Chapter 1: Freedom

Bella Swan drove down the empty freeway with all the windows of her old truck rolled down. She stuck her hands out the window to feel the fresh morning air blow past and she inhaled deeply. This spot on the freeway was the deciding factor in her college choice. The tumbling sandstone behemoths of the Santa Monica Mountains loomed on either side of her and she filled her lungs with the smell of earth and sage and warming rocks. She loved these rocks. The steep trails of the mountains provided her refuge from the chaos of the glittering urban landscape below. The jungles of the L.A. suburbia sprawled on either side of the mountains, but here she could lose herself in the wilds and look at her busy world in silence.

Her stomach still rolled with nervous butterflies. Eighteen, a full-fledged adult, today she would start her first day of college. She reveled in the freedom. No longer bound by the dress code of her conservative private school, she decided to celebrate by wearing everything that had ever gotten her into detention during her high school days.

She smiled at herself in the mirror that morning. While she normally preferred to hide into the background and tended towards very modest outfits, she couldn't help but visually express her freedom from the past constraints of her boring school uniforms. This was a new season and she could reinvent herself or find herself or become herself, she wasn't sure which. All she knew was she wanted the fresh start.

Well, a fresher start at least. As she pulled into the parking lot of Forks College forty minutes later, she immediately waved at Mike and Eric as they lounged next to their cars. She hadn't been quite prepared to leave home completely and she didn't know what to major in, so she decided to attend the local community college. She could still live at home and attend classes with some of her old high school friends from school and the church college group, but it was a new school and location.

"Bella! Bella!" Mike said excitedly. He walked towards her and tried to angle himself for a front hug instead of the more socially acceptable side hug. "I was just telling Eric here that it's good he left the Man Cave early after college group Sunday night. He would have lost all his chance at impressing you through his Halo skills!"

"Come on, man! I hung out all day but I promised my mom I'd be home early so I could get ready for school today!" Eric said with a bright blush as he pushed his glasses up his nose.

"You didn't miss anything," Bella said, "except Mike bribing everyone to play video games with him instead of flirting with the college girls. If most of the girls hadn't left early, he would have had to show off his mad skills on Halo by himself."

"Bella! Flirting with college girls? Please! Us manly men, mature college freshman, have much better things to do with our time than notice the well-developed, well-dressed, beautiful and much older college girls who hang on our every word and can't wait for us to ask them out," Mike said with mock seriousness.

"You're fresh meat for a bunch of girls who have either already dated all the other guys in the group or have been rejected by all the other guys in the group. Don't worry, once they get to know you, they will give you more distance," Bella said with a wink.

"And this from my prom date! Bella! You find me so irresistible that you begged me to go to not only one but two proms with you! Come on, it's my rugged good looks, isn't it? My adorable personality? My inviting smile? Or my supreme intellect?" Mike said, leaning down to put his arm around her much shorter shoulder as they walked towards their various morning classes.

"Yep. That's it, Mike. You caught me. I'm hopelessly in love with you. It had nothing to do with the fact that both our significant others broke up with us right before each of our proms and we both found ourselves dateless," Bella responded, rolled her eyes, and deftly slipped out of under his arm.

"I knew it! I'll be in the cafeteria at lunch waiting for all the love notes you write me during your morning classes!" Mike said and waved her good-bye. Eric continued to walk with Bella and looked slightly uncomfortable with their interaction. Bella tried to ease him out of his shyness and into conversation.

"Where you off to?"

"English 101. You?"

"Same! Good. We'll both know someone!"

"So, what's with the getup?" Eric asked and waved his hand at her outfit as they walked. Her black corset top was covered by a green military jacket. Her pleated, plaid skirt stopped the appropriate two inches above her knee in the front (but it was her curvy backside that made it hike a little higher than her old school's "dress code" in the back). Her black combat boots were laced with mismatched sparkly purple and silver shoe laces. Her hair was now dyed hot pink and tied back in careful cornrows and twists. Around her neck she sported a rainbow colored, handmade gum chain necklace.

"Rebellion. I threw out all my polo shirts the day high school ended and my current goal is to wear all the clothes that got me in trouble at high school," she said. "I think next week I'll wear my pajamas just to prove I can."

Eric laughed, "I tried to get rid of all my official polo shirts too but my mom wouldn't let me. She said we paid too much money for them and they are good shirts still."

"Well, if I catch you wearing one to college, I will pretend I don't know you the rest of the day," Bella answered.

