Rebirth

Bella's Birthday

September came and it was Bella's eighteenth birthday, and she was not happy about it. She was worrying about aging and being one year older than Edward, but what she forgot was that all of us in the family were decades older. I knew she was determined to become one of us, but Edward was very opposed to the idea. I couldn't blame him, because the process of the transformation was exceedingly painful and difficult to go through.

Bella and Edward were walking down the hall together, and Alice came skipping towards her excitedly, "Happy birthday!" she hugged her as Bella shushed her. Alice ignored that and handed Bella a fancy green box tied in a black bow, "I have already seen you open this, and guess what? You love it!" she exclaimed, proud of herself.

"We're throwing a party for you at my house tonight-" Alice started, but Bella interrupted. "Alice, I don't know about this," "Come on, please? I promise it will be fun," she practically begged. Bella was still hesitant.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jasper staring intently at Bella and I knew he was using his ability to control her emotions, and I stifled down a giggle. "Okay," Bella agreed. "Great!" she skipped to where Jasper was standing, and Bella suddenly realized what just happened, "Jasper! No fair with the mood control thing!" "Sorry, Bella," he laughed. "Happy...never mind," he still had a hard time being around Bella because of her scent. He and Alice walked to the next class they had together. Edward chuckled, "You can't trust vampires. Trust me,"

"Oh, the irony!" I teased my brother. "You are getting more bold by the minute," Edward ruffled my hair humorously.

Later we had English, and we were reading the Shakespeare play "Romeo and Juliet" and today we were watching the 1936 movie. The 1968 film with Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey was much more enjoyable. Mr. Birdy was mouthing the quotes as he watched it with us, which made me think he watched it in his spare time on more than one occasion. Jessica Stanley and Angela Weber were staring smitten at the scene with Romeo expressing his love for Juliet over her appearing to be dead corpse, Mike Newton looked like he was about to fall asleep, and Eric Yorkie's face was streaming with tears. I found that amusing, because I remembered him talking about how things like this were lame. Even though I heard this story more than I could count over the past century, I still found it beautiful and romantic.

Mr. Birdy had caught Edward and Bella talking and he had him quote the last couple of lines we just heard and he repeated the lines perfectly. Thankfully Mr. Birdy seemed satisfied, "Eyes on the screen people," and he resumed the movie.

Later that night, we held the party for Bella to celebrate her birthday. Alice had Edward and Bella wait in the den while the rest of us made sure everything was ready. My sister insisted that everything'd be perfect. "Have you ever thought of a career in party planning?" I asked humorously and seriously. "Actually, I have. Thank you for the encouragement, Lilly," she patted my head; which was hilarious because I was taller than her.

She suddenly flitted up the stairs to bring Edward and Bella into the room. Bella looked at all of us in both surprise and disbelief. "Happy birthday Bella!" Esme hugged her. Rosalie handed Bella a small black box with a bow wrapped around it, "It's a necklace. Alice picked it out," she said in the most bored tone. "Thanks," Bella said gratefully, and I knew she was still confused as to why Rosalie always acted this way around her. None of us got that.

"Show me the love!" Alice used Bella's camera to take a picture of her and Edward. They just stood uncomfortably as she took the picture.

Emmett handed Bella a large box, "Happy birthday, Bella."

She took the box and realized it was unusually light, and she looked confused. "I already installed it in your truck. That piece of junk could use a decent sound system," "Don't hate the truck," Bella laughed.

It was my turn to give her a present, "I thought you could use one of these," I handed her the present I had wrapped myself, I had gotten her a purple journal with intricate European designs. She unwrapped it, and saw the journal. "This is great, thanks Lilly," she hugged me gratefully. "Of course," I hugged her back.

Alice handed her another present for her to open, and while Bella was unwrapping it, she cut her finger on the wrapping paper. "Ow, paper cut," she winced. A drop of blood fell onto the carpet, and it all went downhill from there. Jasper's eyes turned black, and he stared at Bella dangerously. He growled and began to charge for her, and Bella got pushed into the wall, cutting her arm as the vases of flowers shattered around her.

Emmett and I ran towards a ravenous Jasper to stop him from potentially hurting her or killing her.

Alice ran towards him to calm him down as Emmett and I restrained him. "Jasper! Shh, it's okay. It's just a little...blood," her gold eyes widened with shock. She saw Bella bleeding on the ground and immediately felt bad. Carlisle ran to Bella to check the cuts on her arm, "This can be easily stitched up. Take Jasper out of here," he told me and Emmett. We nodded and listened to what he told us. Alice came with us to calm Jasper down. As we were walking outside, I saw Edward solemn.

"I can't believe I lost control, I could've killed her," Jasper was sad and he felt horrible for what he had done. "You're okay, man. She's not going to hold that against you," Emmett comforted him."But Edward will, Bella means more to him than anything," my brother said with sadness. "Edward doesn't hold grudges, he'll be mad for a little bit, but he'll forgive and forget," I told Jasper. "We've all slipped at least once as we've learned how to control our thirst," I told him. "She's right," Alice kissed Jasper on the cheek.

Edward took Bella home later after Carlisle had taken the glass out of her arm and stitched up her wound. It was a somber event in the house; we had thought it would be a good party for Bella, but she was almost killed.