A False New Start

My first weekend at college was definitely different than what I was used to. I had the majority of my homework finished by Friday evening which left that night and Saturday and Sunday open to hang out with the girls and Caleb. Catie had taken it upon herself to invite Caleb into our group and she seemed determined to push the two of us together no matter how much I protested that we were just friends, if that. We barely knew each other; I was more inclined to refer to the two of us as acquaintances but friends sounded politer.

Friday night, we walked around the town and just checked out what there was to do. There wasn’t much, it was a small town, but we did find a cute coffee place that had open mic nights on alternating Fridays and Saturdays. With the lack of fun things to do, Chelsea and Becky were thankful that they’d brought their cars. There was a nearby city which had at least one good club and a big mall. Saturday we actually went to the club, a first for me. I was very reluctant to go when Catie first suggested it.

“What do you have against clubs?” she asked while comparing two seemingly identical black skirts in front of the mirror.

“I don’t like the music, I don’t like dancing period, and everyone there is usually drunk and rude.”

“Dancing is fun, just ignore the music and enjoy the time with your friends, and it’s like mandatory to deal with drunks and rude people in college so why not be out somewhere fun when you have to deal with them? Come on, Bella, please? We’re not going to stay for a super long time, maybe two hours at the most. We just want to check out the place and see if it’s worth going back to. Plus, it’s just a girls’ night, I didn’t say anything to Caleb.”

That made things a little better, at least if I was forced to dance or anything, I would only look like an idiot in front of Catie, Chelsea, and Becky. I still wasn’t completely sold, though, so I pulled the clothes card.

“I don’t exactly have ‘club’ attire.”

“Not a problem,” she brightly told me, coming over and grabbing my arm. She pulled me off the bed and over to her closet. “My stuff will fit you. Do you like skirts?”

I wrinkled my nose in distaste. “No.”

“Okay, I have some…skinny jeans and oh! This shirt will look great on you. Try them on.”

I looked at the clothes in my hands, black skinny jeans and a cropped see through short-sleeved shirt. The shirt was white and lacy and I was ordered to put a black camisole underneath it. The outfit wasn’t my first choice but based on the short skirt and tight shirt Catie had donned, I was getting off pretty easily. I changed just so I could get it over with and hope Catie would drop the whole thing.

“Bella, you look good,” Catie said, sounding only mildly shocked.

I should have been offended but she was right. The clothes fit me well and were definitely different from what I usually wore. I still didn’t want to go to a club, though, no matter how good I looked.

“Can I change?”

“No! Come on, Bella. You look good and we’re going to have a great time tonight. Please come with us? If you don’t have fun then I’ll never ask you to go to a club again…well except for our twenty-first birthdays but that’s a no brainer.”

“I’m not getting drunk the day I turn twenty-one.”

“You still have a few years, maybe you’ll change your mind.” She grabbed her small purse which only held her wallet, key, and ID card and then started pulling me towards the door. “Now, you are going to show Becky and Chelsea how awesome you look, then you are going to drive to the city with us, and finally, you are going to have a kickass time with us. Understood?”

“I don’t even have shoes on!”

She huffed but allowed me to put on my own pairs of Converse which she assured me went with the outfit. I couldn’t care less if sneakers matched a club outfit. She put my things in her purse and then resumed the task of dragging me out into the hallway and over to Becky and Chelsea’s room.

“Wow, you actually got her to come?” Chelsea asked when she opened the door. She wore a tight, black mini-dress and heels. Next to her, I looked extremely underdressed. “You’re just like, Becky, she refuses to show some leg too.”

“Bitch, my boobs are popping out of this shirt!” Becky exclaimed from inside the room. “I don’t feel like being hit on by everyone tonight and if I go in a skirt, well, there’s only so much of my body that men can handle!”

We entered the room and Chelsea said, “You are so full of yourself. Can you just finish up? I’d like to get there before they close.”

“It’s barely after nine. There’s not going to be anyone there.”

“Deal with it. Grab your stuff and let’s get a move on.”

Becky put the finishing touches on her makeup and I was able to get a good look at her outfit. I thanked God that Catie had given me an outfit that covered my body. Becky hadn’t been exaggerating when she said her chest was popping out of the dress. She was big chested to begin with but the tight tube top she wore really emphasized her bust. She’d styled her long blonde hair in loose curls and had put some makeup on around her eyes. Chelsea hadn’t done much besides dress up. I was definitely the least dolled up between the four of us and I was completely fine with that.

It took about twenty minutes to drive over to Pulse which, despite what Becky had said, already had a line snaking from the door. It took nearly twenty minutes for us to actually get inside. Even from our place outside of the building, the faint sound of loud, thumping music was audible. A few people were standing outside smoking and my nose crinkled at the scent.

