By the time Rachel had finished eating lunch with Ashley, Becca, and James, the boy Rachel had been interested in left the lunchroom. It was stupid to be so curious about him or to want to see his face. What had she really been hoping to gain by looking at him further? He was gone. If she actually wanted to see him, she had plenty of pictures to glance at.

She didn't need to be glancing. She needed to be moving on.

Still, as she hung up the printed-out pictures of her and her friends on various adventures along the wall by her bed, she couldn't help but throw one of him up there. It felt wrong not to; almost as though she were replacing so much of her life. Maybe moving on looked like making peace with the situation instead of trying to forget it.

Ashley admired them all as Rachel stuck them all up, occasionally asking about a location or some repeat people in photos, namely Chloe, Lucy, and Madison.

"My three best friends back home." Rachel had told her roommate. "Chloe went to study in Europe. She's an Italian culture major and figured what better place to study Italian culture than Italy, right? Lucy is an elementary education major. She went to school in Knoxville to stay close to home. And Madison is studying Business Management and Communications out in New Hampshire. She wanted to get out of Tennessee."

"And what about you? What made you want to get out of Tennessee and come all the way to Seattle?"

It was an innocent question. Ashley had just been trying to get to know her. But Rachel's eyes still darted over to the only picture that had his face in it. She looked back down at the other photos still in her hands, the ones she hadn't hung up yet. Make peace. Or forget. "Just wanted to get out and explore some. I'd been in Tennessee my whole life. Figured if I was going to travel, now was the time, right?" That had been something she'd heard often. 'Travel while you're young and not tied down.'

"That's fair. I wanted to go down to Florida or North Carolina, but out of state schools are so expensive. Figured this was a decent compromise. Still out of Port Angeles, but still semi close in case of emergencies. And in-state tuition."

Rachel smiled at Ashley, "No, that totally makes sense. Even just getting out of the town can be super helpful."

She didn't make it to the truck that night.

During her chemistry lab the next day, she did have more of an opportunity to talk to her lab partner, which excited her. The prospect of new friends, more people to help aid Rachel in her unspoken quest…it was what she needed.

She learned that Bella was from Arizona, but her dad lived in a small town west called Forks. Apparently, it actually wasn't that far from Port Angeles.

"Far enough that you live in the dorms though?" Rachel asked. She had no idea how far either of the two towns were. Had never even known they existed until meeting Ashley and Bella.

"Yeah, it's like three hours from here, so not really feasible to travel back and forth each day. Even Port Angeles is over an hour from here." Bella bit her lip while she read the next direction. She grabbed the little vial from Rachel and put two drops in. Rachel watched the new creation bubble a little, noting the observations down in her lab book.

"Do you go home on weekends though? Or just for holidays and whatnot?" Rachel was trying to keep conversation flowing in order to not spend the entire couple hours in silence. She used to be more comfortable, the flow used to be more natural.

Bella shrugged, "No, I usually stay here on weekends. Sometimes I'll hang out at my boyfriend's parent's house. They live just out of town."

"That's cool. Nice to get off of campus for a bit. Take a break from school and the stress of it all."

"Stressed on the second day?" Bella asked, a sheepish smile shot over to Rachel before she returned to focusing on their lab work.

Rach shrugged, doodling a little flower in the top corner of their lab report. "No, I mean…not yet. But I'm sure, like, as the semester goes on it'll be nice to have a break."

Her lab partner nodded, giving her another kind, almost pitied smile. Rachel didn't think anything she said was pity-worthy, unless she was pitying Rachel's conversational skills. They really had gone downhill, hadn't they?

The pair had managed to finish their lab assignment within the hour, even having some spare time to look it over and finalize everything before the period was over. Unfortunately, they weren't off the hook for homework, every group had been expected to complete a couple worksheets prior to the next lab on Thursday. Rachel hoped that they'd get more time to complete assignments in the future. Not that her professor was setting a very good precedent for himself.

"We can meet in my dorm tomorrow night if you're free? My roommate has a late class on Mondays and Wednesdays, so it'll be quiet." Rachel offered to Bella. "I'm just in Alder Hall, so it's not too far from here."

Bella agreed, throwing her backpack up over her shoulder. "Yeah, that sounds good. I get done with class at three, so I can come over after that?"

"Perfect. My last class finishes at two. I'm in room 204."

Even though it was to work on an assignment, Rachel felt a little giddy having someone over. Almost like a friend coming over to hang out. Almost.

Despite Ashley having class until six on Mondays and Wednesdays, Rachel figured it was common courtesy to tell the girl that she planned on having someone over. Ashley was totally cool with it, as Rachel figured she would be, and offered her desk as a second place to sit. The rooms were terribly large, which didn't leave them much space for guests. Rachel had planned on having her and Bella sit on opposite ends of Rachel's bed, but an actual desk might have been preferred so she was grateful for Ashley's generosity.

Later in the evening, she called Chloe to chat for a bit. Even though it was ungodly early in Italy, Chloe always woke up early whenever Rachel really needed her. It went both ways of course. There had been plenty of times that Rachel or the other girls had stayed up until two or three in the morning just to talk to their friend. That was just what you did.

Rachel told Chloe all about Seattle and how she was liking her classes so far. She talked about the dorms, the food, and how it was nothing compared to the things Chloe got to experience overseas, and the people.

