to the stage.

"When we were five, they asked us what we wanted to be when we grew up. Our answers were things like astronaut, president, or, in my case, a princess. When we were ten, they asked again. We answered rockstar, cowboy, or, in my case, a gold medalist. But now that we've grown up, they want a serious answer. Well, how about this? Who the hell knows." We all clapped and cheered. "This isn't the time to make hard and fast decisions. This is the time to make mistakes. Take the wrong train and get stuck somewhere. Fall in love... a lot. Major in philosophy, because there's no way to make a career out of that. Change your mind, and change it again, because nothings permanent. So make as many mistakes as you can. That way, someday, when they ask what we want to be, we wont have to guess. We'll know." Jess smiled proudly as the room erupted into cheers.

When it was time to walk to get our diploma's we all stood in a line and moved as our names were called. Bella was first, Dad stood up and proudly clapped for her and the Cullen's in the room cheered. My turn came next and Dad did the same thing, Henry of course, being Henry cheered loudly over the rest making me turn as red as a tomato as I grabbed my diploma. I walked off the stage to be twirled around by Emmett and he kissed me passionately. I couldn't believe that after 18 years, this moment was finally here. Closing this chapter of my life and a new one beginning.

As Alice promised she delivered a big fancy graduation party at the Cullen household that night. It really was a beautiful set up. Loud music, blared through the air. Lot's of kid's dancing and all around having a grand time. Bella and I showed up after having a dinner with our Dad, seeing as he had to get back to work. The second we made it up the stairs we were bombarded by Jess and Angela squeezing us tightly.

"Hey, so what did you think of my speech?" Jess squealed into my ear. I cringed slightly and smiled. "Too easy-breezy? Too self-helpful? You hated it?" She pulled away from our hug.

"No, Jess it was awesome. You nailed it for sure." I assured her.

"Yeah? It's like I was totally born to lead, right?"

"Promise we'll keep in touch?" Angela asked as she hugged me.

"Oh, yeah. Of course." I told her with a smile.

"Ohhh. I love this song!" Angela squealed and grabbed Jessica's hand. "Let's go." The two girls ran off back into the other room. Bella and I both chuckled and looked around.

"I can't believe we've graduated." I spoke loudly to Bella over the music.

"I know. We are like actual adults.." She cringed slightly but laughed. "Uh, (Y/n)?" Bella was looking over my shoulder at something.

"What?" I turned around to see none other than Jacob, Embry and Quil, walking up the stairway. I huffed and walked over to them.

"What are you doing here?" I crossed my arms and Jacob looked at me with a slight smile.

"You invited me, remember?" Jacob smirked and I laughed.

"I'm pretty sure my punch to your face should have been obvious enough. That was me un-inviting you."

"Look, (Y/n), I'm sorry about, you know, the kiss and your hand. I'd blame it on the whole inner animal thing, but it was really just me.. being an ass. I'm really sorry." Jacob apologized. I smiled softly and nodded my head. "I brought you something. A graduation present. I made it myself."

He pulled out a silver charm bracelet with a small wooden wolf carving, it reminded me of his russet colored wolf.

"Wow." I grabbed it from his hands and carefully ran my fingers over the wolf. "You made this? It's really pretty. Thank you." He smiled happily at me.

I noticed Alice was coming down the stairs, when she suddenly stopped. I nudged Bella's side and we quickly walked over to her.

A group of blood red eyed newborn's gathered in a group. They were frantic and uncontrolled. The stranger walked around with two shirts. One red and one purple. Making the other vampires smell the scent.

"Alice? What's wrong? What did you see?" I asked her quietly.

"The decision's been made." She claimed. Jacob walked over beside me.

"What's going on?"

"We're not going to Seattle..." Bella murmured and Alice shook her head.

"No. They're coming here."

"We've got to find the others." I said urgently and we walked about the house gathering the available family members. Jacob and his boys trailed along behind us.

"They'll be here in four days." Alice told them as we all gathered in Carlisle's office.

"This could turn into a blood bath." Carlisle said to us concerned.

"Who's behind it?" Emmett asked from next to me.

"I didn't see anyone I recognized. Maybe one." Alice thought about the man she thought she'd seen somewhere.

"I know his face. He's local. Riley Biers." Edward said after seeing into Alice's mind.

"The missing kid our dad's been trying to help find?" I asked him concerned. Edward nodded.

"He didn't start this." Edward shook his head.

"Whoever did is staying out of the action." Alice pointed out.

"They must be playing with the blind spots in your vision." Carlisle leaned against his desk. We all looked around at each other.

