I stared down, concentrating on the clumsy scrawl of my handwriting. For a second I was distracted by the thought of Angela and Ben at the University of Washington. They would be off to Seattle in just a few months. Would it be safe then? Would the wild young vampire menace have moved elsewhere? Would there be a new place by then, some other city flinching from horror-movie headlines?
Would those new headlines be my fault?
I tried to shake it off and answered her question a beat late. "Alaska, I think. The university there in Juneau."
I could hear the surprise in her voice. "Alaska? Oh. Really? I mean, that's great. I just figured you'd go somewhere . . . warmer."
I laughed a little, still staring at the envelope. "Yeah. Forks has really changed my perspective on life."
"And Edward?"
Though his name set butterflies fluttering in my stomach, I looked up and grinned at her. "Alaska's not too cold for Edward, either."
She grinned back. "Of course not." And then she sighed. "It's so far. You won't be able to come home very often. I'll miss you. Will you e-mail me?"
A swell of quiet sadness crashed over me; maybe it was a mistake to get closer to Angela now. But wouldn't it be sadder still to miss out on these last chances? I shook off the unhappy thoughts, so that I could answer her teasingly.
"If I can type again after this." I nodded toward the stack of envelopes I'd done.
We laughed, and it was easy then to chat cheerfully about classes and majors while we finished the rest-all I had to do was not think about it. Anyway, there were more urgent things to worry about today.
I helped her put the stamps on, too. I was afraid to leave.
"How's your hand?" she asked.
I flexed my fingers. "I think I'll recover the full use of it . . . someday."
The door banged downstairs, and we both looked up.
"Ang?" Ben called.
I tried to smile, but my lips trembled. "I guess that's my cue to leave."
"You don't have to go. Though he's probably going to describe the movie for me . . . in detail."
"Charlie will be wondering where I am anyway."
"Thanks for helping me."
"I had a good time, actually. We should do something like this again. It was nice to have some girl time."
"Definitely."
There was a light knock on the bedroom door.
"Come in, Ben," Angela said.
I got up and stretched.
"Hey, Bella! You survived," Ben greeted me quickly before going to take my place by Angela. He eyed our work. "Nice job. Too bad there's nothing left to do, I would have . . ." He let the thought trail off, and then restarted excitedly. "Ang, I can't believe you missed this one! It was awesome. There was this final fight sequence-the choreography was unbelievable! This one guy-well, you're going to have to see it to know what I'm talking about-"
Angela rolled her eyes at me.
"See you at school," I said with a nervous laugh.
She sighed. "See you."
I was jumpy on the way out to my truck, but the street was empty. I spent the whole drive glancing anxiously in all my mirrors, but there was never any sign of the silver car.
His car was not in front of the house, either, though that meant little.
"Bella?" Charlie called when I opened the front door.
"Hey, Dad."
I found him in the living room, in front of the TV.
"So, how was your day?"
"Good," I said. Might as well tell him everything-he'd hear it from Billy soon enough. Besides, it would make him happy. "They didn't need me at work, so I went down to La Push."
There wasn't enough surprise in his face. Billy had already talked to him.
"How's Jacob?" Charlie asked, attempting to sound indifferent.
"Good," I said, just as casual.
"You get over to the Webers'?"
"Yep. We got all her announcements addressed."
"That's nice." Charlie smiled a wide smile. He was strangely focused, considering that there was a game on. "I'm glad you spent some time with your friends today."
"Me, too."
I ambled toward the kitchen, looking for busy work. Unfortunately, Charlie had already cleaned up his lunch. I stood there for a few minutes, staring at the bright patch of light the sun made on the floor. But I knew I couldn't delay this forever.
"I'm going to go study," I announced glumly as I headed up the stairs.
"See you later," Charlie called after me.
If I survive, I thought to myself.
I shut my bedroom door carefully before I turned to face my room.
Of course he was there. He stood against the wall across from me, in the shadow beside the open window. His face was hard and his posture tense. He glared at me wordlessly.