Chapter Text
The assembly hall was humming with noises; voices trying to be heard over the buzz, chairs scratching over the tiles, feet stomping all over.
Bertolt already had claimed a seat for himself, as far away from the stage and as close to the entrance as possible. Looking around, he noticed all the decorations that had been put up, flowers, banners, posters. It was a bit too much in Bertolt's opinion.
Scanning the room, he was glad that he had come without family. Mothers cooing over their children finally getting into college, grandmothers shedding a few tears, fathers insisting to take more photos than necessary. There sure were a lot of people.
He fidgeted nervously in his seat, his palms starting to get sweaty with the huge mass of people around him.
People coming from behind kept bumping into him, trying to squeeze through the aisle to find a seat for their group, not noticing how their elbows knocked into the tall boy's head or how their feet stepped on his.
When mostly everyone had settled and the excited chatter died down a little, there was a sudden flash of silence and then a quiet murmur started when someone on stage had tapped the microphone. The ridiculously handsome man cleared his throat and smiled, as far as Bertholt could see from his place in the back of the hall.
Suddenly, the door behind him swung open once more, intruding the silence and startling Bertolt, making him turn his head meekly towards the noise.
A group of three people shuffled in, two of them giggling and one rather muscular, blond, attractive ... and annoyed looking guy shoving them in front of him. "C'mon", the guy said, "be quiet! Damn." which just caused the pair to giggle evem more. He tried to close the old, creaking door as quietly as possible. With ducked heads but still giggling, they squeezed past Bertolt to sit in the few seats left empty right next to him. The bigger guy followed, having a harder time to get to his seat without disturbing Bertolt too much.
Right. Of course he couldn't keep the privilege to have scored a secluded seat.
"Dear students, parents, family, and everyone else, welcome to Rose College", the person on stage finally started, looking in Bertolt's general direction. The blond guy got a little smaller with embarrassment. "My name is Erwin Smith and I'm the director of this wonderful facility. I hope you will.."
What followed was a long and boring welcoming speech Bertolt didn't listen to, partially because the trio next to him kept him distracted. In the chair to his right was a rather small, bald guy, who kept bickering with the brunette girl. A tickling fight seemed to have broken out, earning annoyed huffs from the people around them.
When an elbow landed in Bertolt's side and he couldn't help the audible "oof" that escaped him with the blow, a woman in front of them turned around and shot a rather pointed look in their direction.
"Jesus Christ, Sasha, shut the hell up, alright? And Connie, stop bothering the guy next to you. I can't believe he hasn't said a damn thing about your scrawny ass yet!" the blond guy said sternly in a hushed voice, then he huffed, crossed his arms and leaned back into his seat.
At the mention of him, Bertolt tensed up and shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He desperately fixed his stare on the stage while trying to cease out of existence as best as he could, but that didn't work. Luckily, the attention wasn't on him for long, as both of the pair turned towards the blonde guy and excessively started sulking and pouting, crossing their arms as well.
Bertolt let his tensed shoulders drop, but was still on edge, watching the group out of the corner of his eye. But apart from some silent whispers and a few chuckles here and there, they stayed quiet from then on.
The information event felt like a dull eternity to Bertolt, when finally he was pulled out of his thoughts by people around him clapping and chairs scratching against the floor as they got up. He scrambled to his feet, grabbed his coat and scarf hanging from the back of his chair and left hurriedly without giving his surroundings a second look.
On his way out, he grabbed some info material laying around just to be polite and hurried to the entrance hall.
He took a few deep breaths and tried to calm his mind from the mass of people that had surrounded him until just a minute ago. He wasn't good with such things and he most likely would never get used to it.
That's right... Now he had about two weeks to try and get used to the idea of college, moving to a new environment where he knew nobody and where there was no safe-place, as he would be sharing his dorm room with some stranger.
A few older students passing through the area gave him a weird side look as he groaned at the thought.
Alright. It was no use. He had to pull through somehow, this is what he wanted and if it came with a price, so be it. He could manage.
Bertolt stood a little straighter after his own pep talk, but his confidence soon faltered again. He sighed, let his shoulders slump forward and put on his coat. As he pushed open the huge entrance door, frosty winter air hit his face. Little snowflakes were falling from the sky.
He moved to pull his scarf closer around his neck when he realized that there was nothing there.
Damn. He must have forgotten it when he literally leaped out of his seat. Well, it's not like Bertolt would go back to look for it. Not like he had the courage to do so, anyway.
Instead, he ducked his head down in an attempt to warm himself by using the collar of his coat and made his way to a bus stop near the campus. The stony pathway crunched under his steps and slowly started turning white when the snowflakes settled.
He took a quick look at the schedule and was relieved to find that he didn't have to wait longer than eight minutes.
Pushing his hands in the coat's pockets, he tried to escape the frosty bite that winter brought with it. It was mid November, and it wouldn't get warmer for another four months or so.
Bertolt watched the few people passing by the busstop, the snowflakes landing softly on flowers and bushes and the star bucks with the soft, golden lights in the small park belonging to the campus, not far from where he was standing. He thought about grabbing a warming drink when he saw his bus turn around the corner.
He huffed. That wasn't eight minutes, it was hardly four. Whatever. He was glad that he had been the only one to leave so early and could enjoy some time alone on a quiet bus.
It came to a halt before him and Bertolt climbed in, payed for his ticket and fell into a seat that was too worn out to be comfortable. As the bus pulled away, he took one last look at the old, huge building. So, that was gonna be his new home.
If he was honest with himself, a part of him couldn't wait, but mostly he was just intimidated. He sighed.