They both sat in the back row of the windowless trailer classroom.

"You ready for this?" she asked Eric.

"For what?"

"Our first lecture as college students!" she said.

"I took a summer class," he said with a shrug.

"Killjoy."

._.._.

Two classes later, Bella found her way to the college cafeteria armed with her backpack and a bagel. She had a two hour break before her next class and felt more than ready for it. The warm August sunshine streamed through the large, open windows that looked out over rolling hills, browned from the summer sun. Empty tables were intermixed with occupied ones, some with isolated students tapping away on laptops or with their heads buried in a textbook. Others sat in pairs and small groups telling stories or comparing schedules and lunches.

"Bella! Bella!" came a voice from the corner. Jessica Stanley, Lauren Mallory, and Mike Newton sat together sharing a bag of Doritos and waved her over to join them. Bella knew all of them from the youth group at church where they had undergone some of their best (and worst moments) of high school together. She couldn't help but grin as she walked over to them and sat down.

"Bella! I can't believe how many hot guys I've seen so far today! I have a good feeling about college already!" Jessica gushed.

"Jessica's intent on pursuing her M.R.S. degree while she's here," Lauren scoffed. "I keep telling her to wait till she gets to U.C.L.A. and meets some real men, but she's intent to waste her time on the J.C. crowd. All the guys here are either too young or they are on the ten year AA degree plan and live in their moms' basements while they repeatedly drop out of school to work at Target."

"Hey! Nothing's wrong with men who work at Target and live in their moms' basements!" chimed in a man's voice from behind Bella's head. She turned, knowing already who the voice belonged to.

"Jacob," she said slowly as he gave each of the girls an appropriate side hug before giving Mike a fist bump. All eyes at the table immediately fell on Bella. She blushed and turned to Jessica to talk about textbook shopping after class. Jacob's easy manner and small talk soon brought attention back to him and Bella could pretend she felt comfortable again. That is, until her table mates began to wander off. Jessica left first, followed by Lauren, and finally Mike. Bella's eyes lingered on Mike as he walked away, as if her desire to not be left alone would be enough to keep him from leaving her alone with Jacob.

"So, Bella, how's everything?" Jacob said as she turned back to face him.

"Fine," she said. "How's…uh…you know…sorry….I just…." Her words stumbled out of her mouth more clumsily than her failed attempts at walking in high heels. Her face blushed bright red again and dropped her eyes to her hands on the table separating them.

"I like the pink hair. It matches your blush," he said with a chuckle, maddeningly at ease. "Look, I don't want to make things awkward for you. We've always been good friends, even before we dated. If our breakup didn't change our friendship, I don't think my new girlfriend should either. Just be free, Bells," Jacob said and winked. He stood to leave and grabbed his well-worn backpack over one shoulder before walking out the door.

She sat at the table alone staring out the window for the next hour, her hands motionless on the table.

It took her three laps around the campus to find her biology class. By the time she finally found the correct door, she grimaced to see she was five minutes late. She tried to covertly open the door and sneak in but found herself in the front of the class directly across from the lecturing professor.

"As I was saying, students, I will not tolerate tardiness in this class. Now, let's turn to page three on your syllabus," the grey-haired professor said pointedly. He handed Bella a syllabus and waved his hand towards the only empty seat in the class.

Bella averted her eyes from all the ones fixed on her and made her way to the empty seat. She barely managed to make it to the seat before she caught her boot on the side of the desk, tripped, and dropped her books on the other occupant of the desk. His expression of shock soon turned into a glare.

"I'm so sorry!" she whispered, wishing the floor would eat her up.

Her desk mate carefully stacked her books and placed them on the seat beside him before turning to face the front of the class. She pretended to focus her attention on the syllabus, but in reality found herself caught up in replaying every way she would have chosen to redo her day, if given the opportunity, starting with more comfortable clothes and avoiding extended conversations with Jacob Black. Deep in her reverie she felt a gentle nudge on her arm from her neighbor. She looked up into deep black eyes that seemed to glow out of the rich ebony contours and angles of his face. He silently pointed his head towards the front of the class.

"Miss Swan, I am assuming you are Miss Swan as you missed roll call and have 'Swan' written on your backpack…I'm still waiting for the answer to my question," the professor said with marked irritation in his voice.

"Question, sir?" Bella responded, inwardly kicking herself for letting her thoughts wander instead of paying attention.

A muttered grumbled reply wafted from the professor before he turned to another student. "Mr. Jones, perhaps you are a willing participant in today's class?"

