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Chapter 3: Calling All Friends

EPOV

"Eddie, over here!" the unmistakable voice of my brother Emmett boomed across the airport. I turned and spotted him easily, what with him being a giant and all, enthusiastically waving me over to him. I smiled and made my way in his direction, and when we reached each other he gave me his best big brother hug. He had just returned from Chappler's football camp, and I hadn't seen him in a few weeks.

"Em, how many times must I ask you not to call me Eddie?" I playfully inquired. "You know I hate it!"

"At least one more time Eddie," he smiled and gave his usual reply. "And by the way, it's good to see you too."

"Yeah, yeah," I laughed and we began to make our way to his car. "So was football camp successful? Am I looking at Chappler's starting quarterback?"

"You bet your scrawny ass you are!" he said as he punched my fist. "Third year straight, baby!" Emmett was an exceptionally talented footballer, so it came as no surprise really, but I was pleased for him all the same. I knew this meant he was even closer to getting scouted into a big and important team. And I also knew this meant that there was going to be a celebratory party in his dorm.

"You know what this mean, buddy?" he asked, reading my mind. "P-p-p-par-tay!" he all but squealed. At times he really was just a big kid, and it was one of the things that I loved the most about him.

I laughed as he continued, "Tomorrow night, come anytime after 8. Tell Ali and Jazz for me."

I shuddered as I thought of the two of them. My sister and my best friend were dating. I have had enough time to get used to it, but it still all seemed a bit weird. Jasper and I had been inseparable since third grade, and he spent almost all is time at our house, and I had gone from watching him tease Alice and pull her hair to having to witness the make out sessions they insist on having after being apart for more than a few hours.

I imagined it would only get worse now that instead of living three streets apart, Jasper and I would be living just down the hall from Alice. I almost died the other day when Alice suggested that I would need to buy some good quality earplugs for when she… stays over. Yuck. I mean I love both Alice and Jazz, but I always tell myself that all they do behind closed doors is hold hands.

At first I had been ecstatic when I found out that I would be rooming with Jasper, but when I thought of it in terms of possibly walking in on him and my sister doing something, I was a little less enthused. But I had bought earplugs as Alice had suggested, as well as making sure that I brought my stereo over from the house to drown out any excessive noise if need be. And for Jasper I had got a 'Do not disturb' sign for the door handle outside his room.

As much as I give them shit for their relationship and played the disapproving brother card, I have never seen either of them as happy as when they are together. They complement each other perfectly, like yin and yang, and even though they are still quite young we are all sure that one-day Jasper will be joining the family officially.

As we drove along the highway Emmett and I talked about his time at football camp, the ever-growing entourage of women that are in love with him, and Chappler in general. Em had told Alice, Jazz and I so much about Chappler, and added with the fact that we had visited him many times and attended many of its open days and events, we were pretty sure we knew the place quite well.

He asked me about the reasoning behind my very short trip to LA, and I told him that I had just been flown over by the head of the Harvard board, who lives there, for a meeting about the possibility of attending Harvard on a scholarship next year.

The first of many lies I would have to tell to those close to me.

If Emmett seemed doubtful about my explanation, as he should've been, he didn't show it, and changed the subject to how our mother's new interior design business was going.

We talked and laughed the whole trip there, and I found myself feeling extremely happy that I was going to be living near him this year. Things haven't been the same without him at home, though he always visited on weekends.

Once we got to Chappler Em grabbed all of the stuff I had packed to bring here before I left for LA, and helped me carry it up to my dorm room. He said that Jazz and I were lucky to get a room as big as the one we have, and especially as it was conveniently placed not too far from both his dorm and Alice's. I was glad that Chappler was a university whose dorm rooms resembled small apartments. The kitchen was small, as was the bathroom; but at least we didn't have to share them with other people.