Inside the building was just as I had imagined it would be. The music was so loud that I had to shout to be heard. It was also extremely crowded; I kept my hand linked with Catie’s the whole time for fear that we would be separated. I was forced onto the dance floor and at first I resisted, dancing still wasn’t my thing, but after a little bit of watching my friends having so much fun, I slowly joined in. It wasn’t the most enjoyable thing ever but I did have some fun. I decided that maybe going to the club every so often wouldn’t be terrible but it definitely wasn’t going to be an every week occurrence and no way was I taking part in Thirsty Thursday.

I ended up sleeping until almost noon on Sunday. We hadn’t stayed at the club too late but then afterwards, we had Becky and Chelsea over in our room for a few hours. I had a feeling that late nights would become a new habit for me. I don’t think I’d gone to bed before midnight since I got to school, it was a good thing I didn’t have any eight AMs. I was dreading when I would have to pull all nighters; coffee would probably become my new best friend.

Sunday was mostly a lazy day. Catie had some homework she had to do, one of her professors had already assigned a paper much to her chagrin, so I spent the day with Caleb. He had come by around two to see if I was up for grabbing a coffee and then we went to dinner with Chelsea at five. It was nice to be able to just hang out with Caleb and talk. He was a really good listener, so good in fact that I felt like I was monopolizing the conversation. He assured me that I wasn’t, though, but I let him talk more.

The best part of Sunday occurred around seven when I came back from my shower. I was in the process of brushing my hair when my phone lit up on my desk. Catie had gone over to the dining hall to grab a quick bite to eat so I didn’t have to worry about leaving the room to take the call.

“Hello?” I said, I hadn’t bothered to check the caller ID.

“Hey, Bells,” Jacob’s tired voice crackled through the bad reception.

“Jake! Hey! How’ve you been? I called the other day but you were out.”

“I heard, sorry it’s taken me so long to call back. Sam’s had us running longer patrols.”

That was concerning. I thought they only did that when there was a treat. “Is something wrong?”

“It’s nothing really. Embry was out the other day and caught the scent of a bloodsucker. We haven’t seen any around but that doesn’t mean whoever it was won’t pass through again. We’re just going to stay on our guard for the time being.”

“Oh, well…stay safe.”

He chuckled. “Don’t worry about me, Bella, I can take care of myself. How’re you doing? Is college everything you hoped and dreamed it would be?”

I felt guilty as I told him about Middlebury but omitted the most important part, the vampires. He was sure to find out, especially if Alice’s scent clung to me when I came home. “It’s great, I’ve made a few friends and the classes are fine at the moment. Of course, I haven’t been assigned any papers or projects yet. I’m sure once that starts happening, I’ll change my tune. How’s everything with you minus the wolf thing? Do you like senior year?”

The shrug in his voice was practically audible. “It’s school, I’d rather be out running patrol instead. But I just have to get through the next nine months and then I’m out of there.”

“Don’t hold back your love of school, Jake,” I laughed. “Promise you won’t drop out to just be a wolf all day.”

He huffed. “Man, you and my dad are on the same wavelength. He had me promise the same thing over the summer because I was complaining so much.”

“I didn’t hear anything assuring in what you just said.”

“I promise,” he sighed a few seconds later. “I won’t be too happy about it but I’ll stick out the year.”

I smiled, I had truly been worried for a moment. It was obvious how much he preferred being outside in his wolf form instead of inside, learning about things that he would never use again. If given the choice, I didn’t doubt that he would leave school, it just wasn’t his top priority at the moment.

“I’m going to head out,” he said after a short silence. “I have to run patrols tonight so I should get some sleep.”

“Don’t tire yourself out too much,” I warned, sounding like a mother. “The last thing you need is to turn into a zombie.”

“I’ll be fine. Talk to you later, Bells. I’ll try to call you sometime this week.”

“Okay,” I quietly said, upset that our time was cut short. We had been virtually inseparable during the summer and now all we had time for was a short conversation after days of not speaking. “Call me anytime. Bye.”

I was a little grumpy after I hung up with Jacob even though it wasn’t his fault. We both had different lives now, he had a responsibility to do and I couldn’t count on him being able to talk to me whenever I wanted. This was all a part of growing up but after we stopped talking all I wished for was that we could go back to the past few months when it was just the two of us, hanging out in the garage or down at the beach.

I must have had a sour look on my face after the call ended because when Catie came in from her shower, she asked me what was wrong.

“Just wishing some things were different,” I told her, not bothering to elaborate anymore. I kept to myself for the rest of the night. I was acting childish but at the moment, I just wanted a hug from my best friend. Too bad I wouldn’t see him for a few months. College was so great.