Author's Note :

I own nothing. I would like to thank my BETA Helen for helping me fix my story. Please Read and Review.

And check out my other story Room for Rent : Edward is a shy and quiet momma's boy who is moving across country to attend John's Hopkins Medical School. He rents a room above a diner from a young woman name Bella Swan. He is immediately attracted to her but too shy to do anything about it.

_______________________________ Meetings _________________________________

After filling out the dorm-mate compatibility quiz two months ago, I received an e-mail with the name and e-mail address of my soon-to-be roommate Miss Mary Alice Cullen of Seattle, Washington. Not two days after receiving that letter from Towson University in Baltimore, Maryland, I received an excited phone call from Miss Cullen.

"May I speak to Isabella Swan?" a squeaky voice said from the phone.

"This is she", I replied "may I ask who is calling?" I heard animated squeal come from the other end of the phone. I immediately held the phone away from my ear waiting for the noise to stop.

"Hello, my name is Alice Cullen and I will be your new roommate. I was calling to see if you wanted to get together this week so we can become friends before school starts."

Well she was certainly to the point. Alice seemed the complete opposite to me – I knew I was a little shy and self conscious. But what could it hurt? At least I would already know someone when I arrived. We agreed to meet up in Port Angeles for coffee and lunch the next day.

I drove my old rusty red pick-up to Port Angeles the next morning and found myself eager to meet my new friend and dorm mate. I parked in the lot across from the coffee shop and noticed a small girl with spiky black hair - I immediately knew it was her. She was bouncing up and down and waving her arms around like I could have missed her. I chuckled to myself as I realised that she clearly had too much energy.

I crossed the street to meet her cautiously; I didn't want her first impression of me to be that I was a walking accident waiting to happen. Luckily I made it across the street without falling or tripping. As soon as I was on the side-walk she had her arms around me in a tight hug. Who could have thought that such a tiny thing was so strong?

We went inside for coffee and proceeded to tell each other everything about our lives. I learned that Mary Alice hated her first name and insisted everyone just call her Alice. As I prefer to be called Bella instead of Isabella, I understood completely. Alice had two older brothers Emmett, who was 22 and Edward who was 20. She had no sisters although she was very close to her Emmett's fiancée Rosalie who was also 22.

Alice had had a long term boyfriend since she was 14. His name was Jasper Hale and he was 19 - just 1 year ahead of us - and already attending Towson University, majoring in Psychology. Her father Carlisle was a doctor and her mother Esme was an interior designer. Alice helped her mother to shop and decorate the houses she flipped.

Alice was going to school for fashion and business. Her brother Emmett was going to school to please his parents but was really into sports. He had a full scholarship to John Hopkins University (JHU) in Baltimore and played Baseball and Lacrosse while his fiancée Rosalie attended Towson for Business Management. The middle Cullen child Edward was also attending John Hopkins University (JHU) but for medicine – following in his father's footsteps.

I told Alice about how I used to live in Phoenix, Arizona, and explained that my mom and my step-father Phil travelled a lot for his job as a Minor League Baseball coach. It was because of this that I decided to move to Forks to live with my father Charlie, the local Chief of Police. I told her about my best friend in the world Jacob Black who was a Native American and lived on the Quileute reservation right outside of Forks. He is two years younger than me but at least a foot taller than I am. I showed her a picture of him in my wallet and how beautiful his hair was. She asked if we were dating and I explained that it was just never like that for us. We had always just been the best of friends and knew each other inside out.

After drinking our coffee and walking around Port Angeles for a while we decided to have a slumber party at the weekend, getting to know each other better. I was so excited that we had hit it off straight away. We were complete opposites but got along instantly and I felt that we would be great friends. Alice was going to stay with Charlie and I from Friday, and I was going to show her around my hometown and take her to La Push beach so she could meet Jacob.

On Friday morning my phone rang at 7:00am. I reached across to my night table, grabbed at the phone and mumbled "hello?"

"Are you still asleep? I am only 5 minutes away." Alice squealed into the phone. I sat up rubbing my eyes and stretching – was this girl for real? "Alright Alice I'll be down in a minute to meet you."

She squealed again and hung up the phone. I quickly rushed to the bathroom freshen up, and then ran downstairs tripping on the last step and falling straight on my butt. As I brushed myself off I consoled myself with the fact that no-one had seen me. I suddenly realised I was still in my pyjamas: a tank top and a pair of boy shorts. At least it was only Alice, and based upon our first meeting she would probably insist on picking out my clothes for the day anyway.

