A/N: Hey, everybody! It's really nice of you to read the author's note... I'll admit that I never do ;) Anyways, this is the first fanfic I've ever written and I really hope you enjoy it. I realize it's a little late to be writing Twilight fanfiction but I'm so in love with these characters and couldn't resist; if this goes well, I might consider writing a Mortal Instruments fanfic.

Anyways... HERE WE GO!

Disclaimer: *Sigh* Twilight never has and unfortunately will never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever belong to me. All rights go to Stephanie Meyer. Only the storyline is my own.

Chapter 1 - A Tribute to Mom

I was perched on my front steps, passing the time with my mom's Rubik's cube, waiting for Alice, Rose, Jasper, and Emmett to come and pick me up. I was heading to college. To the college, Twilight Academy: The school my mother attended. She believed that it was that college that changed her, that shaped her into the person she was. She always hoped that I would attend the same university, and if she was still alive, I doubt I would be attending. But life changes and unpredictable things happen, and I was getting ready to do what I previously thought was just a silly desire my mom had. Because she was no longer with me, I felt the need to attend this college; it could be considered a tribute to her. Yes, that's how I would think of it, as a tribute, it was for my mom after all, it's what she would have wanted.

I was ripped out of my thoughts by what was undoubtedly Emmett McCarty, the brother I never had, and he truly was the best one I could ask for, he was just a little … enthusiastic, you could say.

"BELLSIE! WE'RE GOING TO COLLEGE!" He boomed across poor Jasper's lap to see me as they were both in the back seat of Alice's bright yellow Porsche and Jasper was unfortunately on the side closer to me. Normally, Emmett would never have settled to let Alice drive, but his Jeep, along with Rose's fiery red Camaro were already at the academy, waiting for them. In fact, all of our stuff was already there; the only thing missing was us.

I walked over to Emmett and spoke in a normal voice, "I know, Emmett, you don't need to notify the entire city of your presence."

"That's what she said," he said with a pout. The entire car burst into laughter.

Rose spoke up, "Em, that doesn't even really make sense."

Anyone else would've accepted their defeat, but not Emmett, "It made sense to her," he persisted.

I opened the door about to hop into the backseat, knowing full well, the entire ride would probably go on like this.

That's when I noticed there wasn't any room, because literally the most gorgeous bronze-haired stud I had ever seen in my entire life was taking it up. He had an obviously lean, tall, but strong build, and the most sinfully defined jaw line. God, even his nose was attractive, I couldn't quite explain it, and then he turned to me and flashed me a crooked grin and I nearly died right there. I had finally gotten a glimpse of his eyes and they were the most brilliant, striking emerald green, with layers of depth to them.

I smiled confusedly and said, "Uh, hi?"

Alice's tinkling laugh was heard, "Sorry, Bella, this is my cousin, Edward. Remember, I told you he would be joining us at college? His car's already at school just like everyone else's so I thought we should give him a ride too."

Now I remembered, her cousin, the one that would be sharing a dorm with Jasper and Emmett.

"Oh, yeah, now I remember, but Alice, where am I going to sit?"

Alice's smile faltered for a moment, but then reappeared, in a sheepish form, and I didn't like the look of that, "I guess I didn't really think that through."

"You think?" I retorted.

Then she smiled brightly, "How about you sit in Edward's lap?"

My cheeks flamed, "No, Alice. Why don't you let me drive and you can sit in Jasper's lap?" I mean, Jasper was her boyfriend after all, and I hardly knew this guy, no matter how gorgeous he was. She shouldn't have a problem with this arrangement, right, to help a sister out? Wrong.

"Nobody but me is driving my car, so sit your ass down."

My face turned an even brighter shade of red, "Alice," I groaned, and then turned to Rose, who was in the passenger seat and smiled sweetly at her, hoping she would relent. She didn't.

She didn't even flinch, "Oh, hell no, I am not degrading myself to a girl who will sit on a guy's lap."

"And I should?" I asked, not really offended, Rose's ultra feminist views of how women should be were different than most.

"Better you than me," she responded with an amused smile.

I looked over at Edward, whose eyes were twinkling with amusement and concern.

Concern? He was worried? About what? Me? He probably felt uncomfortable with me sitting in his lap.

"I'd rather not make you uncomfortable," I addressed Edward first, and then Alice, "How about you go ahead and drop them off and then come back for me?"

Alice answered, "If you insist, but it's a waste of time."

And then Edward spoke he had a smooth, velvet voice that warmed me up from just the texture of it, if that even makes sense, "No, I can wait, you go ahead." He made to move, but I interrupted.

