I know I said I was taking a hiatus from the site, but the muse didn't agree with me. She started feeding me this story and I couldn't resist it, so I started writing it out.

It's another AU story - this time Annie and Auggie meet in college at the fictional North Shore University in Northbrook, Illinois (which is close to Glencoe where Auggie grew up).

POV change between Auggie and Annie - I've tried my best to make it clear when there's a change of POV.

Another thing; I'm not too familiar with the American college system, apart from what I've seen in movies/TV and the little I learned when I spent my senior year of high school as an exchange student in the US years ago. I've tried to do some research before writing this story, but I'm sure I get some stuff wrong. Feel free to correct me in a PM or review - constructive criticism is always welcome.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything - just love to play with the characters!

August "Auggie" Anderson:
Computer science major at North Shore University. Grew up in a tight knit family in Glencoe, Illinois. They youngest of five boys. A car accident during his sophomore year left him blind and he's been living with his parents and studying online since he finished his rehab. He's now going (reluctantly) leaving the safe bubble of his childhood home and moving into his own apartment and going back to school for his senior year.

Anne Catherine "Annie" Walker:
Linguistics major at North Shore University. Army brat that lived in 10 states and five countries before she graduated high school. Transferred from Georgetown University to get a fresh start away from her possessive ex-boyfriend.

-Chapter 1-

Auggie Anderson was more nervous than he liked to admit. Part of him wanted to call his counselor at North Shore University and tell her that he'd changed his mind; that he'd stick to online courses for his senior year like he'd done for the past three semesters. He didn't. Instead he slipped his MacBook Pro into its protective sleeve and placed in his well worn leather messenger bag and made sure he had his refreshable Braille display, headphones and all the cords he needed for his equipment. With a nervous sigh he put on his brown leather jacket and hung his bag across his chest. He grabbed his cane and keys off the small table by the door and double-checked that his iPhone and wallet were in his pockets before he stepped into the hallway.

As he walked down the street toward the campus he felt the knot in his stomach growing bigger. It had been more than three years since the last time he'd attended a lecture on-campus. After the accident that had left him blind he'd spent weeks in the hospital and then months in rehab, learning to live without his sight. He'd opted to finish his junior year doing online classes and he'd intended on doing his senior year online too. That was until his parents had told him that he wasn't spending another year wallowing in self pity in his childhood home in Glencoe and that he needed to get back to school and start living again. He'd tried to argue with them, but to no avail. Where Auggie found an excuse they came up with a solution.

When they realized there was no way Auggie would agree to move into a dorm again they helped him find an apartment and had one of his trainers from rehab help him set it up for his needs. Another trainer had helped him map out the area around his apartment and the campus. His mother promised to take care of his laundry and help him shop for groceries, but otherwise he was on his own. He'd been living there for little over a week and he had adjusted pretty well. Things weren't as daunting as he thought they'd be and he knew that if he needed help with something his parents and older brothers were all just a phone call away.

Now he was nervous about how people would react to the new and not-so-improved version of Auggie Anderson. Most of his friends had graduated, but he knew that a couple of his buddies and a few acquaintances from his days on the wrestling and swim teams were still there. After crossing the street he paused on the sidewalk, by the entrance to the campus and took a couple of deep breaths, trying to calm himself down.

Annie Walker was excited about her first day of classes at North Shore University. She'd transferred to North Shore from Georgetown to get a fresh start after a rough breakup and to get away from her possessive ex-boyfriend. She had mostly covered the required subjects for her major; she just needed a few general credits to graduate. Her counselor at Georgetown and her older sister had tried to get her to stay at Georgetown for her senior year, insisting that she could change schools when she moved on to graduate school, but she had already made up her mind. So far she didn't regret the decision; Northbrook seemed like a nice town and the people she'd met so far had been friendly. She dumped her laptop, notebook and pencil case into a tote bag and after checking her appearance in the mirror she headed out of her dorm room. Annie was glad she'd been able to get a single room; not that she minded having a roommate, but she looked forward to having some more privacy this year.

