Disclaimer: I own none of the characters of Twilight. They belong only to Stephenie Meyer.

Summary: Edward Cullen, a lifelong vegan, has just transferred to Middlebury College, where his best friend since childhood, Jasper, goes to school. There, he meets an intriguing group of people, including Miss Bella Swan, who is convinced that he's far too good for her, and would never give her a shot. Edward has other plans for the two of them.
Rating: PG-13, mostly for language.
Length: 1/3

A/N: This story is inspired by two things. 1) I am nearing my first-year mark as a vegan myself and 2) I've officially finished my college-visiting whirlwind that's occurred over the past few months. I actually did visit Middlebury up in Vermont, so I'm trying to base a lot of the campus off of the actual place. Also, to any readers who actually go to Middlebury, I know that in January you'd be on the one part of the 4-1-4, but I have creative license, dammit. Also, this is an attempt at not being angsty. I might fall flat on my face, I don't know. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, read my other fic.

A Brief History of Tofu

1: Invented in Northern China, circa 164 BC

Was it too much to ask to eat lunch in peace? Granted, "lunch" here was a relative term, considering the time. What time was it? Around two o'clock. Two-thirteen to be exact.

But either way, he tried to eat alone, but even two weeks into the semester, he somehow found himself with a new gaggle of girls staring at him from across the room. It had just snowed. That was all. The girls were not staring at him; they were not giggling at him. They probably just had a snowball fight and were enjoying a laugh – going over every detail of their day so far. He just happened to sit in their range of vision. Right.

He did not really exist to them, right?

"Edward, it looks like you're still amassing the fans," a familiar voice said, coming up from behind to slap him on the shoulder and take the seat to his left. "You'd think they'd be used to real boys by now." This particular smile covering Jasper's face meant nothing good. It was his mischievous grin. Years of experience told Edward that nothing good could come of this smile.

"I'm thinking maybe I never should've matriculated. The girls at Evergreen never stared." That was a bit of a lie. All throughout their childhood together, Jasper teased Edward that he was too handsome for his own good. Edward tried very hard to be blissfully unaware of his "tantalizing good looks." Even if Edward held any interest for the gaping girls in the corner, his social skills deemed him unworthy. If he tried to go up to them, he wouldn't really know what to say, and would probably come off as a stuck-up prick. That's just how things happened. He preferred to stay to himself anyway.

Minus his ever-dwindling fan club, Edward really liked Middlebury. Vermont promised to be less rainy than Washington, the only thing he would really miss. He'd given Evergreen a semester, and realized it really didn't fit him as well as he had hoped. Actually, he'd given it about two weeks before talking through changing schools with his parents. After Jasper got wind, there was an immediate phone call coming in as an attempt to convince Edward to join him in Vermont.

Sitting across the table from his best friend now felt almost like a dream. Jasper had a perpetual smile since they arrived that January. Both of them were under the impression that, post-high school, they would only see each other on occasion. Once a year, during the summer – that sort of thing. Now, being together, Edward actually felt at home.

In kindergarten, Edward and Jasper immediately hit it off. The two of them read picture books together in the corner, and some of their teachers worried that they didn't talk to any other children. Growing up, the two had become almost dependent on each other – both were quiet and reserved in their own ways, but together, they got to be fairly loud and obnoxious, the way teenage boys should be. Everyone said they could be brothers, except for the fact that they looked nothing alike. Jasper was taller and more muscular, with honey blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Edward stood only two or three inches below Jasper, hair always mussed and green eyes wild. In essence, they really couldn't be any more different, either – Jasper had always been a bit more militant, but very convincing, whereas Edward tended to brood, though he was constantly aware of everyone around him. It baffled a lot of people who knew them both well that they could stand each other. Really, their entire relationship rested on that first day almost fourteen years earlier.

Sometimes Edward wished that Jasper was his real brother – Emmett got on his nerves most of the time. Too loud, too big, too crude. Funny, most of the time, but he had a knack for picking on his little brother.

Jasper hit Edward lightly, giving him a strange look. "Wake up, Edward. Your fake meat's getting cold and slimy… er."

"Shut up. This stuff's good, I swear," Edward said, taking a bite of his Tofurkey sandwich and watching Jasper's overacted gagging.

"I prefer the real thing, thanks."

