A/n This story was inspired by DQRC's Seducing Miss Swan. We're starting out in a similar fashion but if you stick with me, you'll find that this is totally different.

Some of these chaps have been replaced from their original versions with one's beta'd by Knitmo who has been willing to make this better than I ever could on my own.

Starting with Ch 3 there will be music.

I leaned into the turn and shot under the overpass at a thrilling speed. The wind whipped past and flapped the excess denim around my legs like it was lightweight chiffon. I passed a car and rocketed up the hill toward the parking lot.

'I can't believe you still ride this thing.' His voice caressed the back of my mind like velvet. 'One of these days you are going to get yourself killed, and I won't be here to save you.' The sound I was remembering almost made me purr.

I shook my head and defiantly urged the bike faster up the hill. I skid to a sideways stop directly into the last parking space cutting off a Mercedes with tint so dark I couldn't identify its occupants. I didn't trouble myself too much because they didn't have a parking permit, and I was in a hurry if I wanted to catch a bite to eat without being late for class.

I pondered the voice again for a moment as I pulled my helmet off, gently shaking my hair. It had been four years since I'd heard the man that it actually belonged to but since I took up riding a few months after that the voice was my constant companion. I set my helmet on the saddle and looked up to see the Mercedes still sitting there. I eyed it warily. I used to know a Mercedes just like that before… I shook that thought away.

"You don't have a parking permit, off you go!" I yelled at the car gesturing wildly. Some people really thought that they could do anything they wanted. I shrugged out of my padded leather jacket, it was September, I hated September. It was hot and sticky and still muggy from summer and my necessary jacket caused me to sweat excessively no matter how little I wore underneath it. But most of all, this September marked the four-year anniversary of a certain conversation in the woods. I started to fold my jacket and shove it into a saddlebag when I noticed that that car had still not moved. I shook my head, unhooked my bags from the bike and threw them over my shoulder, tucking the helmet securely under my arm. Something wicked crossed my mind.

"If you're waiting for me to move, I hope you enjoy disappointment!" I heard his voice when I said the latter half of that comment. It made me smile again. I was really masochistic for holding onto him for this long but pretending like he still existed as a staple in my life seemed to be working. I didn't date. I rarely went out. My only social interaction was the rare but required group project; that might change a bit this year as I was a graduate student and would be sharing an office with two other grad students in the Lit department and some social interaction would be required. However, in spite of the fact that I had no social life and was still in love with a vampire who had been my high school sweetheart, I felt pretty normal. Granted, since my entire life was now school I had graduated in only three years from the University of Florida with honors, and now I was starting graduate school.

The nights were still hard. I would curl up around the hole in my chest and cry all night long but caffeine could cure a sleepless night – or five per week. I avoided the sidewalk and made a b-line through the trees toward the dining hall. Caffeine was going to be a necessity this morning, as I couldn't get my mind off of him to sleep all night long. The dining hall was on the second floor of the building I was now standing in front of. My helmet and a glare or in some cases a smile allowed me to skip all the way to the front of the line. Guys liked a woman on a motorcycle and girls were slightly intimidated by it. I grabbed an apple from the rack and an energy drink from a small fridge by he counter before heading to the cashier. She swiped my ID card and eyed the helmet. I smiled back at her politely, which seemed to put her at ease. I stopped briefly in the cafeteria to pop the top on my drink before gathering my helmet back up and hiking over to the literature department.

The campus was heavily wooded and I managed to find at least three tree roots jutting out of the sidewalk to trip on along the way. I was getting better though, I didn't actually drop my drink until I'd finished it and I managed to keep my apple and helmet from hitting the ground. I chucked the can in a wastebasket and bit into my apple to hold it between my teeth while I pushed open the heavy doors to the department. I finished taking the bite and was headed around the corner when I glanced a flash of bronze and white. The bite of apple landed firmly in the back of my throat. Luckily, one of my colleagues happened to be right behind me. A firm meaty hand clapped me on the back a few times.

"You okay Swan?" Andrew Jones smiled down at me. He was a fun guy with an infectious laugh and was one of the few of us with a family. He shared an apartment with his wife and three month old son. He reminded me a lot of Emmett. He was also one of my office mates and he and I were TA'ing a section of the freshman survey course together this semester. Truth be known, I was rather thankful to be teamed up with him rather than the slim and attractive Paul who was thankfully in the other office. I had already nicknamed him 'Paul Roving-hands'.

"Thanks." I wheezed, "I'm fine, how're you?"

"It's a good day. Carol let me sleep all night." He shifted his weight and started sifting through a folder. "Do you want A thru L or M thru Z?"

"I'll take A-L," I smiled as he handed me my half of the roster.

"Doctor Peterson is already looking for us. He wants us in the lecture hall early." We started down the hall toward the main auditorium. I took a deep breath, the turn was exactly where my bronze and white apparition had disappeared. My pulse raced inexplicably and I felt like I was trying to breathe underwater. This I shoved to the back of my mind and looked at the roster.

I scanned the first page quickly until I came to two entries:

Cullen, Alice

Cullen, Edward

I stopped. I blinked my eyes to make sure that the names were there.

"Swan?"

Why weren't they disappearing?

"Bella!" My name called me from the dark corner that my mind had descended into. My head snapped up and I met Andrew's concerned gaze.

"Do you know a couple of guys named Quill and Embry?" I accused.

"Why, are they on your list?" Andrew took the offending list from my hand and we started walking again.

"No but I think that someone is trying to be funny." I snatched it back. "There weren't any really large Native American guys in the office this morning, were there?"

