Chapter 1: Hellos and Goodbyes

I slowly began unpacking my clothes, while my thoughts lingered on memories of home. It still brought tears to my eyes when I remembered the fateful day when I had to say goodbye to my friends, my family, and everything I had gotten accustomed to over the years. Graduating out of high school had been a traumatizing experience, especially when I happened to trip in front of everyone on my way to the stage to receive my diploma. There's a surprise. My awkward clumsiness hadn't gone unnoticed over the years at Forks High, where the majority of the students barely knew my name even though I'd gone to school with them since the age of 5. After spilling milk or juice on pretty much every popular girl in school, tripping in the school lunch line and halls every day, and always managing to drop my stuff, I was soon known as "the klutz".

However, this year I had decided to reinvent myself. I was going to be calm, cool, and collected, and no one would ever suspect my embarrassing past. My name is Isabella Marie Swan and I was soon going to be a freshman at Oxford University. I had gotten here at about 6 this morning, and I was EXHAUSTED. Just the thought of being a college freshman sent thrills down my spine, of fear, anxiety and excitement. What would college be like? Would my peers like me? Would I finally be able to find that perfect guy? No, I told myself, first I have to concentrate on making it through the first day without breaking someone's nose. The rest will have to wait.

Just then, the door to my dorm opened. I hadn't yet gotten a chance to meet my roommate, but I had found out her name was Alice Cullen, and that she was probably well known around here, because whenever I happened to utter the name, a thousand gasps would fill the room. I just hoped she wasn't some stuck up popular snob like many of the girls in my old school had been. I preferred someone nice, quiet, and most importantly, NEAT. Turns out, it was neither.

"Hi!! What's your name? I'm Alice! Well, you probably know that…What school are you from? Where did you used to live? Do you come from New York? I love New York!" said a high-pitched voice that reminded a lot of bells. She must be Alice Cullen, my new roommate. She was petite, with pale flawless skin and short black spiky hair coming down to her shoulders. Oh, and did I mention she happened to be incredibly beautiful?

"Uh…hi," I said smartly, "My name is Isabella Swan, but you can just call me Bella. And uh... I'm from Forks, Washington."

"Oh, hi Bella!!! Wow, that's far away!! Oh my god, we have so much to learn about each other!! Do you like to shop? I LOVE shopping!! Rose and I go just about every weekend!! We also love getting our hairs and nails done! Oh, what am I saying? You don't even know who Rose is, do you? Rose is short for Rosalie Hale; she's one of my best friends. We've known each other forever!! She has a brother named Jasper, and I have a brother named Emmett. Jasper and I are dating, and so are Rosalie and Emmett. Oh my gosh, I still have to introduce you to all of them! You'll absolutely ADORE them, though I must say Emmett can be quite a pain…anyway, I think I'll give you a tour of the campus first. Do you think you can be ready in about 30 minutes?"

I gasped. I don't think I had ever heard someone say so much in such little time. It took me a minute to grasp what she had just said, and I was only able to give a feeble one-sentence response. "Um, yeah, sure, Ill be ready in 30 minutes."

"Great! See you then!" And with that, she disappeared before I could blink. Then realization hit. WAIT. Alice liked to SHOP?! Oh crap! If there was anything in the world I detested more than stiletto heels, it was shopping. Great, I just met her, and already my roommate and I have absolutely nothing in common. Also, it seemed like I would be the only one in the bunch without a boyfriend or girlfriend to cuddle with. I let out a sigh, and entered the bathroom to change into a sweatshirt and a comfortable pair of jeans.

…

"EW! What is she WEARING?" gasped out a gorgeous blonde who just happened to be the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. She had piercing blue eyes, long thick blond hair down to her waist, and every feature seemed to be exactly in place. Similarly to Alice, she was DROP DEAD GORGEOUS.

"Rose, be nice!" chastened Alice in her high-pitched voice of bells. "Bella, I want you to meet Rosalie Hale, the girl I was telling you about before. As you can see, she is very sensitive when it comes to the fashion world, but don't worry, once we're done with you, you'll have every boy at school's eyes on you."

I gulped. Once they were done with me? What exactly were they planning to do? I quickly erased my mind of such horrifying thoughts and decided that unlike last time, I was going to introduce myself properly.

