A/N: The chapter is dedicated to Kate Lewis who helped me edit the ending - Thanks Kate! - and my friends; Kim, Jacquie, Victoria, Natalie, Laura, Kate (again) and Jaoqui. You guys are awesome!
Stan, who made his début in Notes, will be making appearances in chapters of this story. Keep your eyes peeled for him. And no, he won't remember the vampire Bella and Edward from Notes.
Another note, in the original Twilight, when Alice was human she still had visions of the future. For the sake of the plotline, I've decided that Alice won't be having any visions and won't be sent to the asylum any time soon. Sorry that that's a little out of character, but she'll still have hunches and such about how things will work out in the future.
I tried to make this as cliché free and in character as possible. I'm so sorry if I slip up and make them out of character or that the plotline becomes a little cheesy. It's going to be hard, but I'll do my best.
Posted: July 27, 2008 - 5:00 PM
Disclaimer: -sighs- I don't own anything.
Chapter 1: Welcome to University
Stupid, stupid, stupid! I thought as I ran through the university campus. My very first day of classes and I was late.
"Hey!" An innocent bystander protested as I ran past the, knocking their books down in the process.
"Sorry!" I called over my shoulder. I couldn't stop for two reasons; one, I was late, and two, by some miracle I wasn't tripping or falling, so I had to make the streak last as long as possible.
I saw the building rise up through the fog. Why I had chosen such a miserable, rainy place to go to school, I'll never know. I slowed as I got to the doors, not wanting to burst in during a lecture. Luckily, the professor was still doing attendance.
"Ah, late." He noted brilliantly. I sat down in the first available seat, cursing myself that I managed to be late.
"Don't worry, he just started." The girl beside me whispered.
"Thanks." I whispered back. She was small; almost child sized with pale skin, short, spiky black hair and sapphire blue eyes. I liked her immediately.
"Excuse me, is your name Joan Ambry?" The professor asked me.
"No." He frowned, and crossed a name off of the list. The teacher was peculiar. He continued down the list.
"Mary Alice Brandon?" He asked. The girl beside me stiffened.
"Here, but it's just Alice. No Mary." The professor frowned.
"But on the sheet it says Mary Alice."
"But I prefer Alice." The professor sighed and scratched something off of the list.
"Kimberly Broth?"
"Here."
"Jacquie Davalos?"
"Here."
"Rosalie Hale?"
"Here."
"Kate Lenard?"
"Here."
"Victoria Mark?"
"Here."
"Edward Masen?"
"Here." I had been zoning out during attendance, but the velvet voice made me turn around. I think he was the gorgeous one in the top row. He saw me staring and gave me a beautiful crooked smile that almost stopped my heart.
"Emmett McCarty?"
"Present!" A booming voice near the back called. I turned to see a very muscular man with his arm raised and a wide smile on his face.
"Laura Neice?"
"Here."
"Natalie Popel?"
"Here."
"Isabella Swan?" I cringed.
"Please, just Bella." I answered.
"But it says Isabella."
"Yes, I'm aware of that, but I prefer Bella." He sighed once again and crossed off the beginning of my name. I could tell this teacher didn't like change.
"Jaoquim Victores?"
"Present."
"Jasper Whitlock?" Alice gasped, and whipped her head around, looking for the man who would answer.
"Here." Her head locked onto the owner of the smooth voice with a touch of a southern accent. He had honey blonde hair and was almost as gorgeous as the guy who I thought was Edward.
"You okay Alice?" I whispered. She nodded dreamily, never taking her eyes off Jasper, who didn't seem to notice her gaze. He was talking to another beautiful blonde, who looked like his sister.
"So, I saw you checked out Edward." Alice said nonchalantly, turning her head towards the front of the room again. I choked.
"What?" I asked, coughing.
"When his name was called, you looked for him. He was the only one you did that for, while besides Emmett, but he was really loud." Trying to change the subject, I brought up Jasper.
"Do you know him?"
"Nope, but I will soon." She said confidently. We didn't get to talk anymore because the lecture on eighteenth century literature started.