A knock at the door brought me out of my dazed thinking: I walked over to the door and swung it open expecting a small pixie like girl to throw herself at me in a tight hug. But what I got was something completely different. A muscular chest wrapped in a snug fitting grey t-shirt was at the level where Alice's eyes should have been. I slowly lifted my face to meet with the most dazzling emerald eyes I have ever seen. The face was smiling down at me, whilst he leant against the doorframe and holding a large duffle bag in his hand.

He ran his free hand through his already tousled bronze hair. All I could think as I stood mesmerised was that it looked like sex hair. Shaking my head gently to escape that particular image, I noticed his chiselled jaw and the most perfect lips I had ever seen; they looked soft, full and very kissable.

My heart began to pound in my chest and I wondered absently if everyone could hear it. I instantly felt the blush come to my cheeks as I smiled up at him.

"Hello, I'm Edward Cullen" he stated. As I struggled to gather my thoughts, Alice suddenly ducked under his arm carrying a mid-sized suitcase, and pushed past him to hug me.

I couldn't help but gasp and then hugged her back. I took a few steps back and motioned for them both to come in. Alice bounced in, leaving her suitcase next to the couch and plopping down on the soft cushions. Edward glided in behind her placing the large duffle bag next to the suitcase. He stood by the couch where Alice was bouncing up and down and swinging her legs like a child. I couldn't hide my grin at the sight of how free and full of life she was.

She suddenly jumped up and introduced us: "Edward, this is my soon to be roommate Bella Swan, and Bella this is my brother Edward. He is going to the airport after this so I asked him to drop me off on his way. You see Edward here is arriving to JHU early in order to get a head start and settle in at school. Don't worry though, you aren't stuck with me, I've asked Emmett to pick me up Sunday night."

She talked so fast I could barely make out what she was saying. He reached his hand out to shake mine and I responded in kind. When our hands met I felt tingles all over my body, my head span and my heart started to pound out of my chest. His grip was firm and warm; I could see the muscles in his arm flex from the movement. "Nice to meet you Edward" I said after regaining control of myself.

He smirked at me and headed for the door, telling Alice that he would see her when she got to school. I just stood there, slightly flushed, and waved goodbye after him.

Alice turned to me, and jumped up and down with excitement. "This is going to be so much fun Bella! I can't wait to know everything about you!"

And so we got on with filling each other in on our lives. I took her to lunch at the diner that Charlie and I frequently ate at when I was sick of cooking. Whilst listening to Alice talk excitedly about Forks, I absently wondered what my father was going eat when I went away to college. After lunch the tour of my small hometown continues and I showed Alice my High School, the Barnes and Noble where I worked part-time, and the woods where my friends and I hung out together.

On Saturday afternoon we went to La Push Beach where Alice met Jacob. They hit it off right away as they were so similar: both high energy and very outgoing. I had to snap a picture of her standing next to Jacob because the height difference was just too funny.

As I expected, Charlie instantly fell in love with Alice and she knew she had him wrapped around her little finger. She asked Charlie if it would be alright if I spent the last week of summer with her family before college. She reasoned that there was no point in both families having to schlep to the airport. To my surprise Charlie agreed.

Alice helped me pack up some of my things to ship to her brother's house in Baltimore. Carlisle and Esme had purchased a large three storey town house in the middle of Baltimore County, half way between JHU and Towson University. All of their children, plus Rosalie and Jasper were going to be there anyway so it made sense. Of course the added benefit for her parents was that her brothers could keep an eye on Alice.

Even though Alice and I had to spend the first full year of College in our dorm room we could still ship stuff to the house to avoid the flight baggage limits. I voiced my gratitude as I had a ton of books I wanted to bring.

Charlie, Alice and I drove to the post office and shipped off about three boxes full of books, music and clothes and Edward had assured Alice he would set them aside for me. The thought of Edward being alone in a house with my belongings made me nervous and also jealous that I could not put myself in a box and be shipped off to be alone with that gorgeous man.

Alice went home that Sunday. I spent the remainder of the summer saying goodbye to my friends and spending as much time with Charlie and Jacob as possible. They even got me out on a boat to go fishing - of course I slipped and fell right into the water, landing on my butt. I sat there, an embarrassed blush creeping up my face while Charlie tried to hide his grin as he helped me up, and Jake nearly fell out of the boat himself, he was laughing so hard.

