A/N: SM owns Twilight and I own well a sewer problem apparently :(
Now that we are starting this college thing off I have to say thanks to everyone who has returned to read the sequel or has been stalking me this whole time. I truly appreciate all the lovely fans that I have acquired over the years. Thank you!
Previously in Chapter 2:
We spent the rest of the day doing the family activities they had planned and enjoying Charlie's company. He would return home tomorrow when the real new student orientation got started.
Chapter 3:
Jasper's POV (always)
When the introduction speech was over on day two, people were turned loose to set about finding the table with their name. That assigned us to an orientation group for the day and would be the beginning of "meeting the diverse group of people...blah blah blah."
I walked slowly with my family while my beautiful brunette scrambled to the nearest table and was already on to the second one before the rest of us even arrived at the first. She was thrilled and I was thrilled for her. In all honesty, I've never done orientation so this was a new experience but it still wasn't one I wanted. It was required for all freshmen who lived on campus.
Bella returned to our group bouncing and smiling, and it was contagious for us all. None of us would ever get sick of seeing such an angelic face beam at us happily, no longer having a hint of becoming the hollow zombie-like creature she once was. It seemed like that was a lifetime ago and I don't like to think of it often, but if I was honest, I knew that that time in our lives was torture for everyone.
"Well?" I wrapped my arms around her waist and drew her in for a quick kiss.
"I'm in group C and Pete, you're with me!" I honestly felt my heart drop a little seeing her so excited about Pete being with her and apparently I was not. I knew it was silly, but it's only natural, right?
"Great, sweetpea." Pete smiled the smile that makes me worry, the one that says 'I'm up to something'.
"Pete," I chastised. He just beamed at me and then gave a quick wink to Bella who responded with a giggle. I had a feeling I didn't want to know.
The rest of us checked the tables for our assignments and found that Rose and Char were together and Emmett and I were both in our own groups. I kept wondering why I agreed to this? Of course, one look at my glowing mate and I knew.
When we broke up for our tours of the campus, I finally let myself focus on what was going on around me, though part of my brain allowed me to keep track of my Bella. We ventured off towards the Baker library. Bella would have loved that. Our tour guide, a senior Engineering major spoke about the different buildings, teachers, and some of the history surrounding the center. It was all quite boring but only because I've been to this school once before and have heard all of this in some form.
There were 23 people on our little tour and they were talking amongst themselves quietly while listening to the guide. I preferred to just try to stay behind everyone and walk along, soaking up the scenery on my own and gauging the location of my woman, which was becoming difficult with so many people and distance.
"Hi," a breathy female voice floated from my right side and just slightly in front of me.
"Hello." I nodded curtly and turned back to "listen intently" to our tour.
"My name is Ariel. You know like the mermaid." I nodded. I wasn't in a social mood today or ever really. But not having any lovin' this morning before we had to attend this stupid thing, not being able to snuggle with Bella all night for the second night in a row, and not being able to be with Bella now, well I was a little cranky. If she asks for one more night on her own, I might blow. It wasn't as bad as when we first mated and the family couldn't even look at her. That was bad. But I wasn't used to being away from her. Okay, I suppose I needed to work on that some.
We had spent the evening with Charlie and all eaten for his benefit since we wanted to spend as much time with him as possible. We knew we wouldn't see him today before we had to be at orientation and he had to be at the airport. So by the time we got back to the dorms Bella was ready for bed. I guess I don't like change much and that's going to include the new school routine which means I can't have my woman whenever I wanted. I had been spoiled.
A soft voice brought me back to where I was. "Where are you from? I'm from Florida." I could have guessed that by her long blond hair, tan skin, and sleek physique- stereotypical Barbie doll-looking co-ed. It was either Florida or California.
"Washington." I have no idea why I answered her.
"Oh, did you ever see the President?" I rolled my eyes but felt the need to correct her.
"Uh no, that's Washington DC. I'm from Washington State."
"They're different?" Oh dear lord, really?
"Yes, Washington State is north of Oregon and California on the other side of the country." I rolled my eyes at her and soon noticed that she was not the only girl in the group watching me intently.
Oh shit.
"So what are you going to major in?" a brave chunky brunette asked me from a pace in front of me and to the left.
"Art History. You?" I asked, trying to get their focus off of me. Apparently, ignoring blondie was the better way to go because suddenly I had five girls all asking me questions about my major, my roommates, my hometown. I was glad when we got to the only questioned I cared about.
"So do you have a girlfriend back home?" another skinny blond asked though she wasn't quite as tan as the mermaid.
"No, I have a girlfriend here," I answered with a big goofy smile. Yeah, I had it bad.
