Chapter Text
A new day with a new path just waiting to walked upon. College used to be something one just had to complete in order to achieve greatness with a piece of decorative paper to prove it; nowadays, certain people really do see it as an option—a choice, one could say.
“Man… This place is really huge. I could get lost here easily—Nn—there are so many people here…” Kelly groaned under her breath as she stared at the people walking throughout the student parking lot and onto campus.
Kelly was a rather shy young woman and normally kept to herself with a small group of friends she talked to through social media or chat apps on her phone. She couldn't survive without her phone in her hand, because people over the internet were easier to deal with and they couldn’t see her physically. That was another thing that made her nervous… Kelly was always a tad self-conscious of her appearance. She wasn't skinny by any means, but she always thought to herself that her extra pudge was just “more to love,” or “made her the best at cuddling.”
…
Kelly was trying to find an excuse to not leave the sanctuary that was her little hatchback car, but she’d made it this far. all she had to do was take this one step at a time…go to the main office to pick up her orientation packet, grab the keys to her dorm, and get settled in. Easy-peezy, lemon-squeezy.
…
…
…
Kelly felt like she was going to vomit her heart out.
It took about a good 30 minutes to convince herself to just to head out of the car, strap on her “Black Butler" carrier bag and head out on campus. She was on a mission and made sure not to make eye contact and focus on her steps, breathing and chanting in her head repeatedly on what she needs to finish for today. Once she made it to the building, it looked rather immaculate with posters of current and upcoming events, snippets of new articles and trophies displayed along the walls along with a big cafeteria.
“Is this the right…?” She takes out her phone and opens up her email to look at the PDF of the college campus map. “Oh. Second floor… Sweet, there's an elevator, too.”
After stepping onto and off of the elevator, she arrived at the front desk to talk to the receptionist.
“Hello! How can I help you today?” The young man asks while putting away a folder.
“Uh, yes! I’m new on campus and my email said that I can pick up my orientation package along with the keys to my dorm?” Kelly says with a crooked grin, already gripping the sash of her backpack.
“Oh, well, welcome to our campus here! I'm sure you'll enjoy it a lot! Come, come! Follow me so we can get you all set up.” The receptionist chirped as he set up his “Sorry We Missed You!” sign on his desk and walked off with Kelly following close behind.
“So, there are a couple of things we like to inform new students of…” He started. “This college is home to not only human students and staff, but monsters as well, which is pretty rare, even though monsters have walked among us since… I think, like, 2 years give or take? Anyway, yeah, our college is one of the few that like to mix and mingle and things have been peaceful, for the most part.”
“Really? Huh… Surprises me since we as a human race just likes to hate on everything…” Kelly said, eyes falling to study her shoes.
“It isn't perfect, because we do have our fair share of problems with monster hate groups or campus fights. However, the founder of the college made sure that this college takes privacy and security seriously and all the information on that subject is provided to you in your orientation package.” The receptionist explained and opened the door to a big office with several boxes cluttering the room. “Pardon the mess. First and last name?”
“Oh, uh, it would be under ‘Julia’—um, h-here’s my driver's license.” Kelly pulled out her wallet and showed her license to him. A few seconds later, the receptionist hands her a thick folder and two keys.
“There you are! Looks like you're all set! If you have any other questions, feel free to come back here. We're open until 6pm, but I practically live here. It was nice meeting you!” The receptionist gave a final smile and waved at Kelly who gives a short nod and went on her way.
It turned out that the dorm area was a bit of a drive to the opposite side of campus, but thankfully there was assigned parking and she was lucky enough to get a room on the 3rd floor blessed with an elevator.
“Thank Gods, I didn't want to carry a mini fridge up 3 flights of stairs—”
“What do you think you're doing here, monster?” A voiced hissed not too far away.
“You think just because you guys just waltz up out from the mountain, you can just do whatever you want? Fuck outta here with that!” Another voice yelled.
Kelly didn't know what was going on, but it didn't sound good. She followed the voices and turned a corner to see two men and one monster. Upon further inspection, it really was a real life monster—a skeleton monster with a blue bandana, a shirt with “RAD DUDE" written on it and a pair of jeans. The poor dear looked stressed out.
Kelly wasn't a fighter by any means…Well, she's be lying. She knew how to fight, but preferred not to raise a fist. Kelly also knew that she shouldn't stick her nose where it didn't belong, but let's go 2 for 2.
“HEY! What do you think you're doing?” Kelly yells. What the hell is she doing?
“’Ey, mind your business, bitch!” One of the guys yelled, glaring at Kelly.
“Fuck you! I'm making it my business!” Seriously, Kelly, whatthehellareyoudoing? “You're harassing a monster just because? If they're a student or staff member, they have every right to be here!”
“You one of those monster fuckers, aren't you? Cuz no real man would fuck a fat bitch like you? Ain't gonna do shit.” Another guy nodded to someone else in the group, and they began circling in on her.
Kelly took a few steps back, reaching for her phone and tapping around on the screen. “Last warning. I already alerted campus security.” Kelly uses her other hand and quickly pulls out her tazer gun, turning it on and letting the electric spark crackle and pop. The two guys backed up.
“Fuckin' crazy bitch ain't playin'. Fuck this shit, man.” The man said, the others turning away with him to leave..
…
Kelly carefully leaned back against the wall and slowly slid down, making a strained noise. What did she do? WHAT THE HELL DID SHE JUST DO?! Why didn't she keep walking? Mind her own business? She didn't even know this monster, just went gung-ho and just opened her mouth before her brain caught up with her. Stupid, stupid, stupid…
Uneasy footsteps approaching her startled her from her thoughts. What if one of those thugs came back for more? She didn’t think she had it in her to deal with more idiots, her antisocial senses were tingling…
“ER…H-HELLO.” A timid voice squeaked out from above her. She chanced a glance up a the source. The skeleton that was being heckled stared back at her with bright eye lights. His fingers wove together, boot tapping nervously on the ground. No wonder he wasn’t standing up for himself, he was as shaken as she would have been had she been in his position.
