Chapter 3

Monday morning came quickly. The alarm went off at 6:30a and I trudged off to the bathroom. The line was long. Almost every girl on the floor (except sleeping Mandy) waited for a shower or a sink. Five of each for the thirty of us who lived on the floor seemed inadequate. But decades of girls before us suffered through it, so I guess we could, too. The girls lined about the room had various expressions on their face: drowsy, anxious or excited. I waited semi-patiently for my turn and got down to business. I missed my private bath at home.

After I dressed, I left a still sleeping Mandy, and made my way to the dining. Thankfully, the varied menu provided me with some meatless sustenance with yogurt, hard boiled eggs and toast. Some girls, and a few guys, were well on their way to putting on the freshman fifteen giddy with the concept of all you can eat. Just because you could, didn't mean you should. There were a few hundred scattered about the tables. I sat alone and relished the freedom from conversation.

"Mind if I sit here?" asked a statuesque brunette. She was obviously a freshman with her pristine and fashionable clothes and neatly overpacked backpack. I noticed a few of the male eyes lingering over her long straight hair that reached her thin waist. Her eyes were a dark brown to match. Her skin color and texture reminded me of Jacob's.

"Please, sit," I offered and watched as she set her tray laden with eggs and bacon. I tried not to breathe in too deeply the savory aroma that made my stomach growl. I hastily swallowed another heaping spoonful of yogurt and mentally commanded my tummy to shut up. I gave a tight-lipped smile to my table mate.

"First day, huh?" she asked. Her voice had an accent I couldn't place.

"Yeah, does it show?" I chuckled.

"I think over half of the cafeteria are freshman."

I followed her scan of the room and agreed with her assessment. The sweatpants wearing upperclassmen didn't bother to sit. They were content to grab an apple or cereal bar and rush off to class.

"I guess I'll start with the obvious question. You pick a major yet?" she asked as she chewed on a piece of bacon.

"Yes, studio art. You?" I gulped another mouthful of yogurt trying to avoid looking at the bacon slice.

"I'm going to be a guinea pig for the new Native American studies program."

Ah, that explains the accent and the similarities between her and Jacob. Forgetting entirely about the bacon I said, "My boyfriend is Native American, too."

"Oh!" Exitement lit up her eyes. "What tribe?"

"Quileute."

"Ah, the Pacific Northwest. I'm from Oklahoma, Choctaw tribe. Best known for our casinos," she said with a sardonic smile and fiddled more with her bacon.

"My boyfriend, Jacob, is also here for the American Studies program."

"Really? Is he here?" She searched the room. I assumed she was looking for another dark-skinned, dark-haired man among the occupants.

"No, he's got an apartment with one of his pack-mates."

"Pack-mates?" Her eyebrows pinched.

"Uh, yeah. It's like a club." I shrugged my shoulders and shook my head with the hope that she thought it was just a silly clique thing.

She looked at me puzzled for moment then checked her ringing cell phone.

"It's time to get the show on the road." She stood and picked up her tray-half of her food still remained. "It was great to meet you. I hope to run into you again. My name is Nita."

"Same here. My name is Nessie. Well, really, Renesmee." I rose to leave as well. We cleared our trays and returned to get our backpacks. "I'm in room 512. Come visit anytime."

"Thanks. I'm in 204. See ya!" She waved was walked with purpose out the door.

I couldn't wait to tell Jacob about my potential new friend.

"My classes are huge!" I told Jacob over lunch. "I swear my biology class has a thousand students in it!" It was probably closer to three hundred, but a large class nonetheless.

"My first class, English Comp, was big too. But my History class was downright tiny, only five students," he said and then slurped up a huge spoonful of spaghetti.

"What class was that?" I took a bite of my salad.

"Intro to Native American Studies."

"Oh, I need to tell you about this girl I meet this morning, Nita."

"I know who you are talking about. The tall girl from Oklahoma, right?"

"Yeah," I said, surprised. I felt an unexplained pang of jealousy and my fork hovered over my salad.

"We introduced ourselves during class. Four of us are Natives, the lone ranger is a pale face from Virginia," he said with a smirk and took another slurp.

