Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

            The air is chilly, and the wind is soft. Trees are planted to the side of a sidewalk in the grass. Their leaves rustle in the wind. Beyond the grass were buildings all bunched and connected together. All residential. Alongside the sidewalk and trees was a road, and in that road was a bicycle lane. A poorly thought out bicycle lane, where the most inconsiderate of people would park their cars in the middle of it.

            Petra peddled her blue bicycle in the lane. She was annoyed to have to maneuver her way past the parked cars and to keep her focus on the ones driving past her. Her grip on the handles were tight, and her face scrunched up. The ginger wore a backpack on her back. Her hoodie was indigo, with dark grey stripes across her chest, and stripes perpendicular to each other on the bottom. Making the corners of her hoodie cut off in a square. Her hoodie’s sleeves were rolled up, revealing the light blueish grey long sleeve shirt underneath. Her shorts were brown, and her boots black. She had a bandage on her knee from crashing her bike a few days prior. All because some idiot didn’t let her have the right of way.

            A car honked at her, making her roll her eyes and scoff as she let it drive past her. Her eyes were set back to the road in front of her. The wind blew the hair out of her face. The brick buildings flew past her. 

            It was mid afternoon, summer was coming to an end soon. Kids would return to school, adults would either join or re enter college, and the holidays would be just around the corner. She had seen all of the back to school supplies in stores. More and more kids were out and about to enjoy their last few days of summer break. At least soon it’d be less busy, and she wouldn’t have to deal with so many cars flipping her off or honking their horns just because she wanted to ride her bike today.

            Petra stopped at a sign. She looks both ways before turning right, making her way out of the residential area, and getting into the more business-run part of town. A few strands or so flew in her face, she shook her head, and tried to blow her hair out of the way. The buildings were farther apart than they were before. There were a few flowers growing alongside the sidewalks leading up to the doors. A person was walking their dog on the sidewalk. 

            She saw her destination, looking both ways once more before crossing the road. The building was a tan orange. Faded after years of sun exposure. It was up on supports, making it higher than the ground underneath it. A collection box was right outside. Her bike hopped over the curb. She peddled faster onto the sidewalk, and then to the path leading to the building. Petra hopped off her bike, and set it against the cement wall. She then walked up the ramp, and opened the door.

            The post office was empty today. At least the main part of it was. She went to the left, and stopped at the metal boxes in the wall. She kneeled down, and took her keys off of her backpack. Then she placed her bag next to her, opening up the box after. There was nothing but letters today. She pulled them out.

            “Bills. Water bills. EnderCon news. Is that - Oh thank god that’s not jury duty. Another bill. And…” She hesitated. It was a letter she hadn’t seen before. One in a yellow envelope, the word L.I.F.E was imprinted into the red seal that shut it. She turned it over to see nothing on the back. No other clues could tell her what the letter was for. 

            She shrugged putting it in the backpack with the rest of the letters. Figuring it could just be another one of her mom’s kooky side gigs. Petra zipped up the backpack, and closed the box. Clipping her keys back onto the bag before throwing it over her shoulder. 

            It wasn't long before she was back on her bike. She hopped off the curb, and rode back to the bike lane. A water bottle was attached to the frame of her bike. Petra grabbed it, both of her hands were off the handles. She took a sip of water with her other hand hanging off to the side. As she looked around she saw people on the sidewalk. There’s the faint sound of music coming from one of the building’s she passed. Two people laugh and hold hands as they walk down the steps. 

            Petra held onto the handlebars with her right hand and kept the water bottle in her left. She slowed to a stop at a stop sign. When she turned her head she saw a couple of kids playing hopscotch on the sidewalk. Someone who got into their car. And someone who was kneeled down giving their dog a bunch of pets.

            Tiredly she looked back to the road. She took another sip of water before putting the bottle back onto the frame. Then she peddled off, heading back into the direction of the residential district. 

            The ride there was uneventful. Cars would drive past, she’d go past the red mangrove buildings, it’s a calm day in town. Not as busy as she thought it’d be. There’s turns and stops she goes to. It’s all a blur, but eventually she makes a stop at one of the connected buildings. There’s a small car parked in the front. The house is tall and narrow, connected to the other ones beside it. It’s made out of mangrove wood, and the lawn is empty. There’s no space for there to really be a lawn anyways. 

            After Petra hopped onto the curb she got off of her bike. Carrying it with her as she went up the steps to the dark oak wood door. She grumbled as she leaned the bike against her and as she struggled to knock on the door. It isn’t long before it opens. The older woman inside gasps happily. She had dark ginger hair, brown eyes, and a yellow blouse. She was almost as tall as Petra, only an inch or so shorter.

            “Petra! You’re back! Come on in, take a seat! You look like you need it. ” She added that last part snarkily. She went back into the house. 

            “Psh.” Petra rolled her eyes, and stepped inside. Leaning her bike against the wall, and taking her shoes off leaving them on the small rug next to the door. The room is small. The couch and TV was off to Petra’s right, the dining table was off to the left. The kitchen is a little further down in the room. Blocked off by a counter island connected to the wall. The walls were a light blue, and there were stairs leading up in the back of the room.

            “Did you get the mail this time?” The other says in a teasing voice.

            “Yes, mom I did.” Petra plopped her bag onto the dining table. Her mom sat down at the table with an eager look on her face. Petra rummaged through the bag, pulling out a few of the envelopes directed to “Ari”. “I think they’re all bills this time.”

            “Awh drats.” Ari said as she grabbed one of the envelopes. Petra set the others down. Ari pulled out a pocket knife and opened the envelope with it. She pulled out the piece of paper, and skimmed over it before saying. “Y’know they’re really starting to run me dry. They just increased the water bill again.” 

            “Great. Just what we needed.” 

            “I know! It’s like they’re purposely doing this just to make our lives harder. It’s starting to get annoying .”

            “Once I get a job this won’t be a problem.”

            “Petra.” Ari snorted. “It’s not that easy.”

            “...” She raised her eyebrow as her mom continued.

            “I appreciated the thought, but - don’t stress out about this! We’ll be fine. It’s nothing drastic like last month.”

            “Mhm.” 

            “You sound skeptical.”

            Petra’s eyebrows raised, and she deadpanned.

            “May I remind you I’ve taken care of the both of us on my own for years. There’s no need to worry about anything. You take your time young lady. There’s no need to rush out the door, or to rush into a job.”

            “Mmm.” Petra mumbled as she threw the yellow envelope onto the pile.

            “I’m serious! I know you feel behind compared to your peers, but you’re not Petra! There’s no set time limits for life… “ Petra simply scoffed and set the backpack onto the ground. Her mom picked up the yellow envelope. “... What’s this?”

            “You don’t know?” Petra asked. 

            “No?” Ari tilted her head, clearly confused.

            “...” Petra’s eyebrows furrowed. “I thought this was like… one of those subscription things you like so much…”

            “Oh I stopped those a while ago, they were just draining us of money! I’ve never seen anything like this though…”

            “...” Petra whispered. “Weird.”

            “Pah! It must just be a part of some advertisement.” Ari opened the envelope with the knife, and pulled out the letter. Petra sat down. Her mom gasped. “Oh Petra!” Her mom handed her the paper. “It's actually for you!”

            “What??” Petra grabbed the paper and skimmed over the first sentence. Seeing her name on the top. “ Why?? What's this for??”

            “I don't know! Read it!”

            Petra’s eyes started to skim the paper -

            “Out loud Petra my goodness! I can’t read it from here, or read your mind!”

            “Oh.” Petra cleared her throat. “Dear Petra…”

            It has come to our attention that a few years ago while you were still attending school you dropped out due to not being able to perform. We contacted several of your old teachers who said you all worked hard, but you could never grasp the material that was given to you. You were then labeled a failure -

            Petra paused. She had a deadpanned look when she looked at her mom. “Where is this going?”

            “I don't know. I didn't exactly read the letter before handing it to you, you know.”

            Petra rolled her eyes and continued.

            And left the school system. I am here to inform you that you are not a failure. You are just different and people learn in different ways. You are just one of those people. I'm here to offer you a solution. I don't believe you are a failure. I believe you are a winner and there's a place for people like you.

            With that I formally invite you to the L.I.F.E academy -

            “WOAH WOAH WOAH - Wait! Is this a college?? I'm being invited to a college -” Petra stopped and skimmed the rest of the letter. Mumbling. “ This is a place you will be able to call home and fit in - classes start next week - you do not have to pay for anything your tuition has already been PAID?!? Mom!”

            “That's amazing Petra!” 

            “Mom I don’t - I -” Petra ran a hand through her hair. “College?? Now?? I - I didn’t think I could get into any I dropped out?! And they’re paying for my entire tuition?? This sounds suspicious…”

            “...” Ari hummed, and pulled out her phone. “Well you’re right about that… this sounds too good to be true… Uh… What was the name again? I want to look this up.”

            “Life academy.”

            Ari nodded and typed into her phone. Petra looked back to the letter in her hands. Reading more silently.

            Your dorm is already set up, and your roommate already chosen. You’ll be informed on the specifics once you make it to campus. Before you ask, no, you cannot change this. Unless there are extreme circumstances, you are stuck with that roommate for the entire year. First years are required to live on campus. This may seem weird now, but you’ll understand soon. 

            We hope you join us this year. While classes do start next week we understand if you’re not able to make it before then. Be sure to be here in the next two weeks. After that our doors will be closed and you’ll have to wait until next year to try again. We make no exceptions.

            With regards, 

            Dean Hadrian.

            Administrator Xara.

            “Well…” Petra looked up to her mom. “It seems real. The site doesn’t look shifty at all. The only problems are that there’s no pictures of the entire campus. Just the entrance and some of the dorms… and…”

            “And?”

            “Nothing about anything that goes on in the campus. I can see they compete with other schools, but they’re just as secretive as this one. It’s…”

            “Odd?”

            “Mhm, but all the people who graduated from there say great things about it! One of them says it’s a high honor to get an invitation, so if you get one you have to take it. See if you have what it takes to be a student.”

            “Huh…” She looked down at the paper.

            “...” Ari smiled a little. “I think you should go.”

            “What?”

            “So many students look so happy, and it looks like they help struggling students get an education. It’s a once in a lifetime chance Petra!”

            “...” She looked away. Unsure.

            “You’ll get to meet other people like you! It’s a good opportunity not just to get an education, but to also socialize, and trust me you need it.” Ari said with a sly smirk.

            “Mom!”

            “I’m joking! I’m joking! You know I don’t mean it.” Ari leaned forward and placed her hand on Petra’s shoulder. “But seriously, you could use some time away from home. Away from all this stress. We don’t even have to pay anything! This is perfect!”

            “...” She sighed. “I’ll give it some thought.”

            Ari patted her shoulder. “That’s the spirit. Now come on! Help me sort out the rest of this mail…”

…….

            The wind is harsher than it was back home. Her hair whipped onto her face, obscuring Petra’s vision. She stood in front of tall open gates. With a whole group of big buildings behind them. Her mom’s car was right behind her, Petra turned around. One hand on the strap of her backpack, the other on the bandana on her head.

            “I’ll see you next summer then, right?” Ari asked from inside the car. Petra nodded.

            “Mhm.”

            “But -” Her mom pointed at her. “You’re still texting me right?”

            “Of course mom.”

            “Everyday?”

            “Tsh. Does whenever I can work?” 

            Ari deadpanned. “Okay, not everyday, but I still want to hear from you, got it? Don’t leave me in the dust about this stuff, if you get hurt or something happens I want to be the first to hear about it!”

            “I know, I know.” Petra waved her off. “I doubt that’s going to happen but okay .”

            “I’m serious, young lady.”

            “Alright mom, I’ll text you later.” Petra looked back to the campus beyond the gates and then to her mom. Her shoulders slumped. “And… I guess I’ll see you next summer. Mom, are you sure you’re going to be okay by yourself?”

            “Of course! Petra. I’ll be fine. Don’t waste your time worrying about me, focus on you and your studies. That is the most important thing you can do!”

            “...” She sighed.

            “And, you only have the weekend to get yourself adjusted to this place before classes start! Stop wasting your stinkin time! Get in there!”

            Petra rolled her eyes and started walking to the gates. She shook her head with a smile on her face as her mom yelled 

            “Good luck out there honey!! Knock em dead!! And don’t die yourself!”

            “I won’t!” She snickered, and stood at the gates. She turned and saw her mom drive off, leaving her alone now. The wind still threatening to blow her bandana away. 

            Oddly enough that changes the moment she steps through the gates. The wind calmed down, to the point there was only a slight breeze. Petra stopped, absolutely confused. She stepped back out of the gates to the rough gusts of wind once more, almost losing her bandana in the process. She panicked and snatched it before it could fly away. Then she stepped back through the gates, where the wind was minimal. She put her bandana back on.

