Summary

Bella is nineteen; graduated high school a few months ago and still doesn't know what to do in her life. Because of that she resolves to take a gap year and takes several jobs to earn some money, to travel and to go to college next year. Together with Alice she discovers Europe and finds in her a new friend and maybe more than that? ;) A/B AH

Recently I watched the movie Into The Wild, which is great by the way, and the idea for this Fic just popped into my mind. But don't expext it to be similar to the movie.
It's my second story for FanFiction and I am continuing my other one Because She Is different, nonetheless.

This story is about traveling, obviously but also about friendship and finding love eventually :P

Thanks for the great help of anagnophile, who corrected my countless mistakes so I could edit this chapter. Thank you!

Disclaimer: Sadly I don't own Twilight.

BPOV

After an extra shift at Forks' only supermarket, I was beat. All I wanted to do was take a shower and go to bed. But life had no mercy on me. Having not one, but three jobs, I had barely enough time to visit my boyfriend once a week.

But let me begin from the beginning:

I graduated from high school almost two months ago, but not with good enough marks to even think about getting any scholarships. My dad, Charlie, and my mum, Renee, had saved some money for my college education, but I didn't know what to study yet. There was no way I wanted to waste their money by studying the wrong subject, therefore I searched for another job instead. I was already working at an outdoor trekking store, but they needed me just twice a week. So, eventually I started working at the local library on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, at "Olympic Outfitters" on Thursday and Saturday, and at the supermarket every Friday and, if they needed me, when I wasn't occupied with my other jobs. It may seem very chaotic, but after a while I got the hang of it. I kind of liked working and not having to think about anything important, as long as I didn't have to work too much. Lately, though, I was working way too much.

My boyfriend, Jacob, didn't like it. According to him, I shouldn't be working at all. I should just go to the nearest college and study some lame subject. I bet he wouldn't mind if I didn't study at all and became the old-fashioned housewife, cooking and cleaning and caring for the children. It's not that I don't clean or cook, but I would be bored stiff if I had to do it all day, every day. Okay, back to Jacob. We had been dating for one year now. He lived on the reservation with his father, Billy, a friend of Charlie's. Despite some differences, Jake made a great boyfriend. Although he was short tempered and could be very possessive, he was also caring, humorous, good looking and head over heels in love with me. What more could I ask for?

Two years ago I moved from Phoenix to Forks. My mother had married Phil, a minor league baseball player. Phil was great, don't get me wrong, but I felt as if I was getting in their way. Because of Phil's profession he had to travel a lot, and I knew that my mum wanted to go with him but stayed because of me. So, I decided to move to Forks to live with my dad. I missed mum very much but I didn't regret moving.

Right now it was shortly before three o'clock and I was on my way to the Forks library after a four-hour shift at the supermarket. Although I liked working at the library best, I would have prefered driving home to rest a bit.

"Hi Bella," Lisa, my boss, greeted me while I hung up my rain jacket. Even though it was summer, I was forced to wear a jacket.

"Hi Lisa. Did the new books finally arrive?" I wanted to know.

"Indeed, I already prepared them to be shelved," she informed me.

"Alright, I will do that now."

After an hour of sorting and shelving, I was done with the new books and took over from Lisa at the reception desk. Two hours later, I was finally able to head home.

There I took my eagerly awaited shower to relax and enjoy the feeling of hot water against my skin. Thankfully, my dad had come home early and already ordered pizza, which I ate in the living room watching some baseball game on TV. I barely noticed who was playing because I didn't give a shit. In my opinion, baseball, like every other sport, was boring to watch and I just ate in the living room to spend some time with my father, who I rarely saw these days.

When I finally settled in my bed, I let my thoughts wander. I was tired of my current situation. I was tired of working all day long. I was tired of being told what to do and what not to do with my life. I was tired of not knowing what to do with my future. I was tired of the rain. I was tired of always seeing the same faces. But mostly, I was tired of Forks.

I started to understand the reason Renee fled this small town when I was six years old. Nothing new happens in Forks. Everything gets into routine. Sometimes, I just dreamed of getting out of here to somewhere totally different. Another town, another state, another country, it didn't even matter, as long as it wasn't Forks. Just thinking about it, I got itchy feet. During my senior year at Forks High I always thought I would travel around Europe after my graduation. But now I knew it was just wishful thinking, especially since the flight alone cost a fortune and I didn't want to spend most of my money on just a flight. My dream of a European vacation started because when my mother was younger she traveled that continent as a backpacker and still raved about the trip. The pictures she showed me made the desire to take a vacation even stronger.

Thinking about my mum, it came to my mind that I could pay her a visit for a week. That way I would see her again and have an opportunity to escape this fucking town for a few days. Full of enthusiasm, I grabbed the phone and was about to dial her number when it rang.

"Hello?"

"Hi honey," I recognized the voice of my mother.

