Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or its characters. I own the plot of this, though. I do not own Better Together (Jack Johnson's, not mine) and the Imagination quote (Carl Sagan's, not mine).

Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews, views & alerts! Most of you are CessaxEdward fans. We'll see, we'll see. :D Filler chapter here? Not sure, really. I didn't enjoy writing this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing the others, but I think this one's okay. Tell me what you think, okay? Listen to "Better Together" by Jack Johnson for the feel of this chapter. Thank you for your unending support. :D Love ya'll!

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Chapter 23

"You okay?" Edward said as he momentarily took his eyes off the road to glance at me.

"Uh," I considered my answer. "I'm not sure."

He chuckled and offered his hand, which I gratefully took and held on to tightly. I stared out the window of the passenger seat of his Volvo, watching the blur of things we passed. Truth be told, I was nervous. I couldn't sit still and I kept on fidgeting with whatever I could get my hands on.

"Breathe, Cessa," he told me, and I complied. "It'll be okay. I don't even know why you're nervous."

"It's my first time to change schools," I sighed. "In addition to that, this new school is in a new country!"

"It'll be okay," he smiled. "I'll make sure of it."

"Thanks," I said as I forced myself to smile back.

"Here we are."

He let go of my hand to park; I closed my eyes to steady my breathing. I didn't notice he had left the car already until he opened my door for me. I smoothed out my red knee-length a-line dress – a desperate attempt to look presentable.

"Chill," he laughed. "You look great."

"Thanks," I smiled shyly. "So do you, but let me fix this,"

I fixed his collar, and then he handed me my black leather bag. We started walking to the main entrance. He probably sensed my nervousness because he suddenly entwined our fingers.

"Mmm, it's always better when we're together," he sang. "It's always better when we're together."

I laughed at his abrupt Jack Johnson outburst, but I had to admit that it really cheered me up. I stopped walking and when he turned to see why I did, I hugged him. He embraced me back and patted my head. That seriously felt nice. It was great that we weren't awkward; on the contrary, we were more comfortable with each other now more than ever.

"Of course," I mumbled against his shoulder. "It's always better if you're with me."

I looked up to see his face and lo & behold, he was blushing. I snickered and pinched his cheek. I pulled him through the great oak doors of the university's main entrance. The lobby was large, dome-shaped and ornately-designed. The walls were cream in color and styled with intricate swirls, reminiscent of the renaissance period. The floors were carpeted, crimson in color; Paintings of various sizes were hung and there was a huge sculpture in the middle of the room.

The acceptance letter instructed us to head for Auditorium B for the orientation. I headed for the large map right in front of the statue. There were a number of halls leading to who-knows-where, but the map instructed me to take the second to the last of the left side. The hallway had wooden walls, but the carpeted floor continued from the lobby. It took us about five minutes to finally reach the entrance of the auditorium. We searched for Alice and Jasper, who we eventually found seated smack in the middle. They saved us seats, too!

Finally, a couple of moments after Edward and I were seated, the Principal appeared. He was a tall, plump, grandfatherly man in his 60's or so. He wore a black suit with the university crest sewn on the chest pocket. He cleared his throat and began speaking.

"Welcome, freshmen," he said as he beamed at everyone in the auditorium. "Welcome to our humble university of all things creative. There really is not much to say, given that all the rules are in the handbook and all the instructions were in your letter. Let me just give a brief summary of what you have to know.

This is probably the last time you'd get to spend the entire day with freshmen of different colleges, so make sure you make the most out of it. At most, you will only have one or two classes together with people of a different department. The different departments are as follows: Department of Literature, Conservatory of Music, Department of Visual Arts, Department of Humanities, Department of Fine Arts and Department of Film and Photography. There are a total of eight buildings – one for each department, this main building which contains the various auditoriums, and the general education building.

Today, you will be given your schedules, after which, you may roam the campus on your own. I suggest that you start looking for your classrooms to avoid confusion when your classes officially start tomorrow. That is all, freshmen. Remember: Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere. (Carl Sagan)"

He gave the student body one last smile and left the stage. Our row was instructed to head for Registrar's Office #25 and look for a 'Mrs. Cope' for our schedules. Twenty minutes and a couple of pairs of painful feet later, we finally emerged from the oh-so-long queue with our schedules. Jasper and Alice showed Edward their schedules as I headed for the vending machine to get something to drink. I heard Alice and Jasper call out a good-bye, adding that they wanted to check out the school now.

"Swap?" I asked Edward as I handed him my schedule and a bottle of raspberry iced tea. I took his and checked if we had any classes together.

"We have biology together," Edward grinned. "Jasper and Alice have Biology with us, too. Oh, you and I have math together, too."

"Great," I beamed at him. At least we had classes together.

"You wanna reconnoiter?" he asked as he took my hand in his.

"Okay," I agreed, my nervousness returning. The idea of being in a place so alien still freaked me out.

"Still nervous?" he squeezed my hand. I thought about it for a few seconds until I knew I was sure of my answer.

"Yes, but it isn't so bad now," I grinned at him. "Like you said, it's better when we're together."

Author's Note: I was wondering if you guys think 30+ or more chapters is too long? :| I have the ending already, but I have a couple of ideas in mind for the in-between chapters. I just want to know if you guys think I should stop at 30 or something. I won't take offense in your reply. :) Thanks!