"Be that as it may, Mr. Cullen, we require all incoming freshmen to be housed on campus." The unpleasantly nasal voice of the dean of student life came- somewhat distorted- through the cell phone. Edward pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index finger in that characteristic and always endearing gesture that I loved. As endearing the resultant gestures of this particularly frustrating conversation happened to be, however, our current predicament still existed: four married couples (each with their own particular sets of non-human tendencies) could hardly be expected to live in a college dormitory. "The best compromise that we can offer is housing you all in co-educational dorms."

"Graduate student housing is-"

"Reserved for graduate students, Mr. Cullen. I apologize."

I could see the wheels turning in Edward's head, and wondered how large of a bribe he was willing to offer and exactly to whom he would be offering it. However, Renesmee seemed to be on the same page as I was- and seemed to be as mortified at the prospect as I would have been in my years as a human.

"Edward… please don't make a production of this," she whispered, her words more sigh than substance. "You want me to have human experiences? Let me be a college kid… a real one, okay?" She crossed the room in less than a tenth of a second- but gracefully, serenely: her hand rested against Edward's cheek before he could say a word. I didn't have to know what Renesmee showed him to know that he would cave in less time than it had taken her to move from the foot of the staircase to the pale beige couch on which Edward and I both perched.

Edward sighed, giving Renesmee a long-suffering look. "Then I suppose that that arrangement will have to be sufficient. Thank you for your time." He closed the phone before the dean could say another word. He then turned to Renesmee. "I do hope that Jacob can manage."

"He does have to keep phasing or he'll start to age… and…" I let my voice trail off deliberately.

Renesmee rolled her eyes. "I'm more than aware of the situation," she said, breath escaping frustratedly between her teeth. "Believe me: I'm more aware than either of you. However… these doors have locks; he can phase in our room." Edward flinched: though Renesmee had been married to Jake for more than a year, our family was entirely aware that Nessie Black's new name was a subject of slight discomfort to Edward, though he handled himself admirably in most situations- so admirably, in fact, that Renesmee and Jake had been living in the small cottage that had been given to Edward and me in the early days of our marriage. However accepting as Edward tried to be, though, facts were facts: Renesmee was a mere eight years of age. "In any case," she said, bringing me abruptly back to the present, "we all have to hunt, and that need bears the implication that we will leave campus with some frequency."



"Naturally," Edward said, not allowing the strain that I could feel emanating from his body in waves to permeate his tone: in fact, I doubted that what strain I could detect was noticeable to anybody else in the house save for Jasper.

"You will simply have to act with more conviction than usual." Carlisle's voice came gently from the top of the staircase; he entered the room just after he finished his sentence. "You are right, though, Nessie … this isn't an experience you should miss." I could tell that his statement was directed, in part, at me: after my Dartmouth plans had been derailed by a far more important life than my own, it had been hard to pick up the pieces- thus, I still had no college degree.

And you're the only one of the family who still hasn't picked a major- don't forget that, I thought to myself chidingly. Renesmee had picked Clement University due to the fact that it was a small liberal arts college nearly in the middle of nowhere, Michigan; it was attached to the Clement Conservatory of Music (a prerequisite for her; for a girl who had been accepted to Juilliard, Curtis, New England Conservatory and the Cleveland Institute of Music, a preeminent conservatory education was not something that she was willing to sacrifice); and, most of all, we could look forward to both a distinct lack of sunny days and fabulous hunting prospects.

So, basically, when I'm done with my pointless two-hundred-grand degree in- oh, I don't know, English Lit- we can move back to Forks or some other place like it and start high school again… after Edward's third medical degree or second law degree or third composition degree or-

My thoughts were silenced by Edward's lips brushing against my collarbone: apparently, as I'd been thinking, the room had emptied. Carlisle is tactful as always, I thought, and Renesmee is quickly becoming as empathetic as is humanly possible… or not humanly. I turned my head to kiss Edward properly.

"Nervous?" He whispered, his close proximity almost managing to make my dead heart flutter… almost.

"About what?" I feigned nonchalance.

"You don't fool me, Mrs. Cullen. What's on your mind?" His razor-sharp teeth grazed my ear, and my sharp intake of breath betrayed me.

"You don't think that this is a bad idea."

"Not at all. We've gone this long in various similar circumstances while avoiding detection. You went to high school with us before knowing, er, the truth of matters… there is no reason for this to be any different."

I sighed, pulling away from his embrace to better clear my head. "You weren't living this close to, well, a very wrongfully tempting definition of the board part of room and board. And you didn't have another vampire, an immortal daughter and her imprinted seven-foot-tall overly-warm werewolf husband to contend with, and-"



His lips silenced me again as he pulled my face to his. Finally, after what could have been seconds or an eternity, he lifted his face from mine, smirking.

"Edward?"

"Yes, Bella?" He echoed my slightly coy tone.

"We leave in… what… five days?"

"Your mathematical skills never cease to amaze." He darted away from the light swat that I aimed at his arm- a light swat that could have put a serious dent in a military tank.

"Well, I just thought that I might want to point out that we have limited time to visit our meadow and do certain things…"

His eyebrow raised. "Such as?"

I fixed him with a withering gaze that somehow didn't manage to reach my eyes. "Such as having loud and unnecessarily destructive sex."

He was still able to move nearly fast enough for me to miss his motions, I was pleased to see, as he flew to my side, lifted me into his arms, and began to run toward the promise of doing things that were loud and unnecessarily destructive.