Chapter 1

"Hey sleepyhead! If you stay in bed much longer, you're going to miss your shift today!"

I groaned and shoved my face further into my pillow, willing myself to somehow magically freeze time so I could stay in bed for just a few more hours. I decided right then and there that if I could have any superpower in the world, that would be it.

My wishful thinking was interrupted by something hard hitting the small of my back. "The bills aren't going to pay themselves, lazy ass. Although, I do remember seeing a nice box on the side of the road the other day, if you're looking for a new place. Rent's probably much cheaper."

I scoffed into the pillow, and then slowly rose to my elbows. Peeking through the rat's nest that was my hair, I glared at my sister. She was standing next to my bed, coffee in hand and already dressed in her scrubs for work.

"I'll make sure to give the landlord a call on my way to work," I muttered.

She grinned at me, then held her coffee out to me as I sat up and swung my legs over the bed. I grabbed it, thankful, and took two large gulps.

As I handed it back to her, my cell phone buzzed loudly. I looked at it, guessed who the text was from, and decided that I didn't want to deal with that right now.

"Your phone has been buzzing all morning, Miss Popularity. I don't know what could possibly be so important at 8 o'clock on a Saturday morning." Jocelyn said this carefully, probably also guessing who the text was from. I chose to ignore her and stood up to get dressed. I could feel Jocelyn's eyes on me as I walked to my dresser.

"I heard you last night. Or, this morning, I guess. Everything okay?"

"Yes," I replied quietly. "Everything is fine." I yanked my jeans up a little too hard as I said this, giving the appearance that everything was, in fact, not fine.

"I'm not really sure why you put up with him, Liv. This has been happening way too much lately."

I finished getting dressed and turned to face Jocelyn. "Look, everything is fine," I stressed, really not wanting to have this conversation right now. "It was my fault anyways. I was acting stupid, it shouldn't have happened. I'm just going to give him some time to cool off, and then we'll be back to normal." I tried to hide my expression from her as a raked a brush through my hair.

I could tell that my sister didn't believe me. We had this conversation almost weekly now, and the story I gave was always the same. I hoped that eventually she would just not bring it up anymore, because I always made it clear that I didn't want to discuss my relationship with her. I could tell there was more that she wanted to say, but I breezed past her to walk into the small bathroom that we shared so I could brush my teeth. I could see Jocelyn's reflection in the mirror, eying me with concern.

"I just want you to be happy, that's all," she said. And I knew she meant it. I really did. I spit out the toothpaste and gave her a really big, really fake smile.

"I am happy! See!" I exclaimed, pointing to my exaggerated expression. She bit her lip and breathed out her nose a little more forcefully than usual.

"Olivia."

I tried not to let the smile drop at the sound of my full name. She hardly ever used it, and when she did I knew it was serious.

"In the almost year you two have been dating, I can hardly remember a time where this wasn't happening at least once a week. You know I'd never tell you what to do, but Liv this isn't healthy and-"

Frustration bubbled up inside of me as I walked to the front door. "I'm sorry Jocelyn, I didn't realize you were the queen of healthy relationships. I must be mistaking your love life for someone else's." Ouch. That was a low blow and I regretted it the second it came out of my mouth. I tried to ignore the hurt I saw on my sister's face as I gave her another large, fake smile. "Now, I have to get to work. The bills aren't going to pay themselves!" I mocked, opening the door. Any snarky comeback she would have made was drowned out by the sound of the door slamming shut.

The smile immediately dropped from my face as I walked down the hall of our shabby apartment complex and out the door. Guilt washed over me, suddenly making me nauseous. I had to pause once I got outside of the building to make sure I didn't throw up right there in the bushes.

I hated acting like a brat to Jocelyn, but the lack of sleep and argument that Nick and I had gotten into the night before were really dragging down my mood. Jocelyn knew how much I didn't like talking about my relationship, but kept pushing anyways. Regardless, she did not deserve the insult I threw at her. I decided that I would make dinner that night, to hopefully show her that I was sorry.

