Crescent Night

Epilogue

It's been more than a month since the 'nomad incident' and things have seen a return to normalcy. Or as normal as it can be when most of your friend group consists of vampires. Bella was cleared to go back to class, and despite the unsubtle whispers about what really happened, everything has been calm at school.

Since the incident none of the Cullens are allowed at Bella's house, her dad was not very happy with what happened, and no matter how many times Bella has tried to tell him it's okay, he hasn't been in a very forgiving mood. Which I can understand, it's not like he knows what really happened.

So throughout the last month I've been staying over at Bella's house most days and driving her to school, because I wasn't going to make her have to have a daily awkward drive with her dad. Her dad is very happy since it confirms that Bella has friends that aren't the Cullens. Tonight is the junior prom, and Bella told her dad she and I are going together as friends, which is a lie I'm sure he's willfully believing because he really does not want to deal with any more Cullen nonsense.

"Stop moving!" I readjusted Bella's head and continued to straighten her hair.

"You're pulling my hair!" She tried to turn to look at me but I shoved her, keeping her in place.

"I'm not pulling that hard, stop being a baby." She reached back to try and hit me but I dodged and kept working on her hair.

But dealing with the fallout of the nomad incident has not been the only problem we've had. After I had my episode and saw Bella's bite mark, we both freaked out. We had so many questions, what I'd seen matched up too well with what really happened to Bella. But when we told Alice and Jasper, they told me it was most likely a coincidence and that we shouldn't think too much about it. I tried to ask them about it a few more times, but they both always seemed to dodge the questions.

We'd considered asking Carlisle or Esme, but they've been dealing with Rosalie and Emmet's departure. Apparently the family got into an argument after the incident and Rosalie and Emmet decided to spend some time away.

So Bella and I are the only ones that are apparently concerned with the hallucinations. And looking back, this isn't the first time I've had one that showed me something that happened. We've spent the better part of the month trying to figure it out, with very little success. So maybe Alice and Jasper were right, and it was all a coincidence.

"Okay, I'm done." I gave her hair a last brush to make sure it was evenly straightened and unplugged the straightener. Bella stood up and limped carefully towards the mirror, admiring her perfectly straight hair.

"It looks longer like this," she ran a hand through it, parting her hair to the side like she usually does, "Thank you so much!"

"It wasn't hard, your hair's pretty straight already, so it didn't take much." I opened the closet and took out the dresses we were going to wear. "I can do your makeup too if you want."

We spent another hour getting ready, and eventually left for the dance in Bella's red truck that I'd gotten very familiar with over the last month. The vampire trio wanted to pick us up, but we both declined stating that we wanted to give Bella's dad some semblance of peace of mind. The old thing creaked as we made our way down the empty streets of Forks. The old metal of the truck did little to shield us from the cold and I found myself shivering.

"Cold already?" Bella teased, and I tossed her an unappreciative look. Sure, easy to tease when you're wearing leggings under your dress. I readjusted the skirt of my dress, trying to seek out warmth. It was a simple short halter dress I brought from home.

"Maybe you should have let Alice get you another dress," Alice had offered to buy me a new one but I refused, this isn't the real prom anyway, it's just junior prom. But I'd be damned if I wasn't regretting that decision a bit with how cold it felt.