_____________________________ The Cullens ________________________________

I had arranged to meet up with Alice at her family's home where I would also get to meet Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper, Carlisle and Esme before we headed to the airport the next morning. We loaded my two suitcases into Charlie's cruiser and headed to Seattle.

We arrived at a huge white house in mid afternoon and were greeted by a beautiful woman who I assumed to be Esme, as she had long wavy chestnut hair and the second most beautiful green eyes I had ever seen. Alice of course was jumping up and down next to her.

A large man with huge muscles came down the steps and took my bags after introducing himself as Emmett. We walked up the steps and Alice introduced us to everyone. Carlisle and Charlie headed up to Carlisle's study to talk while Esme went to the kitchen to make dinner. The rest of us settled on the sofas in the living room and started to get to know each other. Emmett was hilarious and full of life just like Alice, only not quite as bouncy. He immediately reminded me of Jake just a bit bigger. Rosalie smacked him on the back of the head once or twice when he made inappropriate jokes or said something stupid.

Alice sat next to Jasper, and they held hands and stole glances at one another throughout the evening. Rosalie sat next to Emmett on the other sofa and I just sat in the chair feeling a bit out of place. They were all so attractive, and I sat by myself feeling plain and ordinary.

Suddenly Esme came in and called everyone to dinner. We all laughed together over dinner as the family reminisced about stories from when they had been younger. Again I sat back and felt slightly like an outsider, but enjoyed the feeling of being any part of this extended, and clearly very happy, family.

After dinner Charlie got ready to head back to Forks. As we said our goodbyes, he handed me a pocket knife on a keychain with a small can of pepper spray and told me to keep it with me at all times. He also instructed me to call him every single night at 10 pm or before I went to bed. I sighed as I thought of how Renee had made similar requests but at least she knew how to check e-mail and text messages. I had tried to show Charlie once but he just got frustrated and gave up, complaining that modern technology wasn't his thing.

In the evening Rosalie, Alice and I decided to play slumber party on Alice's king size bed and watch movies.

"I want to play have I ever." Alice squealed. Rosalie and I both agreed.

"OK, so if you have done the thing then you clap your hands. I'll go first; I have never gone skinny dipping." And Rosalie clapped her hands. Alice and I both laughed.

"OK my turn, I have never peed my pants." Rose said while clapping her hands. I clapped mine and so did Alice. We all started laughing then.

"I have never had a real kiss." I clapped my hands and turned bright read. Both girls looked at me thoughtfully and said that it was good – they were convinced that I should wait until I cared about someone before kissing properly.

"I have never had sex." Alice said as Rosalie clapped her hands. Alice giggled at Rosalie's slightly confused look as she didn't clap: "Jasper and I are waiting until I get to college before we take that next step."

"I have never walked in on Edward having sex." Rose and Alice both laughed and clapped their hands. My heart sank to the bottom of the floor right out of my body. I couldn't believe that he would do that. I had this image of this perfect gentleman and now it was shattered.

"I have never given head" I said still picturing Edward getting busy with some slut. Alice and Rose clapped their hands.

"I have never caught Edward naked with two girls in the hot tub". Both Rosalie and Alice clapped their hands. What was wrong with this guy?

As the game wound down, I decided right there and then that I was not going to give Edward Cullen another thought. I was going off to college and I would meet a wonderful, polite, sweet, caring, gorgeous guy that would sweep me off of my feet.

The next morning we all woke up and got ready for the airport. There was an airport shuttle that arrived promptly at 8am as we were finishing up breakfast. I helped Esme do the dishes while the guys loaded up the van. Carlisle and Esme said goodbye to their kids and waved from the house as the van pulled off towards the airport.

The plane ride was long and the airport was crowded. We waited for our luggage at the baggage claim and then Alice ran towards a tall bronze hired man who I assumed was her brother. I just knew I was in for a freaking wonderful day. Edward had rented a small U-Haul minivan to fit all of us and our luggage – most of which was Alice with her suitcases of clothes.

We dropped Jasper off first and then headed to the Cullen's Baltimore house on the University Parkway. Emmett and Rosalie grabbed their bags while Alice and I grabbed ours. We were going to be staying at the house over the weekend until Monday morning when we could go to get our dorm assignments. I was very nervous about spending two days in that house with my newfound knowledge of Edwards exploits. I wondered if he would have girls over while Alice and I were here.

That night we got settled into the large room that would be Alice's next year. We sprawled across the bed eating ice-cream, chatting and making decisions about the things we would need to make our dorm room home.

