Moving Forward - J. Black

ix

EDITED

"Eliza!" Angela called out as the blonde walked into the cafeteria, waving her over to the large group of friends. Bella and Edward were also heading over to the table, Bella's eyes begging Eliza to join them as well. Bella had a newfound appreciation for Eliza after she surprisingly voted toward her transition, her presence also helped take a bit of the head off Edward. Eliza looked at the brunette's pleading eyes and then over at her family's table, Alice grinning at the blonde. Eliza let out a huff when Alice shoo'ed her toward the humans.

"Hey." Angela hugged Eliza as she made it to the table. "Hey, Ang." Eliza hugged the girl back before taking a seat. Jessica gave the blonde a side glance but turned her attention back to her boyfriend as Mike tried to help her with her speech. "My fellow students, right, okay right?" Mike urged as he pointed his pencil at Jessica. "We are the future, anything is possible, if you just believe." Mike spoke dramatically, while Eliza simply raised her eyebrow at the teenager. "Nice." Angela laughed sarcastically while everyone else shook their heads.

"And you got yourself a speech." Mike slammed the paper down and over to Jessica. "No, this'll be my speech when I want everyone to throw diplomas at my head." Jessica crumbled up the paper. "So thank you." the girl then threw the paper in Mike's face, but the football player did not seem at all phased. "You got to embrace the cliches, Jess." Eric shrugged, agreeing with his friend. "They are the bread and butter of all valedictorians." Mike kept trying.

"Eliza, what do you think?" Jessica turned to the blonde, surprising Eliza. "Me?" Eliza repeated, trying to hide her shock, and Jessica nodded. "I personally would throw a diploma at your head." Eliza shrugged as she gave the girl an honest answer. "Jess, doesn't need cliches, her speech will be epic." Bella stepped up to support her friend. "Epic? This speech will change lives." Jessica sighed dramatically as Alice and Jasper sat down next to Eliza. "I've decided to throw a party." Alice grinned at the group, who all looked confused by her presence. "After all, how many times are we going to graduate high school?" Jasper had a smile of his own as he joked around. Eliza grinned while Edward scoffed under his breath. "A party? At your place?" Angela looked at Eliza shocked.

"I've never seen your house." Jessica looked shell-shocked. "No one's ever seen their house." Eric told Jessica, equally dumbfounded. "Another party, Alice?" Edward was completely unamused by the idea. "It'll be fun." Alice pleaded with the couple. "Yeah, that's what you said last time." Eliza laughed, but Alice didn't find the comment funny. Eliza went to apologize for hurting her feelings when she noticed Alice's vision go blank.

"Hey Angela, need help with these?" Eliza tried to draw the attention away from Alice, reaching over for the flyers she had on the table. 

Bella and Edward went to Jacksonville to see her mom one last time before graduation and the timing couldn't be more perfect. Alice's vision from lunch was of Victoria's next visit and the family was ready to take the redhead down. "Are you sure this is where you saw her?" Carlisle looked around the darkened woods with still no sight of the vampire "She's almost here." Alice was triggered by some portion of her vision happening, putting the coven on alert. "On your left!" Alice's words were heard at the same time as crunching leaves hit Eliza's ears. Seeing the nomad's wild red hair, Eliza took off down the stream, Jasper and Emmett following her closely.

Eliza pushed her speed, trying to catch up to the redhead. Emmett took a different method of attack, jumping in the trees and waiting for Victoria to cross to their territory. Victoria jumped over and Emmett leaped for her only to be thrown down and into Eliza's moving body. Eliza groaned as Emmett's weight slammed her into the tough forest floor. watched as Emmett grabbed Victoria from below only to be thrown up into the trees. "Sorry, Liz." Emmett rolled off the blonde as soon as he could. "I'm going to kill her." Eliza glared at the blurred figure that grinned back at the pair before taking off again. Emmett let out an amused laugh as Eliza jumped back up and took off again.

Eliza's anger was pushing her speed to new lengths. Eliza was gaining on the redhead quickly, especially when Victoria to a second to look back and slowed in surprise that she was still being tailed. Eliza was so close to grabbing the redhead when Carlisle called out. "Wait!" Carlisle yelled as Victoria leaped across the river, tripping Eliza in the process. Rosalie jumped to stop Eliza from tumbling into the river and the family stopped to watch the nomad. "She's in their territory now." Carlisle sighed as the nomad got further. "As soon as the wolves pick up on her scent, she'll jump right back over. We can't just let her get away!" Eliza argued with Carlisle, who still looked hesitant. "Eliza's right, let's go!" Jasper nodded at Eliza before the two vampires took off back down the trail.

Jasper and Eliza quickly caught up to Victoria as the other side of the river was more of a rough trail. The wolves began to gain on Victoria and Eliza smirked when she saw Victoria getting nervous. As expected, Victoria looked over at Eliza wearily before jumping over to the Cullen's territory again. Eliza and Jasper pushed faster and quickly gained on the redhead again, Victoria jumping up into the trees in order to gain some sort of advantage. Jasper tripped over a branch that broke off from the weight and speed of the nomad, leaving Eliza with the best chance of catching up. Victoria began to jump between territories again, giving Eliza the advantage of speed. Eliza noticed Victoria was getting ready to jump back to the werewolves' territory and pushed her speed to its fullest.

Eliza was mere inches from reaching Victoria when the redhead lifted her foot to launch off. Eliza knew the risk but launched her body with Victoria's. "Eliza, no!" Rosalie screamed out in protest when she saw the wolves also following through with their hunt. Eliza's fingers grazed Victoria's thick jacket when a silver wolf barreled into her, sending her tumbling into the river. Eliza's skin would've shredded on the rough rocks if it weren't for her immortality. Anger surged through Eliza's body as she stood up, her clothes soaked, and Victoria grinning back at her from afar.

"You dick, I had her!" Eliza glared at the snarling wolves, not caring about the risk of breaking the treaty. "Eliza." Carlisle was calm as he tried to reason with the blonde. "What? They've been hunting her for months and failed! I had her in my hands within one day and they fucked ruined it!" Eliza's head snapped toward Carlisle, her anger still blazing. "Come on." Emmett held a hand out for Eliza, just as disappointed and angry. "I am so tired of that bitch." Eliza grumbled as she took Emmett's hand.