DISCLAIMER: The characters do not belong to me…they are all the creation of the wonderful Stephenie Meyer.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Bella's first day of college from Edward's POV.

First Day 1

I looked over to see Bella biting her lip once again. I grabbed her hand and kissed the palm. "Relax, love. It will all be fine."

"You keep saying that," she muttered.

"Yes, because I believe it," I told her. "I bet if you were human right now, your heart would sound like humming birds' wings."

Bella laughed and relaxed some. "I guess it would. I know I must seem really silly to you, Edward, but I truly can't help it."

"Why don't you just focus your attention on something else until we actually get to the school?"

"Like what?"

"Like coming up with ideas for your birthday."

"Edward, I already told you, I don't want a birthday. I'm boycotting."

"Please, love. For me?"

"That's not fair, honey. You know I would normally do anything for you, but I really don't want a birthday this year. Please let me skip this one year."

"Just this year?"

"I swear, Edward. Just this year."

"Fine. What else can we talk about then?"

"Have you decided if I can start training yet?"

"I still don't understand why you want to."

"I told you. I want to know how to fight, just in case."

"Bella," I warned, hoping she would change the topic. We'd been talking on and off about it for the last few days, but we hadn't reached any kind of agreement on it.

"Edward, I really want to learn to fight. I need to know how to protect myself. I came to you and asked you to train me. Please don't make me go to Emmett and Jasper."

I stared at her for a moment, wondering if she really believed they would go against me and train her without my permission. I stopped myself from saying it out loud, though. She would just consider it as another sign of me being overprotective. I decided to try a different tactic with her. "Just tell me why this is such a big deal, Bella. And tell me the whole truth." I locked her beautiful golden eyes with mine, making sure she knew I wouldn't accept anything less.

She had first asked me days ago when I had taken her to watch me hunt. She had said she wanted to learn to protect herself, just in case. She wouldn't tell me what the in case was, but I had a feeling it had to do with Italy.

"Even as a vampire, I sometimes feel helpless. I don't like that feeling. I want to learn real self-defense, not just play wrestling with Emmett. I don't ever want to be in the position of relying solely on a power that may or may not work. Edward, I got lucky with what happened before we moved. You know it's true."

I was silent for a long moment. If I let her train, she would probably end up hurt at some point. Bella wasn't like other vampires. She could bruise and break easily and it took her longer to heal. On the other hand, she would learn how to defend herself and that would give her more confidence and independence. She wasn't fragile and she wasn't really a newborn anymore. As hard as it would be to train her and let her get hurt, I knew she needed it.

"I will speak with Jasper and Emmett. We'll come up with a schedule that works around school and your time with Carlisle."

Bella sat up, hugging my neck and kissing my cheek. "Thank you, Edward."

"Presents, I'm banned from buying. But teaching you to fight is very welcome," I said, lifting an eyebrow at her.

"Don't be that way, honey," Bella said, as she rested her head on my shoulder. "Besides, you're probably just worried I'll learn how to pounce you for a change."

I laughed at her. "What's that human expression? 'Shaking in my boots'? Yes, I believe that's it."

"Laugh now, Edward, but you just wait."

"Are you relaxed, Bella?"

She stared up at me, confusion clear on her beautiful face. "Sure, why?"

I chuckled as I ran my fingers down the side of her face. "We're here, love."

Her door opened and Alice appeared, chipper as always. "Bella! Come on!"

Bella smirked as she allowed Alice to drag her out of the car. I grabbed our bags from the back and went around the car to meet them. Bella didn't want a party or gifts, but she was sorely in need of a new backpack and she had refused to let Alice get her one. Maybe Bella would let me get away with buying her a new one.

"Where are your classes today, Alice?" Bella asked, as they looked over a map of the school.

"You're over here with Edward," Alice said, pointing to the far left corner. "Jazz is here in the middle. Rose and Emmett are off to the end of this middle section. I'm all the way over here on the right. But don't you worry, Bella! We all have the same free period for lunch."

Bella laughed at that. "Yep! It's important for us to take a lunch!"

"There's this perfect shady tree we can all sit together under in the open area," Alice announced. "I expect everyone to be there," she added, staring hard at Rose and Emmett.

"It's more than a little cloudy to worry about the shade, Alice," I said, pointing at the grey sky above us.

Alice just poked her tongue at me, with her little hands on her hips.

"Rosie, is there anyway we can renegotiate the terms of that bet?" Emmett begged.

"No, Emmett. You could benefit from learning a little more about women," Rose said.

"There's nothing books about human women can teach me about how to deal with you," Emmett muttered.

"Would you rather just start off with my other course selection for you," Rose threatened.

"No, Rose. I'm happy to learn about human women with you," Emmett quickly replied.

"Let's get to class people!" Alice chirped. "Stares to garner and teachers to annoy!"

"Why would you annoy the teachers?" Bella asked.