"Not that I saw." Andrew was now completely lost. He, like a wise married man, opted not to pursue this line of questioning lest it should get too personal. Soon we were pushing through a throng of freshmen to get to the hall. I caught a pungent whiff of lilacs and the smell nearly knocked me over. Andrew grabbed my arm and set me back up on my feet. We each pulled out our signs, mine said A-L, I took one door and he took the opposite.

"Attention!" I called the crowd to order. "If your last name starts with one of the letters between A and L alphabetically, then you will enter through this door and sit on this side of the hall. M thru Z will go through those doors and sit on that side!" I had been meticulously specific with the instructions because these were freshmen. I stuck my A-L sign on the door nearest to me and charged through it.

Dr. Peterson sat at the bottom of the auditorium next to the lectern. He glanced up as I walked in followed by a mob of angry freshmen that didn't want to cope with assigned seating in any capacity. I went straight for him with my roster in hand.

"Good morning Bella, rough night?" Dr Peterson greeted me. I must have looked worse than I thought.

"Would you mind checking this with the computer?" I asked in a tone that was probably a little forceful for a first year grad-student. He looked a bit perplexed and put his hand out to take the offending paper. I gave it to him and then dumped my helmet and saddlebags on the table in front of my half of the class.

"Is there anything in particular you want me to look at?" He smiled as I tripped getting back over to him. I blushed and hurried to make the next three steps before falling flat on my face.

"There are two names that I want to check, the two Cullen's right here." I ran my left hand back through my hair again, something that calmed my nerves just a bit, and I pointed to the two with my right. When he left my side, I surreptitiously checked the auditorium for vampires. None were clearly visible in the throng of hormonally charged overgrown teenagers on my end of the classroom but they were still milling about and finding seats. I decided not to look again.

That hole in my chest flared up again and I clutched at it. I quickly covered the move by pretending to shiver and fishing out my jacket. The jacket made me feel secure. I could hear a couple of boys in the front row make appreciative comments about the jacket, and women on motorcycles, and I eyed them darkly. They took the hint and got quiet.

"Bella, they're on the current roster. What seems to be the problem?" He was giving me that puzzled look when people don't know whether or not someone is about to do something stupid.

"The names are just familiar." I took the roster back and waved him off. I intentionally didn't watch the students fill in on my half of the class. I didn't want to know, scratch that, I couldn't know if Edward Cullen was one of my freshmen. I took a deep breath and it caught unexpectedly in my throat. I just managed to catch the strangled sob before it made any noise. I took a seat at my table and kept my head down, hair around my face, I had perfected this maneuver during the latter half of my Senior year at Forks High School. I pulled my saddlebags in front of me and unpacked my class materials from one of them. After the fear of audible sobbing had passed, I pulled what little self respect I had left together, ducked halfway under the table, wiped my face, and then dug in my bag for a Kleenex. I blew my nose to appear sick and met Andrew to pick up the course syllabus that I would now have to pass out. That was dangerous, I might actually have to look at the students to do it.

I opted to make this easier for myself and grabbed the first freshman I saw, a blond pretty boy who looked like he had too much money to throw around and had him do it for me. Andrew eyed me suspiciously before deciding to do the same.

"Let's get started people!" Dr Peterson called the class to order. "What is currently being passed out is your course syllabus. As far as you are concerned it is now The Bible. You will live by the schedule on that piece of paper. You have weekly readings to complete and you will do them." He eyed the class hard. "Every week you will attend a discussion group with your TA." He nodded to Andrew and myself. "If your last name starts with a letter A-L you will have your group with Bella, M-Z will go to Andrew. You should treat them with respect as they will be handling the majority of the grading that takes place in this course."

"Bella, would you care to introduce yourself?" He held out a hand palm up to indicate me.

"Hello, My name is Isabella Swan, you may call me Bella." Do not look at the students. Do not look at the students. "I am not your friend, your buddy, or your mother. You will behave accordingly," I eyed the top row only and was relieved to see only human faces. "I am currently working on my masters in Comparative English Literature." I glanced at the next row down, humans. "Many of you don't know what that means, and that's okay." This elicited a laugh from Dr. Peterson and Andrew and a familiar velvety chuckle from the edge of a row. I couldn't keep my eyes from stealing just one glance, and that was enough to knock the wind out of me. Edward Cullen with his gorgeous topaz eyes sat halfway up all the way to the right hand aisle next to the wall. He looked exactly as he always had, that's to say breathtakingly, unnaturally handsome. His skin was still pale and smooth, his bronze hair tousled, and he hadn't aged a day. I had not clearly remembered his features for this long though. I was almost shocked to find that my memories were just a dull echo of how he actually looked because he was the most handsome man alive in my memory. When our eyes met, I had to grab the side of the lectern for support. I was suddenly painfully aware that I had stopped in the middle of my introduction and it suddenly occurred to me that 52 people were staring at me, waiting for me to continue. I blushed with embarrassment. I tore my eyes away from Edward blinking a few times, willing myself not to cry. I thought about Victoria and found some anger. That got me through.

"I am here to help you get through this course but I work for Dr. Peterson, his word is law in this classroom and my own." I looked at almost every student except for Edward and Alice. I hoped that he noticed that I was most certainly not here to help him. I stalked back to my little table in front of the class while Andrew spoke. I managed to find and dislodge an AV cord on the way, pulling the microphone off of the lectern as I fell. By some sheer trick, I managed not to hit the floor. I turned into an ungraceful spin and landed in my chair. This brought true laughter from the crowd. I fought the urge to run from the room or cry, I stood up, and I took a bow. Afterwards, I quietly followed the cord to the microphone and reset it, hoping that I hadn't caused any permanent damage. My mortification was complete and I seriously hoped that Edward Cullen had enjoyed it because if he tried to talk to me after four years of nothing he'd better believe that I was going to take it out on him.