Mimic | Jacob Black

33. Mistakes and Unforseen Consequences

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"You guys are still coming to the graduation party, right?" Alice asked, but it didn't really sound like a question. There was no way she would let them skip out on it. Or maybe it was because she already knew they were coming. Foresight and all.

"Like I'd be allowed the luxury of missing it," Bella sighed.

"River?" Alice probed.

He tore his gaze away from the students moving about. Alice was walking in front of him. He had to remind himself that she said she couldn't see his future properly anymore. He still didn't think she would give him a choice.

"Why are you asking? Are you really giving me an option?"

"You're right, I'm not," she said, completely ignoring his hostile tone. "I'm still mad that you didn't tell me about your birthday until it had passed last year."

"Yeah, I feel so guilty about that," River deadpanned. "Why are you talking about the party?"

She stopped and spun around to look at him with a raised eyebrow. "Because it's next week?"

Both River and Bella looked surprised. They followed Alice's arm pointing to the nearby gym door, where a big yellow poster was taped. It had the date of graduation. Exactly one week from today.

"It's the fourth of June?" Bella asked, bewildered. "That can't be."

Edward chuckled slightly, breaking his silence from Bella's side.

How many weeks had it been since River talked to Carlisle, then? He couldn't recall that much time having passed. Clearly his moping and hatred had consumed him enough to lose track of the passage of time.

His guitar had become his new best friend whenever he wasn't at school. The solitude it provided–even if only from their backyard–helped him greatly. He would definitely be a lot worse if he didn't have it at his disposal. At this rate, he could become a professional with how much he played. He was sure Bella liked listening from her open window, but things still weren't the best between them.

"I didn't realise how much time had passed already, we graduate next week," he said.

"Yeah, I know. With everything going on, it feels almost trivial now," Bella responded.

Since there was a lot less time left of school than River realised, he committed the next two days to studying and revising. Bella did the same, but they did so by themselves for the most part. It was ironically one of the least stressful weeks River had experienced during the last couple of months. Everything that had been slowly building up seemed to come to a standstill–excluding the situation in Seattle, which had worsened to the point that officials were declaring a serial killer on the loose–and River was left with a lot of silence with his thoughts. Focusing on perfecting his knowledge on his school subjects calmed him down, funnily enough. Compared to everything else, he actually enjoyed it now. This form of relaxation wasn't something he could continue after he completed his exams though, so he was taking advantage of it while he could.

There was a knock at his door.

"Yeah?" he said without stopping the scribbling of his pen against the paper.

"Edward's going hunting with Carlisle, Esme and Rosalie for a few hours," Bella started. "Alice, Jasper and Emmett will still be here to watch us, but I proposed going to La Push–it would take the weight off their shoulders and we haven't been down since the bonfire. The Quileute school is already out for the summer as well, so we don't have to worry about that."

"No. I'll stay here," River said.

Bella sighed. "Fine. You don't have to come. I'm going, though. You'd be alright to take a couple hours off as well. You've done more than enough studying."