-x-o-x-
After the hour discussion, which was so boring I had been praying for death, we were released into the foggy afternoon. Alice stayed by my side as we walked towards the on campus coffee shop.
"So, did you know anyone?" Alice asked as we escaped the damp fog and stood in line to place our orders.
"No, you?"
"Nope. But I will soon." I gave her a quizzical look, but she didn't notice.
"Hello, how may I help you?" The man behind the counter asked.
"I'll have a grande Earl Grey Misto, 2 bags please." Alice ordered. She went through the process of paying, tipping and picking up her drink before I had decided what to order. "For heaven's sakes, just order something!" Alice huffed, and I walked to the counter.
"Hello, my names Mike, can I get you anything special?" The blonde haired man asked from behind the counter. He kept twitching his eye, maybe it was meant to be a wink, but it just looked like he had something in there.
"Um...I'll have a chocolate chip frappichino." It took him forever to get me my drink after I had paid, and when I got my drink, he had written his phone number on the cup. Lovely. Alice thought it was hilarious.
"Oh my gosh! You have to phone him!" She managed to get out as she laughed hysterically.
"Um, no thanks." I finished my drink as quickly as possible, giving myself multiple brain-freezes in the process. I threw the cup away, along with Mike's unused phone number, while Alice sipped her tea misto. We sat down at a picnic table outside my dorm building.
"So, what's the deal with Jasper?" I asked. A small smile lit up her face.
"I think he's the one." She said dreamily, taking another sip of her drink.
"Have you…talked to him? At all?" She shook her head.
"No, but I know things." She said simply. I was worried about her sanity then.
"What kind of things do you know?" She shrugged.
"The usual. I'm like a super-matchmaker. I just know that we're compatible."
"Really? Do you know who I'm compatible with?" She pursed her lips and tilted her head to the side, thinking.
"Yes. But you wouldn't believe me if I told you." She said. I scoffed.
"If you know, you should tell me." She shook her head.
"It's going to have to work out on its own." I knew I wasn't going to get anymore information on myself, so I decided to learn about the class.
"Who else in the class is compatible? And why was it so empty? Not even half the seats in the room were filled!" Alice grimaced.
"That's because the teacher sucks. There are always just enough students for one and a half classes, and usually they can all fit into one room, but that building is being renovated, and the professor can only teach one class because of their schedule, so we get stuck with this guy, Professor Garnett. He just retired, and they brought him back for our class."
"Great." I said, rolling my eyes. "What about compatible people?"
"Hmm… Well, you know the big guy in the back that yelled 'present'?" I nodded. "Well, he's perfect for Jasper's cousin."
"Jasper's cousin?" Which one was that?
"The blonde, Rosalie Hale." I nodded.
"Anyone else?"
"Not really, there are way more girls than guys," her eyes narrowed. "But that Davalos girl likes Jasper. A lot."
"Ooo, competition Alice?" I teased. She scoffed, taking another sip of her mist tea thing.
"Anyway, enough of my love life. Where's your room?" I pointed to the building behind her. She turned around, gave it a quick inspection and squealed.
"What?" I asked as she erupted into a new squeal.
"That's my building!" She exclaimed.
"Really? I'm in 4C." She squealed again.
"I'm in 5C! I'm right across from you!" I was truly happy to have her in my class and building. It was nice to have a friend.
She finally finished her tea and we decided to take a short walk around the campus before heading in to do the homework assigned by the professor. The school was part of the Green Living Project, so all the buildings had gardens on the roof and they had a small lake near the back of the campus.
We gave the area a quick tour and where headed towards the lake when Alice stopped dead in her tracks. It was then that I noticed that unique shade of red hair. There was Edward Masen, sitting at a picnic table with Jasper Whitlock. They both had their books out, and seemed to be doing their work. Alice squealed once again, but this time she managed to keep it quite enough that everyone else in the area couldn't hear it.
"Bella, we have to go sit at the next table!" She pulled me by my arm towards the lake and the empty table.
"Alice," I hissed, "What are you doing?" she continued to drag me. She is freakishly strong for such a small person.