"Oh, she's here?" The mermaid piped up again looking around as if she was going to see her pop out of nowhere. How did this girl get into this school?
"Yes, she's a freshman too, just in a different orientation group."
"I bet that pissed you off, huh?" asked another admirer with light brown wavy hair that kind of reminded me of Bella's, just the color and scent was off. She even looked a little like her with the heart-shaped face and dark chocolate eyes.
"I wasn't thrilled," I answered with a pout, avoiding the growl I really wanted to release. We had made it to the library and were sent out in search of five books per team, and my team was automatically the five girls that had attached themselves to me.
With the list in hand, I answered inane questions about the love of my life. Was she pretty? Did she come here just because of me? What's her major? How serious is it? That one really ticked me off and they knew it. A flash of anger across my face and a little projection of the same emotions got the questions to stop and the girls to talk amongst themselves while I found book three on the list.
When we "became acquainted" with the book area of the library we were then introduced to the computer research section. Researching the topics the tour guide gave us we spent the better part of the morning learning the different sections of the library. At lunch we would break to the Thayer Dining hall and then engage in some activities with the other groups for the afternoon. I guess this is how the rest of the week would be. Tours and then games, each day we'd be with a different group in order to "meet" as many new people as possible.
At least we all had lunch together. Though we were expected to eat in our assigned groups I snuck into Bella's and the other vampires conveniently disappeared for 45 minutes.
Apparently, my arrival at Bella's table was not a welcomed one. Bella was at a long dining table that easily sat about 30 people. She was on an end with guys as far as the eye could see on the bench seats next to her. Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration, but there were two guys to her left and 4 guys in front of her and down the bench before another female was in the picture. The table was mostly full and mostly guys. It appeared her group had about 25 people and only 9 were females. Who the hell made these groups?
Seeing as there was no room for me to sit next to my girl, I did the next best thing and picked her up, sitting under her. With a loud squeak of surprise, she glared at me as we settled. The guys at her table were awed by the sight and one looked rather pissed.
"So Bella, who's this?" he asked with what I considered way too much anger and jealousy to be truly appropriate when looking at my girlfriend, so I kindly returned the glare, and chuckled internally as he suddenly found his plate very interesting.
Bella was only annoyed with the surprise of my presence not my actual presence, in fact I felt calm and love wash away the excitement and nervousness from the morning. But I waited for her to introduce me.
"Oh, um, this is my boyfriend?" she answered in the form of a question as she rotated the best she could to look at me. The look on her face was she had no idea what to call to me. Interesting. Did she want to be something else? My wife, fiancée, lover, mate? How did she want to introduce herself? I agree boyfriend hardly covered it, but it was the best answer possible to these people.
"I'm sorry, am I in the wrong seat?" I asked, giving her hips a little squeeze to let her know I was playing. I couldn't help but tease her. She sent me her irritation but wiped her face clean of the confusion to be replaced with a hellcat smirk.
"No, cowboy. You're right where you belong." She turned as best she could, but still kicking the guy next to her in order to give me a big kiss. Now we're talking. I returned it with fervor before someone across from us cleared his throat. The little boys were all now very uncomfortable. I was happy with my little PDA queen.
"So Bella, your friends?" I murmured as I pulled my lips off hers. With a small grunt of protest I chuckled as she turned back around in my lap with her back to my chest. I played idly with the hem of pinkish orange top she was wearing as she began introducing the people sitting closest. Everyone at the table was interested but no one said anything if they weren't introduced.
I learned 5 people's names, but it appeared she knew probably everyone of the people in her group. Where the fuck was Peter?
"Shouldn't you be having lunch with your own group?" a young man asked as he walked up to the table. I raised an eyebrow at him wondering why it was any of his business.
"Oh, this is Jason, he's our tour guide today," Bella announced.
We were still giving each other pointed looks before I gave a wide smile and answered, "I am having lunch though," and in typical guy fashion I pulled Bella's hair to the side and went about leaving my mark on her in front of all these douche bags. And my little girl, well, she just tilted her head and let me go to work. In fact, a small moan escaped her and her lust levels sky rocketed but this wasn't about love or lust, this was about marking my girl. Seconds later I pulled back and eyed the 6 foot tall preppy kid who in a lot of ways looked like Edward, only his hair was just a basic light brown. He was a little shorter but certainly appeared to dress just like him in khakis and a blue button down, with the sleeves rolled. They had about the same build and his skin was on the pale side.
Jason eyed the new mark on Bella who trembled as the cool breeze from my breath dried the venom on the purple mark on her neck. I just grinned evilly back at preppy boy. "See? Lunch." I smirked up at him.