Emmett said he was rooming with Seth again, his friend from the football team. He wondered who Alice's roommate would be, and whether or not she was hot. Of course, I didn't mention that I knew exactly who her new roommate was. Hot… I guess. I thought that she looked more cute than hot from what I had seen. But then again, I had not seen her 'disguise' so to speak. She could be really ugly, or look even more plastic. I had no idea, but since I was actually looking for somebody who resembles Izzie Phillips, I hoped it would be relatively easy to recognise her.

I declined Emmett's offer of grabbing a burger down at the food area, having already eaten on the plane and feeling the need to get started with my unpacking. I also hadn't slept in two days and was looking forward to getting some rest.

Not five minutes after Em had left, Jasper finally arrived.

"Hey dude," he greeted, flashing me a big smile. "How are ya?" Jasper's shit-eating grin told me that he was just with Alice.

"Alright, pretty tired though. How's Alice?" I asked.

"She's great," he laughed. "She told me to come here and unpack, and then drag you down to see her and maybe grab a bite?"

As much as I wanted to see Alice, there was a chance that Bella might be there already, and in my tired and possibly grumpy state I knew that probably wasn't a good idea. I needed to make a good first impression… especially if I wanted us to become very good friends. I needed a bit more time to mentally prepare myself.

"I'm absolutely beat man, I think I am going to have to give it a miss tonight." I said, not missing the slightly relieved look on his face. I was sure he wanted Alice all to himself tonight. "Tell her we'll catch up tomorrow. You two have fun, I assume you won't be staying here tonight?"

"You assume correctly," he laughed. "Later man," he playfully punched my shoulder and made his way back out into the hall.

I shoved all mental images of the two of them to the back of my mind, and started unpacking everything from my two large suitcases. I then realised that I would be without my piano and guitar for the first time since I was 8. I would need to go back to the house and pick up my guitar, and maybe even look into buying a keyboard for my room. Esme would never let me take our baby grand piano in to here, and I doubt we would have room for it anyway. Thinking of my mother, I decided to give her a call and tell her that my flight had landed safely.

I finally hung up the phone after a good talk that lasted a few hours, telling her to expect a visit from me this weekend to pick up my guitar.

Deciding that sorting my clothes into the closet could wait until morning, I slipped into a pair of pajama pants and fell on to my bed, my thoughts consumed by the task I would have ahead of me tomorrow.

- - -

It was just as well that I had woken up early, because my dear sister Alice sent me a text at exactly bright and early. She really did bring new meaning to the term morning person.

Hey E, how was your flight? Don't forget that Em's get-together is tonight! I'm going to try and get there around 9, and if my roommate has arrived by then, I'll try to bring her along as well.

See you tonight xoxo Ali

So that was where I would meet Bella. A party, of all places.

I had decided that today I would watch some more interviews of her, and try to gauge any possible conversation topics that could be useful for tonight.

I considered checking the library to see if such a thing as 'Befriending Teenage Pop Stars for Dummies' existed. I was prepared to lie through my teeth to make it seem like we had many common interests, but I was going to draw the line at saying that my favorite TV show was something line Hannah freaking Montana.

All this was making me incredibly nervous, so before I could psyche myself out any more than I already had, I decided to head down to the coffee shop to get a latte and clear my head.

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BPOV

As I drove into one of the two parking spots allocated to my dorm room, I took in my surroundings. Calling Chappler big would be an understatement. It was huge, but thankfully it contained an adequate amount of signs which, combined with the powers of the map I had been issued, assured that even I couldn't get lost.

I could tell that I was going to have the map permanently held up in front of my face for the first couple of days. This concerned me, as I was quite paranoid about being recognised by somebody, and I feared that I would stand out like a tourist in New York wearing an 'I heart NY' t-shirt and a statue of liberty hat if the map was glued to my face all the time.

I was pretty happy with how the trip from LA to Seattle had gone; I was only 45 minutes behind schedule, and only twice had my GPS shouted at me for going the wrong way.

I decided to leave all of my bags in the backseat of the truck and bring them up to my room later to unpack. After all that driving I was in need of some serious caffeine.

I followed my map and the various shiny new signs around me until I came across what was aptly named the 'Food and Drink Area'.

