With my belongings in their new homes, I sat on the bed unsure of my next move. I knew no one, I didn't know anywhere I could go and the only people I could talk to were 150 miles away. My heart began to race, an automatic response to increasing nervousness. I clenched my fists to try and deduce their shaking. I felt my cheeks flame as I worried about the choices I was to make now that I had complete independence. I had never had that before. My decisions had always been seconded by my mom and that was the way I liked it. Most children would hate their parents' on their decisions but I wasn't most children.

I knew I was being irrational but I couldn't help it. I stared at a spot on the wall where the paint had been scratched off and tried my hardest to think of nothing else but that spot, but with my acute thought patterns it was impossible to just think of one, individual thing.

Knowing this technique failed, I attempted another: thinking of my family and reliving my happiest memories. This usually calmed me, but now it only heightened the fact that I was alone and it made me even worse.

After an hour of hyperventilating and constant thinking, I had calmed myself down, telling myself how stupid I was being and that this was my chosen path. Four years was not a long period of time to someone like me and it would be over soon enough. I realised now that my head was pulsing and my eyes felt heavy from the continuous paranoia I'd caused myself.

Lying back on the bed I noticed the blue folder that Bella had placed on the bedside table. I'd completely forgotten about it until now. The folder had a thin, plastic cover protecting various pieces of paper inside. The blue was a royal blue, rich in colour, and the plastic reflected the light against its gloss. The front of the folder held an image of the college's emblem drawn in a clear white font. Across the top was a sticky label with my name 'Renesmee Swan' printed in small black ink. Opening the folder, I realised that this was an information pack from the school detailing everything I could possibly need to know. The first paper I found was a word-processed letter holding the college banner across the top. It read:

Dear Student,

Thank you for accepting your position here at The University of Washington, Seattle where we hope you'll enjoy your next four years with us. For those of you students who are staying on-site, we hope that your room is to your liking and if there are any issues, please report to the housing office in the main building within the next two weeks so that we are able to deal with your request.

For those of you who are living off-site and require parking spaces or additional transport, please report to the admin office within the next two weeks so that arrangements can be made.

Within this file you will find:

Information regarding your school

History of the school

A site map

Your schooling timetable

On-site hours

On-site prices

Promotional/ charity information

Year guide, including Parents' Day

Event guide

Any other information that you as a student feel you need, please report to the office staff at the main reception who will be only too happy to deal with your request.

On behalf of all the staff here, I would like you to wish you a good luck on your journey with us.

Kindest regards,

Ms. Phyllis M. Wise

Executive vice president of the University of Washington

After reading the letter, I flicked through the rest of the papers. The majority of it was information brochures about the school itself, what they'd achieved in the past, along with its most recent newsletters. I did find my timetable which stated I was to spend 18 hours a week in numerous classrooms, leaving me plenty of free time to practise my hobbies.

This timetable was different to the one I had been accustomed to in high school, but I was exceptionally delighted to find that I had been granted permission to take cross-course modules as electives. In addition to the core modules of my biology major, I was allowed to take one from the art course and one from the History and Philosophy of Science course.

The history of the school didn't appeal to me, but I read it for the sake of it. Nothing it said interested me. I suppose that's one thing I have in common with humans that I already know about: my attention span is more similar to theirs than to a vampire's. On average, a human's attention only lasts approximately twenty minutes; mine could last for approximately an hour whereas a vampire's could last days if they really paid attention.

Aside from my timetable, the other item to catch my attention was the events guide. There was a tour of the campus in fifteen minutes along with a welcome meeting for all freshmen on the campus mid-afternoon. I had time to kill before that so I decided that a tour would be a good way to see everything rather than looking at the map. This was also a way to observe human behaviour on my own before I had to get involved with it.

I knew most things about humans since I did attend high school and lived with Charlie, but I was mostly with Bella so I rarely interacted with anyone by myself.

I was glad to see that the parents' day was in November meaning that Charlie and Bella would be able to visit. I smiled again at the fact I had to introduce my mom as my sister and my grandpa as my dad.

Shutting the file, I jumped from the bed, realising how little time I had to make it to the campus tour. I grabbed my coat and put on a decent pair of shoes before I left my dorm. As I walked through the grounds, I analysed everything I saw: humans walking around, saying goodbye to their families and some of them acting strangely childish. I'd seen this kind of behaviour before but it was still relatively new and without Bella to monitor my vampireness, I was paying more attention that ever before.

