Blood Moon

Avonlee

The naïveté of childhood does not disappear with age.
As we grow, we learn, but we don't always understand.
What is important is that we don't always believe we have to.
Life doesn't always depend on you.

***

The busy lunchroom of Avonlee senior high school teems with life, students chattering loudly, teachers watching with dark scowls on their faces. Even so, it's hard for the students of this school to stop looking at us. Each of their eyes focuses on us with a certain sense of curiosity, enchanted by our very presence.

Not that I blame them.

It's been ten years since I was turned, three since my daughter Renesmée stopped aging. She sits next to me, smiling widely. Her light brown hair curls gently down her back, nearly reaching her thighs. Her light brown eyes glimmer with a certain golden light, and she holds a half-eaten red apple in her right hand. She looks into the eyes of her boyfriend, and my best friend, Jacob Black. His dark eyes are completely focused on her, mesmerized with her undeniable beauty. His copper skin seems to shine in the dim light from outside. His smile stretches from ear to ear every moment he looks at her.

My husband, Edward, leans on my shoulder, looking over at our daughter with interest. No doubt, he's reading her thoughts. His reddish brown hair and golden eyes captivate me, and I stare into them with a quickened heartbeat and a sense of light-headedness.

Across from us, Rosalie and Emmet talk quietly. Rosalie stays as far away from Jacob as she can, disgusted by the wet dog smell he wears constantly, a trait carried by werewolves. Emmett smiles as he whispers, then gently kisses her on her forehead. They seem like the perfect couple, the brawny dark haired boy and the blond, supermodel girl, both of them with glinting golden eyes.

Edward turns to look at the couple who enters, a thin, pixie like girl with short, dark hair, and a taller, medium-built boy with light brown, almost blond hair. Jasper and Alice.

Alice beams when she sees me, and takes me  in her arms for a hug.

"Bella," she breathes, squeezing me closer.

"Hi, Alice," I respond, returning the hug. "You've been keeping tabs?"

She smiles, and lols at me, knowingly. "Everything's going just fine in Forks."

"Thanks," I sigh. After moving here I realized that leaving my father and my town behind would be especially hard, since the place no longer had anyone to protect it. But it seemed like the Volturi got our message and realized we had moved.

Avonlee is just a small town on the northern coast of the Pacific, just barely within the province of British Columbia. The Yukon is closer to us than Vancouver. Here it's always raining or cloudy. The tall tree cover and vast forests make for great hunting grounds, and this tiny little town, which really is more of a hamlet, is way out of public eye.

Carlisle works in the small morge and hospital, much like he did back in Forks, and Esme holds down the fort back home, which is really more of a small community. There are five little houses on the property, one larger one for Esmee and Carlisle, a slightly smaller one for Edward, Renesmée and I, two other medium sized houses for Alice and Jasper, and Rosalie and Emmett, and finally, a small house for Jacob, which sits further away from the other houses. He doesn't really like the smell of vampire.

The bell rings, loudly, and the students rise, taking their empty cafeteria trays to the deposits by the counters. Edward graciously takes mine, and dumps it. I carry his binder, and wait for him to return. Alice stands next to me, a mindful expression on her face.