"Avalei. Avalei. Avalei come on wake up." I heard someone say.

"Avalei. Come on graduation's today and someone's 17th birthday!!!" I heard someone else say and since I was waking up now, I realized its Alice and Rosalie.

I groaned in my pillow, "Ughhh do I have to go to graduation? And my birthday doesn't even matter anymore." That's the most I've spoken in one conversation lately.

I heard a gasp, "Of course you have to go to graduation! And your birthday does matter, it's the day of the birth of a great and special girl. Now come on, get out of bed." Alice ordered.

I buried my head deeper into my pillow, "If I do, could you-"

"Already done. Got your outfit picked and your graduation gown pressed and ready for you. Now let's get you clean and dressed, we only have 2 hours until we have to be at the school." Alice finished.

I lifted my head and finally opened my eyes, and sat up, "Morning" I greeted now only Rosalie here.

"Good morning birthday girl. Now come on before Alice really loses it." She smiled and I got up and followed her to the bathroom.

"Come on guys, we need to add more graduation caps to the wall so hurry up!" Emmett called out from downstairs.

"Oh my. Avalei you look gorgeous! Happy Birthday baby girl" Mom said while coming up to me to give me a hug.

"You look beautiful darling, Happy Graduation and Birthday." Dad greeted hugging me too.

"My little sister's all grown up. I think I'm gonna cry" Emmett faked but also came to hug me, greeting me a happy birthday as well.

"Happy birthday Avalei, you ready to graduate high school for the first time of many?" Jasper asked hugging me.

When we pulled away I sighed, "Thanks and I guess." I said feeling down again, I noticed their faces fell as well and I felt sorry, "I'm sorry. I know I've been such a downer lately but I'm gonna try to be better today. After all, I only turn 17 once right?" I joked. That made them smile.

"Here's an early graduation and birthday present from us." Alice said while handing me a big present. I looked at her then at the others as I shook it, it didn't sound like it had much. When I opened it, it had another smaller box inside and when I opened that one, it was a locket with our family crest on it.

They knew how much I always wanted something with the Cullen crest though they didn't know what to get since the rest of them had the choker, bracelets, necklace and ring. They knew that I admired Rosalie's necklace the most, ever since I was little, so they just got me a locket almost like it.

I looked at it, it had little rose designs along with the crest and the embroidery along the sides were beautiful. It had a hint of dark red for the background.

Then I opened the locket. Inside there was something written, .

I looked back at my family who waited for any other reaction, I smiled with tears eyes, "I love it. Thank you." That's when Rosalie came over to take it out of the box and place it around my neck. It looked perfect even with the yellow graduation gown.

"There, now you are officially a Cullen." Alice chimed smiling.

"Not that you weren't before" Emmett added making us laugh a bit which made a tear fall down my face.

"No crying! Today's a special day." Alice scolded, wiping my tear away, then hugged me.

"Okay well, now we got the birthday girl up and ready, Edward's picking up Bella and we're meeting them at the school. So let's head on out shall we?" Mom said as we all went out and into our cars.

When we got there, everyone was already finding their seats.

"When we were 5, 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" Jessica started her valedictorian speech. I sat next to Alice and Jasper. Edward sat next to Bella of course on the other side of Alice. I could sense that Charlie and Billy were here, though I was more concerned on who wasn't here. But, I didn't let that distract me.

"When we were 10, they asked again, we answered rockstar, cowboy or in my case a gold medalist. But now that we've grown up, they want a serious answer...Well how about this...Who the hell knows" That got the crowd cheering. Even I cracked a smile.

"This isn't the time to make hard and fast decisions. This is the time to make mistakes." I looked down, thinking about my mistake...I looked down to my locket for comfort.

"Take the wrong train and get stuck somewhere. Fall in love...a lot." Ouch, now she's lost me there. Though, I kept my composure.

"Major in philosophy because there's no way to make a career out of that. Change your mind and change it again because nothing's permanent. So make as many mistakes as you can. That way someday when they ask us what we wanna be, we won't have to guess...We'll know." And with that everyone cheered. I clapped and smiled a bit. Jessica was right, her speech was epic.

After that, they handed us our diplomas.

Once the auditorium cleared out, everyone was congratulating everyone. I got hugs and cheek kisses from my family. Saying they're proud of me. I couldn't help but smile a bit because this really is a big accomplishment for me. Even though I know I'm going to have to go through it again in a couple of years but, I earned this.

Emmett being my biggest brother twirled me around a few times. Charlie and Billy greeted me too, though, I had to be extra tough when Billy congratulated me.

Bella and Edward were the last to greet me.

"Avalei, hey congrats and happy birthday" Bella said while giving me a hug. I haven't seen Bella nor Edward much because they'd reminded me of that day, though, it's nice to see them again.

"Thanks Bella. Congrats to you too." I said to her as we pulled away. She looked like she was going to say something else but was soon blocked by my brother.

"Happy Birthday Avalei, nice locket." Was all he said knowing I didn't need much to greet me. He then hugged me and I heard his thoughts.

When we pulled apart, I smiled at him, thanking him.

Alice soon rushed us back to the house, said she had to make a few last minute party arrangements.