I found the building where the welcome meeting would take place and made a mental note of my route so that I was able to find it later for the welcome meeting. Arriving where I was supposed to be, there was a buzz of collective chatter. The humans I had met in the past were usually quite shy and it took time for them to be able to interact with anyone new. This was something I thought was the case for all humans, but being in the midst of excited conversations changed my belief and I wondered if it was a comfort thing.

An announcement was made by an older looking student. Despite the noise emitting from the crowd separating us, I was able to clearly catch the words 'freshman's campus tour' spilling from his mouth. I weaved my way through and joined a smaller group that was now forming.

We were split off into groups of ten and given a different tour guide to lead us around. Our guide was named Mark and he was in his senior year, majoring in both Physics and Astronomy. I actively listened to his introductions, but as soon as the surroundings caught my eye, I found myself drowning him out. Everything was magnificent and clean, and in spite of the wear and tear that graced the old architecture, it was a breathtaking. It made the university look royal and pristine. It made me feel like I was exceptionally lucky to be here.

The tour didn't take too long for me but witnessing some of the students in my group, I realised that some of them had lost all interest by the time we'd reached the quad. I'd discovered which buildings my classes were being held and worked out the proximity between them and my halls of residence.

Upon returning to my room, I took a warm shower, letting the water relax me after feeling so exhausted. I changed into some clean clothes so that I was ready to go to the welcome meeting at three o'clock. I had just over an hour so I decided to text Bella and keep her updated. You know, just in case.

Took a tour of the grounds so I know where everything is now. There's a welcome meeting in an hour. Thank you for my laptop it's exactly what I need, you're the best. Give my love to Grandpa and Jake. Miss you already! Love Ness xx

Having nothing else to do, I lay back on the bed and closed my eyes, drowning out the remaining adrenaline that was pulsing through my body. I felt my brain contract as the weight of thought lifted, and felt my eyes grow heavier. My heart rate slowed and synchronised with my breathing, relaxing me. As my mind began to tune out ,I realised I was falling to sleep. Just as I was about to drift off, I jolted myself awake.

I felt disorientated and my eyes took a while to adjust. My room looked darker and I realised that less light was coming in through the window. I panicked when I looked at the clock and realised that the meeting was just about to start.

I jumped up and quickly brushed my hair before running out the door. No one was around so I flew down the stairs at vampire speed, stopping when I approached the exit of the block. Outside, barely anyone was around, but I knew that if I was spotted I was done for, so I ran a little quicker than the average human would. I felt my cheeks burn at the prospect of arriving late to the first thing I was required to attend. What a great impression for people to have of me on my first day here.

I slowed as I neared the door and saw them being closed from a distance. Crap!

I ragged my breathing making it sound as though I was worn out so that the security guard standing outside the doors wasn't suspicious. I went to push the doors open before a hand shot out in front of me.

"What do you think you're doing?" His voice was extremely deep, like a sport commentator. He towered over me and had a bulky build. He looked like he'd be on steroids. His muscles were protruding from his shirt and he looked down at me icily.

"Err, I'm going to the welcome meeting?" I knew I could take him with my strength, but it didn't stop me feeling slightly intimidated.

He lowered his arm. "Freshman, huh? Well, not a fine way to start the year is it, Miss...?" he replied smugly, probing for my name.

"Swan," I answered back; my head bowed slightly and the weight of his glare. "Renesmee Swan."

He nodded his head. "Well, Miss Swan, if I were you I'd hurry and get a seat inside before you miss anything."

He smirked at his obvious arrogance and I couldn't help thinking that he may not have had the chance to assert himself in a long time and was enjoying this. Security detail didn't really have the authority to give commands, something I'd learnt from Charlie, but that didn't stop them. They liked the feeling of superiority given that the majority of them came from a violent background – usually policing or Special Forces. This guard made that point very clear.

I nodded and turned to walk inside when I heard a female voice call from behind, "Oh, lighten up, Frank, you and I both know that these meetings are pointless."

I turned to see a girl about my age walking up the three steps that led onto the platform where I stood with 'Frank'. She walked with a sickly sweet smile plastered on her face which I knew was there to annoy 'Frank'. She had honey blonde hair that had strands of a murky blonde and a lighter blonde mixed in, tied into a pony tail at the back of her head. Her pale green eyes sat in a rosy heart-shaped face. She was slightly taller than me too.

Frank's face turned into a hard, expressionless façade; however, a note of annoyance flared behind his eyes and his rigid body stance made it all the more obvious that he didn't particularly like this girl. "It's 'sir' to you, Miss Hart."

