Chapter Text
“While your dad’s loading up the car, here. Take this.” Rinwell's mom spoke in a hushed tone. She turned to see the older woman hold out a small white plastic bag, her lips formed a thin line.
“Huh? Yeah sure.” The short raven-haired girl grabbed the bag from her mother’s hands idly. Peaking in, she saw a cardboard box with glossy gray packaging. She peered in closer to read the words on the side of the box in bold white lettering.
TROJAN. ULTRA THIN.
“Mom!” Rinwell flung the bag out of her hands.
“Oh come on now.” Her mom sighed as she went to pick it up, pieces of her long dark hair fell from her ponytail as she did so. “I just want you to be safe, that’s all.”
“Ugh, fine .” Rinwell huffed. She knew there was no use arguing with her mother. She gave Rinwell the “birds and bees” talk before she even got her first period. She snatched the plastic bag back from her mom’s hands, burying it haphazardly at the bottom of her backpack.
“Ready to go?” Her dad called from the parking lot.
“Yeah, coming!” Rinwell shouted back.
The three of them loaded into the car. Her mom and dad up front and Rinwell in the back, surrounded by mountains of boxes. Her entire life packed away in the four corners of the SUV. This is it. Rinwell took a deep breath in, curling her fists in her lap. Her mom looked back over at her – the corner of her lips tugged upwards and her golden brown eyes soft. She reached her hand back towards her daughter. Without hesitation, Rinwell took her mother’s hand and squeezed.
It was snowing today, like it did most days in Csylodia. Her dad had already scraped the front windshield, but there were still remnants of crystalized ice at the corners of the tempered glass. She watched their tiny home, covered in a blanket of silvery white snow, fade into the distance. As they drove, the canopy of dark clouds that loomed over them began to thin, giving way to cracks of sunlight. The bed of ice and snow slowly turned to patches of white atop green grass.
Until eventually the clouds dispersed all together, and all they saw was green. A bright cloudless sky over mountaintops of lush green.
Her new home away from home.
Menancia University.
Rinwell filed out of her second class with a swarm of other students. The afternoon sun shone bright on campus, not a single cloud in the blue sky. The amount of sunny days they got in Csylodia were few and far in between. Is it going to be this sunny everyday? She wondered. If so well – her eyes would definitely need to adjust.
Rinwell squinted and lifted up the paper schedule she had inside her binder. Dahnan History 300 with Professor il Qaras. Of course, the class was on the opposite side of campus.
She wandered off the main cobblestone path, clutching her binder tightly to her chest. Eventually she came across a small white stucco building with a blue roof. Inside, she turned to the first door on her right.
This class was different from her previous two. Her two 100 level classes were held in large lecture halls, but this was a small classroom with only twelve desks. The wooden desks were lined up in two rows of six. Rinwell found an open chair in the front left and immediately scurried toward it.
“Hey Rinwell!”
Rinwell looked behind her to see Alphen, his gray hair fell neatly above his shoulders.
“Oh hey!” The small raven-haired girl gasped, surprised to see a familiar face.
Alphen was her RA. She met him for the first time two nights ago, when she moved into her dorm. Not only did he introduce himself to her and her parents, he helped her dad move her boxes into her room – a welcomed gesture for her poor dad who had been lugging boxes all day.
“Didn’t think I’d see any of my group in a 300 level class.” Alphen rolled up the sleeves of his gray crewneck sweater as he spoke. In the middle of his chest, “MU” was stamped in gold letters.
“Yeah well…” Rinwell rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. She had taken advanced Dahnan history all throughout high school. Even though her parents pushed her to major in something more practical, like Biology, Dahnan History was always something she was passionate about.
Before she got the chance to come up with a better response, another student pulled into the seat next to Alpehn.
“Hey–” Alphen started to greet the boy next to him, when suddenly a voice from the front of the room commanded their attention.
“Good afternoon class.” Rinwell turned her head back up front. A man with copper skin and wavy crimson hair stood behind a podium in the front of the chalkboard. He’s young, Rinwell thought, at least a lot younger than her other two professors. He was wearing a royal blue turtleneck sweater that was tucked into his khaki colored dress pants.
“I am Professor il Qaras, but no need for formalities, you can call me Dohalim.”
“I’d also like to introduce you to Kisara.” The professor gestured to a woman with blonde wavy hair sitting to his right, at a desk facing opposite the rest of the class. She looked up from her laptop. “Kisara is a graduate student here, and will be my teaching assistant this semester. The syllabus has her contact information and office hours, should you have any questions.”
“Nice to meet you all.” Kisara held her hand up, giving a small wave. She was wearing a loose white blouse and black pleated pants.
“Since this is a small class and we will be doing a lot of group discussions, I would like everyone to go around the room and introduce themselves.” Professor Dohalim gestured vaguely to the group, the light from the window reflecting the gold rings that graced his fingers. “State your name, grade, and where you're from.” Dohalim then glanced over at Rinwell, whose face immediately turned pink. “Would you like to start?”
“Y-yeah!” Rinwell responded way too eagerly. She turned in her seat to face the rest of the class. “Hi, I’m Rinwell. I’m a freshman, and I’m from just outside of Csyloden.”
One by one the students in the front row introduced themselves. Looks like I really am the only freshman here, Rinwell mused. Then they moved onto the back row.
“Hi, I’m Alphen. I’m a senior, and I’m from Mosgul.” Alphen gave a small wave.