            “What the hell?” She whispered. The trees inside the gates were barely affected by the wind too. Her eyebrows furrowed. 

            Slowly she went back to walking. Deciding it was probably just because of the walls or something. She couldn’t dwell on that either, she needed to find the dean’s office now so she could get her room, class schedule, a map of the place, and ask the dean some of her burning questions too. And through her excellent skills of deduction, she deemed the first building almost directly in front of the gates to have to be the one to be the office. It’s tall, made out of spruce with dark oak roofs. There were flowerless bushes at the front, and tall oak trees. The doors are wide open, that must be where she has to go.

            An older woman with long black hair, green eyes, and a golden sun dress walked down the steps leading up to it. She was holding a chicken in one of her arms, and her hair seemed to move in the… non-existent wind? She smiled at Petra.

            “Oh! Are you a new student? I haven’t seen you before!”

            “Uhhhh… “ The two of them stopped in the middle of the steps. “Yeah, I am.”

            “Wonderful! I assume you’re looking for the dean’s office?”

            “Mhm.”

            “It’s the first one to the left once you come in. You can’t miss it.” Petra nodded and was about to leave before the woman added. “Oh! By the way, I’m Isa. I’m one of the teachers here, and who knows I could end up being your teacher too.” Isa held out her hand.

            “...” Petra took it and shook Isa’s hand. “Petra.”

            “Nice to meet you Petra!” Isa laughed. “Now I shouldn’t keep you waiting should I? Go on now! I have to take this little trickster back where she belongs.”

            “... okay.” Petra said as she watched Isa and the chicken go down the steps. She thought that the teachers would be called professors at this point, but oh well. She continued up the steps and went through the open doors. There’s a door to the right and one to the left. She followed Isa’s advice and went left, seeing a plaque with the words “Dean Hadrian” on it. Petra opened the door.

            Her hands were in her pockets as she stepped inside. There was a big window to the left. Multiple bookshelves, and a painting of the dean himself on the wall behind the desk. Said dean was sitting down. There were two lone chairs in front of the desk. 

            “Ah a new face! Hello sport, take a seat.”

            Petra did, albeit a little awkwardly. She felt uncomfortable to be in the room, for some reason.

            “Now, you must be Petra, correct?”

            “Uh… yeah actually, how did you -”

            “What, do you think we didn’t know what you looked like before we sent the letter? We look at the background of all our students, we don’t just let anyone in here willy nilly!” He scoffed, and then muttered. “ Please. ”

            “...” Petra’s eyebrows narrowed.

            “But, anyways, here’s all that you need to know.” He handed her some papers, and a pair of keys. “Your room number is 207, all our first years are required to live on campus, most of our second and third years do not. Your schedule is the pink paper, but this will change next week. This first week is to just get students accustomed to the campus, and to see who stays and who leaves. After that you’ll be given a new schedule. Don’t get too used to this one. AND. Do not leave this area - “

            Hadrian places down a map and circled a part of it with a marker.

            “You are a first year, and while you won’t understand now, we do not allow fresh first years into these areas until the assimilation period is complete. Which is this week and the next.”

            “... Okay…? ” He handed her the map. 

            “Professor Harper will want to talk to you sometime during this and next week, do not dismiss her. It’s important, do you understand?”

            “...” Petra slowly nodded. “Yeah…?”

            “Good. You’re dismissed -”

            “Waitwaitwait - do I not get to choose my classes?”

            “No, you’ll learn why later, or well - not at all for some of the folks here.”

            “Why don’t I get to know, now?”

            “You’ll understand later.” He said with a hint of irritation in his voice. “It’s for the safety of everyone here, so stop asking. All will be learned in due time. In the meantime, enjoy your time here at Life Academy.”

            “...” Petra squinted her eyes, glancing down at the papers in her hands.

            “You can go now. Ms. Petra.”

            “Right…” She stood up, and walked out. Feeling as if she was being stared at the entire time. What a weird… eccentric man.

            As soon as she was outside again, she opened the map in her hands. The other papers slightly crumpled with it. On the map there was a building in the shape of a boxy C, labeled dorms. Alongside a river running through the campus. The huge building was across a bridge, and it had about three different floors if she had to guess. It was also made almost entirely out of spruce wood with those dark oak roofs. 

            Petra started making her way to the bridge over the river. There was a man with slicked back blonde hair, a brown blazer, and purple shirt with a darker purple stripe in the middle. He smiled softly at Petra as he walked past her. 

            “Good afternoon!” He said in a cheerful voice.

            “Afternoon…” Petra muttered as she continued forward. Not really wanting to get dragged into another conversation. 

            She walked past the bridge, seeing fish in the river below. Reeds were growing on the sides of the river bed. She stopped to look at how far the river went. Far enough to the parts of the campus she wasn’t allowed in.

            It was then Petra realized how huge this place was. She saw buildings she knew had to have lecture halls in them, but some of them were impossible to tell what they hold from the outside. A lot of them were huge too. Jeez, this place must’ve been rich rich. They were able to afford to maintain a river, giant buildings, and from the looks of the map there were multiple cafeterias. They had the place be livable for all the first years who would be here 24/7. And on top of all of that they paid for her tuition too. Where were they getting all this money?

            Petra shook her head. Whatever, she had to get to her dorm and drop all her stuff off. And… possibly meet her roommate. The thought of it made her stomach churn. She’d have to share a room with a complete stranger for almost an entire year. She had no idea what they looked like, how they acted, what they liked, what they didn’t like. What kind of a person they were - ugh! Stupid! Why is she being left in the dark about everything!

            She kept walking down the polished granite path. There was no space for any cars inside of the campus, everything was entirely walkable, with trees and benches scattered around so people could sit and rest. Plants along the sides of the path, leaving all kinds of wildflowers, some not even from the biome the campus was in. Plains. They must’ve gone a long way to find all of those…

            Tiredly she finally made it to the entrance to the dorms. Well… one of the entrances. She was on the right side of the giant C box. Directly at the end furthest away from any of the corners. The left side of the building was directly parallel to this side, just a few yards…? Away. Dang she didn’t realize how big this place would be. 

            The paper directing her to her room said it would be on the right wing, second floor. She stepped in through the doors. There was a long hallway to the left, and one in front of her with rooms aligned next to each other. To her left was a door leading with a sign signifying that’s where the stairs were. The carpet was dark grey, and the walls were light blue. She saw two women talking in front of one of the rooms. One had a green beanie with goggles, and was in red. The other had a magenta hair clip, and purple overalls. She didn’t have the chance to see more, as she stepped through the door. 

            Her shoulders felt heavy as she climbed up the stairs. Her backpack started to feel as if they weighed more. It was then she realized, that shit all she had was seven different pairs of clothes for the week, and a few miscellaneous items. Like her toothbrush, a water bottle, and other useless stuff… Wow, she really didn’t think this through. But at least when she checked the paper again, she noticed they had a laundromat here. She breathed out a sigh of relief. She stepped through the door to the second floor. She passed by doors, squinting her eyes as she looked at the numbers plastered onto them. 204… 205… 206… aha!

            “207.” She whispered. Petra stopped in front of the door, taking the keys from Hadrian, and got ready to unlock the door -

            Only for it to swing open, out of nowhere. Petra had to look down to see them. The person on the other side jumped. “OH! Uh - hello? Do you need something?”

            Their hair was short, brown and curly, their eyes were brown too. He wore a muted cyan - teal(?) shirt, under a grey and black flannel. His pants were baggy jeans, and had black sneakers. He had a stubby nose, moles all dotted on his face, and was significantly shorter than Petra. He also had two leaves in his hair. If he was in the room then this must’ve been…

            “Uhh… hey. I’m Petra, and this is…” She showed him the paper she was given. “My room.”

            The stranger immediately lit up. “Wait - Oh my gosh, hey! You’re my roommate! Uh- Hi! My name’s Jay………. Den . Jaiden. Technically. But everyone calls me Jay, so I would like it if you did the same.”

            They shook hands. “Okay… Jay .“

            “I was just about to get lunch, but I didn’t expect you to show up - so - come in! I’ll show you around, and then we can go get some food.”

            Petra quietly followed Jay into the room. Her eyes widened at how much things were inside. Immediately once you entered the room you were in the kitchen. Which had more appliances than she thought there’d be. The countertops were black, with grey drawers, and a single refrigerator. There was a microwave, a sink, and an oven top, but not the rest of it. The kitchen and the living room were separated by an island, which had a few empty glasses, and three stools beside it. Petra gawked at the sight. She thought there would only be one room with maybe a couple of beds, and the tiniest kitchen. But this place had a decent amount of space.

            “Prettyyyy neat right?” Jay smiled brightly. “I was surprised too, I didn’t expect this place to be so huge!” Jay spread his arms out. “And! Guess what, you can already see the living room, but we have our bedrooms separated by walls, and two different bathrooms! It’s like a small apartment instead of a dorm room!”

            “Wow…” Petra slowly walked into the living room to see a brown couch against the side of a wall. On the furthest wall was the window, and on the wall parallel to the couch was the medium sized TV. Shelving was right underneath it, and it was pretty empty. Except for a few wii games, wii remotes, and a wii console on top of it that was plugged into the TV. 

            “Oh! And that’s my wii, I had to fight my sis to keep it in my room. She took our xbox with her, so I thought this was fair.”

            Petra nodded absentmindedly. “Uh huh…”

            Jay walked over to the TV and leaned against the wall next to it. Standing in front of a tiny hallway with two rooms on both sides. There was another hall like it on the other side of the room next to the couch. Jay continued. “But, this is not a regular Wii, this one is modded. So if you’re down for mario kart later, we can totally play online too.”

            “Woah. Well, uh, I haven’t played… that version of mario kart, I’ve only played it on the DS.”

            “You have a DS?!” 

            “Mhm.” Petra set her bag onto the couch, and pulled out a small blue device. Holding it up as Jay seemed like they were about to explode with joy. 

            “Holyyyy crapp. That’s awesome! I’ve always wanted one of those…” Jay paused, and then their eyes widened. “Crap! Sorry, my mind is all over the place, I have a few more things to tell you.” He pointed to the rooms behind him. “That’s where my room and bathroom is, and those -” He pointed to the ones behind Petra. “Are yours. I haven’t touched them. So you can set all your stuff up there.”

            “...” Petra nodded once more as Jay continued.

            “And - I hope you don’t mind, but my sister and my best friend are here too, and they mayyyyy uh…” He smiled sheepishly. “Visit often? We’ve all kinda been randomly showing up at our rooms, and their roommates are okay with it, but I don’t know if you are - because if you’re not then I could tell them -”

            “It’s… fine.” Honestly Petra was barely processing what Jay was saying. She was too tired to really care. The drive to the academy wore her out, and she hadn’t had any breakfast that morning. 

            “It is?”

            “Yeah sure, whatever.” Petra shrugged. “Just warn me in advance I guess…” She said as she turned around, picking back up her bag. 

            “Oh, okay. Well that’s good, I’ll uh - I’ll let you get settled in then? And uh - Petra right?”

            Petra looked back at him. “Mhm?”

            “Once you’re done with that do you… want to join me for lunch? I’m off to see my friends, and like - we’re going to be living with each other for about a year, so we’ve got to get to know each other, right?”

            “Right… Uh. Sure. I will. Just… give me a moment.” Petra said as she walked into the little nook. She opened the door to her right, and immediately closed it, realizing that it was the bathroom. She opened the door to her left, as Jay said.

            “Sounds good!” They said as they gave her a thumbs up. Petra entered into her new bedroom, and closed the door behind her. Her shoulders slumped and she dropped her bag. She let out a long sigh before falling forward onto the bed. Completely apathetic to the fact she was still wearing her boots.

            The room’s the same light blue as the rest of the building. The bed is covered in red sheets, and there’s a tiny window at the end of the bed. Brown curtains wide open. The bedroom is smaller than the rest of the dorm, the bed in the middle of the room took up the most space. With small drawers on both sides, and an open small closet to the right. She rolled onto her back and looked up at the ceiling. Her boots were hanging off the edge of the bed. She had a hand on her chest, with the other arm hanging off the side of the bed. Her eyes were heavy, and her mind a static fuzz. Her joints stiff, and her muscles sore. The car ride there had numbers on her back, and body. 

            This was… a lot. All at once.

            The bed was soft and comforting like a cloud. A welcome change. She closed her eyes, with her head back. Petra wanted to crumple up into a ball and stay there. Maybe take a nap while she was at it. 

            Inherently she knew this was going to be a challenge. High school by itself was a mess , college was going to be no different. But she hadn’t thought she would’ve felt so drained in a matter of minutes. That eccentric dean, alongside people everywhere just… wanting to talk to her. She wasn’t used to it. Jay seemed nice at least. She barely talked to him, but she didn’t sense any ill will. Petra squeezed her eyes, and lightly hit her head as she realized she agreed to go to lunch with this guy. Without even thinking. Damnit. 

