Hey guys...No excuses. I suck…hopefully this chapter will compensate a little.

Disclaimer:
Sadly, I do not own any amazing-ness like Stephenie Meyer. Twilight is all hers. :[

--I let my thoughts consume me and tire me out. I fell asleep sometime late in the evening and slept soundly until the morning. --

Nessie's POV

I woke up at eleven in the morning. I had three hours before the Fork's High graduation ceremony in the school's gymnasium. I guess you could say that I was beginning to feel the nerves. It felt like there were butterflies having a rave party in my stomach or something of the sort.

I heard a soft knock on the door before my mother entered the room.

"Good morning," she said to me sweetly.

"Morning, Mom," I replied.

"Are you excited for your big day?" she asked as she came and sat next to me on the bed.

"I guess so. Like I said yesterday, it all just feels too soon. You know?"

"I know exactly how you feel, honey. I graduated, got married, gave birth to you, and got changed into a vampire all in the time span of a few months. I know that's not quite exactly what you're going through, but I do understand what it feels like to be rushed through life."

"Geez," I said as my mother laughed at my response.

"That's not going to happen to you, though. You're going to walk across that stage today, and you'll be going to college with us in a few months. You're going to have the greatest life with Jacob," she smiled at me.

"Okay…" I said confused as to why she tacked on that last bit. "Anyways. I guess I should start getting ready. I bet Alice is sitting out in the hall twiddling her thumbs impatiently waiting for me to ask her to help me."

"Aww, man," Alice groaned as she trudged deliberately slow into my room with a defeated look on her face. "What gave me away?"

My mom and I looked at each other and practically burst into fits of laughter.

After wiping tears of laughter from my cheek, I breathed heavily and looked at Alice. "You're just too predictable when it comes to the girly things in life."

"Oh well," she sighed. "So what should we do first?!? Hair? Nails? Makeup?"

That was one thing about Alice I loved. Her 'down' moods never lasted long before she sprang back to her usual self.

My mom kissed me on the head. "Good luck, Nessie. I'll see you in a couple hours."

"Gee, thanks," I said jokingly.

My mother left the room and I was left with my Aunt Alice. The good thing about having her is that this would be the easiest two hours of getting ready in the entire history of getting ready. She did everything for me, except for putting my clothes on, of course. I simply sat in a chair in the bathroom and let her do her thing.

If I wasn't half vampire, I would've surely fainted from her lightening fast speed. It was like things were being shoved into my head faster than the speed of light! I didn't even have time to moan an "ouch" out before she was jabbing something else at me. The makeup, thank God, she was a bit more careful with. Both of my eyes remained entirely intact. By the time I thoroughly thumbed through a gossipy magazine, she was finished.

"Done!" she exclaimed excitedly.

I looked up into the mirror for the first time and was shocked to see someone else staring back at me. I had been 'made up' before, but nothing like this. Alice had gone all out on this one, but I liked it. I looked older and I thought I looked pretty sexy, too. Guess I'd have to ask Jake about that one. She'd French braided my hair in some weird way around my head that made it into a bun-like glob of hair in the back. Instead of braiding the loose ends, she curled them. She even managed to incorporate a pink ribbon and sprig of baby's breath into it all.

She kept my makeup fairly simple; a lightly powdered face with smoky eyes and a soft pink lip gloss to top it off.

"Wow," I said with a sigh.

"Oh. You hate it, don't you?" she pouted.

"No no no no no!!!! I LOVE it! I am going to have the best up-do at this graduation. Heck, I bet it's probably the best up-do in the history of graduations! Thank you SO much Auntie Alice!"

"You're welcome, Nessie. You know that whenever you need to be made over, I'm the girl to do it!" she smiled at me. "Though I do wish you wouldn't call me Aunt sometimes. It makes me feel old…and I kind of like being eternally young. Oh! How 'bout you just call me Alice. Yeah…I like the sound of that."

I laughed at her and secretly wondered what she was like as a little girl…if she played dress up and put on gaudy makeup. Or maybe she just wanted to find something to get insanely good at to preoccupy herself after she became a vampire. I'd make a note to ask someone about that later.

"Oh, and Ness?"

"Yeah?"

"Your cap and gown are hanging up in your closet along with the white bag that has your dress in it. I searched high and low for the perfect dress, so I hope you like it!"

"I'm sure I'll love it. Thank you so much for helping me," I said gratefully to her.

"You betcha, kiddo," she said as she winked at me. "You should go ahead and get dressed though. We need to leave here in about fifteen minutes."

"Oh. Can you help me get my dress on so that I don't mess up my hair?"

"You won't need my help," she promised. "It'll fit just fine over that beautiful head of hair."

"Okayyyy," I said cautiously. "See you in a few then."