At around 3am we were startled out of our planning by a loud and rhythmic thumping noise. Alice and I tried to stifle our giggles as we assumed that Emmett and Rosalie were getting to know each other again. This giggling was soon stifled as Rosalie's angry voice stated "Emmett it is almost 3am and he knows I have to go to work in the morning."

We scurried to the door to peek out and we saw Rosalie stomping down the hall towards the room next to ours. She flung open the door and screamed: "Edward it is nearly 3 in the fucking morning. Have some respect. Your sister and her friend are in the room next to you, and I can still hear you down the hall. You know damn fine I have to be at work at 8am!" Having apparently finished her tirade she paused and stepped away from the door. Suddenly she lifted her arm and pointed to the stairs "Stanley get the fuck out and wipe that grin off your face!" She turned on her heel and stomped back down the hall. As she passed us she smiled sweetly at Alice and I who were giggling hysterically.

We looked down the hall to see a half dressed girl with long auburn jumping down the hall trying to put her shoes on. Edward then stepped into the hallway wearing nothing but his boxers which contained a very prominent bulge. He very casually walked down the hall waving goodbye to the girl and stopped right in front of Alice and I who were standing there with our mouths hanging open in shock.

"Bella if you are going to stand there with your mouth hanging open like that could you at least help me out with my little situation I have going on down here?" Edward said as he gestured towards the bulge in his boxers.

I turned beet red and shook my head as Alice smacked him in the groin with her pillow sending Edward to the floor gasping for air. Alice and I shut the door quickly and ran to the bed and hid under the covers. Edward stormed into the room, jumped on the bed and began to tickle Alice. I jumped off the bed and hid in the closet as I heard her squealing with laughter as she screamed "Stop, stop, I am going to pee!"

Edward then left the room and slammed the door behind him. I slowly opened the door to a flustered Alice entangled on the bed still laughing. We got under the covers and went right to sleep not wanting to disturb Rosalie for fear she would kick us out.

___________________________ Nobody Understands Me ____________________________

BPOV

I awoke at almost 11am to the sound of laughter from downstairs. Alice was no longer in the room, so I got up quickly and threw on a pair of jeans a t-shirt before heading towards the bathroom with my toothbrush. It was free so I took the opportunity to go about my morning routine. I jumped as someone knocked on the door. Blushing furiously at my own reaction, I mumbled "hold on" through a mouthful of toothpaste.

The door swung open despite my request and a barely half dressed Edward walked in. He sauntered across to the toilet, scratching his balls through his boxers and stretched his 'free' arm over his head. I suddenly realised he really wasn't bothered about my presence in the room when he reached inside his pants. Turning away, I blushed furiously again whilst attempting to block out his groan of relief and the sound of water hitting ceramic as he relieved himself.

Feeling thoroughly disgusted I spat out the toothpaste and ran from the room. I hurtled down the stairs into the kitchen, still brandishing my toothbrush, and found Alice and Emmett calmly eating cereal. They both looked up at me quizzically.

"You are aware that you don't need to clean your teeth in the kitchen" asked Alice as she chuckled at the mortified look on my face.

"Is your brother always so.....open in his personal habits?" I asked, before sitting next to her and placing my head on her shoulder.

Both of them laughed at me and said together "you ain't seen nothin' yet!"

Alice found me some breakfast and bounced off to get dressed for the day, after telling me that Jasper was on his way to take us shopping for our dorm room. I ate my food whilst watching Emmett play Madden football on the Nintendo Wii from the couch next to me.

I glanced up as Jasper wandered in. "Mornin' all" he waved as he headed straight up the stairs to find Alice.

EPOV

I don't know what the big deal is. My sister just tore me another one for my apparent rudeness towards our 'guest'. It's not like I did anything they haven't seen or heard me do before. Don't get me wrong, I'll admit I may have deserved the mouthful I got off Rosalie last night, but I couldn't understand why Alice was so angry right now. I tuned back into her tirade, just as she seemed to be repeating her point from earlier....

"Damnit Edward I like Bella, I can't believe you did that to my new friend. Why did you have to be so rude to her? It's bad enough that you do that stuff around family but she's not used to your man-whore ways". Alice shook her index finger at me to emphasise the next point "You'd better find your long-hidden inner gentleman for the rest of this weekend or I am going fill Mom in on all of your little escapades!"Alice screamed and stamped her foot with rage. I don't think she realised she looks just like a miniature version of Mom when she does that.

