Chapter Text
The dorm looked intimidating to Rex as he entered. He was a new sophomore to the school, and had had been gifted a scholarship to Ardinach Calvanic Prep School that was given to one lucky child from a small, poor town each year. Of course the child had to meet high academic standards, and Rex had been consistently surpassing the expectations of a poor small town boy. Coming to this school would surely be an interesting experience, but the teen could not help but worry.
The anxious boy stumbled up the stairs to find where he was going to live for the next few years. He was too scared to talk to anyone, since he had not been in a setting this large before.
After a solid hour of searching for his room, Rex found it with the help of a few upper class men.
“Hello” said a peaceful voice as the door opened. “I am Niall Ardinach, What’s your name?”
Shite! He’s the grandson of Headmaster Hugo Ardinach. And he’s my roommate.
“I-I’m R-rex” he said. “It’s nice to m-meet you.”
“Likewise,” responded Niall. “I can help you unpack if you want.”
Rex had been lugging around all of these bags all day, but he viewed himself as almost lower than his roommate, yet Niall felt no superiority over him. Reluctantly, Rex accepted the help, but still did most of the work.
Rex had just finished unpacking in his new room, and meeting his roommate, as well as the upperclassmen in his dorm. The one who stood out to him the most was the person he met at the entrance of the dorm and showed him to his room, a tall, muscular, and goofy senior named Zeke Von Genbu, a young man from a fairly wealthy background. Rex was fairly muscular himself, but that was due to him working his entire life. Salvaging, lifting barrels, and at the age of fifteen, taking part in the village’s militia. Zeke on the other hand, was muscular due to him working out his entire life. Deep sea diving, lifting weights, and by the age of fifteen, winning the national high school wrestling championships. They came from very different socioeconomic backgrounds as well. Rex was a poor village boy, who had to stand out far in front of his competition to be recognized by the school. Zeke was from a rich family, famous and well recognized across the land. Despite this, the was no enmity between them.
“Rex, was it?” Asked Zeke, having already forgotten his new friend’s name. “Have you gotten your supplies all set?”
“I’ll go over to the library soon and get everything done.” said the Sophomore. “T-thanks for your help!”
“Not a problem, chum!” replied the Senior. Zeke walked off to go to his room, and then immediately ran into a wall.
Before he headed over to the school, Rex decided to go to his room to take a nap. He had been up for the past day getting here and wanted to relax. Thankfully, everything was going smoothly. His roommate was quite calm and tranquil. He didn’t seem arrogant at all, contrary to the stereotype he had been taught at the village. At the moment Niall was speaking with his cousin, Mòrag Ladair, a prominent senior in the school, at the cafeteria. Slowly, Rex dosed off, finally sleeping after a long day, and hoping that he would be awake in time to get his books.
Around an hour later, he woke up to Niall putting his stuff on his bed. A heavy book bounced of the bed and on to the floor, causing a small thud.
“I apologize if I awoke you, Rex” said Niall.
“No, it’s fine” responded the new kid. “I need to get down to the library anyway. You have any idea how to get there?”
“It’s right across from our building” Niall answered. “Right over there.”
“Thank you!” said Rex. “I should be gettin over there now.”
“You’re welcome” replied Niall.
The teen trotted off to the library and went down to get his books. He had walked up and down more stairs in this one day than in his entire life. The scenery was quite different from what he had seen in the village. Very few times had the boy ventured out of his village, so naturally, he felt inclined to explore. Nevertheless, he had tasks to accomplish, and this was not one of them.
The Library was fairly easy to locate, as Niall said. As soon as he entered, he saw shelves and shelves of books, a sight so grand to him that he could hardly breathe. Timidly, he walked to the front desk, and saw no one there. Perhaps he should’ve arrived sooner. He then noticed a figure on a ladder extending at least 20 feet above. As she came down from the high surface, the teen approached her. She was tall, or at least taller than him, which didn’t say much, and she was quite pretty as well. She had short red hair, extending to the end of her neck, and large ruby eyes, covered with a pair of black glasses. She wore a red sweater with black leggings for clothing, and emerald green earrings and a gold tiara for jewelry.
“Excuse me, Miss?” pardoned Rex, barely able to shove his words to out with no stuttering.
The girl blushed. Was her sister right? Maybe volunteering at the library all day for community service made her seem like an adult. In all honesty, she wouldn’t mind being out of high school. Having finally reached her junior year in high school, everything had gone by so slowly. But soon, she would be done. As for this child, maybe he was a middle schooler here on a trip? The field trips generally didn’t happen until October, but this would explain why she was being called “Miss”.
“Hey buddy, are you lost?” asked the Junior as the “middle schooler’s” entire face turned red in embarrassment. “Do you need help finding your class or did they already leave the campus?”
Alas, small stature had gotten the best of him again. This would be a difficult situation to squeeze himself out of.
