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

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Bella talks about her first day of college with her sisters.

First Day 2

"What color, Bella?" Alice asked.

"Do we have to do this today?" I whined.

"I let you get away with that outfit and the ponytail. You owe me!" Alice warned.

"Fine," I sighed. I looked at the colors she was holding. "Can I have the sparkly light blue one?"

"That should be interesting on you," Rose chuckled.

"It looks fun," I shrugged.

"We are turning you into more of a girl everyday," Rose said with a wink.

"Speaking of being girly," Alice said with a wicked grin. "How did Edward like your newest outfit?"

"Well, I'll tell you how long that outfit stayed on me and you tell me if you think he liked it," I replied with a smirk.

I held up two fingers. Rose and Alice fell over laughing. I chuckled to myself.

"If that's seconds, then he liked it," Alice giggled.

"If that's minutes, then he's stupid," Rose added.

"Milliseconds would probably be more accurate," I chuckled. "And he wonders why I call him a horny little vampire. Do you know he actually had a fit when I told him I talk to you guys about us?"

"Really?"

"He said it was because he didn't expect it since he keeps so quiet with our brothers."

"I wonder if that's completely true," Rose mused. "I'll have to ask Emmett."

"Oh, don't get him involved! He'll just tease Edward!" I whined.

"Bella, you should know by now that I can get any information I want from Emmett without him even knowing," Rose chided.

"She is really good at that," Alice said, nodding her head.

"That I am," Rose smirked. "Anyways, let's get back to his reaction."

"It didn't stay on long and there weren't enough pieces left to know what it was supposed to be," I chuckled. "How is that?"

"So he figured out how to get it off," Alice smirked. "What did he do after that?"

"First he had to listen to me fuss to him for shredding it like that and wasting money," I replied.

"If you don't stop fussing to him for that, I'm going to tell him that you actually like it," Alice warned.

"You wouldn't dare!" I cried. "He would know you were lying anyway."

"But you know I'm not," Alice shot back. "And he'll know, too!"

"Why do you fuss to him?" Rose asked.

"I really truly feel bad about wasting money. I always have. I think it's because there was so little of it growing up, and because I always worked hard for what I had," I answered.

"But Bella, that's just it! You worked hard! You did that already. Now it's time to sit back and let him spoil you," Alice said.

"How do we keep getting off topic?" Rose asked. "Bella, get back to the story!"

"As soon as he saw I was backing down from the money thing, he pulled me into a hug and did what he always does," I said, grinning at the memory.

"Why does that get to you so much?" Alice chuckled.

"I don't know!" I groaned. "It just does. He looks at me a certain way and his voice gets all deep and seductive and he tells me I'm his. Next thing I know, I'm all spongy feeling inside. I don't remember much after that except that it was morning before I was capable of a single coherent thought. Okay! Now, it's time for one of you to talk!"

"I'll go!" Alice sang, as she continued painting my toenails. "I wore my new outfit for Jasper last night. And when I came out in it, I made myself feel like I didn't think it was pretty enough for him. He got all cute and pulled me into his lap and told me all the ways he finds me beautiful. You ladies can imagine where things went from there!"

"You little sneak!" Rose said, tossing a pillow at Alice.

"Don't even," Alice laughed. "I know what you did to Emmett to make him lose that bet that landed him in class with you."

"I want to know!" I said, giving Rose my best pleading eyes.

"Okay, but you can't tell anyone, including Edward," Rose cautioned.

"It stays in this room," I promised.

"Alice?" Rose questioned.

"Emmett has the stereo turned up. They can't hear us," Alice answered.

"So the bet was that Emmett couldn't go a full twenty-four hours without touching me. And when it got down to the twenty-third hour and he still hadn't cracked, I sobbed. He sat next to me saying nice things and trying to soothe me for most of that final hour. But when I sobbed harder, he pulled me into his arms and gave me a bear hug," Rose explained.

"Oh, Rose! That's so devious of you," I told her.

"I usually don't resort to cheating with him, but I really wanted him to take these classes. He's been spending more time being the class clown than normal and his comments are becoming increasingly rude. Like that whole thing with the basement," Rose said.