I walked slowly over to the closet, scared of what I might find when I unzipped the white bag that was now staring back at me. Alice did one of two things; either she went way overboard, or she was straight on. I was hoping for the latter. I breathed in heavily, and unzipped the bag with one eye closed and the other barely squinted open.

Sighing in relief, I pulled out the beautiful dress. It was a light blue, strapless, knee-length dress. The top of it was lightly beaded and had a soft pink ribbon that formed a small, delicate bow in the middle which carried around to form an empire waist. The ends of the ribbon trailed all the way to the bottom of the lacy, tiered dress. It matched the ribbon that Alice had incorporated into my hair, and I absolutely loved it. I was making it a point to find another occasion to wear this dress to.

I slid it off the hanger and pulled it on, carefully zipping up the side and fastening the clip at the top. There was a necklace on the same hanger, so I assumed I was to wear it as well. I put on the necklace and slipped on the shoes Alice had picked out for me. I grabbed my cap and gown, took one final look at myself in the mirror, and walked downstairs.

If this was what it felt like on prom, I wasn't sure if I ever wanted to go to one of them. All of my family was waiting at the base of the stairs and they 'ooo-ed and aww-ed' at me as I made my way down. Talk about feeling like a goldfish.

"You look beautiful, Nessie," my father beamed at me. Everyone else simply nodded in agreement.

"Thanks," I said as I pried my way through the barricade of people at the base of the stairs. "Where's Jake at anyways?"

"I think he's waiting for you outside. You two ride together and we'll meet you there in a little bit," my mom said.

"Okay!" With my cap and gown draped over my arm, I walked outside to see Jake waiting by the passenger side of Old Red. Hadn't my parents promised me a new car if I kept my driving record clean? Oh well. I'd have to argue with them about that later. For now, I was preoccupied with Jacob.

"Wow," he said as he looked me up and down. I threw in a little spin for dramatic effect.

"So what do you think?" I asked him. "I think it makes me look older."

"Yeah. Definitely older, and you look absolutely amazing," he said as he bent down to give me a light kiss on my forehead.

"Thanks! So, I guess we should probably get going if we want to graduate," I surmised.

"After you," he said as he opened the door and motioned for me to get in. He shut the door softly and hurried over to the driver's side and fired up the truck.

The ride to Forks High seemed shorter than usual. I was blaming it on my nerves. We were told to park on the grass so that the lot would be free for the parents to park in. I was about to open my door and get out when Jake reached over to stop my hand.

I gave him a questioning look. "Am I not allowed to open my own door anymore? Chivalry is great and all, Jake, but it is lonnngggg gone."

"You can still open your own door, but I have something for you. I know that Edward, er, your dad, told you I had something for you, and I'd like to give it to you now if that's alright?"

"Of course you can give it to me now," I said excitedly.

I watched him as he pulled a little black velvet bag out of his coat pocket. He stared at it in his hands for a minute before finally giving it to me.

I looked at him cautiously, but his eyes only beckoned for me to continue. I untied the string and expanded the scrunched up bag. I reached blindly inside of it and pulled out something I was not expecting at all; a ring.

"Now, Ness, don't go getting the wrong idea. I'm not proposing to you. You know I love you…" he started, but I interrupted.

"I love you too!" I smiled.

"Shh," he said sweetly as he put a finger over my lips. "Let me finish, sweetie. You know I love you, and I know you love me. And we will get married, someday. But this is a promise ring. I promise you that I will never break your heart, and I promise that I will protect you from anyone or anything that ever tries to harm you. We're going to graduate today, and go to college soon…and I…I just wanted to give you something to show that I love you. So…that's all I've got."

All I could do was sit there and smile. "I love it, Jake, and I love you." I leaned over and planted a kiss square on his lips. I could feel him smiling and that only made me love him more. I wasn't sure where to put the ring. Obviously my family knew I was getting it, but I didn't know which finger to put it on. Definitely not my left-hand ring finger…that one was reserved for the day that Jake proposes to me.

"Um…Jake? Which finger should I put this on?" I didn't want to sound awkward, but I figured he bought a specific size for a certain finger.

"Oh. Here, let me," he offered as he took the small, delicate ring from my palm. He grasped my right hand with his own and slipped the promise ring on to my right ring-finger. I held my hand out in front of me, thoroughly inspecting how it looked. It was white gold with two hearts that interlinked. In the center of each heart was a small, round diamond. It was perfect. He was perfect.

He had been watching me this whole time and he had a huge smile on his face. "I love you Renesmee, with all of my heart."

"Jacob Black, I love you with all of my heart…and then some! And I hate to break this up, but we should probably get going if we actually want to get out of Forks before next year…"

"You have a point," he declared as he held up one pointed finger in the air to accentuate himself.

