Jacob was obviously an insanely handsome guy, but after talking to him I realised that he was pretty awesome himself. He told me all about his life here. He was a junior majoring in political science and hoped to pave his way into the political stream. Because of this he was heavily involved in the political campaigns that took place on campus.

"I guess the goal is to be elected student body president by the end of the year," he told me, taking a swig from his can.

I couldn't help but be impressed by his ambition. It's not fair really. How can one person have looks, charisma and personality? What chance do the rest of us have?

Our conversation came to an end all too soon when he was called away by some guys to help them carry in a keg. I gave him a little wave and went to go find Eric and the others.

I spotted them chatting in the same corner as they had been earlier on. They stopped when I got to them and looked expectedly at me.

"Well?" Angela beamed. I gave her a puzzled look, begging for some clueing in as to what was so extraordinary.

"Jacob Black! You were talking to him for ages, he must be pretty interested in you," she winked, nudging my elbow. I could feel myself start to blush and noticed a frown overtaking Jessica's face.

"He was probably just being polite," she stated. Angela and Eric both threw her a strained look.

"What? I'm not trying to be rude, it's just why would someone as influential as him waste his time with a fresher? No offence or anything," she offered a half-ass smile to me.

"We were just chatting, it wasn't anything like that. He's pretty cool," I replied, opting to ignore her blatant jealousy.

"Well if you ask me, that guy is nothing but shady," Mike announced, glancing over to where he was setting down the keg, "It's like everything he does comes with a hidden agenda."

I didn't get that vibe from Jacob. He seemed like a genuine, hard-working guy and I couldn't help thinking that Mike was also harbouring some jealousy.

"Why are we even still discussing this? Tonight is not a night to analyse ever student on campus, it's a night to get shit-faced and we are all lagging behind," Eric piped up.

Famous last words.

The night flew by in a haze after that. All I could remember was a blur of new faces and names (none of which were retained in my brain), thumping music pounding though my ear drums, and many…many shots. Too many.

As the night started to dwindle down and people slowly started to filter out I came back to mind and realised how overboard I had gone.

"Bella, you okay? You don't look so good," Eric came over to me.

"I don't…ugh…I don't feel so good," I muttered, concentrating hard on not vomiting. Not quite the introduction I needed to college life.

"Oh shit, don't get sick here. Take this," Eric said, handing me a key, "Go up to room 325, it's mine. You can puke all you want in that bathroom."

"Thanks Eric," I croaked, and headed straight for the elevator. Every second was a battle. I could feel the nausea creeping up on me.

I eventually got to his door and burst through it as quickly as possible. I ran straight in to the bathroom and…well…you know.

I flushed the toilet immediately and looked in the mirror. Amazingly I didn't look as awful as I felt. I straightened myself up, took a swirl of mouthwash, and went to go back downstairs, but I didn't quite make it that far.

"I'd appreciate if you could close the door next time you do that," a guy said, nonchalantly.

I jumped in fright and swivelled around. A guy with messy golden hair was sitting at the desk with a book and a notepad open in front of him. He barely glanced up, keeping his eyes focused on his work. I hadn't noticed him at all when I came in, probably since I darted straight to the bathroom.

"I..uh..I'm so sorry, I didn't see you there. I'm friends with Eric, he said I could come up here to…refresh myself," I stammered, shifting nervously on the spot.

The boy smirked and looked up at me. Holy crap, he was stunning. Were all New York guys this pretty? Impossible.

"Yeah I gathered that much when you used a key to open my door," he said, sarcastically. Okay, that was kind of rude. I shook it off though, I mean I had just puked in his bathroom.

"You weren't down at the party?" I asked. Obviously he wasn't, but I felt like I had to say something to cut the awkwardness of the moment.

He just laughed and turned back to his books. "Not really my scene."

I knew I should have taken that as my cue to leave, but there was something about this guy that intrigued me. I couldn't quite put my finger on it though.

"Maybe I should skip the next one too," I joked, laughing nervously. He looked up at me again and furrowed his brow, clearly deep in thought.

"Let me ask you this. What do you think you've gained from getting wasted and making a fool of yourself tonight? You'll have a hangover tomorrow and worry whether you embarrassed yourself, but then you'll go out and do the exact same thing next week."

"Well, I guess that's true but—"

"It's our generation nowadays. I can't help feeling like we're all just lost, searching for something meaningful to take from this miserable life," he seemed to float off into his own stream of consciousness. It made me slightly uncomfortable hearing this stranger coming out with all these profound thoughts, but I was too interested to make him stop.

"Sometimes I just worry, you know? What if I just drift through his life never finding that meaning. No one will ever mean anything to me and I'll just be doomed to an eternity of feeling numb," he continued. I had to fight the urge to lean over and give him a big hug, telling him that everything was going to be okay.

"I think we all feel that way sometimes. Deep down, I guess we all just want to be loved," I replied in an attempt to show him I understood how he felt.

I noticed a small smile twitching on his lips, but I couldn't figure out what could possibly be funny at a time like this.

I was just about to ask him when the door flew open and Eric hustled in.

"Bella, are you okay? I was just coming up to check—oh," he stopped when he noticed the guy towering above me. "You two have met. Sorry Edward, I didn't think you'd be in."

Edward. It was nice to put a name to the face.

He just smirked and went back to sit at his desk. "Have fun at your party," he called out, indicating it was time for us to leave.

I slowly walked back towards Eric, glancing back at Edward one last time.

I wasn't quite sure what had gone on here, but I felt a weird closeness to this guy. It was as if he had just given me a microscope into his mind.