"You mean the Man-Hole?" Alice laughed. "I still can't believe he hasn't realized why that's a horrible name for it!"

"You would think Jasper and Edward would have clued him in by now!" I chuckled.

"Oh, but they have!" Rose said with an exasperated tone. "Emmett thinks they're just messing with him."

"Maybe I should try talking to him," I said. "He sometimes listens to me."

Alice closed her eyes for a second to check if talking to him would help. "If you talk to him during your next wrestling match, he'll listen and decide to name it JEE's Place. That's a capital 'J', capital 'E', and capital 'E'."

"Well, it's still better than Man-Hole," Rosalie laughed.

"Jasper, Emmett, Edward," I chuckled. "Only my big brother! Gotta love him!"

"Like you have room to talk, EBA girl," Rose laughed.

"You're still jealous you didn't join the band," I chuckled.

"Ladies, if we could please get back to serious conversation," Alice giggled. "How was the first day of school for you, Bella?"

"Really good actually," I replied. "That first class was a little unnerving because of the staring. But when Edward asked me to block him, I was able to just pay attention to that and the teacher and not worry about the students."

"I know that you were blocking Edward today, but did you use your little gift to hear any juicy human thoughts?" Rose questioned.

"Some," I chuckled. "I fixed it so that I could hear, but Edward couldn't. Two of the guys were trying to figure out how to ask me to a frat party. They wanted to see if they could get me drunk and naked."

"And they're alive?" Alice laughed.

"Like I said, Edward couldn't hear them … Just me!" I answered. "Besides, after they saw my hand up the back of Edward's shirt, they thought twice. They both started picturing him beating the snot out of them."

"Smart little humans," Rose chuckled. "So, are you still afraid of math?"

"No!" I sighed. "I got over it! The algebra class wasn't that bad and I did understand some of what the teacher said. And Edward will be checking over my work, so I'm sure it'll be fine. I guess I just needed an outlet for all the fear I pushed away while they were at the house in Alaska."

"What was your favorite part of the day?" Alice asked, trying to keep my mind from fixating on negative things.

"Sitting under the tree with all of you," I replied. "Music class with Edward was a close second. I love to watch him when he's listening to a piece of music he really likes. He gets all calm and happy! It was a pretty good day. But I think we might have another Mike Newton on our hands."

"Do tell!" Rose said, scooting closer to me.

"There's this guy in our business writing class. His name is Stephen. He didn't look at me once the whole entire class, but he sat there wondering how he could get me away from Edward to ask me out," I told my sisters. "I thought it was pretty creepy. Why would you want to ask out someone you don't even look at? And his thoughts were slimy feeling or something."

"Vile Mike Newton the Second!" Alice chuckled. "If he gives you any trouble, you let us know. We'll take care of it for you."

"Hey!" I cried. "You guys can't have all the fun. I want to be involved, too!"

"All done!" Alice chirped. "How do you like it?"

I wiggled my toes and checked out my new polish. "I like it!"

"Do me now!" Alice sang, as she handed me a bottle of lavender polish.

"You know I'm not very good at this," I warned.

"Practice makes perfect, Bella," Alice quipped.

"And Bella makes a mess," Rose said, as she bumped my shoulder with hers.

I gave my sister my version of a scathing glare … which was really just narrowed eyes and big, goofy grin. As I shook the nail polish bottle, I thought of something I'd been meaning to talk to Alice about. "Are the boys still occupied, Alice?" I asked.

She closed her eyes for a moment. "Yes. The radio is still blaring and they've started putting up the walls in the basement, so there's lots of hammering too."

"So I was thinking that in order to convince Edward once and for all that I am not having a birthday, you and I should get into a little tiff in front of him," I said.

"It works perfectly. He'll be completely shocked when he gets home and sees the decorations," Alice replied.

"Is the car going to be delivered in time?" Rose asked.

"Yes. Just a few hours before they're due back," Alice answered.

"I'll let him drive it for a few days before I start tinkering with it," Rose said.

"It's going to kill him to leave it here and keep driving the Volvo to school," I chuckled.

"He might just decide to retire the Volvo," Rose cautioned. "From what Jasper has said, Edward really likes this other car."

"I know! I had Jasper let me feel what Edward was feeling and wow!" I exclaimed.

