The Oak Tree
Chapter One
(I don't own anything. I just play around with the characters.)
~~~ [ ~~~ ] ~~~
It is a beautiful sunny autumn day in Hanover, New Hampshire. The leaves are the most glorious shades of red, orange and gold. I take a deep cleansing breath as I walk across the quad of Dartmouth College. This is going to be my home for the next 4 years.
My name is Bella Swan. This is my first day as a freshman at Dartmouth. I am still amazed that I was able to get a full scholarship to an Ivy League school. It's the first time I have been away from my home in Phoenix and my passionate, scatter-brained mother. Living with her for 18 years has definitely been interesting and there was never a dull moment as she would flit from one crazy trend to another. I know more than I've ever wanted to know about Nudist Colonies or Origami, thanks to her. It's time to spread my wings and be on my own. It's my time to learn who I really am and what I am capable of by myself. I've worked very hard to get here and I'm ready to prove to myself that I can do it.
I've always felt shy around new people so this is going to be a true test of overcoming my shyness. I suppose I'm shy because I never felt I had anything to offer. I've always thought of myself as a plain Jane with my dull brown hair and mud brown eyes. I'm very self-conscious about my body. Maybe that's because I am the clumsiest person I know. I don't have confidence it my actions. It's like my limbs have a mind of their own. I can never count on my body behaving in social situations and usually trip over my own feet. This either ends up with me on the floor or worse sprawling into someone else and knocking them over. Needless to say, I mostly try to hide in the shadows.
I have about 30 minutes before my first class so I look around for a good spot to pass the time while I wait. I spy a beautiful oak tree that has a wooden bench built in a circle around it. There is only one other person sitting on it and I choose the opposite side and sit down. I take a couple more deep breaths filling my lungs with the clean New Hampshire air. It's very different than smoggy Phoenix air. I feel like I'm getting more oxygen into my bloodstream than I ever have in my life. Leaning back against the bark of the tree, I remove my iPod from my backpack and place the buds in my ears. Hanging by a Moment by Lifehouse starts playing as I turn it on. I love these guys. I don't think they have any songs that I don't like. And their lyrics always seem to touch me deep inside. I close my eyes and start to hum along to the music.
Desperate for changing
Starving for truth
I'm closer to where I started
Chasing after you
I'm falling even more in love with you
Letting go of all I've held onto
I'm standing here until you make me move
I'm hanging by a moment here with you
Forgetting all I'm lacking
Completely incomplete
I'll take your invitation
You take all of me now...
I'm falling even more in love with you
Letting go of all I've held onto
I'm standing here until you make me move
I'm hanging by a moment here with you
I'm living for the only thing I know
I'm running and not quite sure where to go
And I don't know what I'm diving into
Just hanging by a moment here with you
I start to wonder what it would be like to actually feel this way about another person. You see, I've never been in love. Heck, I've never even been kissed. Remember the whole "I hide in the shadows thing"? Yeah, it's kind of hard to have a boyfriend when you hide yourself all the time. I favor sticking my nose in a book by myself rather than partying or hanging with a group of people.
There's nothing else to lose
There's nothing else to find
There's nothing in the world
That can change my mind
There is nothing else
There is nothing else
There is nothing else
Desperate for changing
Starving for truth
I'm closer to where I started
Chasing after you...
I'm falling even more in love with you
Letting go of all I've held onto
I'm standing here until you make me move
I'm hanging by a moment here with you
I'm living for the only thing I know
I'm running and not quite sure where to go
And I don't know what I'm diving into
Just hanging by a moment here with you
Just hanging by a moment (here with you)
Hanging by a moment (here with you)
Hanging by a moment here with you
I open my eyes as the song ends, waiting for the next song to cue up and witness the most beautiful man I have ever seen walking toward me from the other side of the quad. Gulp. I am absolutely gob smacked by this sight in front of me. He has this otherworldly quality to him that just doesn't fit into any categories of my human brain. It's almost as if he's gliding over the grass like a spirit coming to escort me to Heaven. That's it, right? I've died and this is Heaven? I sneak a quick glance around and discern that I am still sitting on a bench in the quad at Dartmouth. Everyone else walking around seems normal and very much of this earth. Ok, so I'm still alive and by the heat that I feel gathering in my face and chest, I realize, yes, I am still very much alive.
I focus my gaze back on the Greek God as he makes his way over. My eyes start at his Doc Marten clad feet and move up his long muscular legs that are wearing army green cargo pants. They hang on his hips in such a way that shouldn't be legal in public. Moving up to his flat stomach that I can see the contours of through a tight heather gray undershirt, and I notice he's wearing a green and gray plaid flannel shirt over that. It's unbuttoned and billowing in the breeze he's creating by his long confident gait. Looking further up I notice his strong shoulders, his long masculine neck that meets a razor sharp jaw line covered in light stubble. Then I notice his lips. Oh My! They are so full and soft looking for someone who otherwise looks so hard. My gaze travels up his straight aquiline nose, to the deepest green eyes that I've ever seen. His eyes are focused on the colorful leaves of the oak tree I'm sitting under so I feel safe ogling him a little more as he gets closer. I finally reach the top of his head to see the most amazing example of sex hair that I have ever seen. It reminds me of all the colors of autumn with its deep browns and crimson reds. I sneak a look back to his eyes and he's now looking straight at me with a lop-sided smirk on his face as he approaches the bench. Oh no. I've been caught. My tell tale blush deepens as I hear him chuckle to himself and sit down pulling his iPod out of his pocket. He leans back on the bark of the oak tree and closes his eyes taking in the same position I was just in.
As he sits there, I am slowly becoming aware of the most amazing scent wafting its way toward me. And I know in that instant that it is him. It is Eau du Greek God. Its sunshine, cinnamon and mint all combined into one delicious scent. I feel the heat travel down to the pit of my stomach and lower. Oh lord, I'm a goner. I have never had this reaction to anyone in my entire life and here I sit on my first day of school, my new life and I feel this, whatever feeling this is. It makes me nervous but I think I kind of like it too.
I slowly exhale trying to gather my wits and sneak a look at my watch. I have 15 minutes before my first class and now I have a dilemma. I can leave now, using the 15 minutes to carefully make my way to my classroom since I still don't quite know my way around. But it's going to appear like I'm leaving because he sat down next to me. Or I can chill out (yeah, right like I could chill out at this point) and wait another five or ten minutes. But that would cause me to have to run to class. Running + Bella = Face Plant. I decide that I would rather seem like I'm leaving because of him instead of embarrassing myself with my clumsiness in front of him so I stand up and pull my backpack on my left shoulder and make my way to class. I want to look back to see if he's looking but he'll see me if he is. Oh what the heck, I'm going to look. I do. And he is. He chuckles again. And I turn around more embarrassed than ever. I hate it when that happens.
~~~ [ ~~~ ] ~~~
First ever, fanfiction story. What do you think so far? Please review.