"Jacob?" a female voice asked. Speak of the devil. "Nessie? I thought that was you!" Nita plopped down beside Jacob with a plate of spaghetti and a warm smile. "What do you think of the class so far? I think it's a great way to start the class by giving presentations of our own tribal histories. Not sure what Jessica is going to do." She laughed with a sense of familiarity I found disturbing. I assumed Jessica was the 'pale-face' Jacob referred to earlier. I knew the feeling of being left out of the discussion, an obvious pale-face myself.

To make matters worse Brady was making his way through the lunchroom throng. Now I was outnumbered. Brady was shorter than Jacob, but not by much. He had dark hair and dark eyes, like most of his tribal members, but he had sweetness about him like he didn't have a care in the world and a smile for everyone he met. And he had a wide one for Nita as he sat down at our now crowded table. Nita sized him up and smiled back. Soon Nita and Brady were deep in conversation about the plight of the Native American education system.

"I have to go. My one o'clock starts soon," I announced the table as I picked up my tray.

"I'll walk with you," Jacob said.

Nita watched Jacob get up and waved at us. "See y'all"

It was strange hearing the southern twang in her voice. I guess Oklahoma wasn't that far from Texas. She then turned her full attention to Brady who seemed to bask in all the attention.

"I'm glad Brady has someone to talk to about all that militant stuff."

I look quizzically at Jacob.

"Oh, you should hear him talk. He's all about Native American rights and how the white man oppressed our peoples, which they did, but I believe that we make our own fate." He turned to me totally unaware of how ironic that statement was. I was his imprint—a function of his nature that was not in his control that destined him to love only me. "Anyways, keeping the pack in line is a full-time job in and of itself; I don't need to add activism to the list."

"You still perform your 'duties'? I thought when we, meaning the Cullens, moved to Alaska and you moved too that things were back to normal?"

"Oh, they are." He stared out to the distance. "I don't know what I'm talking about. Let's get you to class."

We took the bus across campus to the Fine Arts building. I was looking forward to my first art class: drawing foundations. Jacob gave me a kiss before we parted that left me staggering. His next class wasn't until 3:00 so he was going to run the track at the stadium across the street. He won't be able to run as fast as he could in the wilds of Alaska, but he needed to stretch his legs out. I briefly wished I could join him, but I was looking forward to my class too much.

After my lecture I went to meet Jacob at the track and found him talking to Mandy. She wore shorts and t-shirt like the girls who crowded around her and Jacob. He must have been enjoying the attention.

"Oh hi, Nessie," Mandy said.

The other girls snickered at my name. I wondered what Mandy had been saying about me.

"Jacob here was making great time around the track. I am surprised he isn't on the track team. He would be a great asset, I'm sure." Mandy put her arm around his as she said this.

I wanted to wipe that satisfied smile from her face. I settled for tightening my fists held firmly at my sides.

"Jacob, you'll be late for next class," I called out. He had an hour, but I wanted him out of here—now.

Mandy pouted and said, "Well, you're welcome here anytime."

A whistle blew and a woman in an orange and white jacket called out, "Come on ladies, first game is Saturday! Let's get to work! And, you, too, gentlemen."

A group formed around the coach while Jacob and I made our way to the bus stop.

"So what was that all about?" I asked unable to keep the scorn out of my voice.

"What was what all about?" He replied.

I sighed. "You can't be that clueless, Jacob."

"You're jealous." His smile was smug.

"Ugh. No I am not." Well, maybe I was. A little. I obviously was not handled well Jacob receiving all this female attention.

"You know you are the only girl I see, right?" He touched his lips against my ear.

I had to admit he had a convincing argument when he was so close. I closed my eyes and leaned into him. He continued his lazy exploration of my neck. The bus stopped suddenly and I had to brace myself to keep from falling to the floor though Jacob had a vice grip on me. I caught the smirk on the bus driver in the rearview mirror as a scattering of passengers chuckled. I had to stop losing all sense of time and place when I was with Jacob. But his presence was so distracting.

"My stop." Jacob stood up and smiled as he exited the bus.

I swooned in spite of myself.

"Yes, Mom, school is great. The food is decent and I like all my classes so far," I told Mom later that night as I was reading for my English assignment.

"And Jacob?" Mom asked.