            She sat up, her boots hitting the ground. Her head was in her hands. She should’ve asked if they could do that later. Petra was not ready to talk to more people, explore the campus, or even eat -

            Her stomach growled. Immediately disproving her line of thought. Petra grumbled and stood back up. Slowly inching her way back to the door. She’d unpack her single backpack of items later. For now she opened the door, and stepped back into the main room. Jay was waiting for her on the couch, looking through his phone. They smiled at her.

            “Hey! That was fast, I didn’t expect you to get all your things set up like that -”

            “I… haven’t yet.” Petra shrugged. “I’ll do it later, I didn’t bring that much stuff anyways.”

            “Oh! Okay.” Jay stood up. “So… you’re ready then?”

            “Sure.”

            “Coolioo.” She followed after Jay as they put their phone into their pocket. “Just so you know, we may meet up with Lou before we get to the… cafeteria aaa ? I don’t know if I’d call it that. But we’re going to one of the smaller ones. Away from all the bigger groups. Y’know?”

            “Uh-huh… Who’s Lou?”

            “Lu - uh - Lukas. His name is Lukas. He’s my best friend. Uh - you definitely should not call him Lou.” Jay opened the door to the room, and went into the hallway. Petra was right beside them. She closed the door after them, before walking next to Jay. “I think you’ll like him, he's very friendly, and kind. It takes a lot for him to dislike a person. And between you and me he has excellent hair .”

            “... Okay?” She raised her eyebrow. Weird information to include at the end, but Petra wasn’t going to say anything.

            The duo reached the staircase and headed down the stairs. Jay continued.

            “There’s also a few more people. We’ll be meeting up with Jesse. My twin. Olivia. Her roommate. And Axel who is Lukas’ roommate. Olivia’s really nice, and super smart. I’ll admit sometimes she’s kinda blunt, but she doesn’t mean to be rude. And I like her so far.” Jay said as they held onto the railing and descended the stairs. Petra put her hands into her pockets as she listened. “Axel’s pretty loud - but fun! He’s chaotically fun! I think he accidentally put a fork in the microwave the other day so he and Lukas need a new microwave for their dorm.”

            Petra’s eyebrows shot up. 

            “Nobody got hurt though! Don’t worry!” Jay laughed. “And then there’s Jesse, like I said they’re my twin. I’m older though, by twelve minutes. She never likes it when I bring that up.”

            Jay hopped off the stairs once there were only two steps left. Petra quickly stepped down the stairs, and followed Jay as he opened the door to the bottom floor.

            “Jesse’s also really cool. Kinda annoying. But I think that’s just my inner older brother talking.” Jay shrugged. “She’s also veryyyyyyyy stubborn. Even more stubborn than me, which is saying a lot. You’ll see.”

            Petra simply hummed as the two of the exited out of the building. Not even a second later, before they could go down the steps she hears a new voice.

            “Jay!” She turned to see the blonde guy she saw earlier. He had a muted purple backpack hanging off his shoulder. The man - Lukas was just in front of the bottom of the stairs. 

            “Lukas!” Jay’s pace was hurried as he went down the steps. Petra continued to walk down as she watched Jay pull Lukas into a hug with the biggest smile on his face. Their head was tucked underneath Lukas' chin. The blonde’s eyes went wide as it must’ve been a bear hug, but he returned the hug.

            When Jay pulled away, Petra was on the bottom of the steps next to the other two. Lukas had a hand on his chest as he breathed out. “Hah… oh jeez Jay. Did you really miss me that much? We just saw each other this morning!”

            “I know, I am just happy to see you! Oh!” Jay patted Lukas’ arm, and gestured to Petra. “Lukas, this is Petra. Petra, Lukas. She’s my roommate.”

            “Nice to meet you!” Lukas held out his hand for a handshake and Petra took it. She noticed the black ring on his right middle finger. And the black studs in his ears. 

            “You too.” She muttered. Putting her hand back into her pocket. 

            “Soooo…” Lukas said as the duo - now trio started walking. Jay was in the middle of Lukas and Petra. “What brings you here Petra?”

            “Uh…” Petra shrugged and gritted her teeth. “Free college I guess.”

            “Oh my gosh same!” Jay said. “I was struggling for a bit to get into college cause I didn’t want to go into debt, but then I got a letter inviting me here telling me the tuition is already paid for and I couldn’t say no! But I still don’t know why you’re here Lou. Your parents would have gotten you into any college you want!”

            “Ehehe… Well… not any college I want. But…” Lukas scratched his head. “I dunno. It just felt right.”

            “Really?” Petra raised an eyebrow as she looked over at Lukas. 

            “Yeah.” Lukas laughed softly. “I will admit, once I heard Jess and Jay would be here I kinda… was more inclined to come here.”

            “Ah.” Petra side eyed the two for a moment before asking. “How long have you known each other?”

            The trio walked down the granite path. She heard a few birds chirp as they walked past  buildings with lecture halls. The trees were few and sparse along this path.

            “Middle school!”

            “Middle school.”

            “I think it was… 7th grade right?” Jay turned to Lukas. “But we didn’t become friends until 8th grade.”

            “Something like that.”

            “He then moved away our senior year of highschool. So we haven’t seen each other in person for a couple of years.” 

            “Mhm.” 

            “Alright.” Petra hummed.

            “Do you have any friends here too Petra?” Lukas asked.

            “Nope. I’m by myself.” 

            “Ohh okay.” Jay nudged her. “Well if you need anything just know you can come to us!”

            “I’ll… keep that in mind.” 

            The trio continued on their walk. Lukas and Jay went into an idle chatter, about a lot of stuff Petra didn’t know about. Which she didn’t mind. It meant they didn’t go to ask her anymore questions. But she noticed the two did their best to make sure she was still walking beside them and not behind or in front of them. Which was… actually nice.

            She could tell they had some kind of history. Of what kind she wasn’t sure. They consistently bumped each other’s arms into one another, and honestly stood closer to one another more than she thought best friends usually did. At least with two guy best friends, most of the ones she saw back in her school days were always roughhousing. Or throwing insults at each other. These two were not like that in the slightest. Petra looked forward, deciding to stop prying into whatever was going on with them.

            There was a small building in front of them. Smaller than most of the ones she had seen. It was made out of oak wood, with oak logs on the corners. The doors were spruce and wide open. Dandelions lined the front of the building. It’s cute, cozy. 

            “Sweet! It looks like there’s not that much people here today!” Jay said.

            “Good, and it looks like Aiden isn’t here either.”

            Jay shuddered. “Ugh, Aiden.”

            “Who’s Aiden?” Petra asked.

            “Some guy we knew in school.” Jay’s eyebrows narrowed. Lukas sheepishly looked away. “He’s kind of a jerk, and hasn’t gotten over all the stupid stuff that happened back then either.”

            “Yeah… I’m not too happy he’s here now either, and isn’t he your next door neighbor Jay?”

            “Oh right!” Jay gritted his teeth. “By the way! I should let you know, but Aiden is our neighbor. The door to the left of ours. Alongside his friend Gill. Now! Gill’s actually cool, we get along pretty well. Aiden is not. Aiden is an asshole.” Jay hissed out the last word. “But he hasn’t really actively tried to pester me in the dorm rooms, so I think he’ll leave us alone for the most part. And he should leave you alone cause he doesn’t know you.”

            “Duly noted.” She said as the trio walked in through the doors.

            There’s a few tables and booths in the building. Only a few of the tables were filled, just with other students talking idly. At the far end of the building to Petra’s left was an open food bar. At one of the tables against the wall to Petra’s left were three people. One of them, a woman Petra just saw earlier. The black curly hair in a ponytail, magenta/purple hair clip, and purple overalls. She had a lilac off shoulder top shirt, and had moles dotted on her face in a similar pattern to Jay’s. Her eyes were a dark green. She was waving wildly to her, Jay and Lukas. And the was the one closest to the group. The other two were sat on the other side of the table.

            “Hey guys! Over here!” The stranger waved over. There were two other people at the table. The other woman Petra saw earlier. Green beanie, googles, braided black hair, dark brown eyes. A white with a tint of red short sleeve shirt, and a red sleeveless jacket. The third person was a man Petra hadn’t seen at all. Unibrow, black hair that made it look like the man had touched an electrical socket, brown eyes, sideburns and stubble. He wore a white bandana around his neck, and had a grey shirt with a skull on it. There was a brown patch on his shoulder, and he had a green flannel tied around his waist. Out of all the people Petra had seen today, this man looked like the tallest, and while he was sitting she would’ve guessed he was taller than Petra herself.

            She barely noticed how Jay dragged her with them as they started walking up to the group. Lukas taking the lead. 

            “Took you two long enough.” The person with a hairclip said. They then looked at Petra. “Who’s this?”

            “Jesse, this is Petra!” Jay exclaimed. “She’s my roommate! Petra this is my sister Jesse, that -” He pointed to the other woman. “Is Olivia, and he’s -” They gestured to the man. “Axel.”

            “Sup.” Axel said as he leaned back in his chair.

            “Hello.” Olivia said simply before taking a bite of spaghetti. 

            “Hi!” Jesse held out her hand to Petra. “It’s nice to meet you!”

            “... You too.” Petra shook her hand. What was this now like the third time she's said this to someone? Forth? This was going to be a long day from the looks of it. Why did she say yes -

            “Now, if you guys will please give us a moment to get some food, I am starving. ” Jay said, a bit dramatically at the last part. Lukas slightly chuckled, setting down his bag next to the open chair next to Axel.

            “Go ahead.” Olivia waved them off. 

            Jesse waved at them as they headed off to the food bar. The options were mostly simple. She, Lukas, and Jay went into separate directions. Jay grabbed a plate and went over to the salad bar portion. Lukas went over to a sandwich making station, and Petra… Petra wanted something simple. After grabbing a plate, she went over to a section where most of the food was fried. She grabbed a pair of tongs and got herself a few pieces of chicken nuggets, and a handful of fries. She paused for a moment before getting herself a few mozzarella sticks as well. 

            Once she, Jay, and Lukas were all done getting their food they went back to the table. She noticed how Lukas was eyeing her mozzarella sticks. She groaned loudly, and let him take one. Lukas hummed happily as he took a bite. The three were now at the table, Lukas took a seat next to Axel.

            “Here, you and Jay can sit next to me.” Jesse offered. Jay took a step forward - “Nononono, Petra can sit in the middle, I don’t want you constantly poking at me Jay.”

            Jay side eyed Jesse heavily as Petra sat down in the chair next to her. Jay followed after, sitting down next to Petra. Olivia was directly in front of Jesse. Axel was in front of Petra. And Lukas sat down in the chair in front of Jay. Petra kept her head down towards her food. These were all a bunch of new people, and she didn’t want -

            “So Petra…” Olivia said, interrupting Petra’s thoughts. “Where are you from?”

            All eyes were on her now. Petra took a bite out of a fry, and looked away. “Uh…”

            “I’m from Boomtown!” Axel jumped in. “I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of it, it’s like super chaotic, and loud. You’ve got to be a certain kind of person to live there -”

            “She wasn’t asking you, Axel.” Lukas said as he rolled his eyes.

            “I know! I was just saying, y’know, to make Petra more comfortable! Not everyone is fine with just - telling all their personal information like that guys!”

            Jay snickered. “Well, uh, me and Jesse are from Endervill. Super old town, not that great.”

            “We only recently moved to Beacontown with our parents, and wow what an upgrade!” Jesse added.

            “Redstonia.” Olivia said simply. 

            “Sky City!” Lukas said. Which caused everyone aside from Jesse and Jay to stare at him wide eyed.

            “Sky City?!” Axel almost yelled. “The Sky City?! Dude that shit’s expensive over there?! Are you a rich kid?!”

            “Ehehehe…” 

            “Well, he moved over to our town in middle school, so.” Jay shrugged. “Yes, he is a rich kid, though.”

            “His parents have a house out in the farlands.” Jesse added slyly.

            Olivia, Axel, and Petra all gawked at Lukas. Who sunk down into his seat, putting his hands up.

            “Hey, let’s not talk about my parents please.” Lukas then gestured to Olivia. “And Redstonia is a high tech city! Filled with a ton of super smart people, why aren’t you gawking at her?”

            “Redstonia doesn’t float in the sky, Luke.” Jesse held her hands out. Accidentally bonking Petra in the process. “Most people don’t even have the money to come up to visit it. At least anybody can walk into Redstonia whenever they want.”

            “... Right.”

            “Well…” Petra leaned back in her seat. “I’m from Champion City.”

            “Oh, Champion City, I’ve heard a lot about it.” Olivia tilted her head. “Don’t they have some of the most intricate and fancy buildings in the world? And didn’t they bring back plants everyone thought were extinct like the pitcher plant, and the torchflower just so that they could put those in their gardens?”

