╔══════════════════╗

SKIN & BONES
vi. KEY TO HAPPINESS

╚══════════════════╝

ALL OF LORELAI'S EMOTIONS were pouring out of her like a shaken-up soda bottle. She felt ridiculous. All she had done was take three steps into her old high school to celebrate the graduation of her little sister and the Cullens. That was all it took for her emotions to take over.

She stood in her old high school bathroom—a place she recalled spending a lot of time in when she didn't feel good about herself as a youthful teenager. She stared at her reflection in the mirror, feeling utterly disgusted with herself. From the way her eyes turned into little crescent moons when she smiled, the way her laugh sounded, how protective she was of her loved ones, the fact that she couldn't see her bones protrude out of her body anymore... Lorelai Swan felt ugly.

She felt stupid even thinking this. After all, dying gave her supernatural beauty, which seemed to be fit to attract a human meal. Yet, still, after all this time, she still felt like that scared, 14-year-old who had just gotten kicked out of her mother's home for being anorexic.

Lorelai's hands went to her face, her fingers pinching her cheeks. She frowned.

This wasn't right.

Lorelai was supposed to be happy. She had a loving father and sister, she had a more than loving boyfriend, she had the Cullens, she had Sam and his pack, she was physically healthy again, she was making friends, she was getting ready to go back to school again, and she was insanely powerful, which meant she could protect everyone she cared for.

If anything, Lorelai was finally going back to living a normal life. That was all she wanted. What more could she ask for? What else could possibly be wrong with her life?

Lorelai didn't turn to see who entered the bathroom when she heard the door open. Her darkened eyes were stuck on her reflection. Perhaps that was why she had covered up all the mirrors in her room at home—to avoid this feeling she most certainly didn't miss.

"There you are," Esme's warm voice greeted. The woman approached Lorelai, a gentle smile on her face. "The ceremony's going to start soon. Is everything alright?"

Lorelai sighed. "I don't know," she admitted. "I thought everything was alright, but apparently it's not. I mean, I'm supposed to be happy, right? I should be happy, but for some reason, I'm not."

She ran a hand through her hair, continuing, "I have so much I'm thankful for. I don't understand why I'm so unhappy. I finally have this life that I can consider normal again, yet it's nothing like I thought it would be. I hunt maybe once a month or so instead of every two weeks, meaning I'm pretty much starving myself, even when I told myself I'd never fall back into those habits ever again. I'm so exhausted from hunger that I can't even tell if Jasper knows that I've been lying to him about promising to hunt more frequently."

Esme reached out and rubbed Lorelai's back in a motherly manner as Lorelai added, "I think this is the first time I've willingly looked at myself in the mirror in weeks. It just makes me feel like that weak little girl I was just a few years ago."

She wasn't quite sure what it was about Esme that caused her to spill every thought Lorelai had in her mind. Esme was the motherly figure Lorelai never had in her life. Perhaps that was why she loved Esme so much.

"My dear, let me tell you something," Esme urged. "No one is built happy. As a matter of fact, happiness is something that is very hard to achieve, especially after years and years of struggling in darkness." She paused, a dark cloud floating overhead. "Before Carlisle changed me, I had a miscarriage. It was my dream to be a mother, but I had a miscarriage. It sent me into a fury of sadness. I even tried to kill myself from it."

Lorelai's black eyes widened, causing her to lock her gaze on Esme's reflection next. "I'm sorry. I-I didn't know..." trailed off the Manipulator.

Esme smiled at her, tucking a piece of the girl's hair behind her ear. "I didn't expect you to," she admitted. "After all this time, I can confidently say that I am happy. I have my family, which includes you." Esme paused once more. "I think your problem is your obsession with a normal life. I mean, look at yourself and your life, dear. You're far from normal. You're extraordinary, Rory. Is that such a bad thing? Clinging to your old life where normality once lied is most certainly not the key to happiness. In that life, you were unhappy for a long, long time. Perhaps, maybe instead of normalcy, maybe the key to happiness is to simply move forward."

Lorelai turned around and hugged Esme. If she were alive, she was sure she would have cried in that moment.

"Thank you."