"We are going to do our homework." She whispered. As we approached their table she released my arm, knowing it was too late for me to turn around without looking like an idiot. She pranced forward, looking like a dancer. I noticed how Jasper's eyes followed her as she walked by. I kept my head down as I walked by, but I felt eyes on me, and when I looked up, Edward Masen was watching me with his beautiful emerald eyes. Great, I must look like an idiot!
I sat down across from Alice when I managed to pass Edward and Jasper. Alice had a smug look on her face.
"See! I told you it wouldn't be that bad!" She whispered, pulling out her books. I pulled my own books out of my messenger bag. The homework was ten multi-paragraph questions on the plot and themes of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Nights Dream.
We settled into the working on the questions, but I noticed Alice kept looking up to peek at Jasper, and I noticed that he looked over at her as much as she looked at him. How cute! I also noticed how Edward never looked over at us.
"Bella, I don't understand the second question." Alice pouted. I looked up to see her saying that, not to me, but in the direction of Jasper and Edward.
"Sorry Alice, but I'm still on the first one. I'll help you when I get there." I murmured, my head bent over my copy of A Midsummer Nights Dream, looking for the examples I could use for the question.
"Maybe I could help?" A deep voice asked. I whipped my head up too see who said that, and I saw Jasper standing beside Alice, a small smile on his face. Alice was beaming. Jasper slid into the seat next to her and helped her with the questions. I snuck a peak at them and Alice caught my eye and winked. She had to be in her own personal heaven right now. I sighed and bent my head over my work, finally finding the information I needed to answer number one.
An hour later, I was finally on question eight. Jasper had helped Alice finished fifteen minutes ago and they had chatted quietly while I worked on Shakespeare.
"Hey Bella, Jasper invited me out to lunch, so I'm going to go, okay?" Alice asked, her eyes begging permission.
"Sure, of course. Go have fun Alice." I told her.
"Thanks Bella." I was surprised when Jasper thanked me.
"Oh, but I don't want you to sit alone!" Alice worried, frowning in thought.
"I'll be fine! I'm almost done anyways." As if to prove my point I finished the last sentence and moved on to question nine. "See, only two more questions."
"Maybe Edward will move." Jasper thought out loud, and Alice agreed wholeheartedly.
"That's perfect! Now neither of them will be alone." I could tell there was a hidden meaning in her words, and I hoped Jasper wouldn't pick up on it.
"Just what I was thinking." He agreed. He went over to talk to Edward, who seemed to be working on the homework as well.
"What are you doing?" I hissed. I got déjà vu. Stupid Alice.
"Edward's single too! What a coincidence, eh?" She exclaimed in a whisper. How she managed to do that I will never know.
"Alice, please don't meddle!" I begged in a whisper. She scoffed.
"I never meddle!" She whispered back. I didn't get to retaliate because the boys came back, both of them with their books.
"Okay Alice, ready to go?" Jasper asked, and Alice nodded, looking like she was on cloud nine.
"Bye Bella! See you tomorrow! Bright and early." I frowned at her tone, but I couldn't ask her anymore questions because she left on Jasper's arm.
"Uh, hey." I greeted Edward. He gave me a heartbreaking crooked smile that made me melt on the inside.
"Hello Bella." He said smoothly, his voice like honey. I swallowed hard. It was going to be hard to concentrate on Shakespeare with him sitting across from me.
"Um, are you done with the work yet?" I asked timidly, he gave me another smile as he sat down across from me.
"I am, but I have other work from another class." He pulled out a psychology textbook and a notebook.
"Is psychology interesting?" I asked, wanting to put off my homework and continue to talk to him.
"It is. I've always been good at reading people, and I find that really helps in the class."
"That's so cool. Do you know what you want to do?" He thought about it.
"I love music – I'm also taking a composing class – so maybe I could do something that revolves around that, but I also love to help people, so I'm not quite sure yet. What about you?"
"I love literature; all my classes revolve around English and books, so maybe I'll be a writer someday. Or I could teach English… I'm still not sure." I had no idea what I wanted to be.
"I'm sure you'll be great at whatever you do." At his compliment I blushed. Great, now I look like a tomato.