            “To show off, yeah.” Petra sighed. “It’s a big flashy place, but once you get into the smaller parts it’s actually kinda nice.”

            “Isn’t it also neighbors with Beacontown?” Jesse asked. Their eyes lit up.

            “Yeah.” 

            “Oh, have you ever been to Beacontown?” Jay then added.

            “Nope.”

            “You need to come over sometime! Y’know once it’s summer!” Jesse exclaimed. “It’s one of the best towns you can live in - in my opinion - but the amount of creative freedom you have with building your house is awesome! There are so many cool builds there!”

            “I’ll… think about it.”

            “Can we go back to how this nerd is from Sky City?!” Axel said, gesturing to the man next to him. 

            “Let’s not, actually!” 

            “Am I interrupting something?” 

            It took all of Petra’s power to not breath loudly out of her nose. Not another person, please, she was barely handling talking to the five around her now. She slowly turned to the new person standing by the table. Black curly hair, brown skin, light icy blue eyes. She wore goggles on her head, had a white button up and dark blue jeans. There were black gloves on her hands, and a compass attached to her belt. The group at the table eyed each other awkwardly.

            “Sorry for barging in on you guys like that. My name is Binta, I’m a third year and upperclassman of the academy.” She said with a big smile on her face. She put her hands on her hips. “And from the looks of it, you’re all first years aren’t you?”

            “Yup!” Jesse was the first to chime in. 

            “What do you want?” Axel asked.

            “Well, I have been inviting all the first years to a welcome party!” Binta raised her arms out. “It’s just out by the outside picnic tables. We’ll have fruit punch, soda, and a bunch of snacks!”

            “Why exactly are you having this party?” Olivia said. “I understand you said it was a welcome party, but I don’t see why you as an upperclassman would want to set a party for us freshman other than this being an elaborate prank.”

            Everyone at the table nodded, and hummed in agreement.

            Binta shook her head, there was a genuine smile on her face. “Oh nono - It’s nothing like that! It’s just ever since I’ve been here, the upperclassmen always set something fun up to welcome the first years into the academy. You can ask any of the teachers too, most of them were students here once as well. It’s a tradition as old as hmm… I think ever since the academy was established!”

            Petra squinted, eyeing Binta with suspicion. It seemed that Olivia and Lukas didn’t buy it either. Jesse and Axel were more relaxed.

            “Guys we can trust her.” Jay said, turning to everyone. “Professor Ivor was telling me all about it, and you can go look up records. It’s a yearly thing.”

            “Since when were you talking with some of the teachers?” Jesse reached over Petra to nudge their brother. “Are you already trying to get ahead in your studies? I thought you hated doing that?”

            Jay snorted. “In a way, I guess. And not this stuff Jess. You'll see this stuff is fun.” 

            “See thank you, there’s nothing malicious about it.” Binta put her hands in her pockets. “But you’re not required to come. It’s just something fun for the weekend before classes start. And yes while the first couple of weeks will be relaxed, once everything is ready then the real fun will begin.”

            Everyone except Jay seemed confused by that statement. Binta continued.

            “Well, I have to go invite more freshmen. Bye guys! I hope to see you there!” Binta waved before leaving off to another table. Petra’s eyebrows furrowed as she watched the upperclassman. Wondering what she meant by real fun.

Chapter Text

            Today had been… a very long day…

            Petra sat down by one of the many picnic tables outside. There were food trays and punch bowls all on almost every table she could see. The sky was dark without a single cloud in sight. The patio’s floor was made out of pale oak planks while the picnic tables were made out of regular oak wood. There were pillars going up like a giant gazebo, covering the entire patio for whenever it rained. A tiny platform was at the very end to the right of Petra’s view. A lone microphone was the only thing on it. Many first years were all around the space. Talking in groups, and having a good time. Petra’s table was completely empty.

            That is, until Jay walked up to her table, and plopped down next to her right. His hair wildly out of place with branches and leaves in it.

            “Whooowe, what a crowd, amiright?” He said taking one of the glass cups, and pouring himself a drink. “I didn’t expect there to be so many people.”

            “Which is why I’ve decided to sit all the way back here.” 

            “Not a fan of crowds?”

            “Not a fan of people, actually.” Petra rested her elbow onto the table, and set her head onto her hand. 

            “Hah, well, I understand that.” Jay took a sip of fruit punch. “Kinda. Well… I used to feel that way, but once you meet the right people everyone else becomes more tolerable. Except for a certain few.”

            “Like that Aiden guy you mentioned before?”

            “Especially that Aiden guy I’ve mentioned before.” Jay turned to her. “Earlier as I was coming to the party. I almost ran into him, and I am not about to deal with his childish middle school level insults today. So I took the long way around to get here.”

            “Is that why you’re all covered in dirt?” Petra replied slyly.

            Jay looked down at their dirtied clothes and shoes. They smiled sheepishly before scratching the back of their head. “The long way around may have been through the gardens and some bushes.”

            “Ppppptttttt - are you serious?” She raised her eyebrows.

            “Yup. Don’t tell anyone, because I fixed it. It looks as good as new. And - and - we don’t talk about this any further. Trust me, I got all the slack from both Lukas and Jesse. I don’t need any more from you.”

            “I wasn’t going to.” Petra raised up her hands in surrender. She snorted. “I just can’t understand why you didn’t try to clean yourself up before you got here.”

            “I frankly don’t mind having a little dirt on my clothes or leaves in my hair. It adds to my character.”

            “Makes you look like a weirdo.”

            Jay deadpanned. He squinted his eyes. “Says the one who’s purposely sitting at an empty table all by herself.” They sputtered before continuing. Gesturing to the people around them. “You- there’s like - 60 something people here, and you haven’t even tried to talk to one of them?!”

            “I’m just enjoying my time at this table!” Petra shrugged. “Besides, I’m here for the food. Not to socialize of all things. I can do that when classes start.”

            “You’re socializing with me now, though. Aren’t you?”

            “You are different.” Petra said while picking up a glass of punch. “You’re the guy I’m going to be living with for an entire year. I should be trying to get to know you.”

            “...” Jay pondered what she said for a moment. He closed his eyes and shrugged. “Fair enough.”

            Petra went to take a sip of her drink.

            “But, if you ever want to talk to anyone else…” They nudged her, nodding his head over. “Jesse and Lukas would love to get to know you too.”

            Petra looked over to see the other duo in the distance. Jesse had her arm over Lukas’ shoulders. She was laughing loudly, as Lukas was covering his mouth trying to hide his giggling. Jesse’s laughter was so loud that Petra and Jay could both hear it faintly from the table they were at. Besides those two were Olivia and Axel as well as a few others Petra didn’t recognize. Though Olivia looked tired, but overall she looked relatively happy. 

            As Jesse’s laughter calmed down, she leaned against Lukas and looked up. Seeing Jay and Petra. Jesse smiled brightly waving at them. Lukas goes to wave at the duo as well. Jay waved back with the same enthusiasm as his sibling, while Petra’s wave barely had any energy put behind it. 

            Jay put his hand down and looked back at Petra. “They’re pretty cool people, y’know?”

            “One’s your sister, and the other is your best friend. Of course you think that.”

            “You don’t think they’re cool?” Jay pouted with some of the saddest puppy dog eyes Petra had ever seen. She avoided looking him in the eyes and took another sip of the punch.

            “I haven’t talked to them long enough to think that.”

            Jay hummed while nodding. The two roommates were quiet for a moment. Letting the sound of idle chatter wash over them. People walk by, as they both turned away from each other. Feeling increasingly awkward around the stranger. Yes they were roommates now, but Petra didn’t necessarily feel comfortable around the other yet.

            “Okay so, that guy -” Jay leaned down and pointed to a man who was talking to some other people. Breaking the silence and making sure it wasn’t obvious they were pointing at him. “Brunnete hair, green eyes, piercings, and green shirt? That’s Aiden. That’s the guy I was warning you about. If you see him in the dorms just avoid him, it’s not worth it. And the guy right next to him? With the beard and grey tank top? That’s Gill. I’m okay with Gill.”

            “So you knew these guys in middle school?”

            “Yup. Alongside -” Jay turned to the left and pointed over to a woman who was also in the middle of a group. “Maya. The one with the bob haircut, and yellow hairclip. She’s not friends with Aiden or Gill anymore. I think Lukas told me he and her have been trying to make amends recently though.”

            “How many people do you know here?” Petra said bewildered. “It feels like you know everyone around us?!”

            “Haha! That’s it I think. Just Lukas, Jesse, Aiden, Maya, and Gill. Axel and Olivia are just people I barely met a week ago. Now! There are some other people I’ve gotten to talk to, but I don’t know like -” There was an older man with long black hair and a beard standing on the sidelines with two other people. “Ivor? The guy in green? He’s a nurse, well - actually he’s been mentoring me on some stuff and he’s a little out there but really awesome. You’ll like him.”

            “That guy.” Petra paused, before looking at Jay in disbelief. “Is a nurse.”

            “And a pretty good one too! Though, some say his methods are a bit unconventional.” Jay pointed to the other two people. “Beside him are his husband Soren and his wife Harper. Harper’s the professor yo -”

            “She’s the one I’ll have to talk to right?” Petra said. Eyeing the old professor. Her hair was white, braided, and in a low ponytail. She had orange goggles on her head. The other man, Soren, had ginger curly hair, and a nice grey suit. 

            “Yup. She’s supposed to have one on ones with everyone for the next two weeks. And Soren is the librarian. I haven’t talked to him personally. Lukas has, and he’s said the guy’s a little weird.”

            “Alright.” 

            “And I’m sure you already got to meet Hadrian.”

            “Ugh, the dean? Is he here too?”

            “Nope, thankfully. But I’m sure you haven’t seen her yet.” Jay pointed over to a woman in a dark blue suit. Her purple hair was dull, with a few grey streaks in it. Half her face was covered by her hair, and she scowled. She wasn’t around anyone else. Just observing the little party from a distance with her hands behind her back.

            “That's Xara.” Jay leaned closer to Petra and whispered. “She's The Admin . One of the people that overlooks everything here.”

            “...” Petra blinked once. And then twice. Before she slowly turned to Jay. “Why did you say it like that?”

            “I don’t know who that guy is though.” Jay said as someone new was coming up to their table. Completely brushing Petra off. This guy was obviously a first year too. With thick boxy glasses tilted to the side. Short black hair that was all over the place. With a green sweater vest, and a yellow long sleeve underneath. The man looked out of breath. Sweat dripped down his face.

            This new guy completely ignored Petra and Jay as he went up to the table. He half haphazardly grabbed an empty glass cup, and poured fruit punch into it. He tilted his head back, and downed the fruit punch like it was a glass of alcohol. He even shuddered as he almost slammed the glass back down onto the table.

            “Rough night?” Jay asked as Petra snorted.

            “You can say that again.” This new guy sat down in front of Petra and Jay. He held his head down, not taking a second to breathe. “You would not believe the trouble I went through to get here! I forgot to pack all my belongings so I spent all morning - well into lunch just to pack all of my clothes and items! Then I had to spend hours in a car, driving all the way here! In traffic! Traffic so bad the sun was slowly starting to set as I finally got here, and I was so stressed that I would have to wait until morning just to get in and have to stay in a hotel - but! But! I barely made it, they were so close to closing the gates for the night just as I got here! I was crawling up to the dean’s office to find my room, and he was so- so - so rude! I tried explaining my situation to him, and he just brushed me off! Irritated! He practically threw the keys at me, and then I had to haul all of my luggage to my room by myself and - and - then I’m told there’s a party and -”

            He stopped as he noticed Jay and Petra exchanging a glance. The new guy rested his head in his hands. Pulling at his hair.

            “Sorry. Sorry - I’m rambling too much.”

            “It’s okay.” Jay chuckled. “Sounds like you’ve gone through a lot today.”

            “Hoo boy, that’s an understatement .” He shook his head. “Oh my goodness, I can’t believe I dumped that all onto you guys without even introducing myself! Gosh! How rude of me! I’m - I’m Radar. I’m a first year - and -”

            “Petra.” She interrupted. She nodded over to her roommate. “And this is Jay. We’re first years too.”

            “Oh! Cool! Cool! That’s great, uh - so sorry for barging in like that. Petra. Jay.” Radar ran a hand through his hair. “I just feel so kerfuffled, and all over the place. If you’d like me to leave I can -”

            “You can stay!” Jay gestured to Petra. “As long as she’s okay with it.”

            “...” Petra’s eyebrows furrowed as she looked at Jay. They had pleading eyes. “Sure. Whatever. It’s cool, just don’t expect too much from me.”

            “Okay! That’s - that’s great! Thank you so much!” Radar laughed nervously. “This was just the quietest table I could find, and I don’t - don’t want to run into too many people right now. I don’t do parties.”

