"Alice, I swear to God if you throw one more decoration at me, I'm not coming to your party."

Eleanor and Alice had been decorating the Cullen house for the past two hours. The vampire was quick - obviously- and threw decorations towards Eleanor every few seconds. She had only decorated half of what Alice had wanted done while Alice had finished her whole side. Eleanor was still wondering why she was needed.

"Lighten up!" Alice laughed, "I figured you could use your magic to do this, but apparently not. And you'd come just to be with Carlisle anyway."

Eleanor grumbled under her breath, trying to hide her blush from Alice's view. She looked toward the remaining decorations, "I'll hold them up if you pin them."

"Deal," Alice grinned, and watched as Eleanor raised the strands of paper. The scarlet twirls danced around the strands and Alice watched them in awe.

The two set up in private. Eleanor had too much on her mind to want to talk. She didn't think a party was the best idea, considering there was an army of vampires forming in Seattle. Of course she didn't voice her opinions.

She was graduating tomorrow.

After long years of hard work, Eleanor was finally graduating high school. She was proud of herself. The past week of exams had not been easy, and Eleanor would have rather stayed at home, but she pushed through. She was done, and vowed to stay out of high school once she had become a vampire.

A vampire. Eleanor was going to become one and leave her family behind. The thought broke her heart, but she knew she couldn't leave Carlisle behind. She wished there was a way to tell her family, and spend eternity with them.

Unfortunately, not all wishes come true.

"Hey," Alice broke Eleanor out of her thoughts, "Bella's here."

Eleanor dropped her hands, and turned to walk upstairs. Bella sat on a counter in the kitchen while Carlisle stood in front of her, wrapping her hand.

"Just a sprain," the doctor said, "should heal fairly quickly."

Eleanor smiled at her mate as he fixed Bella's hand. He was very attractive when he was in doctor mode.

"Trying to walk and chew gum at the same time again, Bella?" Emmett walked in, and Eleanor smirked.

"I punched a werewolf in the face," she said, awkwardly as Carlisle left her to stand beside Eleanor.

"Bad ass," El grinned, "who knew you had it in you?"

"You're gonna be one tough little new born," Emmett said.

"Tough enough to take you on," Bella joked.

Rosalie- who was standing with Emmett- scoffed and turned on her heel. Eleanor watched as she left the room with a frown. She knew how much her friend hated this life.

"Don't worry about it," Emmett said, but Bella was already following her out of the room.

---

"When we were five, they asked us what we wanted to be. Our answers were things like astronaut, president, or in my case, a princess," A chorus of laughter filled the crowd as Jessica Stanley read off her valedictorian speech.

Eleanor wore a soft smile on her face as she watched her twin stand on the podium.

"When we were ten, they asked again. We answered, rock star, cowboy, or in my case, a gold medallist," the crowd laughed again, before quieting, "but now that we've grown up, they want a serious answer. How about this? Who the hell knows?"

Eleanor cheered with the rest of her class, because who the hell did know?

"This isn't the time to make hard, fast decisions. This is the time to make mistakes. Take the wrong train and get stuck somewhere. Fall in love... a lot." El resisted the urge to turn and look at Carlisle, even if she could feel his stare on her back, "major in philosophy, because there's no way to make a career out of that!"

"Change your mind, and change it again because nothing is permanent. So, make as many mistakes as you can. That way, someday, when they ask what we want to be... we won't have to guess. We'll know."

Tears pooled in Eleanor's eyes as she cheered and clapped for her sister. She was so proud of her- Jess had completely nailed her speech. Eleanor pulled her sister into a tight hug once she sat down next to her, "that was great, Jessie."

Her twin pulled away, smiling, "don't cry, El. We're graduating! We're supposed to be happy!"

"I know! I am!" She said, and she was. She was happy.

The senior class of Forks High School was small. So it took no time before Eleanor was walking across the stage to receive her diploma. She held it up in the air with a grin on her face, before walking off.

It was done. She had graduated, and was about to move onto the next part of her life. Like the rest of the teens in her class, she was celebrating the fact that she would never have to return to high school. Eleanor was finally one step closer to her eternity.

---

Music blared through the speakers at the Cullen house. Teenagers danced and grinded up against each other in various places. The lights were out, with neon bulbs lighting up the room. Eleanor and Alice had done a great job setting up.

Eleanor danced around with Bella and Alice, spinning around in her little black dress. She hadn't dressed up in ages, and was glad she had came to the party. It wasn't such a bad idea.

"You made it!" Eleanor yelled when she saw Jess and Angela walk in the house.

"Well, duh! I'm not missing an opportunity to see the Cullen house," Angela winked at the two of them.

"Doesn't it look great?" El asked before leaning in, "I decorated it."

"That's great, El," Jessica smiled, before narrowing her eyes at someone behind her, "who is Mike with?"

The girl walked away before Angela or Eleanor could say anything. The two girls just shared a look, before Angela followed behind Jessica. Eleanor danced with a few girls from school for a few moments, before noticing Jacob.