"Either, way the army is coming and there aren't enough of us to protect the town." Jasper crossed his arms as he spoke.

"Hold up. What damn army?" Jacob piped up confused.

"Newborns. Our kind." Carlisle told the boy simply.

"What are they after?" Embry asked him curiously.

"They were passing around (Y/n) and Bella's scent. A purple flannel and a red blouse." Alice said worriedly.

"So that's where my damn shirt went..." I mumbled and Emmett rolled his eyes and rubbed my arm comfortingly.

"They're after (Y/n)? And Bella? What the hell does this mean?" Jacob spoke with alarm in his tone.

"It means an ugly fight. With lives lost." Carlisle answered him truthfully.

I looked at Emmett worriedly and we held hands squeezing lightly. Bella looked to Edward who pulled her in closely. I looked over to see Jacob giving Embry and Quil a look and the boys nodded.

"All right. We're in."

"What? No! You'd get yourselves killed. No way."

Jacob looked at me.

"I wasn't asking for permission."

"Emmett..." I looked to him and he looked at me apologetically. "Edward?" I turned towards him hoping anyone would back me up. Edward was definitely reading Jacob's mind again.

"It means more protection for both of you." Edward offered simply. Jacob looked slightly shocked at his response. I huffed and crossed my arms angrily. Carlisle began to speak turning Jacob's attention towards him.

"Jacob, do you believe Sam would agree to an understanding?"

"As long as we get to kill some vampires."

"Jasper?" Carlisle looked over at him.

"They'll give us the numbers. Newborns won't even know they exist. That'll give us an edge." Jasper looked between Jacob and Carlisle.

Bella hopped up from her seat.

"Carlisle, they're gonna get hurt." She pointed out.

"We'll all need some training. Fighting newborns requires knowledge that Jasper has. You're welcome to join us." He looked to Jake.

"All right." He glanced my way then back to Carlisle. "Name the time and place." I stood up and took a step forward.

"Jacob, please. You don't know what your getting yourself into." I pleaded with him.

"(Y/n), this is what we do. You should be happy. Look at us, working together. You are the one who wanted us to get along, remember?" He told me softly with a smirk crossing his face.

The next day we all joined together in the specified location in the forest. We were the first to arrive, with no signs of the wolves yet. So Jasper and all the Cullen men decided to start training while we waited. Jasper had gone up against Henry so far and next was Emmett's turn. They went a few rounds and during the last one Em, charged at him and they fought for about a minute before Jasper sent him flying through the air and he landed hard on the forest floor.

"Again!" Emmett shouted.

"Give someone else a turn, muscles." I laughed. Emmett smirked and sped over to me lifting me up and twirling me around. "I think everyone here know's just how strong you are. Gotta let some others join in on the fun too, babe." I patted his cheek softly.

"Can always get stronger, babe." He set me down and held my hand. That's when he noticed my bracelet. He gently ran his fingers over it.

"It was a graduation present." I told him softly. He looked at it again a little sadly but nodded his head.

Everyone gathered by their partners as we heard crunching coming through the woods. Soon enough, large wolves appeared into the space. They growled lowly as they approached.

"They don't trust us enough to be in their human forms." Edward informed the rest of us.

"They came. That's what matters. Will you translate?" Carlisle asked of Edward. He nodded and stood forward with him.

Jacob's wolf came down being the closest to the group and he looked at me.

"Hi, Jake." I said softly with a nod.

"Welcome. Jasper has experience with newborns. He'll teach us how to defeat them."

"They want to know how the newborns differ from us." Edward translated by reading their thoughts.

"They're a great deal stronger than us because their own human blood still lingers in their tissues. Our kind is never more physically powerful than in our first several months of this life." Carlisle explained and then nodded to Jasper giving him the opportunity to speak to them.

"Carlisle's right. That's why they are created. A newborn army doesn't need thousands like a human army, but no human army could stand against them. Now. The two most important things to remember are, first, never let them get their arms around you. They'll crush you instantly. Second... Never go for the obvious kill. They'll be expecting that, and you will lose." Jasper said each word slowly to ensure the depth of the meaning behind them. "Emmett!" Jasper called out to him. He kissed me quickly and followed Jasper over to the fighting area they had created.

"Don't hold back." Jasper grinned as he teased him.

"Not in my nature." Emmett grinned widely back at his brother.