I knew that she meant well, I really did. Even when we were young, she was so protective of me and cared a lot about my happiness. It probably had something to do with the fact that I couldn't say the same about either of our parents. So, she always took it upon herself to make me feel loved. And I never, in a million years, would be able to put into words how much that meant to me. Scraped knee while riding my bike? Jocelyn was there to help. Crying over the first boy that broke my heart? Jocelyn helped me pick up the pieces. Got kicked out of the house by our mom's boyfriend right before my freshman year of college? Jocelyn insisted I move in with her and wouldn't take no for an answer. She was my mom, dad, sister and best friend all rolled up into one.

Her hatred of Nick was no surprise to me. She was wary the minute I came home from a party last fall semester, gushing about a guy that I had met. Despite being all smiles, Jocelyn was older and had that special knowledge that only big sisters had. She just told me to be careful and to not get involved. Of course I ignored her advice, but despite all of the times I know she's heard me crying, or heard us arguing, or seen me withdraw, she never once said "I told you so."

A buzz in my pocket brought me out of my thoughts and back to reality. I hesitated for a moment, but eventually brought my phone out and flipped it open. I read the message on the screen with what felt like a boulder in my stomach.

Babe, come on. Talk to me. I said I was sorry like a million times, what else do you want me to do?

I pursed my lips as I tried to decide whether or not I wanted to reply. I guess I took too long, because a few seconds later my phone buzzed again.

Fine. Whatever. I'm not in the mood to deal with this shit. Go ahead and be a bitch, I don't care. I'm going out drinking with friends today so don't bother texting or calling.

Tears welled up, from both sadness and frustration. I snapped my phone shut so hard I was slightly worried that I may have damaged the screen, and shoved it back in my pocket. So it was going to be one of those days. Perfect.

Working at a college bookstore really had it perks sometimes, like during the middle of the semester when your shift was almost guaranteed to just be standing behind the counter doing homework while one or two people wandered around aimlessly. However, it was the beginning of October, which meant that midterms weren't that far off and your shift was guaranteed to be running around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to find books for the students who didn't buy them at the beginning of the semester and realized their mistake.

I didn't mind the craziness today though, as what seemed like the entirety of Cornell's student body slammed the bookstore. It kept me on my feet and kept my mind off of my love life. I also was working that shift with two of my good friends, Hannah and George. During the small moments of calm that we had throughout the day, I was able to chat with them and it really helped my mood.

"I don't have any classes until after eleven, and I don't have anything on Fridays!" Hannah excitedly told us during a moment of peace and quiet. This was probably the fifth time she's told us in the month we'd been back. George crossed his arms and glared.

"I had the perfect semester planned, I scheduled the second I was able to, and I still only got into two of the classes I actually needed. I almost dropped out right then and there," he said, throwing his arms up. "I hate college. I really do." Also probably the fifth time he's complained about this to us.

Hannah just smirked and gave him a shrug, which prompted him to stick his tongue out at her like a five year old.

"Well, whenever I'm not in class, I'm going to be here working," I sighed, leaning on the counter and putting my chin in my hand. "Cornell didn't give me as much aid this year, so I gotta work my butt off if I want to be able to pay tuition and eat."

"Whoa, AND eat? You're really reaching for the moon there, Liv!" Hannah exclaimed, giving me an exaggerated shocked expression. George put a hand on my shoulder.

"If you ever need a dumpster diving buddy, I'm just a phone call away." He looked very serious, and it was hard to keep myself from grinning.

"Oh please," Hannah rolled her eyes. "You act like that's the worst thing. We go to Cornell University. I guarantee that you could find enough four course meals in the garbage of one of the student houses here to last you a lifetime."

That one got a laugh out of both George and I. It was true that many students here had money, and I was very conscious of the fact that I had none. I was constantly comparing myself to those around me, and I made an effort to not seem as poor as I actually was. It was hard, especially when I was dating Nick, who came from a very wealthy family.

"Oh, hey George," Hannah whispered and smacked his arm, "Don't look now, but probably the most beautiful person I've ever seen is staring at you."