There was a burger bar, a large café and various other little food stores that were crowded with hungry-looking people, but I opted to walk past these and headed to a quaint looking little coffee shop at the end of the row of stores.

As soon as I stepped inside I knew it would more than likely become a place that I would frequently be visiting.

It was warm and cosy, with a delicious coffee bean and cake smell wafting through from behind the counter. The walls were filled with old posters of actresses such as Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe, and I could definitely imagine sinking into one of those comfy-looking red chairs near the back with a good book. One of the things that had appealed to me the most when making the decision to put my music career on hold was that I would have more time to myself, which also meant more time to read.

I slowly made my way to the counter, and a baby-faced blonde guy greeted me with a big smile.

"Hi, what can I get you?" he asked, while looking me up and down.

"Umm… could I have a skinny mocha latte, please?" I asked, a bit creeped out at the way he was staring at me.

"Sure," he smiled and processed the order into the register. "What is you name, sweetheart?"

Sweetheart? Really? I see where this is going. "Bella," I replied. "Bella Swan."

"Well Bella-Bella Swan, my name is Mike-Mike Newton!" he laughed, and I noticed he was talking to my chest instead of my face. Creep.

"Funny," I said, but he failed to pick up on the sarcasm.

He finally began to make my coffee, while inquiring whether or not I had any plans for tonight, and if I wanted to go to a party with him. I told him that I was going to be unpacking my stuff for most of the evening.

"Well," he began "If you finish early, you should come!" he said as he handed me my coffee. "Wait here, let me go and grab you a card with my number on it so you can call when you are done." Without waiting for my reply, he turned and made his way to the back room.

This was my chance to escape, and I quickly span around and went to make my way for the door. Unfortunately, my clumsy gene chose this moment to rear its ugly head, and I all but crashed into a person that I had no idea was even behind me.

Luckily the contents of my drink didn't spill all over the floor… but I couldn't say the same for the contents of my bag.

"I am so sorry," I quickly blurted out, while kneeling on the floor to pick up my books, without looking my victim in the eye. "I wasn't watching where I was going."

I was mortified, and I felt the blush start to appear on my cheeks. I had only been here for 20 minutes and I had managed to almost injure a fellow student.

I still tried to hide my embarrassment by avoiding eye contact, but the figure I felt next to me didn't move.

Come on buddy, I thought to myself. Keep walking. Please don't scream at me or anything. At least I didn't spill my drink all over you. Trust me, others haven't been so lucky in the past.

Somewhere in my internal ramblings I felt the figure kneel down on the floor across from me. I finally looked up, and saw the best-looking man in the world helping me pick up my books.

Now people often use the term 'best-looking man in the world', but I felt that I was in a pretty good position to make that call. I sat next to Brad Pitt at the Teen Choice Awards, and at the same table as Johnny Depp at the Hollywood Film Festival. But none of those guys had anything on the Adonis that was in front of me.

He looked… perfect. Absolutely perfect. That was the only word to describe him. 'Handsome' or 'hot' just wouldn't suffice.

His eyes were a piercing green and had intensity to them that I had never seen in a pair of eyes before. He had a strong, chiseled jaw that beautifully defined face, as well as a perfectly shaped nose and mouth.

But the feature of his that stood out the most was definitely his hair. It was a beautiful color, a mix between bronze and toffee, and it looked like he had just rolled out of bed after some crazy sex the night before. I had a strong desire to run my fingers through his hair and mess it up even more.

I eventually realized that I was staring, more than likely with my mouth open, and that my expression and lack of speech may be interpreted as a severe lack of intelligence.

"It's fine, don't worry about it," the Adonis spoke, cutting of my thoughts. His voice was so perfect and smooth it could only be described as velvet. The kind of voice that does the steamy voice overs to those late night infomercials you see on TV.

He handed me the four or so books he had collected from the floor.

"Thanks," I murmured, noticing that he had held onto a few.

"Austen…Twain…Bronte…Swift," he smiled as he glanced at the authors of the books, "I'm impressed."