"Thanks. I'm sure you'll be great at whatever you choose too." I'm positive I sounded like an idiot, but he didn't seem to notice. He was still giving me that wonderfully crooked smile. "Um, I guess I should finish this." I said, gesturing towards my unfinished homework.
"I'm sorry; I'm keeping you from your work!" He apologized. I rolled my eyes.
"I was quite happy with the distraction, but from what I can tell, Alice is getting me up early tomorrow." He laughed softly.
"From what I can tell, she is very exuberant." I smiled. I hadn't even known Alice for a day and I liked her. University life was fast paced.
"She is." I agreed very eloquently. We settled into a comfortable silence as we did our assigned work, and I finally managed to finish. I smiled, very proud of myself and Edward closed his books, having finished his essay.
"Are you done?" He asked, eyeing my still open books. I nodded and snapped them all closed, shoving them into my bag.
"What time is it?" I asked. He glanced down at his expensive looking watch.
"One thirty." Shoot! I only had a half hour to get across campus for my creative writing class, and knowing me, I would trip along the way.
"I have to go; my next class is starting soon." I stood up quickly, giving myself a head rush in the process. Great, now I'm dizzy, that'll make it easier to stay upright! I thought sarcastically. Edward stood smoothly, regarding me with amusement.
"Would you like me to walk you there? Where is it?" He asked politely.
"I'm fine, it's across campus." I told him, untangling myself from the stupid table. Why do picnic tables have to have the benches attached to the table? It's so inconvenient!
"Are you sure? You look a little unstable." He commented as I finally got out from between the table and the bench, tripping in the process.
"I'm fine. I'm naturally clumsy." He still looked skeptical. "I'm used to it. I can cope." I assured.
"Alight then." He said, sounding unsure and displeased that I didn't want his help.
"I'll be fine, I promise. Thanks though."
"Goodbye Bella. It was a pleasure to do homework with you." He said, a small smile playing on his lips. I swear my heart melted.
"Bye Edward, and likewise." My vocabulary seemed to have left me, and all I had left was the basic words. That's what Edward did to me, and I was sure I sounded like an idiot.
To save myself from further embarrassment, I started heading towards my next class, hoping I wouldn't be late for this one. Luckily I arrived on time, after tripping three times and almost falling into the lake. People in the class seemed to have had the same idea as me. The class was packed and there was still five minutes before the lecture would start. I quickly scanned the room, looking for someone I knew, and sure enough, someone was waving at me from their seat in the top row. I felt my eyes go wide and my jaw drop as I ran up the flight of stairs to my friend.
"Angela! What are you doing here? I thought you got accepted in California!" I dropped down into the seat next to hers.
"I did, but during the summer I got a call from the Dean saying he would give me a scholarship!"
"Wow!" Was all I could say. A scholarship! That was amazing!
"I know! And now I get to spend more time with Ben! He's in a university further south, but at least now we're in the same state." Ben Cheney was Angela's long time boyfriend. He had been accepted to an Applied Technology School; he wanted to be an engineer or something like that.
"That's amazing Angela! You are so lucky!"
"What about you? Do you have a boyfriend?" She asked. Edward Masen's name popped into my head, but I squashed it. There was no way on Earth he would ask me out.
"Nope. Still single." I said. All of a sudden, the person sitting in front of me turned around.
"I'm sorry, but I couldn't help but overhear that you're single." He had long black hair and tanned skin. He seemed…familiar.
"I'm sure." I replied curtly. I hated nosey people. He seemed to notice the finality in my tone and struggled to find a way to continue the conversation.
"Um…what's your name?" He asked. I sighed, unable to stay mad since he obviously meant no harm.
"Bella Swan." His eyes seemed to pop out of his head.
"Charlie's daughter?" I nodded my head, "Do you remember me? I'm Jacob Black, Billy Black's son. Our dad's would go fishing and drag us along." I knew I recognized him!
"Oh! I thought I knew you! How is Billy? I haven't been to La Push for years!" He gave me a winning smile.
"My dad's fine – he's in a wheelchair now, but he's good. What have you been up to?"
"Not much, oh I'm sorry! Where are my manners! Angela Weber, this is Jacob Black, Jake, this is Angela."