Annie rushed into the auditorium just before the lecture started; she'd taken a wrong turn and had ended up on the wrong side of campus and had to run all the way back. To her relief there was a free aisle seat on one of the back rows and sat down just as the professor entered the room. He spent the first few minutes welcoming them and then explained that they'd be working in pairs for their first project.

"When I call your name please stand up. Get a good look at your partner and as soon as I've called everyones name we will change places so everyone is sitting with their partner. Understood? Good."

The professor picked up a piece of paper and got started.

"Adams, Mark, your partner is Zimmerman, Cathy."

"Allen, Tina and Yang, Mae."

"Anderson, August." A tall, dark guy stood up. Annie noticed he looked tense. "Walker, Anne Catherine." Annie looked over to the guy and tried to make eye contact to no avail. Before she could think more about it the professor announced another pair and they both sat down again.

Auggie felt like the entire room was staring at him when the professor called his name and he stood up and he was relieved when he was able to sink back into his seat. It was situations like this he'd dreaded and hoped to avoid. About 15 minutes passed and then the professor told them to find their partners and he'd pass out their assignment. Auggie decided to stay in his seat and wait for Anne Cahterine Walker to find him; it wasn't like he'd be able to find her anyway. He heard the commotion as people started moving around the auditorium and the hum of voices as people started introducing themselves to their partners.

"August Anderson?" a female voice said to his right. He turned to face her.

"Yes?" he croaked out, a bit more tentatively than he'd intended.

"Annie Walker. I guess we'll be working together."

Auggie quickly stood and offered his right hand.

"Nice to meet you Annie. Please call me Auggie. The only person that calls me August is my mother, when she's upset with me."

A soft female hand shook his hand firmly.

"Nice to meet you too. Is this seat taken?"

"I'm going to guess that you're referring to the seat to my right. It's free."

"Huh?" Annie sounded confused. Apparently she hadn't picked up on his blindness. He'd been told that he was good at making eye contact, which apparently was common for people that lost their sight as adults, and that his eyes still looked normal. Part of him saw it as the ultimate compliment when new people didn't immediately notice that he was blind. Another part of him hated to explain his circumstances; it usually caused awkward situations. He grabbed his cane from the seat to his left, where he'd laid it next to his messenger bag, and held it up.

"I'm blind, so I can't see what you're pointing at."

"Oh…sorry, I didn't catch that. Yeah, I was pointing at the seat to your right," Annie replied. She sounded slightly flustered at first, but by the end of her sentence her voice was back to normal. "Looks like the lecture is about to start again, I guess we're about to find out what the assignment is."

Auggie nodded and smiled as he put the cane back in the seat next to him and sat down. He heard the rustle of clothes as Annie sat down next to him.

When Annie arrived back in her dorm room later that afternoon she was excited about the coming semester. She liked the professors she'd met so far and her fellow students seemed friendly enough. Auggie Anderson intrigued her; he was definitely cute by Annie's standards and he seemed like a warm and friendly person. She'd been a bit taken aback when he held up his cane and said he was blind, but that explained why she hadn't been able to make eye contact with him and why he'd waited for her to come to him. She looked forward to getting to know him better. They'd agreed to meet in the library the following morning to go over the assignment they'd be working on together. She had a feeling Creative Writing was about to become her favorite subject.

The following morning Auggie didn't feel nervous as he got ready to head to campus, just excited about meeting Annie Walker again. There was something about her that made him want to get to know her better. With a smile on his face he pulled the strap of his messenger bag over his head, grabbed his cane and keys and headed out of the door.

15 minutes later he was standing by the entrance to the library, half leaning on his cane, waiting for Annie to arrive. After a few minutes he heard footsteps rushing towards him.

"Good morning Auggie! Sorry I'm late," Annie said, sounding slightly out of breath.

