high school is kind of boring really

[self_composed]

School plods along. Bella is native-quality fluent in Spanish, professor-level at math, well and thoroughly versed in the workings of the United States government, capable of doing actual independent research projects in biology, and she's been speaking English since she was one. Alas, these skills only make classes easier for a short time. After the novelty wears off they're just tedious. Bella winds up squaring her homework done more often than not so she can work out the kinks in her design for telekinesis, or play music, or attend soccer practice, or write little computer games, or read, or just fly around. This works out fine. Magic is pretty good at homework.

She winds up not attending most of the dances, but she does want to go to the end of year one, as she will be leaving Forks High School forever and it has some good points. Alice promised her a dress...

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[self_composed]

Bella is pretty sure that she is not looking for a nondescript Italian fellow. She ignores him, and carries on through a tour of various cities in Italy. She is particularly fond of Venice.

Next is Switzerland!

[edgeofyourseat]

And in Switzerland, while Bella is on a train and Alice is keeping pace in the air, the engine makes a coughing noise and then gracefully shuts down. The train comes to a halt on a long, curving track through some very pretty forest.

[Damn,] says Alice, pulling up to hover beside Bella's window.

[self_composed]

[Huh. I could wish it fixed but I don't know who's looking at the broken part, if anyone - could be obvious - I'll wait for the announcement, I guess, I'm sure there'll be one.]

[edgeofyourseat]

The announcement, when it comes, cites engine failure of unknown cause, promises the attention of onboard mechanics to the problem, and apologizes most sincerely for the inconvenience to travelers. Alice isn't sure he believes it, at least not about the last part.

[self_composed]

Bella starts wondering how long the wait is going to be. She consults her map; if they're within vaguely plausible hiking distance of a town she might just ask to get off here.

[edgeofyourseat]

Barely plausible, yes.

[self_composed]

Eenh. She'll wait for four hours and then seek someone to ask for disembarkment permission.

[edgeofyourseat]

After one and a half, the train starts up again, limps along for a few minutes, and then coasts to a halt.

They are now farther from the town.

[self_composed]

Rrrg.

Well, the fact that they were able to get it started at all suggests that they have an idea of what's wrong, now. They'll either fix it, or determine that they can't fix it and have to send another locomotive to pull them out of the way of other trains, soon enough.

[I'm going to sleep,] Bella announces.

[edgeofyourseat]

[Sweet dreams,] says Alice.

[self_composed]

Bella goes to sleep, and manages to stay that way for about five hours, and then wakes up and looks out the window to see if they are moving.

[edgeofyourseat]

They are!

All is well for the rest of the trip.

[self_composed]

Hurray! Bella enjoys herself a Switzerland.

She has already been to France, so she goes through Spain on her way to Heathrow (a bus breaks on her, but it's on a densely traveled route so everyone can just cram into the next bus), and then she flies to Florida, where she will spend a week with her mom before popping up to Forks for one more week and then going to school.

[edgeofyourseat]

[Hey, can I meet your mom?] wonders Alice halfway through the flight.

It is genuinely the first time he has thought of the question.

[self_composed]

[Do you have a reason to be in Florida?] Bella asks.

[edgeofyourseat]

[To meet your mom?] he suggests. It's not like anyone other than Bella has a clue where he's been for three months. Might as well be Florida as anywhere.

[self_composed]

[I suppose. I'll call her when we layover in Baltimore, but I don't imagine it'll bother her.]

[edgeofyourseat]

[Awesome,] says Alice.

[self_composed]

Bella calls Renée in Baltimore and says "my friend who I think I mentioned, Laney only he likes to be called Alice because he's weird, will be around Jacksonville same time I am - wanna meet him?" And Renée says "of course, I'm always happy to meet your friends" and Bella says "great!" and hangs up.

[Yep,] Bella tells Alice.

[edgeofyourseat]

[Awesome!] says Alice.

[self_composed]

Bella gets on her new plane and flies to Florida. Renée is there to pick her up and is thrilled to pieces to see her. Phil is not there because it is the middle of baseball season; normally Renée would accompany him but for Bella's visit.

Renée compliments Bella's outfit and remarks on the length of her hair (it's only about half an inch longer than the last time they saw each other, but Renée does this anyway) and chatters excitedly about all the things they need to do while Bella is here, including visiting Renée's favorite restaurants and seeing that one museum and making paper chains just like they did when Bella was six, for some reason.

[edgeofyourseat]

[Holy shit, your mother is adorable.]

[self_composed]

[Rather, yes.] Renée's car is decorated by gifts from her students - half-recognizable tokens of paper and yarn and glue, taped to the dashboard and dangling from the mirror and, in one case, tied to the antenna. Bella moves Renée's sewing bag from the front seat to sit down, and Renée drives away from the airport.

"When does your friend want to come by?" Renée asks.

"I think our most recent plan was dinner tonight, but we can tweak it if that's not going to work for you." She echoes the conversation to Alice. [I just made that up - that work for you? We can have a more observable phone conversation to change the "plan" if you want.]

[edgeofyourseat]

[Sure!] he says cheerfully. [Just tell me where to 'meet' you.]

[self_composed]

"That's fine, dear," Renée says. "Does he know where to find the Atlantic Beach Seafood Shack?"

"Well, he can find it online if nothing else," Bella says.

"Then he should meet us there at six-thirty," Renée says.

"I'll call him," Bella says.

She goes through the motions of phoning and informing Alice of all this.