"Jasper jokingly told me he wasn't sure if Edward's sadness in Vegas was for Bella or the car," Alice chuckled.

"It better have been for me," I said, trying to keep the polish on Alice's nail and not her toe.

"The dead iPod battery he admitted to while in Vegas points toward you, little sis," Alice said.

"How did you know about that?" I asked. "I didn't tell you, and you were yelling at Jasper about the lions when I was talking to Edward."

Alice just tapped her temple.

"Oh!"

"Don't feel bad, Bella," Rose said, moving a strand of hair behind my ear. "Alice still gets me with that a lot, too."

"Edward will be up here in one minute and twenty-three seconds. It's a good time for a fight," Alice chirped.

I quickly finished painting Alice's toes. She wiggled them and gave me a wink. I waited until Edward's scent was very strong before starting the pretend fight.

"Look, Alice. I am not going to argue about this anymore. I don't want a birthday party! I already got Edward to agree to let me skip this year. Please let it go!"

"Come on, Bella!" Alice whined. "It's just a small party. And it's more for us than for you anyway!"

"Alice!"

"Bella!"

"Come on, Alice! Don't you love me at all? Don't you care that I really, really don't want a party?"

"Bella! Please let me throw you a party! Please!"

"Alice," Edward called softly from the doorway. "As a personal favor to me, can you please back down and allow Bella to skip this year?"

"But it's her birthday! And a big one at that! Twenty-one!" Alice whined.

"I will be your helper for Christmas if you allow Bella to skip her birthday," Edward offered.

"Hmmm," Alice said, tapping her chin.

I knew she had seen this already and left it out, that sneaky little pixie. I didn't want Edward to get tortured just because I wanted to give him a surprise party.

"I'll be a helper, too," I blurted out. If Edward had to suffer, I would suffer with him.

"Two helpers for Christmas!" Alice sang, as she clapped her hands. "Okay! You win, Bella! We will skip your birthday. But next year, I get to do a real party and you will wear a dress, missy!"

"Thank you, Alice!" I cried, hugging her tightly. We had to make this look good for Edward's sake. "Girls, it's been fun, but I am going to sneak off with my husband now."

"Be sure to thank him for saving you," Alice sang, as I made my way over to Edward.

"I plan to," I replied, winking at my sisters.

I grabbed Edward's hand and pulled him down the hall to our room. I made sure to lock the door, too. I turned to him and wrapped my arms around his neck.

"Thank you. You have once again saved me."

"You know how much I enjoy doing that for you," Edward said, as he kissed my neck.

"Mmm," was my brilliant reply.

"Forgetting how to speak so soon," he chuckled. His lips were pressed against the hollow behind my ear. "It usually takes a little longer for that reaction to occur."

"Missed you today," I sighed.

Edward chuckled again. His breath against my skin sent a shiver down my spine. "We were together in school all day."

"Separated by desks," I mumbled against his shoulder.

"And clothing," he added, as he trailed kisses along my collarbone.

"You could do something about that."

"I could," he agreed. "But you should do your homework first."

"You've got to be kidding me!" I groaned. "You're really going to make me wait until after we do homework?"

"Consider it an incentive to complete your work."

"Fine!" I grumbled, pulling away from him to find my backpack.

"And your work has to be correct."

"Now you're just being evil."

"I like to think of it as being responsible."

"Yeah, yeah," I muttered as I opened up my math book and started on my homework. I looked over at the couch where my gorgeous husband was sitting. "Edward."

He lifted his head out of his own math book and smiled at me.

"I love you," I told him, giving him a big smile.

"I love you too, Bella. Now do your homework."

I made my face as stern as I could and saluted him. "Yes, Sir!"

His respone was to chuckle and roll his eyes at me.

As far as first day's go, this one hadn't been so bad. Edward had been with me and that made everything better. Having homework again was going to take some getting used to, but I would do it. Edward wanted me to have this experience and it wasn't really asking that much of me. And I really did like some of my classes. I just couldn't quite wrap my mind around the idea that I had gotten into Dartmouth on my own. Not that it mattered. I was here now. And I had Edward here with me. Nothing else really mattered beyond that.