George's face immediately turned red, and he swung his head around to see what she was talking about. Hannah buried her face in her hands, shaking her head. "I said don't.. don't do that," she muttered, her voice muffled.

Curious, I tried to slyly look around the store to see who Hannah was talking about. I searched until my eyes landed on a petite girl with black short hair, and definitely fit Hannah's description of "probably the most beautiful person I've ever seen".

"Uh.." George said, forcing his eyes away from the mysterious girl to look at Hannah and I. "I don't think she's staring at me. It looks like she's staring at Olivia."

Indeed, it did look like she was staring at me. But she wasn't quite staring. Her gaze was on me, no doubt, but it didn't look like she was focusing on me. Her face was blank, and her eyes… even from here I could see how strikingly beautiful and intense they were. She looked like she was staring through me, not at me.

Suddenly, she jerked her head and life returned. Her eyes locked with mine, actually seeing me this time, and I immediately blushed, embarrassed that I had got caught staring. The strange girl didn't look away. Instead, she smiled at me. My breath caught, as her smile was absolutely radiant. If I had a smile like that, I wouldn't even know how to act.

I forced myself to look away, and I returned my attention to Hannah and George. "Well.. that was.. strange?" I said, almost out of breath. They just nodded in response, watching the girl as she gracefully disappeared among the books.

"Maybe she was just mesmerized by my beauty," I said, sticking my nose up in the air to look pretentious. Both Hannah and George scoffed. But before I could say anything else, two customers came up to the counter and grabbed their attention. They both asked for the location of certain books, so Hannah and George left me alone to actually go and do their jobs. The audacity.

I ended up zoning out, my mind wandering back to strange girl. Something had seemed.. different about her. Something about her blank expression was very unsettling to me and I just couldn't shake the weird feeling it gave me.

A polite cough from behind grabbed my attention, and I spun to attend to whoever it was. I opened my mouth to apologize, but my voice got stuck in my throat as I made eye contact with the girl from earlier. Her eyes were so beautiful, yet so strange. I had never seen eyes the color of warm honey before.

"I-I'm sorry," I managed to get out. I mentally scolded myself for sounding like someone who had never strung together a proper sentence before.

"It's no worry!" She beamed. I looked at her stupidly for an awkwardly long time before I remembered that I was at work, and she probably wanted to buy a book. I looked down at the book in her hands, and my eyebrows shot up when I recognized them.

"Oh! Are you taking Philosophy 2420 with Professor King?" I asked. I cringed, because it was kind of a dumb question. The book she was holding was written specifically for that class, by that professor. I knew that because I was enrolled in it this semester. But I had never seen her before, and I definitely don't think someone like her would have gone unnoticed. It wasn't a particularly large course.

She giggled and shook her head. "No, but my brother is! He's just getting one more thing, and then we'll be ready to check out."

I just stared at her, wondering how it was possible for a human laugh to sound exactly like a dainty bell. I didn't even realize I had been staring until she laughed again and waved a hand in front of my face.

"S-sorry," I stammered again, shaking my head as if to clear the fog. "I didn't get much sleep last night, so I'm a little out of it today." It wasn't exactly a lie, and it was better than admitting that I was so entranced by her face and laugh and it was almost painful for me to take my eyes off of it.

She waved it off. "I totally get it. I do the exact same thing sometimes."

That would probably explain why she had been staring at me earlier. I can't believe I really tried to make that into something that it hadn't been.

"I guess your brother realized that he kinda needed the textbook for that paper we have due before fall break, huh?" I joked, trying to sound as casual as possible, playing off the very noticeable voice crack or two in there. She was going to reply, but a smooth voice interrupted her before she could.

"Alright Alice, I found-"

I looked up to see the new face that appeared seemingly out of nowhere, but once again my voice got caught in my throat. If this girl, whose name I guessed was Alice, was probably the most beautiful human that I'd ever seen, then the guy standing next to her was definitely the most beautiful human that I'd ever seen.

