A/N: They all belong to Stephanie Meyer. The plot of this story belongs to me.

It's hot as hell. My tank top is sticking to my back and the hot breeze blowing on my legs does nothing to cool my skin.
I'm sticky, sitting on the porch of the home I grew up in. I see the heat shimmering off of the driveway. The ice has completely melted in my drink, turning my iced tea into a totally non-refreshing, watered-down brown liquid. It's hot, and I'm becoming increasingly cranky... and nervous.

This is the last day I will spend here.
I've spent this last summer before college trying my best to do as little as possible, and I have been successful.
I happily worked as a lifeguard at the local pool. Sitting lazily in the exaggerated chair, twirling my whistle around my index and middle fingers, the sun reflecting off my Ray Ban aviators, yelling at middle school kids to "stay off the ropes".
That's how I have spent my days.

My nights have consisted of driving around, drinking and smoking with my high school friends, whom I will soon be saying goodbye to. This honestly isn't disappointing me. I have never felt right here in Phoenix. I've always been on the outside looking in.
The heat, the desert; this life has never suited me.

Part of me has always yearned for the something greener, fresher. The changing seasons of the Northeast. The farms, the mountains, and of course New York City. My mother Renee brought me there at Christmas-time when I was 9 years old and I completely fell in love.

The smell of hot dogs and chestnuts wafting from the street carts…grumpy people pushing their way past you, cursing you if you walk too slowly. Everyone always going somewhere, doing something, looking for someone...finding what they're looking for.

So, when it came time to apply for college, my choices were all in the New York area. My passion has always been literature, but I haven't decided what I want to do with that passion. Thinking that I will someday write, or teach, I applied to several schools with Literature Study programs. NYU was my obvious first choice, but it was too much of a financial burden for my mother. I also applied to The New School, but didn't get in. So, I am now headed to my third choice, a state school in Westchester County.

I'm hoping that Mount Mamaroneck will be the next best thing to actually living in Manhattan. Taking the train a half an hour into the city is a hell of a lot closer than living in Phoenix.

Mount Mamaroneck College has a "Freshmen Friend" program that hooks freshmen up with sophomores who are supposed to show you the ropes or whatever. This concept horrified me, until I got my first email from Alice.

She and I have written back and forth all summer and talked on the phone once. We hit it off immediately. We both love books, indie rock music, beer, and cheesy 80's movies.
Alice is from New York City, originally. Her father, Carlisle, works at the Guggenheim museum and is in charge of acquiring and organizing the exhibitions presented there, so naturally Alice fell in love with the arts. According to Alice, Mount Mamaroneck is "a hidden gem" as far as their arts department is concerned.
Although Alice is wealthy and could really go anywhere, she was drawn to "Mount M." because of a particular professor.
Jasper Whitlock, a visionary sculptor, studied at Mount M and has returned there to teach, to "give back". Alice could not resist the opportunity to study under him, as sculpture is her passion. It also sounds like she has an enormous crush on him. The "old sexy professor" thing doesn't do it for me, but to each her own.

So tomorrow morning I get on a plane and leave the searing August heat of Phoenix for the late summer breezes of New York State.

I will miss my mother terribly. It has just been her and I since my father died, but she has her sister Rosalie, and her friends are here and I know she'll be fine. I can't take care of her forever.

I'll miss my friends a little. My best friend Jessica and I are close, but despite the fact that we've grown up together, I have never really felt that she got me. She's a sweet, supportive person... but she's a cheer leader, and the only books she has ever read in her life were required for school.

I felt closer to Alice after a few emails than I have felt to Jessica in my entire life.
Luckily...and sadly, I leave no boyfriend behind. I've dated, but in Phoenix all there seem to be are jocks I've met at school or the pool. I have never felt a connection beyond having the same taste in beer and enjoying a late night swim. No guy has ever really seen me. No guy has ever seen beyond my physical appearance, into my mind, my soul...my heart. Which is why I'm still a virgin at 18 years old.
I'm ready to go. I want this change. I want this move to be good for me. I want to find myself, my passion, my reason.
I want to finally be able to be myself, to be Bella.

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