He rolled his eyes and looked over the table as a whole, surveying to see if people were nearly done with lunch. Bella leaned back into me and I let her hair fall back in place, unfortunately covering my mark. But I could deal with that, most everyone saw me give it to her, they didn't need to see it to know it was there. I had never had to play a teenager before in the truest sense but that was very very teenager of me.
Bella finished eating her lunch silently as everyone else just stared at us or ate quietly. The half of the table that was paying attention to what was going on was silent as they watched us and their "leader" at the head of the table.
"Five more minutes, guys. Then we'll begin the second half of your orientation. You'll get into groups of four and compete for prizes against other teams. We have pizza coupons and other restaurant coupons, and we have t-shirts, hats, water bottles, and other stuff. When you're done, line up outside by the tree marked with your group letter." He eyed me suspiciously as he gave the last instruction, as though I wouldn't go to my own group. I just smirked at him. I would return to my group but only because Bella would want me to.
"Bella."
"Bella."
"Bella."
"Bella."
"Bella."
Her name rang out from the five guys closest to her and her head whipped around to look at each of them. "What?" she asked, somewhat startled. Her lust clouded mind probably didn't get the instructions too well, because I doubt her lunch was that interesting.
I whispered in her ear chuckling, "They want to be on your team, darlin'. Groups of four. I would think Pete should probably be one of those people. They all want you. But you're mine." I ground her hips back into my growing erection to make my point and a small groan left her as I am sure her eyes rolled in her head, unfortunately though I couldn't see to verify. But the anger and jealousy coming off of this group of guys told me I was probably right.
Peter better fuckin' watch her. I don't trust these morons.
I wasn't jealous really. Honestly, none of them have anything on me; they are just humans, and she is my true mate, and that's stronger than whatever puppy love they can throw at her, but her safety around a bunch of horny college guys was much more important. I waited until she was done with lunch and ready to go outside for the next half of the day.
As we made our way towards the marked trees a shrill voice rang out from behind us. "Jasper! Jasper!" Bella stiffened slightly as she paused to turn around with me. I shrugged as I looked spotting the Barbie doll/mermaid running in our direction, flailing her arms. As my eyebrows shot up, Bella's narrowed. Her anger increased as did the grip on my hand. She couldn't hurt me, but I wondered if she could hurt herself.
It was probably the wrong reaction, but I couldn't help the laugh that escaped. It wasn't just some little chuckle, it was a guffaw of epic proportions. This was such a crappy idea. We don't mingle with humans for a reason. I got myself under control quickly at Bella's glare.
"Jas-per," the slightly breathless girl panted as she stopped in front of us. "You're gonna be on our team, right?" I raised an eyebrow and looked down at Bella in question.
She gave the mermaid the evil eye before she looked at me and asked in a false sweet voice, "Who's your friend, Jasper?" adding a bat of her eyelashes in for effect.
"Ariel, this Bella. Bella, this is Ariel," I introduced the two while I stepped behind my woman and gently brushed her hair out of the way to reveal my newest mark. I wasn't above showing it off to the mermaid. Bella sighed as she tilted her head.
"Ariel, is it?" Bella held her hand out to the girl and from the wince and pain I felt from the bubbly blond, it wasn't a kind handshake. "Nice to meet you. I take it you are in Jasper's group?" Bella asked a hint of rudeness seeping into her voice.
"Um, yes. Yes, I am. He's been wonderful to talk to, he's told us all about you, too." Nice save blondie.
"Oh, he's been talking about me, huh? I hope it wasn't anything… too… interesting." A smirk crossed her lips and I couldn't help but match it. To my left I could smell the other vampires returning from their "walk".
"Oh umm, well, just that you are his girlfriend and he thinks you're great." She nodded as she summed up my gushing over Bella.
"I'm great, huh?" she asked turning to look at me. I smiled and with a nod, leaned down, capturing her face gently in my hands, and kissed her properly, allowing my tongue to caress hers and take away any concerns she might have about the mermaid.
"Okay, break it up, lovebirds," Pete sounded from behind me.
I knew he was there. I didn't care and apparently neither did Bella as we went on as though, we hadn't heard him.
"Umm…should I go?" asked the mermaid.
"Nah, they like an audience," answered Char. I had to break the kiss to chuckle at that as did Bella.
"So now what?" Emmett clapped his hands together and rubbed them, showing he was ready for anything.
A quick glance around our little group and the mermaid appeared stunned at what she was seeing, with her mouth literally gaping like a fish. I chuckled and filled them in on the group activities we now had to participate in, much to Emmett's chagrin.