○ ○ ○

"When we were five, they asked us what we wanted to be when we grew up. Our answers were things like astronaut, president, or in my case, a princess," said the brown-haired valedictorian Lorelai recognized to be Jessica Stanley. The audience erupted with laughter. "When we were ten, they asked again. We answered: rock star, cowboy, or in my case, a gold medalist." The crowd laughed again, causing Jessica to smile confidently. "But now that we've grown up, they want a serious answer. Well, how about this... who the hell knows?"

The crowd cheered at her words as Jessica continued, "This isn't the time to make hard and fast decisions. This is the time to make mistakes. Take the wrong train and get stuck somewhere. Fall in love... a lot."

"Major in Philosophy because there's no way to make a career out of that. Change your mind and change it again because nothing is permanent. So make as many mistakes as you can. That way, someday, when they ask what we wanna be, we won't have to guess," Jessica wrapped up. "We'll know."

With that being said, the crowd of parents, Forks High School alumni, and friends burst out with applause and cheers.

"I'm tellin' you, Pops, I don't think it's gonna happen," admitted Lorelai in a whisper. She sat between Charlie and Esme, who was sitting soundly beside her husband.

"I think this is the first time you've ever sided with your sister," admitted Charlie. "C'mon. There's no way she won't trip over her own two feet."

"Well, I hope you have your ten bucks ready to fork over because you're losing this bet."

"Yeah, sure."

"Isabella Swan!"

Instantly, Lorelai and Charlie were on their feet, clapping and cheering for the youngest Swan as she nervously walked across the stage. 'Please don't trip, please don't trip, please don't trip,' Lorelai anxiously thought. 'Even if it'd be really funny, please don't trip.'

She watched Bella's feet, making sure to use her gift to her and her sister's advantage so that Bella wouldn't fall flat on her face. Lorelai shot her fist into the air out of victory as Charlie sighed. The father-daughter duo just laughed, despite the fact that Lorelai planned on annoying him about the money later.

The ceremony didn't end up lasting very long, mostly due to the fact that Forks had such a small population of people that the graduating class was barely over 100 people.

Lorelai pushed through the crowd of people, approaching the Cullens and Bella as they stood in a small circle.

"Is that...?"

"No, no way. There's no way that's—"

"That's Lorelai Swan... like, Rexy Lorelai Swan."

"That's impossible! She was skin and bones the last time I saw her."

"Yeah, and now she's smokin'."

"Mike!"

Lorelai glanced over her shoulder to see the friends Bella had made throughout her time in high school. She recognized them from the pictures Bella took on her digital camera she got for her 18th birthday. She found it amusing to hear about people she once went to high school with freaking out over her mere presence. It boosted her ego ever-so-slightly, to say the least.

She locked hands with Jasper. "So how was it graduating for the millionth time?"

To which she simply just got a chorus of unenthusiastic groans, excluding Bella, who simply shrugged.

That evening, a graduation party was thrown at the Cullen household. It was mostly thrown in Bella's favor since this was her first graduation in comparison to the rest of the Cullens. Just about everyone was there, including some people who didn't even graduate that evening. People were just excited to see what the Cullen household actually looked like, which certainly blew past everyone's expectations.

The music blared loudly throughout the home. Bodies were either dancing or crowding around wherever there was food. Some were gossiping while others were crying about graduating from high school. Lorelai looked around at all the people, recognizing some from passing periods. Technically, these people were in the class just below hers, but since she graduated early, they might as well be on separate Earths.

Then, her eyes fell on Rosalie, who had been attempting to smoothly walk through the home. However, it seemed that she had been interrupted by a really eager boy who wanted to dance with her. Lorelai snorted in amusement before deciding to go help her.

She squeezed through the bodies before approaching Rosalie. She hung her arm over the blonde's shoulders. "There you are, babe! I've been looking everywhere for you!" Lorelai shouted over the music. She looked at the boy who had been trying to coerce Rosalie into dancing with him. "Who's your friend?"

The boy gave Rosalie and Lorelai a disgusted look. "Aren't you Rexy Lorelai?"

Lorelai arched an eyebrow. "Yeah. Aren't you 'Small Dick' Danny?" she wondered. The boy's jaw dropped before unhappily walking away. The two broke out into laughter as he did so.

"Thanks, sweetheart," Rosalie joked.

"Anything for you, babe."