He quickly opened his door and darted over to my side to open my door as well. "I know chivalry is 'dead', according to you, but I say it still exists. So you're going to have to get used to it every now and again."

"Fine," I sighed. "But only if I can be chivalrous towards you sometimes, too."

He gave me a look. It was one of the looks that said 'you've got to be out of your ever-loving mind if you think that is ever going to happen'. I simply smiled and left it at that.

I could now see that the majority of our graduating class, and their families, had arrived at Forks High. Thankfully, it was a non-rainy day, so the graduation was able to be outdoors. While all of the families and friends were settling into their respective seats, the graduating seniors all met in the gym. There were girls crying, people hugging and pictures…lots and lots of pictures being taken.

Jake pulled a camera out of the depths of his robe and asked a nearby girl to take a picture of us. I looked at him wondering why in God's name he, of all people, wanted to take a picture.

"Can you take two, please?" he asked the girl nicely.

"Sure," she said.

Jake snaked his arm around me and I became a part of his side from being held so tightly.

"One, two, three," she counted before snapping the first picture.

I pried myself away from his side and tried to recuperate for the next picture, but only managed to get a second's rest before he pulled me close again. Thankfully, it wasn't quite as tight of a grip this time.

"Okay. One, two, three," she said. Right on the count of three, Jake turned his head and kissed the side of my cheek.

"Aww, Jakeeee," I whined, "If Alice sees the lip print on my cheek she is going to spend another thirty minutes fixing it."

"Oh hush. You don't have any lip prints. And I didn't think I could coerce you into taking a real picture of us kissing, so this was really my only option." He thanked the girl and took his camera back, hastily turning to playback the two pictures. I had to admit, they were both pretty darn good. My face hadn't distorted into confusion on the second one until after the girl took the picture, so I was still smiling.

We then heard a loud voice coming from the entrance to the gym. I wasn't quite sure who it was, but they were directing us to get in order to walk out to our seats. Luckily, with it being such a small school, there wasn't anyone between Jake and I alphabetically. I'm sure he would rub it in for a long time that he graduated before me, but I suppose I could deal with that. As the line began to move outside, I squeezed Jake's hand in my own.

The seniors filed into the rows closest to the stage while everyone else waited patiently. Our class valedictorian, whose name I did not even know, gave a beautiful speech about life in terms of past, present and future. About how we would all go on to do miraculous things with our lives, you know, the normal graduating spiel. I'm sure she meant well, but there were some people from our grade that I just did not think would go places. But then again, who am I to judge a book by its cover? I sure as hell wouldn't expect Jake to be half the man he is just by looking at him…

It finally came to the name calling, diploma handing, tassel turning and hand shaking. Upon receiving "the signal" by our assistant principal, the first row of us students stood up and made our way to the side of the stage that had been set up. The two girls in front of us went happily across, took their diplomas, moved their tassels over, shook hands of the school board and exited the stage with a little clapping from the audience.

"Jacob Black," the announcer said all movie-like, cuing my boyfriend to go graduate. He turned and gave me a quick peck before hopping up the stairs and walking to get his diploma. Since his dad was in a wheelchair, he got prime seating. The rest of my family was close by, and all of them, plus some of the kids from the reservation stood up and began hooting and hollering as Jake strutted across the stage. He was so caught up in it that he almost walked past his diploma! He stopped short, grabbed his diploma, switched his tassel over to the graduate side and made his way off stage as he shook hands.

"Renesmee Cullen," he said strongly. I was careful with the steps, so as not to fall and embarrass myself. I was not prepared for what happened. Not only did my family stand up and clap for me. Not only did they scream my name incessantly. Not only did they jump up and down like fools, but they also brought air horns and cow bells! So much for not being embarrassed…

I grabbed my diploma hastily, turned my tassel over at a barely human speed, shook hands faster than lightening and practically ran off of the stage into Jake's open arms. He had a huge grin plastered on his face.

"You…" I started. "You knew they were going to do that! And you didn't warn me!!!! Jacob! I could have tripped and fallen and died! Well…that's not very likely to happen, but still. You could've warned me," I said as I put a pouty look on my face.

"Hey now, you turn that frown upside down! You only graduate from high school once…well…you only graduate from high school for the first time once."

"I think I've had enough firsts to last me a lifetime and then some…"

He locked his arms under mine, picked me up and spun me around in a circle. "You still have a lot of firsts to go through, but you'll be just fine, sweetie."

We walked back to our seats and waited for the rest of our class to graduate. Thankfully, it didn't take too long (another plus side to having a small senior class).

After the valedictorian received her diploma and the principal made his final speech, we were announced as official graduates of Forks High School. Everyone threw their caps up into the air, though I was watching where mine went so I could go and get it afterwards. Confetti seemed to explode out of nowhere and the sudden outburst of talking and screaming was nearly deafening. I quickly grabbed my cap and went to go find my family.