"Hi mum. Funny, I was just about to call you," I laughed at the coincidence.

"Ooh. Guess what!" she excitedly said.

"What, mum?" I replied, knowing that I would never guess what she wanted to tell me.

"Do you still want to travel the world?"

"Yeah? I was just thinking about it. Why?" I was confused, why was she asking me that?

"Because… You know the frequent-flyer program, right? I collected enough points from my flights with Phil that you could fly to Europe for hardly anything." She spoke so fast, I thought I misheard her. Did she actually say that I could fly to Europe?

"What?"

"Didn't you dream of traveling to Paris, London, Berlin and other capitals?"

"YES! Of course mum. But I recall the last time I told you about it, you said, 'I like the idea, but I know how dangerous backpacking and hitchhiking is, and I will not allow you to travel on your own'," I quoted her.

"That's why you would go with Alice," my mother mentioned casually.

"I would do what?" I shrieked.

"Well, Alice is your age. She is the daughter of Esme, you know?"

Esme was one of my mother's best friends. Although I had never met her, I'd heard many good things about her, for example that she was very nice and organized a lot of charity performances. She and her husband were very wealthy.

"Okay, mum but why do I have to travel with someone I've never seen in all my life? Traveling with friends can be tough enough and you want me to spend several weeks on another continent with a stranger?" I couldn't believe it.

"Yes, that's what I want you to do. She is in a similar situation to you: she graduated high school and thinks that traveling on her own, without a lot of money and without any chaperon she can 'broaden her mind'. That's what she told me. She is such a lovely kid. I know you will like her. Esme and Carlisle don't want her to travel all by herself, just like your father and I don't want you to do that. It fits doesn't it? Where else would you find someone your age, who doesn't go to college yet, and wants to journey abroad? Just think about it okay?" she almost pleaded.

"Okay, mum. I will think about it," I sighed.

"Great. Grab something to write with. I want to give you her number so you can call or text her."

"Mom, I didn't say yes," I whined.

"I know, but just in case. Do you have something to write with?"

I went to my desk, grabbed a pen and wrote down the cell number my mum gave me.

"Think about it. I'll call you tomorrow. Bye, Bells."

"Bye, mum."

Great! Now I had the opportunity to actually fly to Europe, which was a dream of mine, but I had to travel with Alice. I didn't know anything about her; what she liked and didn't like, what she did in her spare time. More important was that I didn't know what she expected from the trip. Did she want to stay at expensive hotels, which I didn't want to do? I would rather camp or stay at hostels. Which countries and cities did she want to visit? How long? I guessed I had to call her to find out. But not today, I wanted to talk with Charlie about it first.

He was not overly excited about the idea, but he would let me go as long as I had company. Now I had to tell Jacob that I would maybe be spending who knows how long on another continent. That would be tough. I needed to visit him tomorrow and hoped he would take the news well.

A little bit overwhelmed, I went to bed, having dreams about traveling. Wonder where those came from?

After working at Olympic Outfitters the next day, I decided to call Alice. I had at least a thousand questions for her. A little bit excited, I dialed her number.

"Hello," a beautiful bell-like voice answered the phone.

"Er, hi. Is this Alice?" I asked timidly.

"Yes? Who are you?" she sounded confused.

"Ehm, it's Bella, Renee's daughter."

"Ah. Hi Bella. I guess your mum told you about the idea of us traveling together, huh? Isn't it weird? The whole situation, I mean. You can't believe how excited I was when your mum made that suggestion. I mean, two strangers discovering the continent?" she asked, her voice filled with enthusiasm.

"Yeah. That sounds…great. But I have some questions first," I said.

"Shoot!"

"Well, where do you want to go exactly? And when?" I asked the most important questions.

"Well, if it were up to me, as soon as possible. And I don't mind where we go, but I really want to see Paris, London, Dublin and Amsterdam. My uncle lives in the Netherlands," was her response.

"Ooh, those cities are the same ones I want to see. So far, it seems that we're on the same page. Ehm, there's another question," I hesitated.

"Yeah?"

"Eh, I know that you are rich and that you are probably used to staying in expensive hotels and –"

She cut in, "Oh no. I have to admit that I had those holidays with my parents, but now I want the opposite, actually. I want to stay at cheaper hotels or youth hostels and travel via train or bus, you know?"

To say that I was relieved would have been an understatement. "Phew, that's good to hear. I have to say that I'm loving this idea more and more. But we need to arrange a lot beforehand," I told her.

"Of course. Just call me anytime, if you want to."

"Okay, bye Alice."

"Bye Bella. It was nice to finally speak to you," she giggled and hung up.

Well, this was the first chapter, tell me if I should continue or not. Your feedback is always welcome :p. If anyone has some suggestions which European countries or cities they should visit, just let me know.

PS: I don't know if the frequent-flyer program works like that, but in my story Renee is able to transfer her points to Bella.

Bisous Lily