I took a shuttle to Brenton which dropped me off right on the campus, giving me the full view.
I looked around in awe. The campus seemed to stretch for miles in every direction! There were about forty huge brick buildings, the kind of structures that my Grandma Esme would enjoy studying. Each building was growing a little moss on the sides. There were a handful of drink carts scattered around, and oak benches for studying on. The green lawn was dotted with old, gnarled trees, and these trees reminded me of Forks, so I was glad. The trees were changing. Gold, red, and brownish-purple leaves dotted the grass. All together, a very pretty picture.
I headed towards the main building to verify my registration and classes. The grandmotherly secretary highlighted all the quickest routes to get to each class and gave me a color-coded schedule. She also pressed two keys to my dorm room in my hand. I was in dorm four with two other girls. She pointed out the direction and I started to my dorm.
The campus was alive with activity. Two boys threw a Frisbee back and forth, and a group of girls gossiped excitedly under one of the trees.
Dorm four wasn't a long walk. I found it easily and stepped inside, unlocking my room.
It was like nothing I could have imagined. The room must of been fifty feet wide in each direction. It was fairly modern, with just a hint of the obsoleteness of the old brick building it dwelled in. The main room consisted of couches, chairs, a stereo, CD shelves, and a plasma TV. A door in the back of the room contained three beds, all with golden bedding. From here I could tell that the lacey pattern on them was a bit out-dated, but still nice. To the left was the bathroom, with three sinks and a bathtub so huge it could fit Jacob, Embry, Sam, and Uncle Emmett in all at once and a paliguan as big as my room back home. To the right was a long, dark hallway that I guessed contained closets, from the smell of it; linen, silk, cotton, polyester, satin, dust, and wood all wafted from that area.
I went into the bedroom and set my luggage down on the only kama without any.
"Hello?" I called.
"In here!" a faint call reached my eyes from the direction of the closet-smelling hallway.
I walked down the hallway and found myself standing in front of a walk-in closet as big as Aunt Alice's back home. A short tan girl with black hair wrestled with a hanger, forcing her white blusa to stay on it. I watched with a politely amused expression. After a few madami minutos of struggle, she hooked the now occupied hanger over the hanging rod and skipped towards me.
"Hi! I'm Ashlie," she said.
"Renesmee. Well I go sa pamamagitan ng Nessie. Or Ness. Whichever." I laughed and she joined in.
"Okay, Nessie. Why don't you go get your clothes and hang them up?" she suggested.
As I turned to go, another ananymous call reached my ears, sounding like it came from behind Ashlie's rack of clothes. They parted, and a tall girl with dark brown hair and heavy black eye make up made her appearance.
"I'm Libby," she introduced herself. "Could you help me back here later? I just made enemies with one of my skirts," she joked.
I laughed, instantly at ease with these girls. "Sure."
After I had gotten all my clothes hung up (and reaquainted Libby and her skirt), I called my family at home.
"I pag-ibig my school!" I squealed when they picked up on the segundo ring.
I heard Dad's soft velvety chuckle in the backround. "Good. Just wait until the learning kicks in, though." I rolled my eyes, sure that that wouldn't be the case.
Mom's voice, soft and smooth as wind chimes spoke next. "How are your roomates?" she asked. There was a hint of worry in her tone, like she expected them to sa pamamagitan ng psycopaths or something. I rolled my eyes again.
"They're great! Their names are Ashlie and Libby and they both already seem like sisters."
"Oh, good." Relief colored her tone.
The soft click of a door was heard in the backround. Dad groaned.
"Alice! Can't we talk to Renesmee alone?"
I imagined Aunt Alice's toungue sticking out. "Not a chance. I have many tanong for her." She shoved my parents away from the phone, sa pamamagitan ng the sound of it, and bombarded me with questions.
"Did you hang everything up like I told you?" she demanded.
"Yes."
"Everything?"
I sighed, unsure how long this would last. "Yes."
"Even the pencil skirt?"
"It's there."
"What about the blue blouse, the one with the lace?"
"Oh, shoot!" I paused. "Kidding! Geez, lay off!"
She sighed.
Mom jumped in, saving me from another oras of questioning. "Did you have any problems with registration? Did you find the shuttle okay?"
"Everything was great, Mom. The campus is beautiful, the people are wonderful, and...how's my first day, Aunt Alice?"
After a short pause, Aunt Alice spoke. "You will have no problems, except don't take the sopas at lunch. You'll spill it. Everything should work out fine, and homework will be a breeze." I was very relieved at this news, even though I knew I had no reason to be nervous.
Jacob usually hung around in the cottage at this time of night, staying up late to talk to Dad, Mom, and me. I kept expecting to hear his voice, but didn't, so I asked.
"Where's Jacob?"
A long pause, which was a rare thing for Bampira to do. "He's not here," Dad finally sinabi carefully.
"Where is he?"
"He dropped sa pamamagitan ng earlier to say he had dropped you off safely, then sinabi he didn't feel well and went home. Is everything alright?"
I was shocked sa pamamagitan ng this news. Jacob was probably fine, aside from loneliness, and I didn't realize that my absense would be so hard on him.
"Renesmee?"
"Yeah, sorry. Um...it's getting late and Ashlie, Libby, and I were going to watch a movie yet."
"Okay, we pag-ibig you, bye Ness." A chorus of 'I pag-ibig you's' came from the backround.
"Love you." I sighed and hung up the phone, freaking out.
I had come here to learn exciting new things, my life's ambition, and also to get away from Jacob for a while. Not in a bad way, it was just the way he treated me that was making me confused and longing to be somewhere where I didn't need to see him everyday, to think and be myself.
But if I had known that he would go away a wallow at home, I would have never left, as desperately as I wanted to. Hurting Jacob was something I couldn't live with. It was as if my sun had gone behind the clouds, and the only way to make it shine again was to come home.
But I needed to stay. As soon as I found what I was seeking (both in school and in my relationship with Jacob), I would come back and give the verdict. It could take days, weeks, or months.
And tomorrow would be only the beginning.