"No, no, no, don't do that, I'll end up feeling guilty."

He smiled softly, "And I won't?"

I blushed a little, "I didn't mean it like that. Forget it, if you really want, we can both wait here until Alice comes back."

He smiled, "I guess that's a reasonable compromise."

Alice smiled wide, "Great, I'll see you two later."

I nodded and Edward stepped out, and stood by me. Alice drove away and he looked at me, waiting for me to speak.

"You might as well come in, the academy's like an hour and fifteen minutes from here, Alice isn't going to be here anytime soon."

He nodded and I walked back up to my door, unlocked it and gestured for him to come inside and close the door behind him. I then realized how awkward our situation was, we barely knew each other. I should've had one of the others stay with me; it would have made this fun and not weird.

Edward spoke up, "Solved it yet?" I was momentarily confused, but then I realized he was referring to my mom's Rubik's cube.

I nodded, "Many times, I just, it was my mom's, so I kind of take it everywhere."

He seemed to understand by my choice of words and depressed, pained tone, "Was? I'm so sorry."

I nodded, "It's alright, I'm just a little sore on the subject, it's only been like not even a year."

He was quiet for a moment and so was I.

Then, my stomach broke the silence by grumbling. I flushed, but Edward chuckled.

"What? It's like one, okay, I'm hungry," I defended.

Edward just grinned at me crookedly.

All of a sudden, I knew what to do, "Hey, you set up a movie in the living room; I'm going to whip us up some lunch. The DVD's are in the second cabinet from the right," I offered, smiling.

Edward's smiled widened, "Sure, what movie?"

"Surprise me," I answered.

I left for the kitchen, leaving him to get the movie set up.

Once inside the kitchen, I fell into my element. Cooking was second nature to me since I made most of the meals in my home. My mom never could cook anything remotely edible and my dad was even worse.

I rummaged around the cabinets and found some noodles. I grabbed a French baguette from the next cabinet and tomato basil sauce plus eggplant from the fridge. I set up a pot of water on the stove and once it was close to boiling, poured in the noodles, letting them simmer. I set up a small sauce pot onto the stove as well and poured in the jar of tomato basil sauce to heat it up. I sliced up the eggplant into round, half inch thick slices and oiled them, and added a light amount of grated parmesan, soon laying them onto a baking pan which I had earlier covered in aluminum foil. I grabbed another baking pan, covered it and placed the baguette which I had cut earlier in half longwise and then into 6 inch long pieces short wise across it. I brushed oil on those too and sprinkled some shredded mozzarella, garlic and oregano seasoning on each piece. I put both the eggplant and the soon to be cheesy garlic bread into the oven. I went back to the fridge and grabbed the essentials for a salad. I took some croutons from the top most cabinet in the kitchen and was tossing the salad when Edward walked in.

"It smells really good in here, you didn't have to make so much," Edward came to the counter and stood across from me, smiling.

Returning the smiled, I said, "It really is no bother, and besides, it's the least I could do for someone who delayed his ride because of me."

Edward frowned a little at that, "You don't need to make up for that, it was just the polite thing to do."

I smiled softly and finished tossing the salad. I pulled out two salad bowls and two plates and set them side by side. I put an equal amount of salad in each of the bowls and turned to get the pot of noodles from the stove. I put a sufficient amount for each of us on each of the plates and grabbed the sauce pot. I poured a substantial amount over the noodles. I walked over to the oven and took out the cheesy garlic bread and the eggplant. I set three slices of eggplant on each of our plates and two pieces of garlic bread. I went back to the fridge and took out some brownies that I had made yesterday when I was feeling bored. I put two each on two small dessert plates. I set out utensils and then finally looked up at Edward, who had been watching me silently the entire time.

I spread my hands wide across the food and smiled, saying, "Viola! There you have it, eggplant parmigiana and spaghetti with cheesy garlic bread, a tossed Caesar salad, and my homemade fudge brownies for dessert.

Edward's eyes widened in amazement, "Wow, you made a lot."

I blushed, "Cooking is one of the things I'm actually good at so I really give it my all."

Edward smiled crookedly, "I can see that."

We both sat down at the counter and began eating, making small talk. I found that talking with Edward was friendly, easy and I enjoyed it, even though I didn't learn anything too personal.

Edward was very easy to get along with and helpful too, he offered to help me with the dishes. I washed and he dried, it was a quiet and simple task, but it brought us a little closer.

We finished up, and slugged over to the couch with full stomachs to watch the movie Edward had set up. We sat comfortably on either side, a good distance from each other, both not wanting to make the other feel awkward.