"I thought you said you were going to try going veggie," Edward said, ignoring a new ripple of giggles from his audience.

"Shoulda, coulda, woulda. Water over the bridge. Under the bridge? What's that saying?"

"I always get it wrong."

"Anyway, do you have another class today? I was thinking we could go into town and catch whatever movie they're playing that actually came out three months ago. We could probably find it on DVD already. Jeez, this place is small. So what do you think?"

"Thanks for that mini-rant, Jazz, and no, I don't, but I have a French paper due Friday that I really should start working on. Besides, unless you feel like walking a mile in three feet of snow, I think going to the movies is out. Not that I would put it past you, you were always the masochist."

"No, you're getting me confused with you. I'm the sadist in this duo," Jasper said as he took a swig of Edward's soda. Edward rolled his eyes and went back to the book he'd been trying to read. "I can't believe those girls are still talking about you. This isn't high school; they could just come up and talk to you."

"They could even come up and talk to you. God knows I'd prefer it." Edward couldn't even try to hide the annoyance in his voice.

"Ah, I can't. Remember, I'm taken now."

"Oh yeah, I leave you alone for a few months and you get up the nerve to talk to some girl. How is Alice anyway?"

"She's good. Bummed that she hasn't met you yet, though."

"Well, we keep missing each other."

"We should remedy that." Jasper said, picking at Edward's plate of fries. "I ate lunch an hour ago and I'm still hungry. That's not right."

"Take the fries. I didn't really want them to begin with."

"Thanks." The two of them sat in silence for a while after that, not that it bothered either of them. In fact, they both kind of reveled in it. Without silence, they never would have met. Edward always thought that the mark of true friendship was that two people could sit together without saying anything and be completely comfortable. Jasper, being the kind of person who easily got lost in his own thoughts, enjoyed being able to do so in the company of Edward without feeling like anyone got offended at his lack of chattiness. Edward just cherished the peace.

After some time (during which the number of Edward's fries had greatly diminished), Edward looked up from his book. The three girls had left the cafeteria, and someone new sat in their place. She was pouring over a book of her own, back hunched, brow furrowed, chocolate hair swept in a curtain over her face.

"Do you know her?" Jasper asked after about a minute. Edward hadn't even realized that he – for once – had been staring.

"Uh, no," he said, trying not to blush as he turned back to his book. "Why?"

"You were staring, that's all." Jasper shrugged, turning back to his fries. He had used up all his teasing for the day. If Emmett sat in his place, Edward knew he would not be hearing the end of it.

"I was not." Edward was too late in defending himself.

"Whatever you say."

"I wasn't staring."

"Okay, Edward." He popped the last French fry into his mouth, and at the same time, his eyes widened. Edward tried not to laugh. "Oh shit, I have a bio lab in ten minutes. I can't believe I forgot. I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Yeah sure," Edward said, but Jasper had already rushed out, flinging his backpack over his shoulder in a blur. With a sigh, Edward cast a glance down at his lunch – a now-empty plate of half-soggy fries, a self-assembled Tofurkey sandwich, and a coke (which Jasper had also finished off for him). "Guess I'll call it a day."

At this point, Edward only used lunch as a smokescreen for getting personal reading done. His roommate was almost constantly working, and he preferred the atmosphere of the library for actual schoolwork. Milking his cafeteria time for all it was worth, Edward spent most of his lunch time to sink his teeth into the book of the week. Currently, he was trying his hand at a little Joyce.

Rather than continue to sit alone (the only other person in the room was the mystery girl, who seemed engrossed in her own book) with a mostly-eaten lunch that he hadn't really eaten, he decided to get some work done. He really did have to start that French paper. The library was, at this point, closer than his dorm room, so he decided to cross the snowy, frozen expanse that was the campus to get there.

The trek to the library went without seeing much human life. A few people ran around throwing snowballs at one another, but they didn't cross Edward's path.

Once he got inside, the cold had seeped through his parka to his bones. The heat was welcome. Crossing the common area quietly (a few people had passed out on the couches, as usual), he made his way to the library. About halfway through, though, he decided against it. He could just as easily sit outside – there was an empty couch just by the door – and get all his work done. Considering that Jasper's biology lab was one floor up, he could wait for that to finish, and call Jasper down.

