Chapter Text
College. It’s a big step in life. Laura basically just ate cookies and slept the 8-hour drive to Silas University. It’s creepy that it reminds her of vampires. LaF, her best friend, had just been re-reading the Twilight books for the whole trip. She’s never been into Twilight, always more of a Harry Potter fan. Her Hogwarts house is Hufflepuff. Yeah, shocker. The main reason she didn’t get into Twilight, was that she always hated vampires. She just hates them. It doesn’t help that LaF is always swooning over Edward.
She just stepped into the huge campus, when some douche in a cheap Dracula costume, pretended to bite her. Thankfully, before she could faint, LaF clocked him with a prop fish. She glared at the offender. Well, fuck. She forgot it was Halloween. She mentally kicks herself for forgetting that. She hates Halloween. It’s just a bunch of dimwits dressing up for free candy. She heard a "sorry little hottie" and she motioned with her hands that it's fine.
Just as she was recovering from the shock of plastic fangs on her neck, a sleek, jet black Corvette slides in front of the gate. She expected some weird rich guy to come out, but what she saw was way better. Dark hair to match equally dark eyes, black leather pants paired with combat boots. Black t-shirt with a leather jacket, and a confident smirk topped off with scarlet lips. She walked in her direction, and her jaw dropped when she saw her jawline.
“Hey cutie, do you know where I can find the help desk?” asked the mysterious girl. There was an expression on her face that Laura couldn’t quite place.
“Um, I-I’m new…” She stutters. She nervously taps the wall with her small fingers.
“Me too, buttercup. I just drove here from Ontario. What’s your name?” The raven-haired beauty asks.
“Oh, uh, I’m Laura Hollis," She drawls, getting lost in her dark eyes, “What about you?”
“I’m Carmilla Karnstein, sweetheart.” she says in a light husky tone. She gestures towards LaF, “Who’s the ginger puppy?”
Just as Laura was about to answer, LaF walks towards them, holding a soda.
“Who’s the emo gumshoe?” LaF said.
“Who’s talking, toad eyes?” Carmilla shot back with a scowl.
“LaFontaine. LGBT activist, computer genius, and Laura's the Tina Fey to my Amy Poehler,” They replied.
“Cheesy. I’m Carmilla, philosophy major, and I totally hate garlic,” she said.
“Fun. So, I’m just going to leave you two alone,” They say and walk away, sipping the soda.
“So, she seems nice,” Carmilla says to Laura, after LaF leaves, sarcasm dripping in her raspy voice.
“They,” She corrects her.
“Oh?” Carmilla asks, clearly confused.
“Yeah, LaF's non-binary, which is a catch-all category for gender identities that are not exclusively masculine or feminine, or you could say they are identities which are outside the gender binary and cisnormativity. So, the pronouns are they or them” Laura explains.
“Noted. Shall we?” Carmilla says, implying that she has to go to the help desk.
Laura hums in response, and they walk towards the main hall. Everything was decked out in Halloween decorations, vampires everywhere. Even the university mascot is a vampire. They asked a bunny for directions and she told them that the help desk was in the giant, white, old-looking building, just ahead.
Just as they’re about to enter, LaF runs up to them, and says “Wait up!” They pat Laura on the shoulder and they go in together. The person sitting on the desk smiled and waved them over.
“Hi, I'm J.P. Are you guys new?” He said with a thick British accent.
“Hello! Yes, we just got here, can we check in or whatever you call it?” said Laura. After all the formalities, She and Carmilla were put in the same dorm, while LaF was with some girl called Lola Perry.
They walk back to their dorm, and plop down on their beds. College was going to be an adventure.