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174awhileIt wasn't going to be as easy as climbing through a second-story bedroom window. And it had nothing to do with the fact that Bella now lived on the third floor of the University of Alaska Southeast's residence hall.
Height was far from the issue.
It was that Bella now had something she didn't have when she'd lived at Charlie's house back in Forks: a roommate.
He'd spent most of the first day of classes tuning out as much as possible; the introductions, the syllabuses, and the gung-ho professors who'd wanted to dive right into the semester's material - all of it became background noise. He'd heard it many times over. It varied little from the high school routine (and he had attended college a few times, though never for more than a year or two. He couldn't get away with more than that). He did make the obligatory effort to listen for any signs that anyone suspected he was anything but an ordinary freshman. The ones who did take any notice of him quickly got swept up in their new-found student life and didn't give him a second thought.
So far, so good. But none of that helped his predicament, what he'd spent most of the day worrying about instead of paying attention.
The roommate was going to notice him eventually, because he had every intention of continuing his nightly routine of watching over Bella while she slept. He would be discrete about it, of course. No one would ever see him enter or leave the residence hall at unsavory hours of the night or day. But as long as he didn't know the roommate, how often they would be in the dorm or what their sleeping patterns were... He would have to take precautions, the first of which were to only enter the dorm after the roommate had fallen asleep. He'd told Bella not to wait up for him, should the roommate be a night owl. He promised he would be there as soon as he was able - if that was an acceptable arrangement to her. She could choose to sleep without him by her side, if she wished. And he had made that option perfectly clear. College was a time for new beginnings. Maybe that would be one of them. Although he hoped not. He didn't want to miss out on the sleep talk.
So. In the meantime, while he waited for her signal - if she gave one, and if she chose not to, he would wait all night in case she changed her mind - he camped out in a small cluster of nearby trees, trying to keep tabs on the roommate's thoughts. The sooner he became acquainted with their mind, the easier it would be to pick out, which would surely come in handy in the following months that comprised the semester. Bella's first semester of college. He couldn't help smiling at the thought.
Height was far from the issue.
It was that Bella now had something she didn't have when she'd lived at Charlie's house back in Forks: a roommate.
He'd spent most of the first day of classes tuning out as much as possible; the introductions, the syllabuses, and the gung-ho professors who'd wanted to dive right into the semester's material - all of it became background noise. He'd heard it many times over. It varied little from the high school routine (and he had attended college a few times, though never for more than a year or two. He couldn't get away with more than that). He did make the obligatory effort to listen for any signs that anyone suspected he was anything but an ordinary freshman. The ones who did take any notice of him quickly got swept up in their new-found student life and didn't give him a second thought.
So far, so good. But none of that helped his predicament, what he'd spent most of the day worrying about instead of paying attention.
The roommate was going to notice him eventually, because he had every intention of continuing his nightly routine of watching over Bella while she slept. He would be discrete about it, of course. No one would ever see him enter or leave the residence hall at unsavory hours of the night or day. But as long as he didn't know the roommate, how often they would be in the dorm or what their sleeping patterns were... He would have to take precautions, the first of which were to only enter the dorm after the roommate had fallen asleep. He'd told Bella not to wait up for him, should the roommate be a night owl. He promised he would be there as soon as he was able - if that was an acceptable arrangement to her. She could choose to sleep without him by her side, if she wished. And he had made that option perfectly clear. College was a time for new beginnings. Maybe that would be one of them. Although he hoped not. He didn't want to miss out on the sleep talk.
So. In the meantime, while he waited for her signal - if she gave one, and if she chose not to, he would wait all night in case she changed her mind - he camped out in a small cluster of nearby trees, trying to keep tabs on the roommate's thoughts. The sooner he became acquainted with their mind, the easier it would be to pick out, which would surely come in handy in the following months that comprised the semester. Bella's first semester of college. He couldn't help smiling at the thought.
