A/N: This story is a collaboration between myself and ohdisco. We ask that you please open your minds and imagination while following us on this journey, cause it's going to be a wild one. This is just a mini taste of what we have planned.

As always, all things Twilight belong to Stephenie Meyer.

***

I never thought there'd be a choice between heaven and hell; for any normal person the logical choice would be heaven. For me, well, that choice wasn't as simple.

BPOV

The feel of the polyester covered cardboard hat under my fingertips felt more gratifying than I ever thought possible. The atmosphere was euphoric as my fellow classmates threw their graduation caps in the air, signifying freedom from the chains of adolescence. I looked to my left to be captivated by the face of the boy I'd grown to love. Jacob was my first boyfriend, and I was beginning to think he'd be my only. I peered to my right only to be bombarded with the largest smile I'd ever seen on the face of my best friend, Alice. Our moms had been best friends, so it only made sense that we were too. Our graduation had been a perfect day. The weather was just right, and all of our loved ones-

"FUCK YOU SUCKAS! I'M OUT WOOOO-HOOOOO!"

My head shot left and peered over Jake to witness his best friend, Quil, making an ass out of himself, as usual.

"Do you always have to act like a dick?" Alice whined loudly next to me. "This is our graduation from high school. We're supposed to be adults, so could you try to act like one?"

"Don't hate, you know you love my dick."

Alice's face scrunched up like she smelled something awful, "Oh, gross!"

Quil's eyebrows wiggled, "You're the one who brought it up shawty!"

"Dude, Quil, for the last time, you're not black." Jake smacked the back of Quil's head and started to walk down the bleacher steps towards the massive crowd of family members waiting for the graduates. "Come on babe, lets go look for your mom and dad."

I got up and started following him down the stairs slowly, trying not to fall flat on my face on the metal bleachers. The moment my foot hit the ground a pair of arms embraced me in a death grip.

"I'm so proud of you kiddo!" My dad screamed in my ear as he lifted me off the ground.

I laughed happily as I returned the hug. I looked over his shoulders to see my mom, her bright smile shining in the sunlight.

"You did it sweetie. We're very proud of you." My dad let go of me so I could hug my mom. She usually was a very calm person, but I could feel the excitement and joy radiating off of her. "Our dinner reservation is at 5, so we need to get going honey."

"Ok, just lemme tell Al and Jake bye and I'll meet you at the car, ok?"

My dad nodded, "Sure sure."

I ran back towards the masses to find Jake. I ran up to him and his dad, giving his dad a hug.

"So, you're leaving?" Jake asked.

"Yeah, I've got 5 O'clock dinner reservations with the parentals, so I gotta go."

Jake chuckled lightly into my hair as he gave me a lazy hug. "Alright, well, call me when you get home ok?"

"Ok, see ya." I smiled lightly and started my search for Alice. It wasn't long until I heard Alice's voice verbally going through the list of things she still needed to buy before we left for New York. Alice's eyes glanced in my direction, causing her to make a beeline straight for me.

"Bells, I –I mean we- need to go shopping! We only have two more days until we hit the road! I still need jeans, shirts, scarves, dresses…" Alice started off on her list of the hordes of things she absolutely had to get before we left, but my mind started to wander to our trip. Alice had been accepted with open arms to Parson's School of Design in New York City, but to get herself started towards her degree in Fashion Management, she decided to take an integrated design summer program. In a last hurrah, Jake and I decided to take her out there ourselves, via Jake's old Honda. As I started to ponder on how I was going to live without my best friend in the entire world, I remembered she was talking. "so do you wanna go shopping with me?"

"Sorry Al, I gotta go to dinner with my parents. I'll call you later ok? You can tell me everything you bought."

A look of glee shone in her eyes, "Deal! Later bells!" I watched as she practically danced her way back to her parents, giving me a little wave as I turned to head to the car. I glanced at Soquel High one last time, giving a silent thanks for all the people and experiences it allowed me to have in my life.

"Jelly Belly, come on! We're gonna be late!" My dad called from the driver's side window. I jogged to the car and climbed in. My dad started driving towards Shadowbrook Restaurant when the argument that had been floating around our house the last couple of weeks re-emerged.

My mom, as always, started it. "Bella, honey, I know you want to take Alice to New York, but do you think it's safe? I mean, I know you'll have Jake, but cross-country road trips can be extremely dangerous. You've never even been out of the state by car, and now you're going 3000 miles in one? There are horrible people that litter the roads, not to mention truckers falling asleep at the wheel, rest-stop rapists and murderers, fast cars-"

"Mom, I've already told you! We're going to be fine. You've gotta stop watching horror movies, you know they give you nightmares."