Gorgeous was the only word I could think of to describe him, and even that didn't do him any justice. Blonde curls framed his pale face, tumbling down and ending right at his chin. He had the same beautiful warm, honey colored eyes as Alice, except his looked at least a hundred times more intense. He was wearing a dark blue V-neck that was tight in all of the right places, and my entire body seemed to catch on fire as I took in how perfect his figure was.

His mouth was slightly ajar, but he snapped it shut and his lips formed a thin, hard line as he stared at me from across the counter. Whatever he was going to say was gone now, and all that was left was a look of intense.. pain? His face was unreadable, but his eyes were wild with emotion. It definitely looked like pain. The hand he had placed on the counter was now a tight fist, and I started to become worried that he would actually break one of his own fingers from how hard he was clenching.

Alice put a comforting hand on his arm, seemingly unphased at the almost murderous look he was giving me. She gave me another smile that seemed almost sad.

"Please forgive my brother. Jasper sometimes gets nervous when meeting new people." She glanced up at him, but he paid her no notice, as his eyes were still locked on me. "That's why I came with him! I wanted to make sure he got all of his books so he's ready for class on Monday. And I'm so happy to hear that you're going to be in one of his classes!" Any trace of sadness in her smile was completely erased as she beamed at me.

"I'll be in the car," he snapped at Alice. Without a second glance, he turned and walked out of the store so quickly that I probably would have missed it if I blinked.

Alice sighed heavily and waved her hand in the air. "Boys, am I right?" She giggled as she slid the book I had completely forgotten about over to me.

"Uh, yeah," I replied quietly, my eyes still lingering where he had been.

"Don't worry about him," she chirped as I scanned the book and put it in a bag. "I'm sure the two of you will become friends." As she said that, there was a little bit of a twinkle in her eyes, as if she was in on something that I wasn't. "He's just stressed from the move up here, is all. Its been a rough few weeks."

"Oh?" I questioned. So that's why he didn't look familiar. He was just starting classes. "Yeah, moving mid-semester must be a pain in the ass. I didn't even realize you could transfer in this late."

Alice nodded. "Yeah, it was pretty sudden and.. unexpected, the move. But we're lucky that the Dean made an exception for him! Maybe you can catch him up on whatever he's missed so far," she said, winking. The blush returned to my cheeks as I swiped the card she handed me.

"He didn't seem to eager to meet me," I said, laughing awkwardly. "I think I smell bad today, or something. I'll have to remember to take a shower before class on Monday."

Alice's smile grew ten times wider and she covered her mouth as she laughed.

"Trust me. You smell just fine!"

Again, there was something in her eyes that suggested that she was in on some kind of joke that I didn't get. But before I could think too much about it, she grabbed her card and the bag and started to walk away. Before she got too far though, she turned around to give me one last smile over her shoulder.

"I'm Alice Cullen, by the way! I'm sure I'll see you again soon. Have a great day!"

Before I could respond, she was out the door and gone. I stood there, mouth slightly open, dumbfounded by the entirety of what had just happened.

"What's up Liv, you look like you've seen a ghost!" George's hand landed on my shoulder, causing me to jump. I turned around to see him and Hannah giving me a strange look.

"Something like that," I said, still in a bit of a daze. Why did Alice seem to think that she'd see me again soon? It was Jasper that I had class with three times a week.

And the thought of seeing him again simultaneously filled me with excitement, and absolute dread.

Boy oh boy, has it been a long time since I've written anything. And if you had told me that I'd be writing Twilight fanfiction in 2020.. I probably would have believed you because that sounds like me, but also, I wouldn't have believed you. Yet here we are. Though I technically wrote this in 2018, then deleted it shortly after. Oh well, it's back.

I thought it'd be interesting to explore the period of time after the incident at Bella's birthday party, when the Cullen's leave town and move to Ithaca and Jasper enrolls in Cornell to major in Philosophy. I haven't read many fanfics starting at this point in the books, so I thought I'd give it a shot! I'm not entirely sure where this story is going, so any ideas (and general reviews) are welcome! I do know that it will follow the course of New Moon though, so those things that have happened in the past will be referenced.