Author's Note: Hey everyone! Just wanted to say that this is the epilogue to Pre-Twilight. A Twilight section with its own chapters will be coming in the future.

Enjoy!

・・・

The summer passed by in a blur. I spent most of it in the library or in the family vault where we kept the ancient manuscripts. The heat in Forks was nothing to the summers I had suffered in my home town back in my other life. I spent a lot of time outside when I wasn't reading through old journals and manuscripts. I would explore the woods with Edward since he wouldn't let me go on my own. We'd bicker back and forth about me not needing the extra protection. I am an Addams after all. We have a lion as a pet who goes by the name Kitty Kat for goodness sake.

Eventually we settled on me agreeing to let him watch me from a far enough distance that he can still keep a watchful eye while I wander while giving me privacy. At least then I know I could just call his name and he'd be at my side in an instant if I wanted his company. More often than not, I would whisper his name when I was at the meadow and in the next moment, he'd be sitting next to me, shining like a disco ball.

Not much progress was made on finding my way back home. The answer did not seem to exist anywhere aside from fantastical accounts that, knowing my family, were hallucinations.

Edward had gotten extra curious about my family when Thing came back from vacation.

We were in the library with books we had gotten from the vault. We spent very little time at his house since I didn't want to risk making Jasper lose control. The door bursted open and Thing came tapping in.

My face lit up at the sight of the dismembered hand making its way to me as naturally as it would be for the real Penelope Addams. "Thing! How are you? How was your vacation?"

Thing gave me a high five and signed to me the overall gist of his adventures. As I talked to him, Edward seemed to back away from us, clearly distraught by Thing. I hadn't noticed until Thing asked me who the scared boy was. I looked back only to see a frightened Edward standing in a dark corner, his eyes trained on Thing as if he would attack him.

A nervous laugh escaped my lips. "I guess I forgot to tell you about Thing, huh?"

"What the hell is a Thing?!"

・・・

Unfortunately, the first day of our junior year came all too soon. My parents were out of town again and my aunt had an early shift, so I had a quiet morning to myself. Lurch offered to make breakfast for me, but I had made plans with Edward to go to the diner instead since I haven't gone in a while and he's never been there (for obvious reasons). After all, the drizzle of rain outside made it such a nice day to go out.

I was just about to start up my car when I felt it move. Edward was now sitting in the passenger seat looking cool and casual. I rolled my eyes at him.

"Is it too much to ask that you make your presence known BEFORE you get into my car?"

"Yes," he answered with a bit of a cheeky smile. "It's not my fault you don't keep your mind reading on all the time."

I flick his head and get back to starting up my car. "Please, if you had the option to turn it off, you wouldn't have it on all the time. I still can't believe you wanted to come to breakfast with me. You don't eat human food."

He chuckled and put on his seat belt even though he was the last person to need it. "Oh, come on, it's what friends do. I guarantee you that some of our fellow peers are at the diner right now having breakfast together."

"Is my usual table free? Cora usually keeps it open for me."

He looked over at me curiously since he hadn't picked up on this whenever I had my mind open to him. "You have an understanding with the waitress?"

"Well, I am her biggest tipper."

When we arrived, Cora came over to me with a menu and a friendly smile, though she was momentarily surprised that I had company today— as did the rest of the diner's patrons since they've never seen a Cullen in the diner before. It didn't help that Jessica Stanley was there with her friend group. She was shooketh, to say the least. I mean, everyone at school figured that me and Edward were friends since they saw us at the dance together and I had been lunching with the Cullens for the rest of the school year. There were even speculations that we were dating but we didn't act like a couple so that theory fell flat. But now...

"Morning, Penny. How have you been? We haven't seen you in a while."

I smiled back as she led us to my usual table. "Good morning, Cora. I've been good, just busy. And you?"

"I've been good too. Would you like your usual breakfast?"

"Yes, but instead of French toast, could I get pancakes?"

She scribbled my order down and nodded at my request, "Of course."

She looked over at Edward. "What can I get you?"

He pretended to look through the menu before replying with a soft, "Just a coffee for me."

Cora nodded and went to put in our order. Everyone knew that the Cullens had peculiar eating habits so I guess she wasn't too surprised.

"Are you going to have to throw that up later?" I ask quietly, a hint of mirth in my eyes.

He pretended to glare at me. "That's none of your business."

That only made us crack up but I stopped when I caught sight of the envious glares the girls were sending me. I didn't have to read her mind to know that Jessica was fuming about me sitting across a "perfect" Edward and laughing with him.

"You did this on purpose, didn't you?" I ask him in a mock scolding tone.

He just shrugged with a little smirk. "Well, since you happen to be a girl, I thought that spending more public time with you would keep certain people from imagining me in certain ways. You know, for some peace of mind."

"Is that working?"

He sighed, "Not really, no. I'm just getting bombarded with scenarios of, say, Jessica stealing me away from you."

I let out a short chuckle and get another sip of my coffee. "I don't think she'll leave you alone until you get a girlfriend."

He looked up at me, his eyes shining with a bit of hope.

"No!" I say firmly.

"Not for real, just pretend—"

"No! And that's final. I am no one's fake girlfriend."

His expression became more thoughtful. "Well... what if it was real...?"

I looked at him like "are you serious?"

He seemed serious until I saw that twinkle of mischief in his eyes. I kicked his leg but that backfired on me miserably.

"Fuck..." I muttered under my breath as the pain shot up my leg. "You are the bane of my existence. I hope you know that."

"I'm well aware, thank you."