The way he said her name would have sounded menacing to a human seeing as he forced it out of his mouth with a spit. This girl didn't seem fazed in the slightest and simply laughed before simply replying, "I'll tell my mother you said hi."

She turned and motioned for me to go inside with her.

The hall buzzed with noise as everyone was still settling down. I found a row that had empty seats so took one as quickly as I could. To my surprise, the girl sat next to me whilst looking at her phone. I looked at her, confused, before she stuck her left hand out and spoke, "I'm Jenna, by the way, Jenna Hart."

She looked up at me with a warm smile - not like the false one graced to the security guard - so I complied and shook her hand. "Renesmee Swan, but you can call me Nessie."

"Cool name!" She replied enthusiastically before turning back to her phone. "Oh, and you don't have to listen if you've read through the folder. She just basically reads it word for word."

At that moment a woman stood at the front of the hall and introduced herself as the deputy before launching into her account of the rules and regulations us as students must follow.

Jenna was right; word for boring word.

Ignoring the monotonous voice, my eyes wandered around the room, analysing the students that were now my classmates. I knew everyone was different but I'd never realised how truly diverse everyone could be. It fascinated me.

As my eyes wandered, I was shocked to see a small girl turn rigid as my eyes set on her back. My mouth gaped slightly as the girl turned to look at me and her gold eyes bore into my chocolate ones. I was taken aback by the force her eyes seemed to have on me.

I looked away startled. Her golden eyes very much reminded me of my mother. Actually, not just the eyes. Her pale, white skin illuminated her face; no minor redness hid beneath her cheeks. Glancing back, her head now facing forward, I watched her and noticed too that her human-like fidgeting was repeated; almost a choreographed dance routine.

Before I allowed the thought to enter my mind, I shut myself off and concentrated on every word that was being said. I knew that the gifts we had were individual, but after learning that my father had the ability to hear every thought running through a mind, I protected mine from invasion. Whenever Bella was around, it wasn't a concern - her shield was always around me just in case. As part of my own training, I practised screening my thoughts. Now I had a reason to practise more often.

The black-haired girl didn't look in my direction again, but I had kept my mind busy the entire time.

As we were dismissed, I made my way into the air as quickly as I could. I never acknowledged Frank as I left. I shut my eyes and took a deep breath in as I attempted to soothe my head after thinking so aggressively. Being preoccupied, I failed to notice Jenna come up behind me. My instincts really were lacking. "So Nessie, would you like to grab a bite? It might be nice to get to know someone before classes officially begin?"

I turned to look at her smiling. There was a brightness to her eyes that shone genuine. Jenna seemed a really nice girl. As I looked at her, I noticed the dark-haired girl standing in my eye line. She didn't seem to notice me but she was small. Her black hair was short and spiked in multiple directions. She was deep in conversation with someone and as I inclined my head a fraction to the side I saw a taller male talking to her. His shoulders were broad and his arms were folded across his chest. His hair was a brownish colour that had tints of red flowing through it. I noticed then that their skin colours matched perfectly and realised that he too was...

"Nessie, are you okay? You suddenly look worn out, or like you've seen a ghost or something," she exclaimed.

I looked up at Jenna's words and saw a line between her furrowed brows. I knew though that my appearance wasn't down to seeing a ghost.

"Food would be great!" Except, it wasn't human food I needed. I hadn't hunted in a week and I was parched. "I just have to do something first which might take me a while but I'd like to meet you after. Is that okay?" I asked sheepishly, attempting to dazzle her with a smile.

I couldn't let slip what I actually intended to do and I was never the most convincing liar.

She cocked her head to the side as she looked at me intently. "That's fine," she replied with a smile. "The HUB has great food so I'll meet you there at 5 o'clock, okay? That'll give you just over an hour to do what you need to do. Plus, it'll give you time to clean yourself up afterwards."

My smile faltered and Jenna watched me carefully as it did. She smirked at me secretively. "I'll see you later." She turned and walked off without a backward glance.

I stood rooted to the ground in utter shock. I processed her words and how she'd spoken them. She couldn't possibly know what I needed to do, I mean, she was human! Her heartbeat and her smell were entirely human. I sniffed the air where she'd been and concentrated: no vampire smell lingered where she'd been. Maybe I was being paranoid.

Breaking my thoughts, the two people across the space, who I'd been secretly watching earlier, disappeared quickly, just before the sunlight broke through the clouds and hit where they'd been standing.

Jenna was not a vampire. Whether or not she knew was a different story, one I intended to find out soon. But these two people were vampires; and vegetarians at that.

It was my first day of school and already my vampire world was being brought into my new lifestyle.