“I, uh,” began Rex. “Actually, I’m a student here, Miss, a sophomore.”
The red-haired high school girl covered her mouth with both hands, mortified at what she had said.
“I’m so sorry!” she exclaimed.
“No it’s okay, I get it a lot mi—”
“I’m uh, also a student here” she explained. “You don’t need to call me Miss. I’m really only a year older than you.”
“Oh, I’m sorry” said the teenager. “I saw you helping out here, and I thought you were some sort of teacher. B-but, It’s not that you look old or anything. You uh-”
This had made both of them become quite flustered. It would be better to just start over again.
“It’s okay” assured the girl. “My name is Pyra, what’s yours?”
“My name's Rex,” he answered as he extended his hand and shook her’s. “It’s a pleasure to meet you!”
“It’s lovely to meet you, too” said Pyra, “I remember your name. You’re the one who won the scholarship. Fonsett village, right?”
“Yeah,” answered Rex. “It’s a small village, but it's thanks to them that I was able to get here.”
“I’ve never lived somewhere that small,” confessed the red-head. “But I wish I could.”
A hint of sadness was present in her voice, so Rex thought that it may be better to change the subject. What was so special about a small village anyway? Maybe that just wasn’t his business.
“Anyway, did you come here for your laptop?” asked Pyra, seemingly trying to change the topic.
“Laptop?” repeated Rex in question.
“Well, what did you think we would use? Books?” inquired the girl.
“Well, yeah.” answered the boy. “I’m not very experienced with computers. There isn’t really much technology in our town.”
“Oh, uh, I can help you set it up tomorrow, if you want” offered the redhead. “It’s not too hard to set up.”
“Sure, I don’t think I could set it up on my own,” said Rex. “Thanks!”
“You’re welcome” responded the redhead. “I think we should both be heading out. Truthfully, I promised the Librarian that I would be out 3 hours ago, I guess I just love books.”
Reading was about all Rex had had for his entire life. Using the computer was a rare occurrence for him. While he wasn’t too crazy about reading, his aunt was a firm believer in reading. Rex had dabbled in drawing but reading and writing weren’t too interesting to him. But, he still felt that he would be able to talk to her about this, since writing and drawing shared similarities.
“Well, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow” said the boy.
“Goodnight, Rex,” said Pyra. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
As the two walked out the library doors, they waved each other goodbye. Rex walked back to his dorm, as Pyra walked back to her apartment on campus. It only took her about five minutes to get back home. As she opened her door, she saw her older sister relaxing on the couch. She had long blonde hair and was wearing a white sweatshirt with sweatpants.
“Out late at the library again?” asked Mythra. “It’s seven at night!”
“I-I’m sorry” said Pyra as she searched for an excuse. “I uh, got wrapped up in a conversation.”
“Well then, who was it?” she inquired.
“His name was Rex” answered Pyra. “He was quite kind. I mistook him for a middle schooler, and he mistook me for a teacher. He was the sophomore who won the scholarship. I’m going to help him set his computer up tomorrow, he didn’t use them often in his home town. Uh, If that’s okay.”
“Fine” said the blonde.
“I’m meeting him at the library tomorrow morning,” said Pyra. “Thanks!
Pyra headed to her room before Mythra could tell her otherwise. She had few chances to ever interact with anyone, as she usually kept to herself in the library or in her room, reading a book. The older sister often questioned whether she was right to be this protective of her. On one hand, she had only a few interactions on a daily, or even weekly basis. On the other hand, so much had happened to her in only 16 years, and she didn’t want any more suffering to be inflicted upon her. Mythra only longed for happiness for her younger sister. But she would be fine at the library, right? After all, she wouldn’t be alone with this “Rex”.
Pyra had a habit of reading a book each night before bed, and had built up quite a collection over the years. Her personal library astonished the rare guest to her house. Even then their guests were usually the same two people: Mòrag Ladair, and Brighid Ignicae. Every year they went to the school, they were class president and vice class president for their grade. She didn’t mind seeing either of them, in fact she enjoyed it. She had spent so much of her time confined in solitude, with few interactions, so she enjoyed what little she could get. On a few occasions Zeke von Genbu, and his girlfriend Pandoria Fulger came over to visit as well, usually only to her satisfaction and not Mythra’s. But tomorrow, she would get to interact with someone new, an even rarer occurrence. The fact that this friend was a boy was more unlikely than Mythra cooking something passable.
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Rex finally arrived back to his room, only to find Niall sound asleep. The boy treaded carefully, as to not wake him up, and was able to lay down quietly. It wasn’t too late, and he had already had a nap, but Rex was tired after a long day. He had been fortunate to have made three new friends today, as it was very uncommon for someone new to come into his hometown. Few even knew it existed, He enjoyed talking to his new friends, and was eager to see them again especially the ruby haired one he had met in the library. The teen fell asleep, assured that he would get along well here.