"Yes. The Student Learning Center," the student replied.

"Correct. Now, allow me to remind you that you do get points for participation in class so I suggest you not only come on time but come prepared to pay attention," the professor said before moving on to his next point.

Bella sat with her face burning, ready to go home as soon as possible and hide herself in her room. An hour later, the professor released the class. She fled to her car and breathed a sigh of relief as she found herself within the comforting familiarity and isolation of her car. She stared at her dashboard frog and her hula dancer and looked at herself in the mirror. She thought she could force herself to be confident and have it all together. She could only force it so long before her more natural shyness and social awkwardness emerged again. She inhaled the familiar scent of her old truck cab and slowly turned the key to encourage the engine to growl to life.

She drove home with punk rock music blaring as loud as possible from her open windows while she sang at the top of her lungs. She found she could smile again by the time she made her way home. She didn't feel quite prepared to face her family yet so snuck into her room from the back door connecting it to the driveway. She threw her backpack down on the floor and gave a little screech when she suddenly found herself enveloped in a strong hug.

"Hah! Sorry! I didn't mean to scare you, love!" Angela said as she released Bella. Angela smelled distinctly of Marie Callendar's pies and still wore her hostess uniform from her lunch shift. "I came over after I got off work so I could hear all about your big day!"

"It was…that's it. It was," Bella said before collapsing onto a bean bag chair on the floor. "I saw Mike and Eric and Jessica and Lauren."

"Fun! I'm a bit jealous. If it wasn't for how far Forks College was from my house, I'd be there too. Unfortunately, the ghetto of Los Arboles forces me into the chaos of Sharpton College," Angela said with a sigh. "While I will miss that awful commute, I will also missing hanging out with all the cool kids after class."

"I wish you were there too. That'd be awesome! We could be accomplices in trouble-just like old times!"

"Hah! I'm innocent! It's you who are the trouble-maker."

"No-I'm just the only one to get caught! You just look innocent."

"Cause I am!" Angela said, her hazel eyes full of mock innocence. She lay lazily on her stomach on the green carpet floor and waved her feet in the air behind her.

"So, I was late to my biology class and tripped and spilled my books all over a guy in my class," Bella said.

"Sounds pretty normal," Angela said and laughed. "You got detention at high school how many times for being late?"

"That wasn't my fault! My carpool was never on time which meant I arrived late regardless of what I did!"

"Sure, rebel."

"Yeah, yeah," Bella said and fell quiet.

"What are you not telling me?" Angela asked with a pointed glare.

"I talked to Jacob."

"I see. Before or after the biology incident?"

"Does it matter?"

"I don't know, does it?"

"Fine. Before," Bella said with a deep exhale. She dropped her brown eyes from Angela's and focused on the zippers of her boots instead.

"How'd it go?"

"He thinks we can still be friends. I want to be friends. I miss him terribly, but it was a lot easier being friends with him before he told me he found somebody else. It's been six months since he decided our relationship 'wasn't going anywhere' and that 'it's not like he was going to marry me' and he has every right to move on with his life…it's just…," Bella said and bit her lip as she paused.

"It's just hard to see him move on with his life because you haven't," Angela finished.

"Ugh. Yeah. The worst part is his new girlfriend is amazing. She's quirky and fun and sweet and rather plain and someone I'd love to be friends with. Now I can't be friends with her either," Bella said with a pout as she buried her face in the purple bean bag chair.

"Rather plain?" Angela asked with an eyebrow raised. She began tugging at threads in the green carpet beneath her on the floor as she looked at Bella.

"Yeah. I was hoping he'd find some drop dead gorgeous girl to replace me with so at least I could accuse him of being shallow. But he didn't. Instead he gets this super awesome girl who is just really great. I have to admit that he's not really shallow or being lame. He just didn't want me anymore and that's just hard for me to take. Then I find I keep thinking that maybe they'll break up really fast and I can accuse him of being fickle. But I honestly don't necessarily think that's going to happen either. I mean, they could end up getting married someday and I have to just deal with the fact that I really can't be friends with my ex and we aren't getting back together and he doesn't want me anymore," Bella replied.

"Do you want to be back with him?" Angela asked.

"No…yes…maybe. Ok, I don't know! I don't know what I want anymore! I mean, we were together most of high school. He was the first…the only…guy who has ever truly been interested in me and I liked being liked. But, more than that, besides you, he was my best friend. And I love his mom. That's the worst part. Now I can't see his mom whenever I like and I haven't quite forgiven him for that," Bella said before she burst into giggles. Angela chucked a pillow at her head.