"He's doing great, too. I'm sure he'd like a call, too." I knew the real question was how "are 'we' doing". Jacob and I are still keeping our clothes on, I thought for Dad's benefit and chuckled at inevitable reaction. I swore I heard a growl over the phone.

"Now, Sweetheart, your father only wants what's best for you. I'm glad you are doing well at school. We love you."

"Love you, too."

I closed the phone with a sigh. I didn't really miss them too much until I heard their voices. I wanted to touch them but had to be content with talking with them. Bella and Edward were still play-acting high school students and their first day was tomorrow. I didn't envy them one bit.

Nita and I stood in the cafeteria line while my roommate blissfully slept in. Mandy worked out her schedule so she took mostly night classes so she could sleep in the morning and have cheer practice in the afternoon. That schedule worked perfect for me. Nita's roommate was a mousy girl who kept to herself and her computer: she was a blogger and a gamer who barely acknowledged Nita's existence.

The cafeteria buzzed with urgent whispers. I eavesdropped on a few of the conversations and sucked in a startled breath when I heard the main topic: murder. I turned to Nita with wide eyes and mimicked my peers by whispering "There has been a murder on campus."

"What?" Nita exclaimed. "How do you know?"

I swept my hand in an arc at the room, "It's all anyone is talking about."
"What happened?"

"I don't know." But I was determined to find out. After setting down our trays I said, "I'm going to find a newspaper." I raced to the front desk and found the newspaper display was empty: sold out. I scanned the tables on the way back to the cafeteria and found a discarded first page.

"Freshman Killed at UT Austin," the headline read. I grabbed the paper and ran back to the table.

"That was fast," Nita said as I sat down. "But the internet is faster," she smirked as she held up her blackberry with the same headline on its display.

"What does it say?"

Our breakfast was getting cold, but we didn't care as Nita read the article aloud. Soon other students were leaning back in their seats to listen in.

"The as-yet unnamed eighteen year old female was brutally murdered on the campus of UT Austin last night. The investigators arrived on the scene outside the Andrews dormitory, where the victim resided for only three days as classes started yesterday." Listeners gasped. Andrews was just one block down from Kinsolving as part of the "Quad". "The incident occurred at approximately three-thirty in the morning in the outside courtyard shared with three other dormitories housing approximately 600 students. Her body was found by fellow residents who immediately contacted campus security who, in turn, summoned Austin law enforcement. The investigators suspect foul play due to the nature of the wounds inflicted: ligature marks on wrists and ankles suggested that the victim was tied prior to her death. Other details, which the police are withholding at this time, also suggest that this act was indeed murder.

"Campus officials advise students, especially female students, to exercise caution around walking around campus during evening hours and encourage use of a buddy system. Campus security will patrol the campus and offer students escorts if desired. 'Red campus phones are scattered across the campus and will be tested on Tuesday morning. All students should feel free to use these phones or call Campus Security at 512-555-1800 if they see anything suspicious. We advise all students to use caution, but not to be alarmed. All authorities are giving this matter their utmost attention,' said Officer Mark Murphy, head of Campus Security.

"Classes are to be held as scheduled on Tuesday."

Silence followed.

My eight o'clock English class could do little but talk about the incident. The teacher tried to ease the students' fears by putting it into perspective.

"We should all pray for the family and friends of that poor girl. But we should remember that at any given time there are seventy thousand people on campus in a city of a million and half. Statistically it is unlikely that anything like this will happen again and the police will do their job. Now, let us get to work," the professor said.

The thirty of us in the small classroom were not comforted.

Morbid curiosity drew me and, apparently hundreds of others, outside the Andrews dormitory. Wide eyed students whispered amongst themselves by the front steps. A tribute was already in place as flowers and candles lined the walls. A blurry picture was displayed in a frame. It was a photocopy of a blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl that smiled with the promise of a limitless future. I watched as the display grew as more students filed past to honor the deceased freshman.

Later that afternoon, television crews from the local affiliate stations broadcasted live from those steps. Students, both somber with candles and comical (thrilled to be on TV regardless of the reason), posed by the backdrop of the ever growing memorial while the reporter breathlessly reported that no additional details had been released and no suspects were in custody.