Then the boy next to Alphen spoke. “Name’s Law.” He ran a hand through his maroon-spiked hair, revealing the bright pink highlights beneath his dark locks. “I’m a sophomore. I’m from Ulzbeck, but I moved to Csyloden a couple of years.”
Csyloden? Weird. Being from the state of Csylodia herself, they didn’t get many visitors. The constant clouds and snowfall didn’t exactly entice anyone to visit, let alone move there.
A couple other students in the back row introduced themselves. Then there was a pause.
“Oh– ” a girl with long pink hair jolted. Even from across the room, Rinwell could see the girl’s blue eyes widened. “Sorry... I’m Shionne. I’m a junior, and I’m from Lenegis.”
Lenegis– Rinwell’s brow raised. Every other student she met so far was from Dahna. Lenegis was part of Rena, a whole other country. A whole other, very affluent country compared to Dahna – Rinwell couldn’t help but note bitterly.
“Nice to meet you, Shionne. I’m from Lenegis as well.” Professor Dohalim replied. “Although it’s been a long time since I was back. You’ll have to tell me about it one day.”
A Renan… teaching Dahanan history. Nice.
“Thank you everyone for the introductions, I am looking forward to getting to know each of you more throughout the semester.” Professor Dohalim gave a warm smile. His voice was soothing, yet commanded the room. “Now as mentioned previously, we’ll be doing a lot of discussions. I would like everyone to break off into three groups of four. That will be your discussion group for the semester.”
You’ve got to be kidding me. Rinwell felt her shoulders hunch. A flood of emotions hit her. It was like she was in high school all over again. Watching all the kids pair off while she sat there, waiting for the teacher to assign her to a gro–
“Hey.” Alphen reached over and tapped the back of the shoulder, interjecting her spiraling thoughts. “You can join us.” He pointed at him and Law, a smile etched into his features.
“Thanks.” Rinwell turned and smiled back at Alphen. He probably just felt obligated, since he was her RA. But still, she was appreciative of the gesture.
The rest of the students began pairing off. All except–
“Shionne, right?” The professor’s voice cut through the chatter. “Why don’t you join this group over here?” He pointed at Rinwell’s group. “They need one more person.”
The pink-haired girl stiffened. “S-sure.” she whispered, her mouth formed a tight thin line. In only a few seconds, she grabbed the items off her desk and slid into the empty seat next to Rinwell.
Rinwell went to say hi, but when she turned to face the girl next to her, Shionne’s gaze was tilted downward. Her shoulders were tense, and her long pink hair created a curtain in front of her face.
“All right, now that we have our discussion groups established, we can go ahead and end early today.” Professor Dohalim instructed. “Please refer to the syllabus for the assigned reading this week. I look forward to seeing you all on Wednesday.”
The class shuffled. Before Rinwell could even go to grab her binder, the girl next to her was out the door.
“I’ll… see you both later.” Alphen gave a stiff smile before heading out, his grayish blue eyes darker than before.
Huh. Rinwell couldn’t help but notice Alphen’s overly-friendly demeanor vanished at that moment.
“Hey,” She looked over at Law, who was still packing his things. “Is it just me, or was there something weird going on between Shionne and Alphen?”
“Oh yeah.” Law zipped his black backpack and swung the one strap over his shoulder. “That girl Shionne is Alphen’s ex.”
Ex? Rinwell gasped.
“They dated all of last year.” Law continued. “Then when she went home to Lenegis for the summer, she broke up with him. Over text. ”
“Damn…” Rinwell chewed her lower lip. Alphen seemed like such a sweet guy. To be broken up with over text. Ouch.
“Gonna be a rough semester for him, huh?” Law let out a dry chuckle as they both started heading out of the classroom. “Good thing he has us, to diffuse the tension a bit.” He scoffed. “How do you know Alphen anyway?”
“He’s my RA.” Rinwell looked up at Law as they walked side by side out of the building. Law was shorter than Alphen, but still taller than her by a few inches. He wore a light gray muscle tee with a dark gray wolf’s head in the center. In the overly bright afternoon sun, she could see how… defined the muscles in his arms were.
“Oh yeah, forgot he was doing that this year.” Law rubbed the back of his neck idly. The two of them walked a couple more paces until they reached an intersection, and Law gestured to the left. “I’m headed this way, you?”
“Uhh…” Rinwell pulled out her schedule from her binder, realizing she forgot to even check where she was going next. She knew she had one more class today…
“Autelina building.” Law looked over her shoulder at the schedule she held in her hands. “You’re gonna head down this path–” He pointed to the right. “–and make a left at the dining hall. It’s a huge building, can’t miss it.”
“T-Thanks!” Rinwell smiled up at him.
“No problem.” He turned and waved as he headed off, flashing a smile that revealed his perfectly white teeth. “See ya Wednesday!”
Rinwell plopped her backpack down next to her bed. Finally, she groaned aloud. Her first day of classes was officially over. With a huff , she lunged herself up on her bed against the wall, the mattress situated way too high to casually climb into.
She closed her eyes, relieved to be back in the room she had only lived in for two days. She began making a mental list of all her classes, which ones were going to be hard, and which ones seemed easy. When suddenly–
“Hey!” Tilsa, her new roommate, came in. She walked up to her bed adjacent the front door, placing her backpack down as well. “How was your first day?”
“Good.” Rinwell sighed. “Long. ”
“Tell me about it.” Tilsa nodded in agreement, turning toward the mirror on her closet and running her fingers through her short ashy brown hair. “Well get your rest now. A bunch of the girls on our floor are going to a frat party tonight! You in?”