I was showered in hugs and kisses with pictures being taken faster than I could look and smile in the right direction. I was just hoping that I didn't look like a ridiculous fool in any of them.

"Nessie, we're so proud of you!" my mother beamed, expressing both her and my father's emotions. "I know it feels rushed, but we're hoping that a full college education will fix that."

"I'm actually kind of glad it was rushed. I'm excited to go to college and start my life again. I love being…well…I love being what I am." I didn't want to say anything for fear of being overheard, even though that seemed nearly impossible.

"I'm glad you feel that way, Nessie," my father prided.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Alice tapping her foot impatiently. "Aun-…Alice!!!" I said as I tackled her with a hug.

"Yeah, yeah. Hug little old me last. That's okay though, because we have to go anyway."

"What are you talking about?" I questioned.

"Well, the way I see it, if you want to eat before your graduation party, we kind of have to leave."

"Graduation party? What the…?" I was confused beyond belief.

"Yes. Yet another surprise for the graduates. It's for you and all of your classmates, if they'd like to come. We hired some people to fix the house up while we were here," my dad said.

"Even more of a reason to get home. I'm sure I'm going to have to practically redo everything they've done, except I only have a fraction of the time to do it in. So, shall we?" Alice said as she offered me her arm to clutch on to.

By this time, I didn't even care. "But of course we shall," I said gleefully as I hooked my arm around my Aunt's. I started skipping and Alice soon followed suit. I almost started singing "We're off to see the Wizard" for comic effect, but decided against it.

I glanced back to see the rest of my family following behind us, though they were not skipping. Alice continued skipping with my arm locked in her own, so I trusted she was heading me in the right direction. Remind me to never do that again.

I smacked full force into what I assumed was a car.

"Aliceeeee," I said with a hint of frustration in my voice.

"Wups…I thought you were looking. And therefore thought you saw the car in front of you. Sorryyyy," she said as she offered me a hand to get back up.

The rest of my family now surrounded me. I rubbed my hand over my sore forehead and I could feel Alice picking bits and pieces of gravel and dirt out of my hair. She backed away and I saw another flash from a camera blind me.

"Really? You're taking a picture of me after I ran into a car? That will sure make a nice addition to the family photo album," I said sourly.

"Um, Nessie," Jake started.

"No. Give me that camera so I can delete that picture," I said sternly.

"Nessie," my mother pleaded.

"Please give me that camera so I can delete that awful picture," I corrected.

"Renesmee. Would you get over yourself and turn around?" Rosalie said.

"Oh for the love of…" I started as I turned around to see a shiny car staring back at me, aside from the print my forehead made on the side window. There was a humongous bow on the top with my name written in my father's neat handwriting on one of the ribbon's tail ends. "Oh…" was all I managed to get out.

I was officially a Cullen, because I was now the sole owner of a brand new, light blue Audi R8. Words couldn't fathom my emotions at that moment. I didn't have to drive Old Red anymore, though I would miss that clunker a little bit. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! It's beautiful. I love it! Thank you guys soooo much!"

My parents laughed at me. "You're welcome, sweetheart. You did extremely well with your mother's old truck, and we did promise you a car for graduation. And we are men of our words," my father said as my mother elbowed him in his side. "We are men and women of our words," he corrected.

"Suhweeeeeet," I exclaimed. "So I'll see you guys back at the house, then?" All I really wanted to do now was drive my new car. I could care less about a stupid picture or dinner or a graduation party.

"Yes…don't be too long, please. We still have to get you fed before the party!" my mother said to me. "And please try not to kill Jake. If that happens, you'll be stuck with Old Red for a while longer."

"Got it. No killing my boyfriend. I think that is very doable. Keys…?"

"In the ignition. Be careful and we'll see you at the house," my mom said with a grin on her face.

I practically ran over to the driver's side and sank into my new, sweet ride. I turned the ignition and heard the beautiful sound of a good engine purring to life.

"Alright, alright. It's time for a joy ride!"

"Please don't kill me, Ness," Jake said jokingly.

"Wouldn't dream of it, boo," I said reassuringly. "But I suggest you buckle up, because we're going to have a bit of quick fun before going back to the house."

I put the car in first gear, and purposely burnt out of the parking lot.

Author's Note:

If you're interested, there is a link in my profile to the promise ring…

Okay, guys. There it is. A wayyyy overdue chapter. I know I said no excuses…but I swear, being a bio major is pretty much the most time consuming, difficult, pain the ass major there ever was. With that said, it's summer! So hopefully, things will be a bit quicker again. I hope I haven't lost my faithful readers :[

Please review, even though I don't deserve it. My amazing beta superdupersk8r61 does deserve it though. She's amazing!

One more chapter (I think) before I fast forward to college time!