"Book nerd," I confessed.

"Me too," he chuckled, "Let me guess… you read Wuthering Heights at least once a year?"

"Yes," I stated, shocked. "How did you know that?"

"Lucky guess… and maybe the fact that I do the same thing," he said, "but I hope that you don't let anyone else in on our little secret."

I stared into his amazing green eyes as he handed me the last of my books. Was this guy even real?

All of a sudden I heard the intro of 'Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)' coming from his pocket, and I smiled at his choice of ring tone. He looked at me with a look that seemed to convey that he would rather keep talking to me than answer his phone.

"I'd better let you get that,' I stood up, and he did too, "Sorry again for crashing into you, thanks for the help."

Looking at him standing up for the first time, I noticed that not only was he tall, but I could see that under his shirt that he was also well built. I felt sorry for any guy who had to be in the same room as him… it more than likely would make them contemplate self-harm.

"My pleasure," he called out as I started to walk away. He looked at the caller ID on his phone, and a big smile came across his face,

"Hey Em," he said, excitement evident in his voice. "Yes, we are still on for tonight…"

I sighed as I closed the coffee shop door, effectively cutting of his God-like voice. Of course he has a girlfriend… just look at him!

As the thought of hunting down every single girl at Chappler named Emma or Emily crossed my mind, I realised that I was being ridiculous for two reasons. Firstly, this guy was the epitome of hot, gorgeous, sexy and handsome… while I was just the plain girl who had to change every single aspect of her appearance to be considered attractive enough to succeed as a singer. Secondly, I had had my heart broken only months ago, and had sworn off guys and love for a while. Snap out of it Bella.

Seriously, what is wrong with me? I finally have a chance to get a proper education, to get qualifications and to be free… and the first hot guy that I see I am already dreaming of as my boyfriend. Get a grip.

I decided that I should go back to my dorm and start to unpack my stuff. I hoped my roommate Alice was there so that I could introduce myself. I have heard so many crazy stories about terrible roommates, but I don't care if she snores, just as long as she is nice and friendly. And doesn't use my toothbrush.

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EPOV

After hanging up the phone with Emmett, who was checking that if I was definitely going to the party tonight, I thought about what had just happened to me in the last 5 minutes.

One moment I was mulling over whether to order my coffee with a double shot of espresso or not, and the next a girl had tripped over and crashed right into me.

She shot down and began to pick up some of the books that had spilt onto the floor before I could even make eye contact with her. All that I could surmise from looking at her was that she had long chocolate brown hair that cascaded down her back with a slight curl.

She began to apologize profusely, still avoiding eye contact with me, and I smiled slightly at her obvious embarrassment. Remembering my manners, I knelt down to aid in the collection of her books, and she finally looked into my eyes.

I must have gasped out loud at the beautiful creature in front of me. I was frozen completely still. Matching her chocolate brown hair was a pair of expressive brown eyes framed with long dark lashes. Her skin was creamy and flawless, and her lips looked soft and full, and I wanted nothing more than to kiss them.

She was nothing less than a goddess.

I eventually snapped out of it and began to pile her books and hand them to her. Acting on an impulse, I glanced down to see what this angel happened to be reading at the moment.

I was shocked, to say the least. Among them were books such as Wuthering Heights, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Sense and Sensibility. She was a fan of the classics, just like me. And she must have had at least 10 books in her book bag. I had not expected her to read this sort of literature, so I told her that I was impressed.

And then she blushed. And it was breathtaking.

The pale skin of her face came to life with the most beautiful rosy color that I had ever seen. It complimented her face beautifully, and I could almost feel the heat escaping from her cheeks.

We had exchanged a few lines about our mutual love of books, specifically Wuthering Heights, before Emmett's call had interrupted us. I was reluctant to answer it, but before I could say anything else she stood up, thanked me, and I watched the goddess make her way out of the shop.

Sadly, I realised that I didn't even know her name.

Yet.

_____

Hehehe. They finally meet, and Eddie boy didn't even realise who she was!

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