"His mom? Really? These are the words of a heartbroken woman. You miss his mom? You are so over him," Angela replied.

"Well, it doesn't matter if I am over him or not, I don't have him and I don't have a choice in the matter so I need to move on. Besides, I don't need him. I've got you and my family and college group at church has some rather beautiful men in it. I intend to enjoy my freedom and enjoy this season and forget all about Jacob Black," Bella said decidedly, standing up to smooth out her outfit.

"You wore that to school? My mom wouldn't have let me out of the house like that," Angela said.

"Exactly why I have a back door so I can leave the house without being seen!" Bella responded with a grin. "That and so you can sneak into my room and give me a heart attack when I come home from school and find you here."

"Come on, let's change and go rollerblading before I have to go home."

"You got it!" Bella said.

._.._.

"I see you've accomplished your second wardrobe goal of the week," Eric said as he met Bella at her car Wednesday morning. She purposefully only scheduled Monday, Wednesday, Friday classes so she wouldn't have to drive to school as often. Besides, sleeping in on two weekdays sounded divine.

"Yes! Today is pajama day!" she said with a giggle as she smoothed out her plaid, flannel pajama pants and My Little Pony t-shirt.

"Are you going to meet up with us for dinner after class tonight?" he asked.

"Maybe. I have a night class so it depends on how long you all stay. I'll call you after I get out."

"Call me? Did you finally get a cell phone?"

"Yeah. I took all my summer earnings and finally got a phone. Jessica already gave me everyone's numbers," Bella said as she held up her black and white Nokia phone.

"Cool."

Morning classes finished. Bella determined that Jacob Black would not keep her from hanging out with her friends so she squared her shoulders and marched into the cafeteria. There, she found the same table occupied by the same little group, plus Tyler and Ben.

"So, we've been debating whether it's humanly possible to drink a gallon of milk in one sitting," Mike said to her as she sat down beside him. "Jacob says it's not possible and Tyler says it is if its skim milk and if the guy is big enough. What do you think?"

"Ummm, I'm not sure. I don't intend to put it to the test," Bella said and buried her face in her sandwich to avoid getting embroiled any further in the confrontation.

"I'll bet Emmett would be able to do it," Tyler said and pointed with his thumb behind his head at a table nearby.

"Who?" Jacob asked.

"Emmett, that big guy there. I went to high school with him and I've seen him eat. I'm pretty sure if anyone could finish off a gallon of milk, it would be him."

All eyes turned toward the table referenced where three men sat. Bella recognized one as her unfortunate, book-smashed desk mate from biology. Another, apparently Emmett, towered over the other two in height and breadth. He was also dressed the most casually in a Patriots t-shirt and sweats. Her classmate and the other man sat up straight in meticulously ironed collared shirts, khakis, and dress shoes. They were not short by any means, but they were thin, very thin, compared to Emmett's brawn and bulk. Emmett's hair hung to his ears in tight dreads while the other two kept their hair shorn close to their heads.

"Interesting trio," Jessica said. "Emmett looks like he could drink a gallon of milk and still have space for the cow. The other two look like they could use some more milk in their lives. What's their story?"

"There are a lot of stories about their family," Tyler continued. "Emmett started with my older brother the beginning of senior year. He transferred from somewhere back east. The other two are his brothers or cousins or something. I've never met them but rumor has it they come from Africa. Someone said they were like child soldiers somewhere in the bush and used to eat lions for breakfast. Someone else said they only learned to wear clothes when they got here and they used to run around in loin clothes hunting antelope all day before their parents died of AIDS and they were adopted by the Reverend's family. Someone else said the Reverend has a harem of like twelve wives back in Africa and these are all some of his kids that he pretends are his nephews."

"The Reverend? Who is that?" asked Jessica.

"They call him Reverend Cullen. He's an assistant reverend at an Episcopal church near my high school. He came a couple of years ago when his wife, she's a medical doctor or something, came to move out here for a job at one of the big hospitals in the Valley. My mom sends my little brother to science camp with Reverend Cullen sometimes in the summers," Tyler said.

"Forks College seems a little random. What brings them here?" Jessica asked.

"I don't know. I think Emmett got some kind of scholarship or something but I don't know the details. I know he played football at my high school and was a pretty cool guy. I've never seen the other two before."

"So, back to the topic at hand," Jacob interjected, calling all eyes away from the trio, "Milk challenge? Tonight at the Man Cave. Who's in?"