"How do you do?" Jacob asked politely, stretching his arm back to shake Angela's hand.
"I'm fine, thanks." We didn't get to talk anymore because the professor entered and the lecture began. I ended up really enjoying it – it was so interesting!
"That was so great!" Angela exclaimed as we left the classroom. Angela was on my one side and Jake was on the other. I was a little uncomfortable at how close he was too me, but I didn't say anything. I didn't want to seem rude. I saw Alice jumping up and down on a picnic table, waving at me.
"Bella!" She yelled, and I blushed crimson. Angela watched Alice with a puzzled expression.
"I'm going to guess that you know her?" Angela asked, and I nodded.
"She's in my Literature class and she's in my building."
"Ah. I'm going to go; Ben's taking me out to dinner." She said.
"Bye! Have fun!"
"I will thanks. See you tomorrow!" Angela waved goodbye, leaving Jacob and me.
"Um, I'm going to go see what Alice wants." I mumbled.
"Okay, I'll come with you." He said much to my displeasure. Didn't he notice that I wanted to see what she wanted alone?
We walked towards Alice, who had jumped off the table.
"What's up Alice?" I asked. Alice eyes Jacob with distaste.
"I'm sorry, but can I talk to Bella alone?" Alice asked Jacob and his eyes narrowed.
"Sure. See you tomorrow Bells." He said walking away.
"Um, bye?" Why had he used a nickname for me when I hadn't seen him in years? We weren't even that close when we did talk.
"So...who was that?" Alice asked. I shrugged.
"Our dad's used to force us on play dates, but I haven't seen him for years. That was…weird." Alice nodded as we both watched Jacob retreat into the crowd.
"Oh! I have great news!" Alice exclaimed, linking our arms and pulling me through the crowd of students towards our dorm building. Even though we had just met today, it was like we'd been friends for years.
"Is that why you were jumping on the picnic table?" I teased and she rolled her eyes.
"Of course! I had the best lunch with Jasper! I was right; I am definitely going to marry him."
"How can you be so sure? Did he propose?" I didn't understand how she could be so certain.
"No, he didn't propose, but I could tell. I think he could almost tell how much I like him…" She trailed off, thinking.
"Was he nice?" I prompted. Alice was the kind of girl who liked to talk about this kind of stuff, I could tell. I was right, and my question set her off.
"He was so nice, and polite! He was a perfect gentleman! He is to die for!" She said dreamily. We were in the elevator now, going up to the third floor.
"I'm glad you had a good date!" I told her, and I meant it.
"Thanks! I'm so glad too! Just wait until he asks you out, it'll be great!" She promised.
"Until who asks me out?" I asked as the elevator door opened. Alice grabbed my hand and dragged me down the hallway.
"You'll find out soon enough. Just be patient." She chided me. We reached our doors – they were right across from each other. Alice opened hers and dragged me into her room. "Do you have any work from your class?"
"No, why?"
"Good! We're having a girl's night to get to know each other better!"
"Alice, it's four o'clock." I reminded her.
"I know! We're going to watch movies, and I'll give you a facial, and we can get dinner, and talk…" She trailed off, moving around her dorm.
"That sounds great!" I told her and she beamed. I guess it wouldn't be so bad to give her what she wanted, it did sound like fun.
-x-o-x-
After the long night of bonding, Alice released me to my own bed. I climbed into it gratefully. The plush bedding and soft pillows seemed like heaven on earth.
The last thing I saw as I slowly crossed into unconsciousness was Edward Masen's face, his jade eyes sparkling. I sighed. If only he liked me back…
A/N:
This story is going to be completely Bella's point of view. I'm going to do a Twilight/Midnight Sun kind of thing. I write a chapter in Bella's point of view, you hopefully review, and I send you the chapter in Edward's point of view. When the story's over I'll post them all as a separate story, but I'm sure you'd prefer to read in sooner than later. Even if I've written other chapters and this story is old, review and I will send you the chapters correspondent.
Please review! I love to get feedback on my stories. It makes my day when people tell me I made them laugh out loud or cry because of the ending. I promise to respond to you and to send you the bonus!
-Maggie