"We don't do it on purpose, Bella," Jasper explained. "But when you've been around as long as we have, we can't help but argue with some of the sillier points these teachers try to make. And you can actually get away with it most of the time in college. It's a lot harder in high school."

"Yeah, Picky!" Emmett said. "Count yourself lucky. You're starting out easy. You can actually skip class and talk back to the teacher without ending up in detention."

"Those two things were never reasons why you ended up in detention, Emmett," Rose snickered.

"Easy!" Bella croaked. "I have two math classes!"

"But they are on different days, love," I said softly, trying to calm her.

"Bella, honey," Rose said, putting her hands on Bella's shoulders. "I love you, but if you don't toughen up and act like the vampire I know you are, I'm going to have to slap you." She smirked at my wife as they all heard the low growls coming from me.

"Thanks, Rose!" Bella laughed, hugging her. "I needed that."

"Go to class!" Alice cried, pushing us toward the building we needed to go to.

Bella hugged my waist and laughed as we walked off together. "We're lucky to have them all."

"So all my soothing words do nothing for you, but Rose threatens to slap you and you're perfectly fine?" I asked, trying not to let her hear my hurt.

"No, Edward! It's not like that! It's just … you always tell me things are going to be fine. You've never once let me know whether or not there really was something to worry about. It just makes it hard to know for sure one way or the other. Rose prefers to tell me how it is, regardless of my feelings."

"I only do that to keep you from worrying. You worry far too much." I placed a kiss on her head, willing her know how true my statements were.

"I know," Bella said, putting a hand on my cheek. "And I love you for that. But sometimes, I just want to know what to really expect."

"I will keep that in mind and try to be more like Rose in that aspect."

Bella chuckled. "Yes, we certainly don't want you to be like Rose in any other ways!"

"Bella Cullen, are you teasing me?" I asked, grinning at her.

"Most definitely, Edward Cullen," she laughed.

We sat in seats toward the back of our English composition classroom. I'd found that it usually helped to control some of the staring. The last thing Bella needed right now was attention. But just looking at her, I knew the humans wouldn't be able to help themselves. I could barely stop myself from staring at her. She was absolutely stunning no matter what she wore.

She'd avoided Alice this morning and managed to get out of the house in jeans and a dark blue sweater, with her hair up in a ponytail. She looked beautiful, but even that word was too weak to describe my wife accurately. I smiled to myself, loving more and more how it sounded to call her my wife.

She tugged on my hand and I nodded to her. 'What are you smiling about?'

'Not much.'

'Don't even, Edward Cullen. Fess up!'

'I'm smiling because you are my wife and you are sitting right next to me.'

'Where else would I ever be, silly vampire?' she asked as she leaned closer to me.

'You shouldn't tempt me so, Bella. How am I supposed to learn anything if you have me focused on leaning over and kissing you?'

'I'm not doing anything, Edward.' She smirked and let my hand go.

I smiled down at her, waiting for her to look up again. She finally tried to peek at me through her lashes. I leaned over and blew into her face. I chuckled to myself as her eyes closed and her mouth turned up into my favorite goofy grin.

More and more students entered the classroom, finding their seats. Bella was doodling in her notebook, oblivious to the world around her. I was glad she was feeling so relaxed. The boys in the class were starting to stare and it wouldn't be long before she noticed them watching her.

I did my best to control my temper so I wouldn't growl and alert her to them. It was very hard, though. I almost wished for Newton's comments. They would have been tame compared with these idiot college boys. Most of them were only in this English class to meet girls.

The teacher arrived and greeted the class. Bella stopped doodling to pay attention. After a few minutes, I heard her soft voice, too low for any human to hear.

"Why are they staring? They usually give you a glance and then let it go."

I chuckled softly. "They aren't staring at me, love."

"Then who?" she asked, confusion clear in her tone.

I gave her a minute to think on that.

She hissed, "Are they insane? Why are they worried about staring at me?"

"You know why."

"Well this is certainly annoying."

"Try hearing their thoughts," I muttered. "Then we'll talk annoying."

"Would you like me to block you from the vile, little humans?" she asked with a wicked grin.

"You may be joking, but it would really be wonderful if you would."

"I think I will," Bella chuckled. "It'll be interesting to see how well you pay attention without it."

Bella reached her hand under my shirt and left it pressed against my back. My head was now mine and now quiet. I let out a sigh of relief. Bella smiled at me, always happy to do this for me.

She had learned in the last few weeks how to close my mind to everyone but our family. It was really remarkable. We had sat in the middle of the food court at the mall and the only sounds had been our siblings and her. As long as our siblings didn't bombard me with their thoughts, Bella was able to keep up her strength without any problems. I wondered again if she had any idea just how proud I was of her.

'I do.'

I smiled at her reply and turned my attention to the teacher. It was amazing to just hear the words spoken out loud without the extra dialog of his thoughts. Bella made this possible … my amazing, wonderful wife.

'Stop that and pay attention.'

