Bound To You: Marcus Volturi

Chapter 60: University

The screen brightness is much higher than I'm used to and to be honest, I'm momentarily blinded. The MacBook makes that irritable dinging noise all computers make when it turns on and the start up controls appear on screen.

It's been an hour since Marcus dropped the university bombshell and we've been in my room sitting in silence while I try my darn best to figure out the MacBook Pro.

"What the fuck does this button do? Oh it's volume. No, wait, that's volume. Oh fuck it!" I slam the cover closed and push it away from me with a slide across the table. Marcus glances up from his book and sighs. Closing it with a sharp slap, he comes to my side and wraps his arms around me, enveloping me in his embrace, his lips in my hair.

"Don't worry about it, sweetheart." He sighs softly, tapping the screen gingerly to see what it can do.

"Leave it there. I'll get Liam to figure it out." I huff, leaning back into him, snuggling deeply.
"Which university were you thinking about sending me to?" I sigh, looking up into his eyes.
"You want to study medicine, don't you?" He smiles sadly.

"Yeah..." I hold out my hands for explanation. "Which university do you think is best for medicine?" He asks. "Because I know it's ranked #1 in the world. But I know you'll be accepted. You're smarter than you look." He teases, stroking my lip.

"Oxford? Cambridge?" I ask, hoping it's somewhere in England. At least then, Marcus can fly over now and then, as hopefully the flights are cheap-ish.

He smiles at my naïvety. "Darling Lee, you need to think further away," He shakes his head, before leaving my arms and grabbing a booklet, throwing it towards me. I glance at the front cover, spot the American flag and my stomach lurches.

"Harvard?! You're sending me to America?!" I gasp, half ecstatic, half horrified at the distance there'll be between us.
"What about us?" I stand opposite him, twisting my wedding ring around my finger nervously.

"Don't look so distraught, sweetheart. I'll try to come with you. I can stay near the establishment hopefully. Everytime you are on a break, we'll fly to Italy to see the rest of the family." He looks into my eyes. "How does that sound?" He asks.

I exhale. "Better. If you're there, it could be ok." I nod slowly, flicking through the booklet. "I didn't complete my A levels." I sit up, glancing at him. Surely he would have taken that into account. "Two steps ahead." He assures. "I forged your results. Made them up." He smiles. "It looked genuine. All proper." He looks pleased with own little bubble of 'cleverness'.

"Don't look so smug." I tut, poring over the medicine page of the booklet. "It says I need a science subject at A Level." I feel a moment of panic which quickly dissipates when I see Marcus' calm expression. "I wrote on your application that you did Biology." He smirks.

I burst out laughing. "You're a rebel, Marcus Volturi. How am I going to get accepted with a fake application?" I double up with laughs, taking him into my arms to kiss him. I tilt his chin so he's at eye level with me. "Promise me you'll try your hardest to stay with me at the Uni. If I can fake my way into Harvard with your help, you can clearly do anything." I kiss him.

"I promise." He replies. "We'll find a little place to stay perhaps?" He suggests. "Some small apartment. I have the money for much more but we don't want to draw attention to ourselves." He smiles at me. "If anyone out there asks, I'm your father." He says.

"Ok, but what about my wedding ring? Won't they doubt my story?" I twist the ring around again a few times. He presses his lips together. "It's a risk....perhaps....say it was your mothers." He decides, nodding firmly. "Say it was your mother's ring and you wear it to remind you of her."

"I can't pretend my mother's dead!" I gasp, shutting my eyes in agony. Marcus smirks. "I've told worse lies. And besides, no one will be interested in you." He prods me in the chest gently.
I swat his hand away and glare at him. "You're such a dickhead." I jump out of my seat, booklet in hand and swing open the door.

"Where are you going now?" He calls after me. "To Mum and Dad, maybe they'll be interested in me." I shoot a playful look over my shoulder before rushing out.

Caius and Athenadora are in the throne room, with thankfully Aro as a no show. I step over to them and thrust the booklet into Caius's hands, waiting for them to read the title. "Harvard University?" Caius splutters. "No offence, my girl, but are you sure you're clever enough?" He says carefully. Athenadora glares at him.

"Don't be cruel, Caius!" She snaps. I open my mouth to intervene but Caius buts in. "Thena, they have a 2.3% acceptance rate. As much as I would love to say Lee will be a part of that 2.3%, realistically, she might not be." He argues.

Athenadora glares. "I'm sure underneath the surface, Lee is um...uh..very...clever." She coughs to hide her disbelief. I try again to get a word in, but again, I'm cut off. "Well there we are then. Even you agree with me!" Caius says triumphantly. "Sweetheart." He turns to me, taking my hands. I exhale deeply, trying not to blow steam. "You have to keep an open mind. Don't get your hopes up, but try your best." He says.

I step out of his reach. "I've been trying to tell you something! Unfortunately, I kept getting rudely interupted!" I glare at Caius accusingly and he rolls his eyes. "Stop acting like a teenager full of attitude." I smirk at him. "Mum, Dad, I've sent my application. Well, Marcus forged it." I admit.

"FORGED?!" Athenadora cries. Caius nearly jumps out of his skin because of her volume. "That's against the law! You could be jailed! Oh my God, I can't believe you lied on a University application!" She covers her eyes with her hands. "Tell me I'm having a nightmare." She groans dramatically. Caius tuts at her before turning to me with cold eyes.

I gulp, wondering what my punishment will be. No pudding? No internet? Dish washing for a week? Those were Mum's versions of punishments. Caius's were much more cruel.
I brace myself for the worst.

But his face breaks out in a smile. "Well done, Lee." What?! Even Athenadora uncovers her eyes to see if he's serious. "That's clever of you. I wonder if they'll accept."
"Um..thanks, I guess." I shrug. "You're welcome, but you shouldn't have done it really." He says. "It was Marcus." I add.

Caius shrugs. "Oh well. C'est la vie. I'm sure it'll be fine. Don't look so worried."

I nod and turn to leave the room. "Oh. Lee?" Caius calls back. "Yeah?" I ask.

He flashes his most charming smile. "If you do go to Harvard, bring me back an American cowboy hat. I think it would look good on me."

(A/N: I wish Caius was my father. What a legend. Anyway. How are we all? Doing good? I was wondering what you thought about the Harvard application? Should Lee get accepted on a fluke? Let me know what you think.)

Till then, love always
VampireLover_xox