"Good morning. Don't worry about it. Did you run over here?" he asked with smile on his face.

"Yeah, I overslept this morning. Forgot to set my alarm last night I think. I'm not much of a morning person to be honest. So, ready to get to work?"

"Yeah. Professor Davies emailed me the assignment after the lecture yesterday, so I read through it last night. It looks pretty interesting."

"I think so too. Uh, do you need me to guide you or something…or can you manage on your own?" She sounded a bit unsure, but Auggie was relieved that she was so straightforward and just asked. He flashed her a bright smile.

"If you don't mind, a little assistance would be great."

"Not at all. Just let me know what you need me to do."

Auggie quickly explained basic sighted guide technique to Annie and she allowed him to take her arm. He kept his cane diagonally in front of him as a bumper since it was the first time she was a sighted guide. He was relieved that she didn't make a big deal about his disability.

"Looks like a couple of the group rooms are available," she said as they walked into the library.

"Great!" Auggie exclaimed. That meant they would be able to talk freely instead of whispering.

He was surprised at how Annie easily guided him through the library. She placed his hand on the back of a chair and went back and closed the door. Auggie placed his messenger bag on the table in front of him and started setting up his computer. He heard Annie sit down across form him and he assumed she was setting up her computer as well. When he had everything set up he hung his headphones around his neck and booted up the laptop.

"Annie?"

"Yeah…" she mumbled distractedly.

"Is there somewhere to plug this in around here?" Auggie asked, holding up the power cord for his MacBook Pro.

"Yeah, there's two outlets on the wall in the middle of the table," she said as she gently guided his hand to the outlet. "Got it?"

Auggie found the outlet and plugged in his computer.

"Thanks Annie," he said with a genuine smile. He started to relax around her; he didn't feel any of the awkwardness he often felt around new people.

"That's quite the setup you've got there," Annie exclaimed.

"I'll show you how it works if you're curious," Auggie offered. He heard Annie get up and she sat down next to him.

"Awesome! If you haven't caught it by now I'm a pretty curious person," she said with a small laugh.

Auggie smiled in her direction and unplugged his headphones so Annie could hear the computer's voice too and started to show her how the screen reading software worked with the refreshable Braille display.

For the next few hours Annie and Auggie were so immersed in their work that both of them forgot about the time. It was well past noon when a loud growl from Annie's stomach startled both of them. Auggie pulled his headphones down to hang around his neck with an amused grin on his face.

"Are you hungry Miss Walker?" he asked. Annie felt her face going red and she was grateful that Auggie couldn't see her blushing.

"Since I overslept this morning I didn't eat breakfast," she admitted. "What about you? Are you ready for lunch?"

"Yeah, I wouldn't mind getting something to eat."

They packed up their things and headed out of the library. When they stepped into the hallway Annie started to walk toward the food court. She wasn't a huge fan of cafeteria food, but she wasn't familiar with other eateries in the area.

"Are you heading to the food court?" Auggie asked.

"Yeah, I thought we were going to eat lunch?"

"The last time I ate in the food court was when I was a freshman. How do you feel about some real food?"

"Sounds great, but I don't know the area very well."

"But I do," Auggie smirked, let go of Annie's arm and offered her his arm instead. Annie looped her arm with his and he turned them around and walked toward the exit with confident steps, cane sweeping in front of him. "Let's go to Allen's Tavern."

Annie giggled. "Lead the way Mister Anderson." Creative Writing was definitely her favorite subject.

What do you think? Like? Dislike?

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Please leave me a review! :o)

BTW: My plan for this story is to update once a week, probably Sunday or Monday. I might do more frequent updates from time to time, but I won't promise anything as work is crazy these days and I just don't have the time to sit down and write out 1.500-2.000 word chapters in a day or two at the moment.. Because I enjoy writing too much to not do it I figure it's better to write a paragraph or three a day than nothing at all.