Somehow sitting in the common room morphed into napping in the common room, however.

He woke with a snort when someone poked him in the shoulder. He blinked a few times, banishing sleep from his eyes. He had been dreaming, he thought – his dream made no sense. Back in the cafeteria, he was sitting with that girl, neither of them talking, but both grinning unstoppably. His mind's eye had such a clear image of her smile, even though he had only seen a fraction of her face. After shaking his head a little in an attempt to focus, he realized that he was looking up into the face of his dream's co-star. As soon as she realized that he was awake, a bright red undertone seeped into her cheeks.

"Sorry. Um, you left this in the cafeteria." She handed him his beat-up copy of Dubliners. Of course he'd forgotten to pack it.

"Uh, thanks…" he said, clearing his throat. His voice was still thick with sleep, although he couldn't have been asleep for very long. Still blushing, she turned away from him quickly. Before he could even react, though it seemed like it played in slow motion, the girl tripped over a backpack and crashed to the floor. "Are you okay?" he said, scrambling to get to his feet and help her up. If possible, she was even redder than before – a solid, beet red.

"Yeah, I'm… this happens all the time. I'm good," she stammered. She stood on two feet now, avoiding his gaze. Realizing that he still had one hand wrapped around her arm, he jerked away quickly, looking intently at her face.

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Like I said… happens all the time," she said, stealing a glance up at him.

"That's probably not information you should share with people," he said with a slight chuckle. He had to try not to start at that – he never joked around with girls like this. He had only spoken, what, five sentences to her, and already he felt at ease. She had nearly broken her nose on the floor right in front of him, he had to remind himself, and there was little he could do to top that embarrassment. "I'm Edward," he said.

"Bella." She didn't sound very sure of herself. She did smile though, trying to be polite through the intense blush. Even her ears matched the color of her cheeks.

"Nice to meet you. And thanks again," he said. She blushed slightly more.

"Any time," Bella said with a nod before turning away – no less gracefully than before, though this time her foot didn't catch to any obstacles.

Edward sat down, and opened the book she had returned, mostly as a disguise to watch her retreat. He watched her grimace at the snow as she pushed a door open and picked her way through the whiteness. He couldn't help but smile a little.

On the next floor's walkway, a group of students spilling out from the science wing, and he caught sight of Jasper's blonde head towering over everyone else. How long had he been asleep? he thought as he glanced down at his watch. Four o'clock on the nose. He'd slept at least an hour, maybe even an hour and a half. Jasper emerged at the foot of the steps, listening to a very short girl talk excitedly. At least, Edward guessed that she was talking excitedly – for such a small person, she gesticulated wildly and with large, graceful motions. On Jasper's face was a broad, contented smile as he watched her. This must be Alice.

Jasper looked up, and started at the sight of Edward slumped on one of the couches. He took Alice's tiny hand in his and bent down (a good foot and a half) to whisper in her ear. She smiled, and looked over at Edward out of the corner of her eye. In a split second, she was bounding across the floor to plop down next to him, hand extended.

"Edward Cullen. Alice Brandon," Jasper said with the slightest simper.

"I'm so glad to finally meet you," Alice said, shaking Edward's hand enthusiastically. "Normally, I'd be hugging you -"

"Emphatically," Jasper added.

"- but Jasper warned me that you weren't the hugging type." Edward laughed. Alice's bubbly happiness was infectious. "Anyway, Jasper and I were just on our way to my dorm. My roommate makes a killer cup of coffee, and I haven't introduced them yet. Wanna come? It could be a party."

"I'd love to, Alice, but I have some work to do," Edward said. He immediately felt almost guilty considering how far her face fell. "But I can do it later. I've been procrastinating all week, what could a few more hours hurt?"

"That's the spirit," she said brightly.

Luckily Alice's dorm wasn't too far from the library building – Edward was considering curling up there for the night to avoid the snow. She knocked on her door three quick times before turning the handle. Like most dorm rooms, it was small, making four people a tight fit. "Hey, Bella," Alice said as she slipped her coat off and threw it on her bed. "Jasper, Edward, this is my roommate Bella Swan. Bella, you've heard plenty about Jasper already, and this is his best friend Edward…"

Edward couldn't really find the voice to give her his last name. It made perfect ironic sense that Bella would be his best friend's girlfriend's roommate. "Uh, Cullen," he said, shaking the amazement out of his head. "But we've met."