The girls escorted each other away from the dance floor, stumbling into Alice, who had suddenly froze on the staircase. Rosalie and Lorelai exchanged glances. "Alice," Lorelai called once the vampire snapped out of her daze. "Alice, what did you see?"

"The decision's been made."

"What's going on?" Bella demanded as she approached the vampires.

"We're not going to Seattle?" Rosalie questioned, fearful as to what Alice had seen.

Alice shook her head, "No... They're coming here."

With that being said, everyone seemed to gather in Carlisle's office, including Jacob, Jared, and Embry.

Lorelai narrowed her eyes at Jacob, but refrained from saying anything hurtful simply because there were more important things at hand. Though she did remember to make a note regarding punching Jacob in the face sometime soon.

As everyone gathered, Lorelai immediately went to Jasper's side like a magnet. "There you are, boyfriend," she greeted, attempting to smile despite how stressed she had been. "I almost replaced you with your twin."

Jasper pulled on a puzzled facial expression. It was one that resembled a confused puppy, causing Lorelai to internally 'aw'. Rosalie, who had been on the other side of Lorelai, smiled quietly at this.

"They'll be here in four days," Alice explained, seeing that everyone had gathered.

"This could turn into a bloodbath," Carlisle realized. He paced around his office, worried.

Lorelai shook her head. "No—this will turn into a bloodbath," she corrected. "Do we know who's behind all of this, yet?"

"I didn't see anyone I recognized," Alice denied. "Maybe one."

Edward spoke up after reading Alice's mind. "I know his face. He's local: Riley Biers. He didn't start this."

Lorelai could feel her nonexistent blood run cold at the sound of this. She recognized the name from her father helping out his parents search for him. He'd been missing for over a year by this point. It hurt her to know that they would never see Riley again.

"Whoever did is staying out of the action," added Alice.

"They must be playing with the blind spots in your vision," Carlisle realized, looking to the clairvoyant one of the group.

"Either way, the army is coming and there aren't enough of us to protect the town," Jasper cut in.

"Hold up," Jacob started, a baffled expression on his face, "what damn army?"

"Newborns," Carlisle informed. "Our kind."

"What are they after?" Jared wondered, speaking for the first time since he entered the room.

"They were passing around Rory and Bella's scent," Alice informed. Lorelai instantly tensed up. "A sweatshirt and a red blouse."

"They're after Bella and Rory?" Jacob questioned. "What the hell does this mean?"

"It means an ugly fight," Carlisle answered. "With lives lost."

Jacob looked back at Embry and Jared. The trio nodded at one another silently before Jacob looked back at the cold ones. "Alright. We're in."

"No," the Swan sisters immediately declined. Bella shook her head, adding, "You'll get yourselves killed. No way."

Jacob spat, "I wasn't asking for permission."

Lorelai scoffed. "That's something you do a lot," she spat. Jacob shot her a look, but couldn't argue.

Meanwhile, Carlisle queried, "Jacob, do you believe Sam could agree to an understanding?"

Jacob shrugged. "As long as we get to kill some vampires."

"Sam's taken a liking to Rory while you were all gone," added Embry. "If it's for her, I don't see why he'd be against it." Jared nodded.

Carlisle pulled his gaze to one of his sons. "Jasper?"

"They'll give us numbers," Jasper stated simply, not taking his eyes off of Jacob. "And the newborns won't know they even exist. That'll give us an edge."

"We'll need to coordinate."

"Carlisle, they're gonna get hurt," Bella attempted to argue.

"We'll all need some training," Carlisle told his family and the wolves. "Fighting newborns requires knowledge that Jasper has. You're welcome to join us."

"Alright," Jacob agreed. "Name the time and place."

"Jake, you don't know what you're getting yourself into," Bella warned the wolf.

"Bella, this is what we do," Jacob mentioned. "You should be happy. Look at us, working together. You're the one who wanted us to get along, remember?"

"Don't be mistaken. This isn't what getting along looks like," Jasper mentioned. "Otherwise I wouldn't have such a compelling desire to punch you as hard as I can."

Jacob shot Lorelai a glance. "Like girlfriend, like boyfriend."

Lorelai smirked at the wolf. "He learns from the best." Then, she pulled out her phone. "If we're gonna be fighting newborns, I know someone who can help."

To: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
Subject: Untitled #9

Stella --

I need your help.

Revised: January 6th, 2020