            “Ditto.” Petra said. Jay looked back and forth at the two.

            “Then why are you guys here if you don’t like parties?!”

            “I already told you I’m here for the -”

            “Food.” Both her and Radar said at the same time. 

            Jay deadpanned once more. They then shook their head, tsking. 

            “Well then Jay why are you here?”

            “...” Jay’s lips were in a straight line as he side eyed Petra. It’s a few seconds or so before he relents and his head goes down. “Food.” His head snapped back up. “But! I’m also here to see what Binta’s going to say. So hah!”

            “Wait, you’re not here for the party either?” Petra raised an eyebrow. “You seem like the kind of person that’d like this stuff.”

            “Ehhh, it depends. I was doing okay at first, but I got to a point where I just needed to retreat over here and take a moment to breathe.” 

            “I can respect that.” Radar said, nodding to himself. He went to pour himself another glass.

            Petra’s elbows rested on the table with her drink in her hands. She looked back out into the crowd. Seeing Harper once more, but she seemed to have left her partners for the moment. Petra wondered what she’d have to talk to Harper about, and why. Why exactly did she need to have one on ones with every student? That seemed very… weird. To say the least. 

            Harper walked over to two men. A villager with a teal hat, and a nomad with dirty blonde hair and beard with an eyepatch. On the side of his face with an eyepatch Petra could see there was a nasty burn scar on his face. The man was wearing a dark blue vest over a button up, and had his sleeves rolled up. There were burn scars on his arms too. Mostly on his left side. Huh.

            The three talked to each other in what looked like hushed whispers. Harper gestured for the two men to follow her. The two men exchanged a concerned glance before doing so. Petra watched as they left the giant patio and party. The woman Jay had pointed out earlier, Xara, must’ve noticed too. Because when Petra saw her, she was looking off in the direction the trio left in. Her lips pursed, and eyebrows furrowed. Xara was about to follow them, before being stopped by Ivor and Soren. Who both started speaking to her. Stuff Petra couldn’t really hear from the table she was sitting at.

            Petra took a sip of her drink. Wishing she could hear what they were saying. 

            “Petra?” Jay tilted his head. Petra jumped in her seat, almost spilling her drink. “What do you think?”

            “Ab - ” She coughed, setting the glass onto the table. “About what?”

            “...” Jay and Radar gave each other a look , before Jay said. “Y’know? About being here? Are you excited or…”

            “I… uh… I guess so.” 

            “You guess so?” Radar asked.

            “I -” Petra sighed. “Look, I don’t know! I just came here because they said they could help me. I’m not really excited, or nervous, or whatever.”

            “Ahh, okay.” Jay turned his attention back to the other man. “Well, Radar, bud I don’t think there’s anything you have to be nervous about. Just think of it as -”

            The microphone made a loud ear bursting sound. Radar, Jay, and Petra all went to cover their ears as they looked over. Binta was standing on the podium. Smiling sheepishly and awkwardly with the microphone in hand. She coughed into her elbow away from the microphone before saying.

            “Uh - sorry about that.” She cleared her throat. “Hello everyone! I’m sure most of you are at least aware of my name. I’m Binta, the organiser, an upperclassman, and the one who invited most of you alongside Cam and Hilda. And I am here to welcome you all to Life Academy!”

            There was a round of applause. Petra clapped lazily alongside the crowd. Letting out a heavy sigh. The applause died down as Binta held out her hand to quiet everyone. 

            “Now, I know things may feel new and scary. You’re entering a new stage of life, and that uncertainty can be terrifying. But I’m here to tell you that making that first step to come here to the academy was the best decision you could make. From here on out, your life is going to change. And by the time you return home, your entire outlook will change. For the better.” She held her hand to her heart. “I was once like all of you. Scared and uncertain about my future. I had nowhere to go, but coming to the academy changed everything.”

            Petra rolled her eyes at these dramatics. Jay and Rader, however, were entranced by the speech. Jay sported a big dorky grin, while Radar looked… hopeful? Petra wasn’t sure what that was about.

            “I’ve had some of the best years of my life here. I’ve met my closest friends, I’ve made some of my greatest achievements, and discovered things about myself I otherwise couldn't have!”

            Petra rested her elbow on the table, leaning her head against her hand. At this point she started to tune out Binta’s words. Believing it to just be some word salad that’s meant to make the academy look good. Nothing actually important to learn, so that was great. She could’ve been getting ready to go to bed right about now. But nope, she was stuck at some boring party, wasting her time.

            Her eyes drifted off to someone else. To Jesse who was sitting in the middle of Lukas and Olivia. She looked just as bored as Petra felt. Their hands locked together right next to their face and elbows on the table. Jesse’s dark green eyes were distant, clearly not paying attention to Binta in the slightest. Her mind was off elsewhere. 

            Jesse’s eyes drifted over to Petra, which took her out of her daze. They broke out into a smile. Which had been almost exactly identical to the one Jay had. Wow, they really were twins. Petra could see Jesse’s nose scrunch up as she laughed softly. She gave Petra a tiny wave, while Petra responded with a small nod.

            Jesse then pointed to Binta with her thumb, and then mimed sleeping. Petra snorted. To respond to Jesse, she pretended she was about to drift off and sleep before jolting up acting like she didn’t know where she was. She saw Jesse cover her mouth as she laughed. Once Jesse stopped themself from going into a laughing fit, they mimed someone talking with one hand. Then she took that hand and made it go over her head. Her cheeks had puffed up, and while Petra couldn’t hear it she had obviously made a “whoosh” sound. 

            It was Petra’s turn to laugh. She chuckled softly at Jesse’s over exaggerated movements. Petra took her hand to mime someone talking, but instead of it going over her head. Petra leaned her head back, and made her hand go past her face. She then pointed behind herself to the dorm rooms in the distance. She hoped Jesse would get what she was saying.

            Jesse nodded at her. They squinted their eyes for a moment, pondering. Before Jesse gasped like she had an idea. The other mimed someone talking with their hand once more. But then stopped. They then held their hands up with their pointer fingers out. Put them parallel to each other, and then made their hands move over to the direction of the dorms. 

            “...” Okay Petra wasn’t sure what this one meant. It must’ve been clear on her face, because Jesse pouted. 

            She’s slower this time, and points to Binta. The talking mime slowly stops… Okay so Binta, stops talking. Points to Petra. You. Points to herself. Me. Holds her hands up with pointer fingers out parallel to each other once more. Us. This time when they make their hands move to the direction of the dorms there’s a bounce to them. Like someone walking - Oh!

            Once Binta's done, you and I go back to the dorms, together. 

            Petra’s eyebrows raised as it dawned on her. Petra nodded, giving Jesse a thumbs up. Jesse returns it with her own thumbs up, smiling widely at her. Jesse nudged Lukas, and talked to him. Though Petra wasn’t the best at reading lips, so she couldn’t tell what it was. Lukas looked over to Petra for a brief moment, before looking back to Jesse. He smiled and nodded. He then gestured over to the direction of Jay. 

            There’s this smug look on Jesse’s face. Something about it feels very… knowing . In a way Petra can’t describe. The smug look turns into something more devilish as they whisper to Lukas. The blonde covered his face with one hand. Waving at Jesse’s face. She laughs as she puts her hands up to protect herself. Petra was able to catch this one, Jesse said something along the lines of “I’m just saying.” Lukas free hand hit the table, and he ran his other hand down his face. Shaking his head with a small annoyed smile on his face. 

            Petra turned away, feeling like she was intruding on their moment. Her shoulders slumped as she realized, maybe this was going to take longer than she originally thought.

……

            The granite paths were dimly lit by lamp posts. Harper’s footsteps were quiet and calculated as she traveled through the campus. Jack and Nurm followed after her. An ever growing concern was visible on their faces.

            “What’s this about Harper?” Jack whispered. The professor looked in both directions as they walked. “Because if it’s serious, why are you waiting to tell us?”

            Nurm adds with the burning question on Jack’s mind too. Why him and Jack specifically? Why not Hadrian or X -

            Harper whipped around, with a finger to her lips shushing them. Her eyebrows furrowed. “Because I trust you two to not lose your marbles to this information. Ivor and Soren have already been made aware, and you two need to promise me to keep your traps shut. I do not want to cause a panic among the staff nor our older students.”

            “I don’t appreciate you being cryptic, Harper.” Jack said. Nurm nodded his head in agreement. 

            Nurm hummed thoughtfully. And added how he and Jack should just expect it at this point. Harper, Ivor, and Soren. The three of them had always been a cryptic bunch. Nurm then muttered a comment about how he could see why the three of them were all drawn to each other. Jack chuckled.

            “I heard that.” Harper snapped back. The three of them were at the steps of the library. Harper leads, she takes out a pair of keys, opens the doors, and lets the two men inside. She closed the door quietly behind them. 

            Nurm muttered again. How this felt like he was about to be kidnapped. 

            “That is enough out of you.” Harper said as locked the doors. Nurm smiled to himself as he folded his arms. 

            The lights were off. Jack could barely see a thing out of his one eye. Nurm stood closer to him, and held his hand. Jack smiled softly as Nurm pulled him along. Following Harper throughout the empty library. 

            He felt rather ridiculous to sneak around the library. Yes this was Soren’s domain, but it’s not like Jack didn’t work here either. Why Harper felt the need to was beyond him. Whatever she found must’ve been important, but he still couldn’t get it. Why was she telling him and Nurm, and not Hadrian. Y’know the actual dean? Or even Xara of all people! The academy’s most influential and debatedly most important administrator they had. If anyone needed to be informed on this so called important information. Xara should always be the first to know. 

            Nurm makes a comment saying this reminds him of how he and Jack used to sneak into the library when they were students. 

            “Hah! Right.” Jack says as they walk past bookshelves. “Like that wasn’t always all your idea Nurmie. Y’know he was always dragging me, Vos, and Sammy here just so he could read as many books as he could. And once he started doing it Sammy was too.”

            “Oh I remember.” Harper stopped in front of a wall. “It was always books involving cartography, right?” 

            Nurm hummed happily and nodded. 

            “Well, at least you always returned your books.” Harper’s finger ran over faint engravings in the wall. Each one lighting up in a red hue as she did. “Miss Munsey always had to fight Soren so he’d bring all of his books back.”

            Jack heard the sound of redstone come to life behind the wall. He said. “Remember when he went through that phase researching Enderman for… what was it… a year?”

            “From what everyone saw it was two years. But -” Harper stepped back as a hidden door was pulled away by pistons. “Soren’s never actually stopped his research.”

            “I figured.” Jack chucked, letting go of Nurm’s hand. There’s stairs leading down a hallway. With white concrete walls, and stone steps. Harper simply put her hand against the wall, leading to the redstone lamps in the hallway to turn on. She stepped to the side, gesturing for Nurm and Jack to step in.

            They go into the hall before Harper. She steps in behind them. Taking a moment to put her hand back onto the wall, and the hidden door closes behind the trio. Jack couldn’t help but be amazed. Even still. Out of all the runes he’s studied he would never be able to understand how Harper’s worked. All he understood was that it involved redstone.

            Harper squished her way past the couple, and went back to leading them. Though it may have been a little… pointless. He knew the ins and outs of the lab like the back of his hand. Nurm too. It was important information to learn if you wanted to work at the academy. 

            The trio walk through bland hallways. Passing by a bunch of portraits of past professors. All eventually leading up to Harper. Her past mentor and the former professor, Professor Petra’s, portrait stood proudly. Jack barely acknowledged it. He vaguely knew the man, and at this point didn’t remember much. Only that he wore colorful glasses, and spoke in an obviously fake German accent. 

            Harper stood in front of her office’s doors. The three enter her office, closing the doors.

            “Alright Harper, you’ve led us all the way down here. What’s going on?” Jack stood next to his partner. Watching as Harper walked over to her computer. 

            “We have a problem.” She paused for a moment. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “You both remember Romeo.”

            It wasn’t even a question. Jack’s breath hitched as his nose scrunched. Absent-mindedly he scratched at his scarred arm. 

            Nurm was the one who answered that question with an of course. He went to hold Jack’s hand again, and gave it a reassuring squeeze. 

            “I’m worried we may have another person with his… talents … on our hands.”

            “... How do you know?” Jack squeezed Nurm’s hand back. “Isn’t it… impossible to tell without the test?”

            “Mostly, but…” Harper sat down, she rubbed her face. “Romeo, and others like him, always have a higher mana level than the rest of us. I’m not sure if it’s due to this rune being the rarest, but it does. And today, there has been a spike in the general mana levels. Which means, one of the new first years who came in today either has a high affinity for magic than most, or it means they’re a…”

            “Fire user.” Jack finished. Nurm let out a loud sigh. 

            “Yes.”

            Nurm stepped forward, still holding onto Jack’s hand. He held out his other. He was confused saying how he thought Romeo was the last one.