Pete took Bella's hand and led her away while Rosalie and Char took off for their own group, looking a bit forlorn, while Emmett and I gauged each other quietly, still aware of the frozen mermaid.
"Everything going okay, man?" he finally asked as his heavy hand landed on my shoulder.
"Yeah, I'm not worried about the guys in any sense other the physical threat they pose. I'm just not sure this was a good idea." I sighed and looked at Ariel who seemed puzzled by my conversation with Emmett but held her ground apparently waiting for me to join my group. I nodded my head slightly in her direction and Emmett nodded back in understanding. We had an audience and it was annoying. We'd continue the conversation later.
After a long day of inane games, mostly races, that reminded of an elementary school field day. We all retreated to our rooms. Well, we retreated to the girls' dorm room. Pete and Bella were the happiest. They had won several prizes as did Emmett and I, but I could care less about a jacket and a towel at this point.
Char and Rosalie sat quietly. I finally opened myself up to see what they were feeling. Disgust and anger their dominant emotions.
"What's wrong?" I asked hesitantly as everyone's heads whipped towards the silent women.
"This isn't really working, Jasper." Rose gave a sad look to Bella who sobered immediately.
"Why? What's wrong?" Bella voiced her own concern as she went to the women who had seated themselves on the sofa.
"It's just we… we want to do this for you, Bella. We really do. Our group today was a bit assholey. We didn't really care for the way they talked about us." Char paused and hurried to add when Pete's growl began low and Emmett's anger was flaring, "They were nice to our faces. But of course we could hear everything they were saying about us and it wasn't nice."
"Oh gosh! I'm so sorry! I know you are all doing this for me. Are Pete and I the only ones who had fun today?"
All of the heads nodded and Bella looked pretty down after that.
"What should we do? I don't want everyone miserable. Do you want to quit school?"
"NO!" a chorus sounded from all of us in unison. Bella secretly was happy to hear it but she maintained her composure.
"So how do we make it better?"
"Well for starters. I want my woman and I want her now," I joked as I plucked her from the floor in front of Rose and Char. She squealed and most everyone groaned while I laughed.
"Jasper, we have a problem. We need to fix this so everyone is happy, not just your dick." She slapped me lightly in the chest as I placed her feet back on the ground.
"Yes, ma'am."
"Well did you know that if you push two twin beds together you get a king? You can push the beds together in your room so that you can sleep together." Everyone turned to look at Emmett like he had two heads, but we were happy about it.
"That is so cool, Em!" Bella enthused.
"Yeah, why do you know this?" Rosalie asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Well, heard some of the guys talking about it in my group. They were kinda jerks, but had some good info, like the bed thing." He moved over to stand in front of Bella and laid his heavy hands on her shoulders. "Look sis, this isn't going to be the easiest thing and we may only make it a semester but we are doing this for you and for us. It's all new to us too. I think getting used to communal living, no privacy, and hearing more than we want to are just going to have to be part of the package deal. We knew that when we signed on, right guys?" He looked around and we all nodded in agreement as Bella also checked our answers.
"See Bells, everything will be okay, we just need to adjust. I'm glad you enjoyed your first day of college and in reality mine wasn't bad. It was awkward. I guess we don't normally socialize and we were forced to do that today, so really it wasn't so bad. We could probably do with some social skills." Peter moved to stand next to Emmett and grabbed a free hand from Bella. For once he was appearing serious.
"Ladies-" Pete turned to look at them "-can you handle dealing with stupid, egotistical, bigoted jerks for a few more days?" He was not joking; he really wanted them to be okay with the situation. Their heads bobbed simultaneously and everyone gave an awkward smile until we burst out laughing.
"I'm gonna go call Vicky and let her know how our first day was," said Rose as she left the room for her bedroom.
"I think we need to go buy king sheets to pull two beds together. What do you say, darling?" I looked down at the girl in front of me. The full size ordered beds completely forgotten.
She tilted her head back and smiled wickedly. "We don't really need a bed, but sounds good, Jasper."
I love this woman. We all broke up into our respective couples for the evening and I took Bella to the local discount store, since it was late enough department stores weren't open and we weren't really picky. It was supposed to be a quick and easy trip to the store, but of course, nothing with Bella is ever quick or easy.
A/N: I have tried to respond to all reviews if you didn't get a response that could be because your PM (private messenger) is off or my email was acting wonky and not deleting things when I wanted and deleting other things I didn't want. HOPEFULLY, that's fixed now. Review and we'll find out!
And special thanks to Balti K for reading my mind about the king bed vs the twin bed, I love her mad scientist butt!
Peanut1981- thanks for reminding me that Vicky was gone but not forgotten. LOL.