They talked more about Rachel's parents. How disconnected Dennis seemed the day Rachel left. The way her mother had quietly taken it all in. How his parents had gotten her a going away gift.

Keeping Chloe up to date on things she had heard about the girl's parents was also her job during their calls. Chloe and her dad had an odd relationship too, which probably explained why Chloe understood Rachel so darn well when it came to her own father. Her mother was a sweetheart the two times Rachel had met her but lived too far away to visit much.

The thing she admired the most about Chloe when talking about such complicated subjects was objective and logical the girl was. Rachel often let her emotions get the best of her in the moment, let them bubble over and take over her body to do stupid things. But Chloe was always in control. There had only been one time that Rachel had seen the girl lose it and cry in the seventeen years they'd known each other. Any other time, Chloe was cool, calm, and collected.

Rachel had lost a lot of her fire in the last few years. She wasn't as impulsive or commanded by what she felt. Mostly because she didn't feel a whole lot. He'd taken the sharpness of her emotions with him, it seemed. Perhaps that wasn't a bad thing. Silver linings and all that…as Theresa often said.

That night, she made it to his parent's house.

The next morning was the first one that Rachel was actually excited for. Though part of her felt silly, she couldn't wait for classes to be over and for Bella to show up. She knew it was just for an assignment and that didn't mean the two would be best friends or anything. It was nice though to have someone to hang out with after classes instead of just sitting around by herself doing homework or bothering Ashley.

Before heading out to her literature class, Rachel tidied up her desk just in case they ended up using it and made sure that her laundry was stowed away in the closet. Just general things to make the room look a little neater. Not that the room had become a disaster after living in it for three days, but still. It made Rachel feel better.

After her first two classes, she sat with Ashley, Becca, Macy, and James again. Though she looked for that dark haired boy, she didn't see him again. Part of her wondered if she could track him down somehow, look him up on Myspace or something. That was stupid though. She didn't even know the guy's name. And what exactly would she look up? 'Dark haired guy Seattle Washington'? That was smart. Definitely not stalkerish or creepy.

She listened to Macy gush about her psychology class, talking about the different areas of the brain how adaptive it could be. Rachel tried her best to follow along, no doubt it was something she would learn about or find useful in her career, but her heart hadn't been in it. Crazy how just one little disappointment could completely knock the wind out of her sails. When had she gotten so touchy?

Over the course of the conversation, she learned that James was also super interested in the brain and its inner workings, just in a slightly different way. He was aspiring to be a neurosurgeon. Rachel then watched the way he held things and handled them to see if he had a steady and gentle grip. Though she knew nothing about neuroscience or being a neurosurgeon, her father had often said that he couldn't be a surgeon due to how shaky he was. Not that he had such a desire, as he worked on mechanics instead…actually, Rachel wasn't really sure why her father had ever brought that up. In any case, James seemed to pass the test. Rachel's silly, undisclosed test.

The last hour before Bella's arrival dragged on. Rachel paced the small space that was her room, adjusting little trinkets so they were perfect, nervously sipping on water, and bouncing her leg while attempting to study. It felt stupid to be so nervous over something so small. She wasn't even completely sure why she cared that much. At least enough to raise to the level of nervous, anyway. Bella was just another student, just a lab partner coming over to finish an assignment. It wasn't like it was job interview or Bella was coming over to interrogate Rachel. Rachel had no one to impress.

Her heart jumped out of her chest when she heard the quick little knocks on the door. She hopped off the bed and pulled open the door, hoping she didn't look to eager or weird.

"Hey," She greeted the girl, stepping out of the way so Bella could enter. "Uh, take a seat or throw your stuff anywhere. I wasn't sure if the bed or the desk would be more comfortable."

Bella nodded, tossing her bag up on Rachel's bed. She scanned the wall of pictures while Rachel closed the door. "This is a cool idea." She said of the wall. "Did you take all these?"

Rachel glanced at them as well, exhaling a soft breath. "Yeah, most of them. Some of them my friends printed out and gave to me, but most of them are mine over the years." She stuffed her hands into her pockets, not entirely sure what to do with herself.

"They're really cool." Bella lingered on the ones near the head of Rachel's bed. She stared at one in particular, frowning slightly. "Where did you say you were from?"

Rachel hadn't. Bella had never asked before and Rachel didn't say, for fear she talked too much about herself. "Gatlinburg. It's a small town in Tennessee."

Bella nodded slowly, not really saying anything. When Rachel realized Bella wouldn't continue on her own, she asked, "Why's that?"

The other girl turned to face Rachel then, looking a little lost for words. She shrugged a bit, shaking her head as she started a couple different sentences, "Oh, uh…I was just…. I saw the mountains in the pictures with your friends and thought maybe it was your hometown or something. They're, uh, they're really cool. Looks pretty over there."

Made sense. It was about the only reason anyone knew of Gatlinburg, Tennessee; the mountains. "Oh yeah, they're super pretty. Lots of woods around us too. Super cool when the leaves change colors in the fall."

Bella turned back to the pictures, "Yeah, I bet. Anyway, should probably get started."

Rachel nodded, taking a couple steps forward in order to climb up on the foot of her bed, "Yeah, for sure."

That night, she didn't make it out of those pretty woods.