            “You can’t ever know if someone’s the last user of certain magics Nurm.” Harper clasped her hands together. “Fire is the rarest one, due to what I assume it being recessive. A family can have about fifty generations of people before it shows up in a member. And - and Romeo had no family history. We do not know who his family was. Or who they could’ve been. He could’ve had a distant cousin, or an unknown sibling who had kids. We wouldn’t know. And even then he might’ve not had relatives, and this could be an entirely different family who can pass this down.”

            “Is this why you didn’t want Xara to know?” 

            “Yes. I know it’s been years now, but we all are aware how… sensitive … She is to this subject. And I don’t want her to try to hunt down this potential fire user, and either chase them away or accidentally create another Romeo. We need to keep this to ourselves. Find out who it is, and I am asking the both of you to be their mentor.”

            “Us?” Jack turned to Nurm who looked equally surprised. “Why?”

            “Two reasons.” She pointed to Jack first, and then to Nurm. “Your water rune and his physic together will be enough to combat any potential outbursts. And two, I know you both will treat this person with the respect and care they deserve. It is not their fault they were born with such an uncontrollable rune. And I don’t want them to fall into the hands of someone who’s only going to treat them like a second Romeo.”

            “...” Jack and Nurm nodded. 

            “As I’ve said Ivor and Soren are already aware. They’re going to help me, and you two make sure we can keep this a secret. It’s only up until we learn we don’t have a fire user, or if we do, you train them to have a grip and control of their powers. I…” She let out a deep and tired sigh. “We can’t let what happened with Romeo ever happen again.”

            “Romeo was a jealous, hateful man.” Jack’s voice was stern. “Talented, but jealous. More than most people I’ve ever met, and it ate him alive. That. Is what led him down that road. And I promise you Harper, we won’t let this kid meet the same fate.”

            Nurm nodded with a determined expression and an affirmative hum. A small smile formed on Harper’s face. 

            “This is why I believe you two are the right people for the job. I’ll send you a list of students who arrived today, and I’ll inform you whenever they’re being tested. I want you two, when you can, to keep an eye on these students. Whenever they pass by. See if you notice anything. With their high levels of mana, you’re bound to notice something. ” Harper pulled out a clip board and handed it to Nurm. Jack and Nurm stopped holding hands so the villager could grab the board. There were papers with student information, and faces. “Besides, we only had a few students come in today. So I’m sure you’ll be able to keep track of them easily.”

            Nurm flipped through the papers as Jack watched over his shoulder. 

Skylar

Nell

Petra

Ellie

Stella

Radar

            “I see.” Jack took a deep breath. “Thank you for telling us this Harper. We won’t let you down.”

            “I know.” Harper waved them off. “Now go, and make sure nobody else finds out. Not Hadrian, not Mevia, Xara, Ellegaurd, Otto, Magnus, or even Gabriel . Nobody hears a word about this.”

            Jack gave a short nod as Nurm started to leave. Still flipping through the papers. He quickly followed his husband, and left the office. Nurm’s brow was furrowed, and Jack… His stomach twisted. The burn scars on his arms and face tingled. Though he knew it was just his imagination. His forehead was starting to hurt with how tight his eyebrows had been.

            Two out of the six possible students had bright red hair, and one was ginger. Those three were higher up on his list of suspects. From his memories on the history and past of the fire power. The user's hair always tended to be red or orange. While he didn’t doubt it wasn’t guaranteed, the only fire users in the history books were red heads. Romeo included. His jaw was clenched as he shifted his gaze back in the hall. 

            Nurm brushed Jack’s shoulder. He looked over to the villager. Nurm asked if he was alright.

            “I… Ah, I’m going to be.” Jack’s shoulders relaxed. He hadn’t realized they had been tense in the first place. “I’ll have to be, if we’re going to be mentoring some fire user.”

            Nurm cringed, nodding along to what Jack was saying.

            “I think what we have to worry about… is what this person is like. Because if they’re anything like Romeo, we’re going to have a problem.”

            Nurm hummed about what if they’re not.

            “Then the only thing we’ll have to worry about is Xara.”

……

            It didn’t take long for Petra to run out of that party as fast as she could. Once Binta was done, she was gone. No questions asked. 

            Actually some questions were asked. Radar and Jay both wanted her to stick around. For some reason. But she told them that she was tired, and just wanted to go to bed at this point. Thankfully the two understood, and let her go. Jesse stood up once Petra did. Olivia looked up at Jesse, they exchanged a few words, and then Olivia stood up too. 

            Petra left the area, Jesse and Olivia both caught up to her. She kept her hands in her pockets as the other two walked beside her. Their footsteps were loud against the granite.

            “Thank God, I think I was about to collapse from exhaustion.” Olivia said, with her shoulders slumped. “Remind me to never go to one of those again.” 

            “Awh, I thought it was fun!” Jesse adjusted their hairclip. “At least at first.”

            “I wouldn’t even call that a party.” Petra said. The two turned to her. “That was more like an overhyped wedding reception. ” 

            “Pfft.” Jesse tilted her head. “You’ve been to a wedding before?”

            “Once, a couple years ago, it was for my uncle. But it was one of the most boring things I’ve ever done.” Petra shrugged.

            “You should’ve seen my parent’s second wedding. It was awesome! They turned it into an actual -”

            “Second wedding?” Olivia asked.

            “Yeah, my parents didn’t like how their first wedding was, so they wanted to do a second one. I don’t know the full details, I think all of my grandparents pushed them into having their wedding be a certain way. So when they had a second one they went all out. And since me and Jay were also here for the second one, they said it made it even better to have their kids be there.” Jesse hummed, scratching her chin. “I also think that’s the first time I’ve seen Uncle Hero cry.” 

            “Your family seems nice.” Olivia said. “From everything you’ve told me. Mine are just strict.”

            “Oh you have got to meet them at some point! You too Petra. I’m sure you guys would love them, they’re the best.” Jesse gasped and continued. “And you also need to meet my younger siblings. And my cousins and -”

            “How big is your family?” Petra sounded shocked.

            “Hmmm… there’s Jamie and Jasper. Who are mine and Jay’s younger siblings. They’re ten, and they’re also twins. There’s my dad and my mom. Uncle Hero and his husband Garrett, and their six adopted kids -”

            “Six?!” Petra’s eyes widened.

            “Yeah six.” Jesse didn’t even bat an eye. “Then my aunt Valorie and her two kids.”

            “Holidays must be packed for you then.” Olivia commented.

            “Prettyyyy much.” Jesse smiled widely. “Makes things hectic but I love them. HOWEVER, I could use some quiet - Do you guys have any siblings?”

            “Nope.” Petra said.

            “I don’t, I just have cousins I barely talk to.” Olivia added. 

            “Dang. I swear me and Jay are the only ones with siblings around here.” 

            “I don’t think I could handle one sibling, and you have three of them.” Olivia gawked at them. “How many times have you had to fend them off from your things?”

            “Jay? Not at all. They’re very respectful. Jamie’s also relatively calm for his age, but Jasper? Ohohoho, she’s an energetic ten year old. It’s not that she even realizes she’s taken my things. She just likes collecting things, and putting them into a dragon’s nest in her room. And it’s a massive dragon’s nest. I’m starting to worry she might become a hoarder.” Jesse then frowned. “I’m sorry, have I been talking too much? If you guys have anything you want to talk about you can.”

            “It’s fine.” Petra hummed. “I don’t have much to talk about.”

            “Me neither.” Olivia yawned. “And I’m exhausted. That party wore me out.”

            “Okay,” Jesse laughed nervously. “I just - uh - just don’t want to be talking over anyone. I know I can do that sometimes.”

            “Don’t sweat it.” Petra patted their back. Jesse’s eyes widened. “Believe me if you were annoying me, you’d know.”

            Jesse forced out a laugh. “Hah - hah - okay, that - uh - that’s good. Hey did you know your hands are warm?”

            Petra’s expression didn’t change, Olivia raised her eyebrow. There was a red tint to Jesse’s cheeks, Petra could’ve sworn they were sweating. Wow, she’s never had that reaction before. 

            “Like really warm. Are you okay -”

            “Yeah.” Petra put her hand back into her pocket. “They always have been. My body runs at a higher temperature than most people, and nobody knows why. My mom thought I had a fever as a kid, but doctors never found anything, and it’s never had an effect on me.”

            “Huh, that’s… strange.” Olivia muttered.

            “Yup.” 

            “Then what are actual fevers like?!” Jesse asked, with a higher pitch in her voice.  

            “Hell.” Petra held out a halfhearted thumbs up. “I wouldn’t recommend it. Kinda sucks.” 

            “I can imagine.” Olivia sighed, taking her beanie off. The dorm rooms were just ahead, and Petra couldn’t help but be relieved. Soon she’d be able to go to bed. 

            “Well. I guess that’s one fun fact from me, and one fun fact about Petra. So…” Jesse turned to Olivia. “What about you Olivia?”

            “...” Olivia gritted her teeth. “I don’t know. I’m not that interesting of a person Jesse…”

            “Awh come on, that's not true! You can start with hobbies, what kind of hobbies are you into?”

            “I like coding… I guess.”

            “Oooo, coding sounds fun. How’d you get into it?”

            “I… I don’t know.” The poor girl started to look uncomfortable. “I can’t exactly remember.”

            “So it was something that called to you?”

            “Yeah.” 

            The three walked up the steps to the dorms, and walked inside the building. Jesse turned to Petra.

            “Well then, I guess this is where we depart.” Jesse nudged Petra with her elbow. “We’ll see you tomorrow?”

            “If I don’t sleep the day away, then yes.” Petra said as she went to the door to the stairs. That got a small chuckle out of Olivia. 

            “Cool. See you later Petra!” Jesse waved as she and Olivia went over to their room down the hall. Petra watched as Jesse opened the door, and… blocked it? They didn’t open the door fully. Jesse squeezed through when it was opened at a small crack. Once Jesse was inside, then Olivia opened the door further to get inside. 

            Petra hummed and went to the stairs. It wasn’t long before she was on the second floor, and made her way to her room. Once she closed the door behind her and turned on the lights, Petra leaned back against the door and slowly sat down. The hood of her hoodie dragged up against the door. She took off her bandana and ran a hand through her hair, letting out a long exhale.

            She only had one more day off before classes would start. God, she wasn’t as prepared for this as she initially thought… She rummaged through her pocket and pulled out her phone. There was one unread message from her mom.

8:46 pm

Hey Petra! Just wanted to check in, how was your first day? Was it good? :) Or do you need me to bring you home immediately? 

            Petra snorted at the last comment.

9:57 pm

It was alright met a lot of people but they’re pretty cool so far but i’m tired i didn’t expect to meet so many people at once

9:57 pm

Did you meet your roommate? Also sorry to hear you’re tired sweetie. :( It’s going to get better as time goes on, you just need to get used to your new environment.

9:58 pm

Yeah, his name is Jay and he introduced me to his sister and his

I think?

Okay I’m not actually sure

But I think his boyfriend? They said he was their best friend but?? I’m?? Not sure??

They’re all nice both Jay and their twin Jesse are very talkative but not in an annoying way and Lukas seems more mellow I also met a few other people 

9:58 pm

Oooo, fun! I’m glad to see you making new friends. :) <3 

You know you need it.

And don’t scoff at me! I could feel that from all the way over here! >:(

            Petra rolled her eyes.

9:58 pm

Whatever mom

Anyways love you, I need to go to bed 

9:58 pm

Oh certainly! Love you too, have fun over there! :) Goodnight!

9:58 pm

Goodnight mom

            Petra put her phone back into her pocket and stood up. She wasn’t sure when Jay would come back, so she decided to keep the lights on for the main room. Petra made her way to the right set of rooms. She hesitated as she looked to the bathroom. Her foot tapped the floor, before she ultimately decided she’d take a shower in the morning. 

            She went into her bedroom and closed the door behind her, turning on the lights for a moment. The brown curtains were wide open. Petra pulled out her phone and bandana placing them both on the nightstand. Then she took off her hoodie and threw it onto the bed. She went over to the window and looked outside.

            The party was still going on in the distance, and little lights from the lampposts were scattered throughout the campus. The trees were still green, though some had a few spots of orange and yellow. She heaved a heavy sigh. Albeit it was a far better view than the one she had in her bedroom back home. One that was completely obstructed by another building in front of it. But this new view didn’t make her giddy, or excited for the future. She stared blankly out to her temporary home.

            She closed the curtains. Petra picked up her hoodie, and hung it up in the closet. She opened her backpack and pulled out her pajamas. A baggy black tanktop with a fox on it, gifted to her from her mom. And striped shorts that looked like they belonged to a cartoon. She took off her boots and socks. She switched out of her clothes into her pjs. And then threw that into the corner of her room. That would be future Petra’s problem.