"Oh, have you?" Jasper said, cocking on eyebrow at Edward as he flopped down onto the bed next to Alice.

"He left a book in the cafeteria. I returned it," Bella said matter-of-factly, looking directly at Alice and no one else.

"You know, I had this weird feeling that you two would meet before I met him," Alice said, her voice drifting off towards the end. She snapped herself out of her little trance suddenly and looked back at Bella. "Anyway, I promised these boys some mid-afternoon coffee. Would you be willing to oblige?"

Bella seemed to be weighing her options. In her hand was the same book she had been reading in the cafeteria, only now Edward was close enough to see what it was – Wuthering Heights. "Um, sure. Just let me finish this page," she said quietly, turning back to her book. The same furrowed brow cast itself over her face, making her look serious, intent. It worked for her.

Jasper looked from Edward to Bella and back as Alice explained something from the lab to him, and then cleared his throat. Edward snapped to attention, not realizing that he'd been staring at Bella again.

"Okay. Off to the kitchen," Bella said, snapping her book shut and standing up in the same motion. Edward prepared himself to catch her in case she fell.

"So, Bella, how was your math class today?" Alice asked as Bella fumbled with the coffee pot in the common area's tiny kitchen. Edward couldn't help but notice Jasper's arm wrapped loosely around her waist, fingers playing at the hem of her shirt. Jasper, of course, was slouching a bit in order for his arm to be low enough to reach Alice's diminutive waist.

"Ugh, I can't wait for it to be over and done with," she said. "Math just doesn't make any sense to me. It's all gibberish."

"I can always tutor you, if you want," Alice offered. "I'm not too bad at math."

"Thanks, but you've got enough on your plate." Bella cast a sidelong glance at Alice in Jasper's arms.

"I know how you feel," Jasper said in his low voice – no one would ever guess that he was being sarcastic. "Edward was always better than me at math. It killed me inside to know that it made perfect sense to him, none to me."

"It's the piano. Always helped with numbers."

"You play?" Bella said, trying to mask the curiosity in her voice, but failing miserably.

"Yeah, ever since I was little. My mom sort of forced me into it, but I really love it."

"Once he gets to a piano, you can't stop him. He could play for hours,"

"Ooh, you'll have to show us some time," Alice said. The coffeepot dinged next to Bella, and she jumped, only slightly. Edward felt strange knowing that he probably was the only one to notice. As Bella poured the coffee into four mugs, Edward watched her as discreetly as he possibly could. She had tucked some of her chocolaty brown hair behind her now-pale ears, though strands fell in her face. Her eyes matched her hair color, and they seemed to gather this intense look about them that he rarely saw – like she was concentrating on everything.

"Edward, cream?"

"Um, no thanks. Vegan." She raised an eyebrow at him as she handed him the coffee, but said nothing.

"Ah, Bella, you are a life saver," Alice said as she took the coffee.

"Like you need more caffeine in your life, Alice," Bella replied with a smirk. "Sometimes I wonder if I should worry about your hyper levels. It's inhuman."

"You should see her when she's angry, though," Jasper countered. A real look of fear brewed behind his eyes.

The four of them made their way back to Alice and Bella's room, each sipping away at their coffee. About a half an hour later, Edward found himself sitting on the floor, back pressed against Bella's bed, laughing at Alice's story about her art history class earlier that day. Someone had apparently forgotten that it was an art history class. Bella was sitting on the bed above him against the wall, eyes wide with laughter. Alice and Jasper sat holding hands on the bed opposite.

Somehow, Alice's story devolved into Jasper teasing her lightly, though as usual his sarcasm was rather deadpan, and Edward and Bella getting sucked into their own conversation.

"So, how long have you been a vegan?" she asked. For some reason, she still didn't look him in the eye.

"My whole life. My parents were raised as crazy hippies, and they had pretty much never even touched meat."

"It seems like it'd be hard to do."

"It's really not, though. I can't imagine living any other way. Although, once, I decided to be rebellious. I was about thirteen, and I ended up getting really sick and going to the hospital."

"Really?" she asked with wide eyes, the first time she really focused on him. It made his heart flutter slightly, but he ignored it.