I chuckled lightly as I focused on the teacher once again. The rest of the hour was blissfully silent, except for the teacher's monologue.

Once we were dismissed, Bella slowly let the voices back in. She really was very good at this now. She removed her hand and smiled at me.

"Thank you, Bella."

"Anything for you, Edward." She leaned forward and I was finally able to kiss her.

"Ready for math, love?"

"No," Bella chuckled. "But at least you'll be there with me."

Algebra class was better than English. The separated desks made it a lot harder for them to stare at Bella so she was much more relaxed. I wasn't able to have her block me, but the thoughts in this group did focus more on the subject than my wife.

I wrapped an arm around her waist as we walked to our Beginning Musical Theory class.

"Edward," Bella sighed, as she leaned heavily against me.

"Yes, love?"

"I really don't like that math class. I could barely follow along."

"Bella, you don't give yourself enough credit. You're just rusty after having been away from school for a year. After we do our homework tonight, I'm sure you'll notice a difference."

"I love that you have so much faith in me."

"Do you? Sometimes I get the impression it annoys you." I hoped this would be one of those times where she answered me honestly without me having to dazzle her.

"No. I get annoyed because I think you put your faith in the wrong things. You have faith I will do well at math, but you expect that I'll get hurt in training."

"Do you believe you will get through the training unscathed?" I might have to rethink the training if she really thought she wasn't going to be hurt.

"No, but I do believe that I'll heal from it and I'll learn how to stop it from happening again. And I absolutely believe that you won't let me get hurt in any way that would cause lasting damage to me."

"Much too observant," I chuckled, as I kissed her hair. At least she was still being cautious.

"Nope!" Bella giggled. "Just enough to keep up with you and our family."

After class, I led Bella over to the tree where our siblings were waiting for us. Alice had laid out a blanket for us all to sit on, to make sure we didn't get grass stains. I shook my head, knowing she rarely ever wore the same thing twice.

Emmett was still trying to come up with ways to convince Rose to let him out of the bet. Jasper was replaying an argument with his philosophy teacher over the merits of Alexander the Great's war strategies. Alice was occupied with picturing the students in designer clothing. Rose was debating whether or not to let Emmett out of the bet just to shut him up. I snickered at them.

"What?" Bella asked, smiling up at me.

"You don't want to know," I said, pulling her down onto the blanket with me.

I held her in my lap, needing to have her in my arms. After all of our time together, any amount of distance between us caused that uncomfortable feeling to well up in me. It was as if some vital part of me went missing every time Bella left my embrace. I supposed that was exactly what happened. There was no arguing that my wife was vital to my existence.

"How's the first day going, Picky?" Emmett asked.

"Pretty good, Em!" Bella replied. "Math class blows, but English and music were okay."

"Bella, you have been hanging out with Emmett entirely too much, young lady," Alice scolded. "You don't need to pick up on his childish language."

"Yes, Esme!" Bella said, rolling her eyes. She smiled and tossed a blade of grass at Alice.

"So how many of the humans have you had to fend off?" Emmett asked me with a smirk.

"None," I said.

"Liar!" Emmett chuckled.

"Actually, he's being honest," Jasper announced. "I haven't had any Newton-style waves of jealousy coming from him."

"How is that possible?" Emmett asked.

"Bella's been blocking me," I chuckled.

"No fair! Edward's cheating!" Emmett whined.

"How is that cheating?" Bella laughed. "It's not like you can be annoyed with everyone else's thoughts. Besides, this makes Edward more even with us! He has to pay attention. He can't just pluck the answer from the teacher's head."

"Oh," Emmett replied. "Okay, then."

"Glad to have your permission," Bella laughed as she stretched out on the blanket, laying her head in my lap. "Em has officially sanctioned your reprieve," she grinned, looking up at me.

"Bella! Can we please talk about your wardrobe?" Alice begged. "I thought we had an understanding about you dressing as a Cullen."

"We do, sis!" Bella said, twirling a blade of grass between her fingers. I was amazed she wasn't even putting a crease in it. "But I just wanted to dress normal for today. I promise to dress correctly from now on."

"How are you doing that?" Jasper asked. I looked up to see he was mesmerized with Bella holding the little blade of grass, too.

"What?" she asked, confused by his question.

"Bella, you're not even making a mark on that blade," Rose explained. "It's so tiny."

"I don't really know," Bella replied, looking closer at the blade. "I just picked it up and did it. Maybe it's from all the practice it took to learn to drive the Volvo. I'm sure you guys could do it, too, if you wanted." She looked up at me and smiled. "But I'm probably the first to be concerned with playing with a blade of grass," Bella chuckled.

Even in the most simple of tasks, Bella never ceased to amaze me. And she was absolutely right. Who among us would have ever thought to play with a single blade of grass? The smallest things I knew I had ever touched were ink pens and flower stems, and I still had to be careful not to break them at times. Life with Bella was certainly full of surprises. To think I would have missed all of this if I had still been too stubborn to make her my equal.