            Finally Petra could turn off the light, and collapse onto the bed face first. She was still for a moment, before she squirmed around and pulled the blankets over herself. Her entire body relaxed. She could practically melt into the pillows at this point. 

            Tomorrow she will take the day off and relax. No new people, no walking around. She was going to stay in her dorm room. Maybe leaving a couple of times to get some food. But she did not want to do much. Though. Maybe she wouldn’t mind hanging out with Jay. He was her roommate after all, it wasn’t like she’d be able to avoid him entirely. And frankly, she didn’t feel the need to avoid them… 

            She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Whatever, she’d figure out what she was going to do tomorrow when it got here. For now, she was going to let herself drift off into a peaceful slumber. 

Chapter Text

           When Petra woke up it had been around 43 minutes before her alarm would go off. To her dismay she felt that dull pain just below her stomach, traveling to her lower back. Cramps revealing their ugly face after weeks of quiet. 

           “You've got to be kidding me.”

           Petra slammed the back of her head against the pillow. The room was dark, the sun hadn’t come up, but it would soon enough. The room was cold, but the bed was warm. She would’ve loved to stay in bed. Possible would’ve stayed there the rest of the day, but if she didn’t do something this was going to get significantly worse. Because of course it did. Stupid periods. 

           With the gracefulness of a reanimated zombie, Petra pulled herself out of bed. Her blankets fell off to the ground, but she didn't care. She shivered at the cold chill. Lazily she wandered over to her backpack. She opened it, only to realize there weren't any pads. And there wasn't any ibuprofen.

           “...” Petra facepalmed. She brought her 3DS but nothing else of importance? At least she brought her toothbrush and toothpaste. And deodorant. Thank the universe for the deodorant.

           Thankfully, she had a roommate who has a sister. And from her experience guys with sisters usually were much more prepared for this than guys who didn't. She exited her bedroom not caring to turn the lights. Or the fact she looked like roadkill.

           “Jay?” Petra called out. Her voice was hoarse. “Are you awake?”

           She entered the main room.

           “Hey!” She turned her head to the couch where Jay was sitting. The TV was on. The Wii's selection screen lit up the dark room. The lights weren’t on, and the curtains were closed. Jay himself was in his pjs. A black shirt, with fuzzy grey pants with various pig faces on them. “What's up?”

           “Does…” Petra cringed. “Does your twin have any… pads? Or ibuprofen. Y’know all of that? Cause I need some.”

           “Oh! Uh, no she doesn't. I do though!” Jay didn't hesitate. They got up onto their feet and ran to their room. As they left they said. “Well they have ibuprofen, just not all the other stuff.”

           Jay was in and out of his bathroom in seconds. He handed Petra a few pads, and two pills of ibuprofen.

           “Here, and don't worry, the academy provides more of this stuff if we need it.”

           “Cool.” Petra gestured back to her bathroom. “I’m uh, going to go take a shower, and thanks.”

           “No problem! I’ll just be out here.” He sat back down onto the couch, picking up a wiimote. 

           With that Petra turned around and went back to her room, picked up some clothes, and then headed to the bathroom.

……

           The sun was coming up as Petra exited the bathroom. She was in a pair of blue shorts, with a light grey T-shirt. Her bandana was back where it belonged on her head. Her sides and back hurt, the ibuprofen hadn’t kicked in yet. At least she didn’t feel like collapsing! She’d take that! However, if the ibuprofen didn’t kick in soon she thought she was going to cause a riot.

           Petra threw her pajamas carelessly onto her bed. Letting out a sigh as she saw the mess of a bed as the sunlight poked out of the curtains. She was not going to clean everything up right now. All she wanted to do was lay down and melt into whatever it was she was on. Petra pulled her wet hair out of her face, and left the room. Right after she grabbed her hoodie of course.

           She pulled her hoodie over her shoulders as she walked back out into the main room. Jay was there sitting on the end of the couch. Cereal was on the coffee table alongside their phone. They were out of their pajamas and instead in comfortable sweat pants and a teal T-shirt. Today he didn’t wear any suspenders or a flannel. The wiimote was in their hand as they flinged it to the side and a little yellow character on screen went flying to the left.

           “Back.” Petra said. The game paused as Jay looked over to her.

           “Welcome back! Are you feeling okay?” 

           Petra’s hand was clutching her side. She said, “Been better. But I really, really don’t feel like doing anything today.”

           “Oh I get it, trust me.” Jay exited the game and stood up. He walked over to the console. “You can stay here, and I’ll make sure nobody visits if you want.”

           “Thanks.” Petra flopped down onto the couch and laid all the way down. She sunk into the cushions. 

           “And hey, at least classes haven’t started yet.” Jay took the game disk out, and put a different one into the console. “But do you think you’ll be okay tomorrow? Classes do start tomorrow after all.”

           “Yeah.” She huffed. “It’s usually the first day that’s the worst, and then it’s nothing after that.”

           “Okay that’s good.” Jay sat back down onto the couch at the very end. He didn’t seem to mind the fact Petra was taking all of the space which was good. He handed a wiimote to her. The squares on the bottom lit up. “Also would you like to make your own mii? I was planning to play the sports games, but I remembered you don’t have your own character. So… if you want?”

           “Sure. Sounds nice.” Petra took the wiimote, and clicked on the mii creator screen. The white light hurt her eyes for a moment.

           “Awesome.”

           The two of them were quiet as Petra looked at the empty void space on the screen. She saw multiple little characters walking around the space. One was obviously Jay, then there was Jesse. She sees Lukas, Olivia, and Axel alongside others she doesn’t recognize. When her player 2 cursor goes over them there’s the names of: Jamie, Jasper, Dad, and Mom. Petra went over to create a new character. The first thing she picks is making her character a woman.

           “Soooooo, since we will be living together, I have an idea. A little game.”

           Petra didn’t turn away from the screen as she made the mii’s hair auburn. She raised her eyebrow.

           “Basically, I ask you a question, and after you answer you ask me a question. So we can learn a little bit about each other.”

           “Alright. Hit me with it.”

           “Do you have any siblings?”

           “No,” Petra said as she was looking through the different hairstyles. “Not that I’m aware of. I could have half-siblings out there, but I doubt it. You have three in total right? Including Jesse?”

           “Uh, yeah! Actually. How do you know that?”

           “Jesse told me about it last night when we left the party.” Petra hummed for a moment. “Jasper and Jamie right?”

           “Yeah, they’re uh, they’re a bit of a handful. Hold on -” Jay picked up their phone off of the coffee table. She saw them tap at the screen a few times, before they flipped the screen over to Petra so she could see. There’s two young kids, who looked almost exactly like Jay and Jesse on screen. Alongside Jay and Jesse themselves. It was a group photo. “The one with the red hairclip is Jasper, and the one with blue suspenders is Jamie.”

           “...” Jasper had a white shirt with cyan sleeves underneath brown overalls. Jamie had a plain white shirt alongside those blue suspenders. In the picture Jesse wore a white shirt with purple overalls, and Jay wore a black shirt and green suspenders. “Is overalls and suspenders a shared fashion style in your family or -”

           Jay laughed. “They’re just wearing mine and Jesse’s old hand me down clothes.”

           “And, holy crap, they look almost exactly like you and Jesse.” Petra squinted her eyes. “It looks like Jasper should’ve been your twin, and not your younger sister.”

           “I know! It’s so funny, you know my mom’s actually a ginger.” Jay pulled the phone back to himself and started to scroll. “A lot of people don’t actually think she’s our mom when they first see her. The only thing we really got from her was curly hair.”

           Petra’s eyebrows raised when Jay handed the phone back. There’s two people holding each other close which makes it obvious to her that they are Jay’s parents. His dad? Petra could see the resemblance. The man had brown hair, brown skin, and a beard. Along with a cyan shirt. Jay’s mom however -

           “That’s your mom?!” She had pale skin, curly orange hair, and bright green eyes. The woman wore brown pants and a green shirt. Well Petra could see where Jesse got her green eyes but -

           “Yeah!” Jay snickered. “That’s my mom.”

           “...” Petra looked away. “Wow.”

           Jay turned off his phone and placed it back onto the table. “Yup. Now it’s your turn. Ask me a question.”

           “I think we learned more about you than we did me on the last one.” Petra had moved onto customizing the mii’s eyes. “Ask me another one first.”

           “Ohhh, right. Okay, so I know you don’t have siblings now. But what about parents? What are your parents like?”

           “I have a mom.” She pulled out her phone from her pocket, putting the wiimote down. She scrolls to a picture of her mom, and shows it to Jay. It’s a picture of both her and her mom at a park. “She’s nice, a little weird sometimes, but she’s cool. She taught me how to play the guitar.”

           “You can play the guitar?”

           “Yup, and I’d say I’m pretty good at it.” Petra sighed, putting her phone back and picking up the wiimote again. “I just didn’t think to bring mine with me.”

           “Jesse has a guitar!” Jay exclaimed. “She’s not… good at it yet, but she wants to learn how to play! You could totally go teach her sometime.”

           “...” Petra made the mii’s eyes blue. “I’ll have to think about it.”

           “Okay, but if you do she’d really appreciate it.” Jay gestured to her. “Now, it’s your turn. Ask me a question.”

           She squinted her eyes for a moment. Pondering what to ask. She decided on something simple. “What's your favorite animal? Mine’s a fox.”

           “Awwwh, foxes are cute. I can see why! Mine are pigs, I love pigs!”

           “Pigs?” She snickered. “Really?”

           “Hey! Don't disrespect pigs like that!” Jay pouted. “I know they're messy, and make weird noises. And will also eat almost anything including human bones -”

           “What.”

           “But they're cute! And they're smarter than people would think! They're good companions! One of my best friends is a pig. I'll have you know!”

           “One of your best friends… is a pig?”

           “His name is Reuben, I wish you could’ve met him.” Jay then waved his hands around. “He’s not dead or anything! It’s just the academy doesn’t allow any animals aside from service ones.”

           “Bummer.” 

           “Yeah, it sucks. But I’m sure Jamie and Jasper are taking care of him. Now!” They rubbed their hands together. “Third question! Have you ever had a boyfriend?”

           “...” Petra snorted. “I’m not into men.”

           “OH! Sorry for assuming, uh, girlfriend then?”

           “Nope. Haven’t had a girlfriend. Not sure if I want to.” Petra started changing the mii’s eyebrows. “I’m pretty sure I’m into women, but I haven’t ever… really had any crushes or whatever. So I don’t know where that puts me.”

           “Alrighty.”

           “Now what about you, ever had a girlfriend or boyfriend before?”

           “Nope!” 

           “Really? Cause for a moment there, I thought Lukas might’ve been your boyfriend -”

           Jay’s eyes widened, and he sputtered. “Wh - What made you think that?!”

           “I dunno, it just felt like you were a couple.”

           “Hah, hah, no we’re not. I mean - I know I like men, and I’m pretty sure Lukas does too. But he’d never be into a guy like me. I’m just, uh, I don’t know, I think his standards are going to be higher than me.” Jay laughed nervously. “I mean, if he asked me out on a date I’d go no questions asked. But he’s never going to do that. So, uh, yeahhhhh…”

           “Uh-huh.” Petra side eyed Jay for a moment before looking back to the screen. “So since you’ve asked two questions in a row. I’m going to ask another one now. What’s your favorite food?”

           Jay bit his lip. Petra added freckles, and changed the lips to her character as he said. “I love cookies! Especially chocolate chip cookies, I know they’re basic. But they’re the best!”

           “Mmm, sugar cookies are pretty good too.”

           “Oh yes! Absolutely!” Jay scratched his chin. “Y’know come to think of it, I don’t think there’s any cookie I dislike.”

           “What about raisin cookies?” Jay cringed. Petra chuckled as she chose a nose for her character. “Not a fan of raisin cookies huh?”

           “Nope.” Jay shook their head. “That’s gross. Raisins shouldn’t be anywhere near cookies.”

           “Agreed.” Finally she started to put down her name and birthday. “Wonder what madman thought that was a good idea.”

           Jay faked a gag. “Ugh, I don’t know. But question numberrrrr….”

           “Four.”

           “Four! If you could have anyyy superpower what do you think it’d be?”

           “...” Petra finalized her character. The screen goes back to the main world and the mii Petra falls down. Landing next to all the other characters. “I don’t know.”

           Jay picked up his wiimote as Petra exited the mii character creator. “Like, hmmm… elemental power. How about that, which one do you think you’d have? Because I would have plant powers.”

           “Pretty sure that’s just earth.”

           “No, plants and earth are different. Earth has control of the rocks and ground, plants have control over the plants. They’re similar, but not the same.”

           “Okay, nerd,” Jay scoffed, but he knew she didn’t mean any illwill. “Why do you think you’d have control over plants.”