"Hi, I'm Bella. You must be Rose. Nice to meet you." In response, Rose's penetrating eyes bore deep into my soul as she merely nodded in response. I blushed, another incredibly annoying trait of mine that I did far too much for my liking. As I averted my gaze from Rose's piercing look, I saw a guy who looked about our age walking up to us. As I got a closer look, I realized that he, like just about every other person I'd met today, was gorgeous. He had sandy brown hair that fell lightly in bangs over his forehead, light blue eyes, and a sweet innocent boyish smile. His smile soon turned into a lopsided grin as he scooped Alice up into his arms and spun her around in circles. This must be Jasper.

"Jazz!! Put me down!!" wailed the giggling Alice. He quickly and carefully placed his delicate girlfriend on the ground and placed a quick peck on her lips. Alice giggled once more, before turning towards me. "Bella, I would like you to meet Jasper Hale, my boyfriend and Rose's brother. Jazz, this is Bella, my new roommate!"

Jasper turned towards me, noticing me for the first time. He smiled once more, and held out his hand. "Hi, nice to see you finally got here. Alice has been whining and complaining about when you were going to get here, and it was driving me NUTS!" he said, receiving a light smack on the arm in response.

I reached out to shake his hand and said, "Um, hey, sorry I was late, my plane was delayed."

"No problem! I'm just glad you're finally here! Have you met Edward and Emmett yet?"

Edward? I don't remember Alice mentioning an Edward…Alice read my confused face, and quickly replied. However, to my utter astonishment, her smile had disappeared and had been replaced with a small frown.

"Oh, that's right, I forgot to mention my ex-brother Edward. He's stupid, you don't want to meet him." Jasper chuckled, and wrapped his arms around his petite girlfriend.

"Are you STILL mad at him about that, love? You know he didn't mean to offend you, it was just a joke."

"SO? It being a JOKE does NOT give him the right to ruin my baby!" At this point, I was totally and utterly lost. Seeing my expression, Jasper chuckled once more.

"I think we better explain to Bella what's going on, she seems like she's lost in another world." I blushed, and Jasper continued, turning towards me. "Her "baby" is her yellow Porsche that Edward decided to slash the tires of as a joke. Alice still hasn't been to get over it, even though he has bought her newer and better tires than before." At this, Alice folded her arms over her chest and sulked.

I laughed, and soon everyone had joined in. I was finally beginning to feel as if I fit in, when yet ANOTHER husky male approached us. Could this be Edward? No, considering the look on Rosalie's face when she saw him, this was probably Emmett. He was a different type of beautiful than Jasper, more hunky than cute. He had sharp features and strong muscular arms. He also had short dark hair and a pale flawless complexion. To my utter shock, he picked up Rosalie, and instead of spinning her, began to dance all around and then threw her about 10 feet in the air!!

"OHMYGOD! EMMETT! PUT ME DOWN!! NOW!!" The moment he heard her use that voice, he put her down instantly. His face showed fear and nervousness, rare for someone who could probably defeat 5 elephants if he wanted to. To his relief, Rosalie smiled and unlike Jasper and Alice's soft peck, pulled Emmett into a deep kiss. After about 5 minutes of patient waiting, Alice pretended to clear her throat and they finally looked up. Was this what happened EVERYDAY?

Seeing my expression, Alice laughed and said "Don't worry Bella, we're not like this everyday. We just haven't seen our boyfriends in a week because of they had all gone on a hunting trip and abandoned us." The boys' smiles immediately disappeared and was soon replaced by the look of a boy caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"We're sorry…we hadn't gone in such a long time… and Carlisle had insisted we go…" Emmett replied meekly in response. Then, realizing who Alice had spoken to, Emmett turned towards me, "Oh so you must be the famous Bella!! Alice has been complaining non stop about-OUCH!" He was instantly cut-off my Alice's stinging slap on his arm.

"Oh, don't worry, we won't bite you," Rosalie assured them. "We're just really glad to see you again!!" The boys smiled and pulled them in for one final hug just as the bell rang.

"Oh my god! It's 9 already?! We got to get going!! I guess we'll see you later Bella and since your classes begin tomorrow, I promise I'll take you on a tour of where everything is right after classes end! Bye!" Alice said, waving her hand at she rushed towards the building with Jasper. I looked for Rosalie and Emmett, but both had disappeared. Letting out a sigh, I began heading back to my dorm, making plans on spending one last day of freedom relaxing on my new bed, reading my all-time favorite novel, Wuthering Heights.

…