"It's not just the movies talking, I know more about the world and how it works than you do. There are devilish creatures lurking in every corner of this world, and I don't want you to get hurt."

I let out an exasperated sigh, and took a look at my mother. Her eyebrows were furrowed, and her eyes looked lost. I took another deep breath before I spoke. "Mom, I know you're worried, and I know there are crazy people out there. I just don't think that isolating me from the world is the right thing to do. I'm not stupid. I'm not going to go to the bathroom at a horrible looking rest stop in the middle of nowhere. I'll have two friends who'll have my back whenever anything goes wrong. I know you're terrified that I'm going to get hurt, but you have to trust me that I won't let myself get hurt."

She raised her head so her eyes bore into mine. "I trust you Bella, but I'm a mom; it's my duty to worry." She gave a small smile that didn't hit her eyes, and went back to watching the road.

That night Al, Jake, and I decided to meet up the next day at the Santa Cruz Diner to go over all the details of our trip. We'd be leaving the morning after, wanting to get an early start on the trip so we could stop in weird tourist traps. As I pulled into the parking lot, I saw a familiar car parked in a familiar spot. "What is Quil doing here?"

I jumped out of my car and headed into the restaurant. I went through one of the glass doors, almost colliding into the pie display in front, and searched the diner for my friends.

"YOU ARE NOT COMING ON MY COLLEGE TRIP!" Alice's voice tore through the small diner, her face as bright as the ketchup bottle. I came at the table slowly, not wanting to make any sudden movements. If I know anything, I know you do not want to piss Alice off.

"Come on Alice, he's our friend." Jake tried to sneak in, but Alice's death glare made him sink back into the booth seat.

"NO JAKE, HE IS NOT OUR FRIEND. HE IS YOUR FRIEND. I ONLY WANT MY FRIENDS TO COME ON THIS TRIP!" Alice's eyes glistened from unshed, angry tears and I sat down next to her, making her sit back down in her seat.

"You know she's just worried she'll fuck me before the trip is over." Quil cockily remarked, his face smug.

"You see Bells! YOU SEE?! This is why I don't want him on my trip! He's so…UGH!" I could see Alice calming down, but far from giving up her disgust on having Quil on our trip.

I glanced over at Jake, who was giving me a puppy dog look; he wanted his friend to go on the trip. I sighed, and looked at Alice. "Alice…-"

"Oh my god. You're choosing bros over hos aren't you? You're choosing HIS happiness over mine aren't you? How could you?! You're breaking the golden rule of girl friendship…of ANY friendship!" Although she seemed to still be upset, I could hear defeat in her voice.

"You know I love you, but I promise that Quil will be on his best behavior," I gave Quil an evil stare, "Won't we Quil?"

Quil stuttered, "Uh-uh, yeah. B-best behavior!"

I saw Alice shaking her head, but then a smile started to form on her face, "So…what cool places are we gonna hit on our ROAD TRIP?!"

As we talked about the weird sights we were going to see on our 2965-mile trip to Fifth Avenue, Alice started to loosen up to Quil, who was extremely excited about eating at Tony Packo's. He started ranting and raving about some famous coney dog while we all just rolled our eyes.

I started making my way to my car after our little meeting when Jake grabbed me by the waist. "I love you, you know that right?

Knowing this full well, I replied, "Of course. Why would you think I didn't?"

He hesitated a little bit before continuing. "It's just, we're going to be on our own for the first time ever, and I want…I dunno, I just want to be with you."

I took a step back, trying to get out of his arms, but he locked them around me. "Jake, we've talked about this, and I'm just not ready. I know we've been going out for what seems like forever, but I just turned 18, I'm in no rush." I looked up at his face only to be met with an eye roll and a "I know" as he let me go.

"I love you though, you know that don't you?"

He nodded, "yeah yeah, sure sure. Well, I gotta get going…gotta go pack. I'll see you bright and early though."

I looked up and smiled. Standing on my tip-toes, I gave him a sweet peck against his cheek and told him goodnight.

That night I lay in my bed looking at the ceiling. I started to think of this trip and how much fun we were going to have. I started to drift into what my mom was saying, preaching to me about the dangers of the road. Devilish creatures? Please. Everyone knows demons aren't real.

****

A/N: So there's the first chapter. Please review and let us know what you think!