Don't Fight It

Epilogue

A/N: Well folks, this is the end.  Not to worry, I'll be posting my new story soon.  Probably by the weekend.  Well, on you go.

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Graduation Day

EPOV (Age 18)

I was bored. Correction, I was beyond bored. Who knew that high school graduation could drag on and on and on? As the principal droned on about how proud he was of us, I took a good look around the gym. It was filled to capacity despite the fact that our graduating class had less than fifty people in it. I let my gaze wander over the bleachers, and I saw Dad (who I'd finally stopped calling Carlisle), Esme, the Swans, but no sign of my mother. She'd promised she'd show up, and I felt a twinge of anger that she wasn't there. I huffed back a sigh, mentally telling myself it had been stupid to get my hopes up. Our relationship was rocky at best, but I'd been doing my best to make amends. Apparently, I was the only one trying.

A smattering of applause had me turning my gaze toward the stage where the principal was done talking, and a guest lecturer stood up and began to speak. Geez. At this rate, I'd be a geriatric by the time they got around to handing us our diplomas. Tyler Crowley who was sitting next to me must have felt the same way because he let out a muttered curse before pulling a Gameboy out of his pocket. I wished I'd thought to bring something to occupy my time, but I hadn't realized I would need it. When Rose and Emmett had graduated, it hadn't lasted this long.

Tuning out the guest lecturer, I looked over my shoulder and sought out my girl a couple of rows behind me. She looked as bored as I was, but she gave me a smile when she met my gaze. The past year had been hard, busy, and yet amazing. I'd kept my job at Newton's after the summer even though Dad had told me I didn't have to, but I'd wanted to. I hadn't wanted to have to rely on Dad's money to take my girl on dates or put gas in my car. I'd also joined the baseball team in the spring, so between practice, my work, and Bella's work, we hadn't gotten to see each other as much as we'd have liked to. We'd even had a few arguments here and there, but we'd always talked them out, which only strengthened our relationship.

We'd also spent the year preparing to take our SATs and applying to colleges. That had been beyond tedious. I'd come home from school one day to find fifteen college catalogs sitting on the table that Esme had sent off for. I had looked through all of them, but none of them had appealed to me. It didn't help that I'd had no idea what I wanted to do when I grew up.

Bella had been just as conflicted, but she had been adamant about leaving Washington. She'd wanted to get away from small town life and the pacific northwest. One night at my house, we'd been looking at universities online, and she'd spotted an ad for Arizona State University. I'd quickly pointed out that Tanya was in Phoenix, but Bella didn't care. After poking around on the site, she'd told me to add it to our list of potential schools. There was no way we were going to be separated. So, it had been with fingers crossed that we'd sent out tons of applications.

Last month, we'd both gotten acceptance letters to ASU, and we were thrilled, yet sad at the same time. Bella's family was going to be scattered across the country. Rose and Emmett were in California, Alice had gotten into some fashion design school in New York and Jasper would be attending New York University. But thanks to modern technology, we'd always be able to stay in touch.

Dad and Esme were sad to see me go but respected my decision. I did have to promise to come back to Forks for all the major holidays, and I readily agreed.