"I mean, I'd never eaten meat before in my life, so my body doesn't have any of the enzymes to break it down. Also, I'm pretty sure the chicken wasn't cooked properly anyway and I got food poisoning, but my dad liked to spin it as a lesson not to try new things." She chuckled. "Well, no, my dad's always trying to get me to try new things."

"You're just too afraid of change to do anything," Jasper said. Bella so thoroughly enthralled Edward that he hadn't even registered that Jasper and Alice were listening in. Apparently Bella hadn't, either, because she was blushing again. Edward looked down at his watch. It was already six. Dinner had started being served about an hour ago.

"Anyone going to dinner?" he asked, trying to move the subject off of him.

"What time is it?" Jasper asked.

"Six."

"Yeah, I'm starving. Alice, care to join me?" he asked, getting a light giggle from her. "You two coming?"

"I'm not that hungry, really," Edward said.

"You should probably eat before you pull an all-nighter," Alice said, giving him a worried look. He shrugged. "Bella, you coming?"

"I'm not that hungry either. Anyway, I was kind of hoping to finish this chapter before you guys barged in here," Bella said, carefully averting her eyes from Edward's.

"Well, I guess it's just you and me," Alice said to Jasper, practically jumping off the bed. "See you guys later." She led Jasper out of the room, pulling their jackets along with her.

"I guess I'll get going then," Edward said. Bella hadn't picked up her book yet, leaving the two of them sitting in awkward silence. She nodded, still not looking at him. "Anyway, it was nice talking to you again." He stood up and looked around for his own parka.

"You too," Bella said rather meekly. He put one arm through a hole before she spoke up again, "Do you take Psych 101 with Hildebrand?" The question came out of nowhere and took Edward aback a little.

"Every Tuesday and Thursday at three."

"I thought I'd seen you before."

"Oh, are you in that class?" Edward felt like an idiot saying that. She wouldn't have asked if she wasn't. He wanted to hit himself. "Sorry, of course you are. It's just a big class, that's all." Again, he wanted to hit himself. A nice smack on the cheek, a whack on the head. She knew that it was a big class.

"I guess I'll see you there tomorrow, then."

"Save you a seat," he said, grinning. She smiled too, finally looking up at him with warm eyes.

"Cool."

Edward walked out of the room in a daze, shutting the door behind him. Everything seemed brighter, even though the campus was now shrouded in a Vermont winter's night. Outside, all the lights from the buildings light the snow up, so that white patches sparkled against the shiny pale blue of the parts still under the sky. He couldn't explain the feeling he had – he was still smiling, he felt it tugging at the muscles in his cheek. Something about Bella Swan sent warmth to his freezing toes, immersed in snow. The idea of seeing her again the next day made him grin wider.

--

Bella could not explain why she was smiling so much. Now that she was alone in the room, she hadn't even picked up her book. Instead, she threw herself into her pillow and let out a small scream. She wasn't sure what brought it on; all she knew was that she had this burning desire to let out some bizarre noise.

After the half-scream, half-squeal was done, she picked herself up. Edward Cullen. The only thing she had been thinking about for the past few hours. The way he smiled at her when she tripped, the way he smiled at her when he left – it was too much. He had this crooked grin that would send her into frenzy, if she could be alone. His eyes twinkled and he ran his fingers through his already-messy hair every time he laughed. She wished she had caused that laughter, but she was fairly certain that he barely saw her.

Though she wasn't one-hundred percent convinced. There were times that she was sure he was staring at her, but she didn't dare look – in case he wasn't, and then he noticed her staring at him. He probably thought she was a freak with an inner-ear infection.

Sure, he seemed at-ease enough in her presence, but as far as she could tell, he wasn't the tense type. As far as she could tell, he was perfect. He played piano, he was a good student, and he was dedicated to his life as a vegan. Also, there was the fact that he looked as though he belonged in a painting of angels when he slept. She almost wished she hadn't woken him, but after spending nearly an hour wondering whether or not to find him and return the book, she wasn't ready for even more indecision.

One thing did confuse her. He seemed genuinely happy that they had a class together, and he was grinning as he left. So that meant he didn't just see her as some dumb girl blinded by his good looks (of which she was sure there were a lot). Unless she misinterpreted him.

Anything was possible, really.