We were halfway through with Singing in the Rain when I heard a car honk outside.

Alice.

I smiled as I shut off the television, "Looks like the pixie's back, come on we better go, she is not at all known for her monk like patience."

Edward and I laughed as we walked out the door. He waited for me to lock it and then we walked side by side to the car, smiling pleasantly.

I sat in the passenger seat and Edward took the back.

Alice immediately looked between us suspiciously, "Well you two became buddy buddy really quick."

I blushed a little, "Uh, I guess so."

Alice didn't comment again and we drove in comfortable silence to the college my mother dreamed that I would attend.

No matter how many times I had visited the campus for registration, interviews, or dorm purposes, I always felt awestruck by its architectural beauty. The majority of the buildings were made of a refined maple wood, and had ornate, intricate carvings engraved in and around them. All in all, it was a timeless classic that was perfect in my eyes. And although I had always known Alice, Rose, and Emmett to prefer the more modern structures, I could tell they too appreciated the subtle beauty of the campus. I knew that Jasper would like it; he and I often shared some of the same tastes, such as our love of anything history. Although, Japer generally geared toward the civil war period while I preferred the romantic yet elegant Victorian era. But this campus was a beautiful mix of both so it was a win-win situation for us.

Alice parked the car in her reserved space, right beside my sexy black 2012 Maserati GranTurismo MC that I was oh so very proud of.

I warned Alice as she was parking, "Alice if you ever scratch my car when parking, forget getting married, you won't be alive long enough to walk across this parking lot."

Alice rolled her eyes saying, "I know, I know, just consider yourself lucky that our parking spots are right next to each other and you don't have a stranger next to you that would scratch your car and leave."

I shrugged, "You're worse."

Then I heard Edward pipe up, "That's your car? The Maserati is yours?"

I nodded, grinning all the while, "That took me nearly two years to save up for."

Edward grinned, "A girl with a good taste in cars, not something you see every day."

I blushed and brushed the attention away from me, "Then you clearly don't know Rose well enough."

We all laughed and stepped out of Alice's Porsche. We walked over to our dorm and Edward stopped to say good-bye, he had to keep walking to reach his, Emmett's, and Jasper's dorm.

Alice and I turned to say goodbye to him and Alice immediately pulled him into a hug, he was her cousin after all. I stood there awkwardly and when they pulled apart, Edward turned to me, offering his hand. I took it and was shocked by the sparks I felt and the simple rightness and the naturalness of it; it felt perfect. My eyes snapped up to his in surprise as he did the same.

Wait, what? He did the same? Maybe he felt it too.

Edward cleared his throat and to diffuse the awkwardness he said, "It was really a pleasure to meet you, Bella. I hope to see you again soon."

I flushed slightly, but replied with, "Same here, bye, Edward."

He nodded and I turned on the spot, to avoid further embarrassment and opened the door to our dorm and walked in, Alice close behind me, she told Edward that he should bring the boys over to our dorm later this evening so that we could all hang out. Edward agreed, saying that they would all be more than happy to and they said goodbye. The entire time, I had escaped deeper into our dorm.

Our dorm really was just what I hoped it would be, if not more. When you walked in, you walked immediately into the living room, and on the living room's left was a kitchen; the two rooms were separated by a counter that was attached to the wall on either sides. On the right of the living room were three doors, that each led to a bedroom that consisted of a queen bed, a study desk, a walk in closet, and a bathroom with one sink, a toilet and a shower. All in all, for a dorm, it was pretty high class.

Then again, that probably had something to do with the Cullens' influence.

I simply sat down on the couch as Alice spoke to Edward. I didn't even notice as she returned and sat down next to me.

"We're finally college students, huh Bells?" She spoke quietly, using her old nickname for me.

I smiled softly, in awe of the truth of it; after all, I had been waiting for this moment ever since the funeral and it had finally arrived. I really just wanted to bask in this blissful moment and let it seep into my long term memory.

A/N: So, what do you think? I'd weally just lurve 2 no... Seriously, your reviews will probably greatly influence my storyline and my writing. I've got a few chapters written, but depending on what kind of feedback I get (If I get any feedback), I'll either post them immediately or tweak them first.

SO PLZ PLZ PLZ PLZ review!

I love y'all!

Thank you dear readers,

Your devoted author,

~catwoman1710 (Yes, in fact, I am a Marvel and DC Comics Superheroes fan. Although, that branch of fanfiction has never really caught my attention. Except of course, Captain America. I don't mind any of his fanfiction ;)