I cut her off before she could continue with her lecture, "fine. I will be the perfect gentleman towards your little friend Bella for the rest of the weekend."

Maybe I would be nice to her, I reflected. After all she was quite pretty although her body lacked certain womanly curves. Maybe I would save my seduction of her she gains the freshman 15 and gets tits and an ass. My mind wandered as I thought about her bouncing up and down on my lap while I thrust into her boyish figure.

I was brought back to reality as I noticed Jasper creeping up behind Alice to give her a hug and I headed downstairs to get breakfast. At least I knew how to leave people alone when they were enjoying each other's company, unlike some people in this house.

______________

Alice, Jasper and Bella clattered back into the house after their shopping expedition with what seemed like about 50 Wal-Mart bags. I was at the computer in the living room, studying for my classes on Monday.

"Where's Emmett?" Alice asked as I looked up to greet them.

"He went to visit Rosalie at work and bring her lunch. He said he wouldn't be home until late and to go ahead and eat dinner without him", I responded.

"Well, get out there to the car and help to get the rest of my bags please Edward, dearest brother of mine." Alice demanded through an ear to ear grin.

I hopped up to run outside and grab the rest of the bags while I bestowed a huge grin upon my sister, hoping she would see I'd taken her comments this morning on board.

When I got to the car I saw Bella was holding two large bags and talking to a guy in a fraternity t-shirt who was carrying some neon flyers. She was looking down at her feet and blushing.

I felt a surge of protectiveness towards Bella which stopped me in my tracks. I didn't recognise the creep who was talking to her and so assumed he was from a different college. I was confused by the wave of emotions which washed over me as I watched them together – possessiveness, protectiveness? For some unfathomable reason wanted to stride over and punch the guy in the face.

I clenched my fists as I watched frat-boy reach out to tuck a strand of hair behind Bella's ear, and saw her react, giggling a little and blushing as she said thank-you. I gave in to the urge to get her away from him and marched over to take her bags.

I glared at him, and then looked to Bella "I came out here to see if you needed any help with your bags. Hope you had fun shopping, I am glad you made it home ok". I emphasised the word home so that frat-boy would understand that we both live here, and that he should just go away.

She looked shocked and a bit confused at my comment, but then shook her head as if trying to clear it. She turned to frat-boy and said goodbye "it was nice meeting you Mike". We were heading back to the house as she turned and called Mike back "I'll see what my roommate says about the party and maybe we'll see you there. Thanks again by the way".

I glared at him again as he headed away again, and then I watched her sway her little hips as she walked back up into the house. It was my turn to shake my head to clear it as I noticed how the sexy sway to her hips looked effortless... does she always walk that way?

Frat-boy certainly seemed to notice her walk as I heard him trip over the low fence around the large tree in the garden. I couldn't help but burst out laughing as he fell to the ground. He acts like he's never seen a girl before. Maybe he's just not seen one as beautiful as Bella. For the third time since I'd walked out of the house I was brought to a stop by my thoughts. What the hell was I thinking? She's not beautiful, she's boyish, shy, and so very different to the girls I had on speed dial.

I hauled the remaining bags inside wondering if all of this was Alice's or if Bella was as much of a shopaholic as my little sister. I walked into the house to find Alice and Jasper cuddled on the couch watching TV and reading over the neon pink flyer that frat-boy had given to Bella. Bella was sitting on the floor surrounded by bags separating the day's wares and checking off a list. I dumped the rest of the bags with the ones that Bella was going through, and she looked up at me, smiled and quietly said "thanks".

I just grinned at her and headed to my computer to finish the work I was doing before they had returned from their expedition.

"Hey Alice, do you want the pink or the purple toothbrush?" I heard Bella say.

"The pink one" Alice replied.

"OK, and what about the towels. Do you want blue or green?" Bella asked again.

"Ummmm... you pick. I don't care, but if there's a pink option, then I'll always take that one." Alice replied

"OK no problem" Bella said.

I lost my patience at that point, "shut up... can't you see I'm trying to work here? Who gives a shit what colour you have anyway?" They were driving me nuts.

"Why don't you go upstairs or something? It's not like you have to be down here. It's a wireless, portable, laptop Edward." My sister screamed at me. Jasper shrugged his shoulders at me in defeat. He always picked Alice's side over mine... some best friend I have there. I stomped up the stairs to my room with my laptop and finished my work up there.