.-.-.

Bella made her way to biology and this time arrived early, intent on paying attention in class. She arrived before her professor and followed him in after he opened the door.

"Miss Swan."

"Dr. Banner."

Bella sat at her desk and doodled on her notebook paper while the class slowly filled with people. Soon, she heard the chair next to her scrape against the floor as freshly shined dress shoes slipped beneath the desk and she raised her eyes to meet those of her desk mate where he towered over her.

"Hi," she said with what she hoped was a welcoming and apologetic smile.

Her desk mate stared at her in silence and nodded coolly before turning towards the front of the class again. He refused to acknowledge her for the remainder of the class.

._.._.

"Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug!" could be heard as soon as Bella parked her car in the dirt lot of the Man Cave (the fond nickname given to the house shared by group of college boys who also happened to work in the youth group of their church). The dark of the mountains contrasted with the few stars she could see above her. The little house was perpetually filled with college-aged students and perpetually messy as from its busy male inhabitants who were often running between school and internships and jobs.

"He's gonna hurl! He's not gonna make it!" Ben shouted as Bella walked into the full living room. There, Tyler and Chris held upturned gallons of skim milk over their open mouths for an audience shouting cheers around them. Tyler's was nearly halfway empty and Chris' was nearly two thirds empty. Chris jumped up and ran into the bathroom where the shouts of the ten or so people in the room barely covered the sound of his vomit.

"If you win, you get bragging rights for a month! Come on, man!" Mike shouted at Tyler.

"Nah! I know when I've been beat. I don't want to see that milk again," Tyler said as he placed the gallon of milk onto the table with a groan.

"Who's ready for Halo?" Mike said. "Maybe we'll get a winner out of that!"

"Hey, I don't see you drinking any milk," Tyler said.

"Here's my contribution," Mike said, and poured himself a single glass of milk, chugged it, and put the rest of the milk into the fridge. "I choose my battles and bragging rights based on my skill level and not on tasks that are humanly impossible. Now, Halo?"

"You're on!" Ben and Eric said as they distributed themselves onto the worn couch.

"Bells, you missed pie!" Jacob shouted at her from across the room where he sat on a couch with his hands firmly entwined in Nessie's.

"Yeah, I had to go to class. Was Angela there?" Bella answered, as she tried not to dwell on their intertwined fingers.

"But of course! We would have gotten you some pie…but Chris came and…well…."

"Enough said."

"Though I suppose that was a waste seeing he just hurled everything. We should have saved it for you."

"I had cardboard pizza before my night class started. I had no need for pie. Besides, I'll make Angela bring me back pie after her next shift," Bella said and shrugged her shoulders.

"You know, Eric and I are going to apply to work there too," Mike said over his shoulder before blasting something to its death on the screen. "We could both use a job and Ang said they are hiring."

"That's great! We'll have more excuses for going for pie!" Bella replied.

"Are you still working at the mattress store?"

"Yeah, only Friday afternoons and Saturdays. It works well with my schedule and if it's slow, I can study."

"Do you ever test the mattresses? If I was surrounded by beds all days, I would nap frequently," Mike said.

"I jump on them occasionally but usually sleeping on the job is frowned upon by most employers," Bella said as she picked up one of her textbooks and skimmed her assigned reading for the week. Lauren and Jessica sat at the kitchen table giggling as they looked through a fashion magazine.

"Bella, do you want to come shopping with us tomorrow?" Jessica asked.

"Nah. That's ok. I need to catch up on my studies," Bella responded.

"Come on! It's the first week! How much homework can you possibly have?" Jessica pleaded.

"Yeah, Bella's the one who would rather do nonexistent homework than shop. She hates shopping. Don't make her come up with anymore lame excuses," Lauren said.

Bella shrugged and bit the top of her pen and pretended to be very interested in her textbook again. She could have agreed to join them. But an entire day discussing T.V. shows she didn't watch, clothes she wasn't interested in buying, and the attractiveness of actors she had no knowledge of didn't sound like her ideal way to spend the day. Her mountains were calling to her again and she couldn't think of a way she'd rather spend her day.

Author's Note: This is quite a break from the fantasy genre of my past two stories. I want to explore more the interstice between cultures and worlds in the "real world" as opposed to one of mythological creatures. However, I want to go into more the concept of "otherness" that is touched on a bit in Twilight. I am using pretend place names but am focused in Southern California instead of rural Washington.