Emmett charged forward after Jasper, tackling his waist and pushing him backwards. He then grabbed Jasper and tossed him over his head to the ground. Jasper's body rolled along the dirt. He quickly recovered and they charged at each other. Emmett attempted to throw a punch towards Jasper, but he quickly ducked giving him time to swing his arm into Emmett's chest knocking him back onto the ground.

"Never lose focus." Jasper smirked and walked away.

I was watching the fight between the two. Proudly watching Emmett as he did his best. That's when Jacob's furry head came from behind and pushed into my hand. I turned to see it was him and he nuzzled against me.

"Some of you are going to get hurt..." I whispered into his big fluffy ear. His big head turned towards me and his big brown eyes blinked. "Some of you could get killed all because of me... It's gonna be 100 times worse than this, right?" I said as I didn't take my eyes off the two fighting boys. Jacob grunted softly and his head bent down. I patted him in between his ears and he made a slight humming sound. That was when the fight ended and Emmett walked over towards us. Jacob huffed a small growl and then walked away from me.

Emmett wrapped his arms around me and held me close. We watched as Edward and Carlisle fought next. As Edward pinned Carlisle to the ground he began to walk away happy as can be.

"One more thing." Jasper said making his way towards him. At that moment Carlisle flipped Edward onto the ground. "Never turn your back on your enemy."

Jasper and Rosalie fought and it was an intense match between them. Then Jasper and Alice fought. He had lost site of her at the end and she jumped down from a tree into his arm's gracefully and kissed him.

"We are done for the day." Edward said as he walked over towards Bella, Emmett and I.

Bella and I walked over towards the jeep.

"Can't help but feel a little more useless than normal after watching that, huh?" I asked my sister with a weak smile.

"Oh, yeah... I was thinking maybe we should talk to Jasper. Try to see if there's really anything we can do to help." I nodded at her and we made it to the jeep. We waited for him to be done talking to Carlisle and Alice and when he was he happened to walk in our direction we called out to him.

"Hey, Jasper?" I called out to him. He turned and looked at me with a smile.

"Are you sure there's nothing we could do to help?" Bella asked.

"Well, your presences alone, your scents, will distract the newborns. Their hunting instinct will take over and drive them crazy." He gave us a smile.

"Good. That's good... I'm glad." I said softly. Still not totally thrilled with the idea being utterly useless.

"Hey," Bella said as he tried to walk away. "How do you know so much about this?"

"I didn't have quite the same upbringing as my adopted siblings." He pulled up his sleeves to reveal his arms and they were covered in bite marks. I jumped up and walked over to him closely inspecting them and he chuckled lowly.

"Whoa, your bites are like mine." I rolled up my sleeve to reveal my wrist with the crescent moon silvery mark that was permanently etched onto my skin.

"Battle scars." Jasper's southern drawl voice said as he smirks. "All the training the Confederate Army gave gave me was useless against the newborns. Still, I never lost a fight."

"This happened during the civil war?" Bella asked him intrigued.

"I was the youngest major in the Texas calvary, all without having seen any real battle."

"Until?" Bella pryed for more.

"Till I met a certain immortal. Maria." He explained. "I was riding back to Galveston after evacuating a column of woman and children when I saw them. I immediately offered them my aid."

"Lovely." One of the three woman, a blonde, who appeared to be stranded said. "And an officer."

Jasper climbed off his horse and bowed politely at the three woman.

"You'd better do it, Maria. I can never stop once I've started." The third woman, a brunette, whispered to the one in the middle who's name was Maria.

Jasper stood forward and he bowed and looked to the women confused.

"What's your name soldier?" The blonde asked him sweetly.

"Major Jasper Whitlock, ma'am."

"I hope you survive. You may be of great use to me." Maria said slowly walking over to him before she grabbed his head and bit his neck.

"Maria was creating an army?" I asked as he told his story.

"They were very common in the south. There was constant brutal battles for territory. Maria won 'em all. She was smart, careful, and she had me. I was her second in command. My ability to control emotions served her well. I trained her newborns, an endless occupation since she never let them live beyond their first year. It was my job to dispose of 'em. I could feel everything they felt... I thought what Maria and I had was love. But I was her puppet. She pulled the strings. I didn't know there was another way... till I found Alice." His solemn tone turned cheery at the mention of her name. "Now, she'd seen me coming, of course."

"You keep me waiting long enough." Alice said as she approached the three of us.

"My apologies ma'am." He grinned at her, looking her in the eyes lovingly. Both Bella and I looked at them as if they were the cutest couple in the world. "I don't know what I'd have become without her."

"Shh..." Alice cooed at him. "You never have to be that again." She leaned in and they kissed sweetly.