"Excuse me," she smiled at the girls. Eleanor made her way to Jacob and Bella. She noticed Embry and Quil and pulled both of the boys into hugs.

"Hello, everyone," she said.

He rolled his eyes, "why don't you go dance with the boys or something?"

"I'm perfectly happy standing right here," she glared at him, her eyes beginning to glow red. She was trying to get over his attitude, but he was making it too hard.

"Calm down, Eleanor," Embry grabbed her arm, and pulled her back by the staircase. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, before opening them again.

"Why is he even here? Didn't Bella punch him?"

"He wanted to apologize," Quil explained.

She huffed, but continued to watch the encounter between the two. The sound of footsteps padding down the stairs caused Eleanor to turn her head. She looked at Alice right as the girl stopped cold. The vampire's eyes widened, and her mouth dropped open.

Eleanor rushed over to her, shielding her from the eyes of teenagers. Alice met Eleanor's eyes. She looked fearful.

"Go upstairs," she instructed, and turned back to look at the werewolves and Bella, "come on."

Carlisle's head snapped to the stairs, confused as to why so many people were coming upstairs. The group of teenagers all wore worried looks on their faces, and he immediately rushed to Eleanor's side, "what happened?"

"Alice had a vision," Eleanor mumbled, peering up into his eyes. She took his hand in hers and led him over to the couch. El sat beside him, before staring up at Alice, "what did you see?"

"The decisions been made," she began, her amber eyes staring only at the floor.

"We're not going to Seattle?" Esme asked, and Alice shook her head.

"No, they're coming here. They'll be here in four days."

Carlisle squeezed Eleanor's hand. If this really was the Volturi, what was he going to do to stop them from taking his mate?

"This could turn into a bloodbath," Edward worried, "who's behind it?"

"No one I recognized," she said, finally meeting Edward's stare, "maybe one."

"Riley Biers," Edward realized, "I know his face."

"No," Eleanor shook her head, "he's local. He wouldn't start this."

She knew Riley when he was younger- they had went to school together when they were kids. He couldn't be behind this army.

"Whoever did is staying out of the action," Carlisle stated, "they must be playing with the blind spots in your vision."

"Either way the army is coming, and there aren't enough of us to protect this town," Esme frowned. Eleanor looked over at her, and squeezed her hand to try and comfort the woman.

"Hold up," Jacob suddenly stood up and turned to look at Alice, "what damn army?"

"Newborns, our kind," Carlisle answered.

"What do they want?" Jake asked, scared he already knew the answer.

"They were passing around Bella's scent. A red blouse," Alice explained, and Edward tensed.

"They're coming after Bella? What the hell does this mean?"

"It means an ugly fight," Jasper sighed, "with many lives lost."

The shifters shared quick looks, before turning back to the vampires, "all right. We're in."

Eleanor frowned, and shook her head, "no. Absolutely not."

"Do you think your bloodsucker is going to let you fight, instead of us?" Jacob laughed.

Eleanor glared at him, her free hand balling into a fist.

"She's right, Jacob," Bella glanced at him, "you'll get yourselves killed."

"I wasn't asking permission," he sneered.

"Edward," Bella looked at him, pleading him to stop Jacob.

"It means more protection for you, Bella."

"Jacob, do you think Sam will agree to come to an understanding?" Carlisle asked, glancing down at Eleanor, who was still glaring at Jacob.

"As long as we get to kill some vampires," he smirked.

"Jasper?"

"They'll give us the numbers," the blonde said, "and the newborns won't even know they exist. That'll give us an edge."

"We'll need to coordinate," Esme said.

"Carlisle they're going to get hurt," Bella now stared at him, but he only shook his head.

"We'll all need some training," he reassured her before looking back at Jacob, "fighting newborns requires knowledge that Jasper has. You're welcome to join us."

"Alright, name the time and the place."

"Jake, you don't know what you're getting yourself into," Bella tried again and Eleanor rolled her eyes.

"Bella, this is what we do. Besides, you should be happy. Look at us working together," he was taunting her," You're the one who wanted us to get along, right?"

Jacob threw one more look at Eleanor, then turned and walked out of the room. Quil and Embry quickly waved goodbye to Eleanor, and followed behind Jacob.

The girl stood up, smoothing down her dress, and then stormed to Carlisle's room. The doctor entered behind her, and carefully moved over to the bed where she sat, "what's going on between you and Jacob?"

"He's just mad because Bella would rather stay with Edward than him. So he's taking his anger out on everyone, I guess," she sighed, angrily, "I am going to be at that fight, and I'm going to kick his ass once this is over."

He chuckled softly, taking her hand and kissing her knuckles, "if you are going to fight, I want you to train first."

Eleanor smiled, "of course, I'm going to train, Carlisle. I'm not going to go into it without knowing how to fight vampires."

Carlisle leaned forward, and captured Eleanor's lips with his. He pulled away quickly, "you look beautiful, by the way."

Eleanor blushed, looking down at her black dress, and back up at him, "I love you."

"I love you more," he grinned. Carlisle gently nudged Eleanor so that she lied on her back, before placing himself over her and connecting their lips.