“Um. Hi.” Kelly replied, hand twitching around her phone out of habit. She wanted to dart back to her room to hide until orientation later that evening. No people to bother her, no conflict, no talking…
“TH-THANK YOU FOR DEFENDING ME IN MY TIME OF NEED.” The skeleton stated, gaining a little confidence in himself. “THE MAGNIFICENT BLUE SHALL NOT LET YOUR GOOD DEED GO UNNOTICED!” He stated, putting his hands on his hips, and if she didn’t know any better, it almost looked like he was striking a pose.
…did he just refer to himself in the third person? Talk about adorable.
“Blue, huh? I’m Kelly.” Before the last syllable left her lips, his hand had darted out and vigorously shook her own hand, phone falling onto the ground with a muffled clack. Blue took notice of the small device and snatched it from the ground before she could fathom that she just shook hands with a skeleton.
Kelly could feel the sweat bead at her forehead. Her discomfort skyrocketed. Did he know it was rude to look through people’s phones without permission? Was he going through her phone? What if he found—oh no, please don’t find that, don’t look there, oh stars above don’t—
“THERE!” He handed her phone out to her triumphantly, and she was more than happy to swipe it away from him and curl around it protectively.
“What did you do to my phone?” She asked, suspicious of such an innocent smile.
“I MERELY ENHANCED IT BY ADDING MY OWN PHONE NUMBER TO IT! MWEH HEH HEH!” Blue grinned widely and crossed his arms. She blinked and turned the screen on. There it was, sitting in the text box. There wasn’t a name written above it just yet… You typed in Blue and made a note to change it later when the occasion came up.
“Thank the gods for these digital capabilities.” She couldn’t help but let out a short giggle. Blue’s face fell, and he stared in disbelief at you.
“WAS…HUMAN, PLEASE TELL ME THAT WAS NOT A PUN.”
“I’m pretty sure it was.”
He took a few steps back, raring to run off. “I WILL ALLOW YOU THAT ONE PUN! NO MORE! MY BROTHER PLAGUES MY LIFE WITH THEM ENOUGH!” Oh, so he had a brother? She wondered vaguely what he was like. She couldn’t imagine someone else with more boundless energy than Blue. “WITH THAT, I MUST FINISH PREPARATIONS FOR MY LIVING QUARTERS! GOODBYE, HUMAN!” The skeleton turned and sprinted away.
She was pretty sure she told him her name was Kelly, not Human. But she’d let it slide just this once.
*
Kelly retreated back to her dorm rather quickly, striving to avoid eye contact with anyone that looked her way. As soon as the door shut behind her, she slid the lock into place and breathed deeply in relief. Thank the stars she could finally be alone with her thoughts…
Going outside…not on my list of favorite things to do.
With that status update sent, she tucked her phone away once more and eyed the room around her. Boxes everywhere, no blankets on the bed, no decoration. All of the clutter made the room claustrophobic. That wouldn’t do. She stretched her arms to the ceiling, the quiet popping and calm burn of stiffness being stretched out was quite relaxing.
Time to get to work.
*
The sky was painted a burnt tangerine by the time she looked out the window long enough to register what time it was. She peeked at her phone, then glanced around. Well, her room looked…inhabited, to say the least. Her bed was set up, posters on the walls, desk set up, boxes stacked on one another to be opened some other time. It was a win in her book! Her stomach snarled in protest of doing much more, she ran her fingers through her hair and sat on her bed. She’d unpacked some of her kitchen things, most of her food…what sounded good, even? She glanced around her counter full of food and settled on a particularly appetizing-looking can.
You couldn’t go wrong with raviolis, right?
She pushed herself to her feet, hobbling over into the kitchen and fiddling with the can opener. The lid gave a satisfying crack, coming off in one piece. A quick pour into a bowl, and she popped it into the microwave and waited.
Kelly frowned when muffled scratching came from her door. Was someone’s cat already loose? From the sound of the claws, maybe a small dog. She peeked through the peephole. Nothing was there.
Weird.
She shrugged and went about her business, settling in front of her laptop with the bowl and munched on her supper while watching various episodes of an anime she’d recently gotten into.
I wonder if anyone lost a cat or something. Vague status was vague, but if anyone was curious they could ask. She didn’t necessarily want her college experience to be exciting, but a few mysteries here and there didn’t hurt anything. If anything, it gave her more to post about on her blog. It made her seem less dull than she actually was. Speaking of dull, she couldn’t dress lame for orientation of all things. Sure, she was a stick in the sand, but she didn’t want anyone to actually know that…
Kelly stood from her seat with a reluctant groan, ignoring the dishes for later to rummage around through the box with most of her clothes. The dress mom bought her for graduation? No, too formal. Halter top? Ew, why’d she even bring that one? A bit of net caught her attention and she fished it out from under the pile.
A peekaboo sweater? A little bold, considering she only wore hoodies and baggy clothing…then again, it was one of the only shirts that really called to her for any sort of occasion. A red pleated shirt and some cute cat-eared knee socks later, she was lacing up her converse and taking one last inventory of what she was taking with. She had her orientation packet, phone, wallet, keys…taser, because you never knew…she felt like she was forgetting something, but couldn’t put her finger on exactly what it was. She shrugged and headed for the door, anxiety threatening to roll over her in waves as she realized just how many people might be in her freshman class.
Maybe she’d meet a friend or two. She could brave a sea of strangers for the small comfort of a friend in the future.