           “I have a green thumb.” He smiled widely as he clicked the game screen. Which opened up to wii sports. “And, no plant has ever died under my care. I also think I have this… connection with nature. I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed something like that. But whenever I’m out, in the forest, I feel like I belong. Y’know?”

           “You sound like a hippie.” The music quietly played on the TV. Jay clicked the b and a button to continue onto the actual game screen.

           “Well, some people would consider my parents hippies, but no I am not a hippie. I just love nature a bit too much to some people.” Jay then looked over at her. “Which sport do you want to do? I know you’re not feeling well so we could just do bowling, or golf as something easy. Also you didn’t answer my question.”

           “Bowling.”  Petra’s eyebrows furrowed as Jay then clicked on bowling. Player 2 was designated to Jesse, so Petra went to change that. “And I really don’t know Jay.”

           “Think about something that you really feel connected to. Like really connected.” The character had been changed, and now Petra’s mii was next to Jay’s. Jay pressed continue. “Water, lightning, wind, earth, whatever Petra. What calls to you whenever it’s around.”

           “...” Petra shrugged. The pixelated bowling alley popped up on screen. Jay’s character was given a blue bowling ball, and Petra’s was red. “None of those, that’s for sure. Why are you even asking this?”

           Jay sighed. Seemingly disappointed. “I was just curious. Y’know. Imagine if you had any kind of superpowers, wouldn’t it be cool?”

           They stood up, and adjusted where their character was aiming. Then they swung their arm lightly, and the bowling ball on screen went down the lane. They hit 7 pins. They’re sent back to their character, and swing again. This time hitting zero pins. She heard them whisper ‘dang it’ as they sat back down.

           “... it would.” Petra’s cramps had died down a little, but not enough for her to want to stand up. So instead she lazily swung her arm without doing any adjustments to her character. The ball went into the gutter. “I’m just too tired to think of anything that I’d have. Hard to feel connected to anything when you’ve just spent most of your life stuck in your hometown. I haven’t really gotten to go on any adventures like I’ve wanted.”

           “I would consider this an adventure!” Jay said as Petra made another swing. This time putting more effort into aiming, and she hit three pins. “I mean, you’re far away from home, in an unfamiliar place with some unfamiliar people. Sure it’s not fighting off monsters with enchanted weapons, or cave diving and sky diving. But it’s nice. I think once things pick up you’ll enjoy yourself more. Y’know like Binta said, when the real fun begins.”

           “Righhhhhhht.” Petra watched as Jay hit six pins. 

           “Trust me, you're going to love it here.” 

           “Whatever you say Jay.”

……

           The day went by slowly. Petra ate some stale cereal for breakfast. She and Jay played mostly the sports game on the Wii, while ideally talking about whatever was on their minds. Frankly Petra felt that she learned a lot about Jay in the span of 20-25 minutes.

           He was a year younger than her. His old town before he moved to Beacontown was tiny, tiny to the point everyone knew each other. He loved animals and nature. He liked old disco songs, and a disk called “Pigstep”. They liked a lot of old stuff in general. Especially old games, which was why they had the Wii while Jesse had a newer console in her dorm.

           The biggest thing she learned without them ever actively saying it, was that Jay was a dork. But a confident dork. He clearly didn't care what anyone thought of his looks or his interests. They also didn't force or expect Petra to talk back in the conversation. Silence wasn't feeling awkward. That fact alone made her feel that Jay being her roommate was one of the best outcomes she could've gotten. 

           She could only imagine if she had gotten someone full of drama that was going to drag her into it. Someone who'd avoid her like the plague. Or the worst case: a creep. The thought alone made her cringe, she got lucky.

           Another thing she learned was that Jay was ambidextrous. She only found out because when she and Jay were playing tennis their arms almost hit each other. Jay was using their right arm while Petra was using her left. He apologized and then switched the wiimote to his left hand. 

           Which led them to now. Petra wasn’t in as much pain as she was earlier so she could stand up. Her hoodie was left on the couch. Jay had switched out the games from wii sports to one Petra was unfamiliar with called “flingsmash.” She couldn’t help but snort when she saw the name and the overly goofy yellow ball characters in the game. Like pacman but with arms and legs… and hair.

           She had absolutely no idea what was going on in this game. All that she got was her and Jay’s two characters: Zip (a plain little yellow ball guy with a tuft of red hair on his head) and Pip (An orange ball girl with eyelashes, blush, and a red flower in her tuft of yellow hair on her head because how else were you supposed to know she was a girl?) had to stop the big bad guy from taking over an island. Or the world. Could be either one. 

           How were these little guys going to stop the villain from taking over the world? Petra had no idea. All that she knew was that she and Jay had to fling their wiimotes to the left in order to actually move their characters. Like hitting a ball with a baseball bat. Then their characters would run into blocks and other obstacles and - it was just silly. The noises the characters made when getting hit were so goofy, Petra had almost spat out her drink when she heard them.

           The gameplay was pretty barebones too, but Petra found that she was enjoying herself. Mostly because Jay was invested into the game. She could see it in how he swung the wiimote with force with the biggest grin on his face. And also the fact every level had been completed, with the highest form of perfection you could get. Why Jay was so invested in some mediocre game, Petra would never know. 

           Jay stuck out their tongue as they swung the remote. Their little character Zip went flying to the left of the screen. Bouncing off a bunch of blocks and destroying them in the process.

           “Okay, so would you rather fight…” Jay huffed, and swung again. “A hundred chicken sized zombies, or ten zombie sized chickens?”

           “The zombie sized chickens, that’s not even a question.” Petra swung her wiimote lazily. Her character Pip doesn’t move with nearly as much velocity as Zip did. 

           “Right?? It’s just a bunch of chickens, why would you go fight a hundred baby zombies?” Jay raised his right arm out, which Petra almost hit. “I never got this question, it’s not really one you have to put thought into.”

           “Then why’d you ask it?”

           “Cause Olivia did.” Jay swung again. “She asked both me and Jess, and do you want to know what she said?! Jesse said she’d fight the one hundred chicken sized zombies!”

           “What??”

           “I know! Jesse said they just didn’t want to hurt any chickens, but still- that’s one hundred tiny zombies.”

           “How are you supposed to fend off a hundred tiny zombies?!” 

           “That’s what I told her! But then she was all like -” Jay’s voice shifted into being a near perfect imitation of his twin. “How are you supposed to fend off ten zombie sized chickens?! That’s like fighting off ten ostriches!” His voice went back to normal. “But then I told her that at least it’s not a hundred different tiny zombies at once!”

           “And that’s ten enemies vs having to fight off a hundred of them!” 

           “Thank you! I swear I was running in circles trying to explain this to Jess!”

           Petra swung the wiimote. Harder than she normally did this time.

           To her horror, it slipped out of her hand. The strap wasn’t around her arm so it flew. Right out of her hand, and out to the open window to her right. Petra’s eyes went big. She stood there like a deer in headlights. 

           There’s a quiet crash that came from the ground. Petra and Jay rushed to the window, and poked their heads out of it. Looking down to see the remote didn’t hit anyone, thankfully, but it was down on the granite path. Jay let out a loud and long gasp. The color drained from their face.

           “MY WIIMOTE!!!” Jay’s hands were on their head, with their own wiimote hanging off of their arm. 

           Petra and Jay looked at each other. It was only a moment before the two bolted for the door. Jay haphazardly threw their wiimote into the couch. Each throwing on their shoes, with both not caring to put on any socks. There was no time. They scrambled to open the door, with the duo pushing it open the moment the door was unlocked. Jay almost stumbled over Petra as he ran out the door. Petra sprinted after him. Leaving the door to their dorm wide open. 

           They ran past a guy with a beard - Gill or whatever his name was. Gill’s eyebrows raised as he watched the duo fly by him in the hallway. However, he made no comments. Petra couldn’t care about that now, she might’ve just ruined something that was her roommates property!

           Jay busted the door to the stairs open, crashing into it. Jesse was just climbing up the stairs as Jay and Petra started hurriedly making their way down.

           “Uh - Hey Jay I was wondering -” 

           As Jay passed by his sister, he went and set his hand on her face. Messing up her hair, and cutting her off. Jesse yelped out of anger.

           “WH - HEY?!”

           Jay ran down the stairs with Petra on his tail. He yelled back, “Sorry! No time Jess! I’ve gotta go!”

           Jesse with her wildly out of place hair, only stared back as the duo disappeared under the set of stairs. They scoffed.

           Petra and Jay pushed open the door to the first floor. It opened with a loud bang, causing the nearest person to jump. A woman Petra didn’t recognize with blond hair and a flamboyant and expensive looking purple fur jacket. She stared at the duo in a judgmental confusion as they ran out of the building.

           Once they’re in the open, it’s clear now that Petra’s the faster one. She gets down the stairs, and starts booking it to where the wiimote must’ve been. Jay being at the disadvantage, as they were the shorter one, falls only slightly behind. She turned at the corner.

           Her legs burned as she finally reached the device. She wheezes, leaning down with her hands on her knees. Jay skids to a halt beside her. His shoes were dragging along the path. 

           “OH THANK GOODNESS!” He picked up the wiimote, which was entirely intact. Aside from the fact its batteries and back were gone. Which Petra could find easily. As the two batteries and the back of the remote were just scattered on the path. She went to take those as Jay examined the wiimote further. 

           Petra walked back over to Jay with the batteries and back in hand. She handed them back to him. “Ph - ew. Shit, sorry about that.”

           “It’s okay!” Jay took the batteries first and started inserting them back into the remote. “Nobody got hurt, and it’s still completely intact!”

           Petra scratched the back of her head as she then handed him the back.

           “But hey, now we can see why they always put that warning at the beginning of every game! Always wear the strap!”

           Petra let out a surprised snort. “Okay - Okay Jay don’t word it like that, oh my God -”

           “Is everything okay over there?” 

           Jay and Petra quickly stood up straight, looking over to see… what was his name again… oh crap Petra didn't know this one. He was a teacher, and he was the one who had scars on the left side of his body and an eyepatch over the left side of his face. Dirty blonde hair with a beard. 

           “Uh yeah!” Jay scratched the back of his head as the teacher approached the duo. He held up the wiimote. “This just fell out of our window and we ran out to go get it. Make sure nobody got hurt or that it was broken, y’know?”

           “I'm surprised it's still intact.” Petra folded her arms. Jay laughed.

           “Oh, well, I'm glad it's nothing serious.” The man stood in front of the duo. “I saw you two frantically running over and I had to make sure nothing bad happened.”

           His eye widened as if something dawned on him, and he pointed to the duo.

           “Wait, I believe you two are actually going to be in Nurm’s classes. Jayden and Petra, right?” 

           “Oh yeah!” Jay exclaimed.

           “We are…?” Petra squinted her eyes.

           “Have you seriously not looked at your schedule yet?” Jay playfully jabbed Petra’s arm. 

           “I -” Petra huffed. “I was going to.”

           “Tsh.” Jay shook their head, turning back to the teacher. “Also I would rather be called Jay, if that's okay.”

           “Of course it's okay!” The teacher held out his hand. “And sorry for not introducing myself. My name is Jack, and I'm Nurm’s teaching assistant. Not every student understands villagernesse, so I act as his translator.”

           “Ohhhh cool!!” Jay shook Jack’s hand. 

           Petra sighed and shook Jack’s hand after. The man seemed to… hesitate? Whatever it was it seemed like he was caught off guard by something.

           “Ivor told me a little bit about you two, he said your classes are some of the best in the academy!” 

           “Really? Well -” Jack put a hand on his chest. “I’m very honored to hear that! And from Ivor of all people?”

           “What, is Ivor like, well respected around here or something?” Petra asked.

           “He’s one of our bests, though…” Jack gritted his teeth. “A little strange, from time to time.”

           “Uh, yeah, that -” Jay scratched the back of his head. “Well, Jack, it’s really cool to see you in person, but me and Petra gotta -” He gestured back to the building. “Get back to our dorm.”

           “Of course! You go on ahead, don’t let me keep you cooped up like this.” 

           “Thanks.” Jay and Petra turned around, with the wiimote still in Jay’s hand. The duo started walking back up to the building. They wrap around the corner and made it back to the entrance’s stairs. Jay said, “Jack seems cool, am I right?”

           “Yeah, I guess.” Petra shrugged. 

           They entered the building, and were back on the first floor. Jesse was outside her dorm talking with Olivia with a worried look on her face. She quickly turned to Petra and Jay.

           “Jay! Hey, I really need to talk to you!” 

           “Uh -” Jay grimaced as Petra was already making her way to the staircase. “Can it wait for one moment? I kinda ran down the stairs in a rush, and I don’t even have any socks on.”

           “This is serious Jay -”

           Petra closed the door to the staircase behind her. Jay panicked and said, “Jess I swear I’m not ignoring you I just - one second! I promise! I’ll be right back!”

           Jesse isn’t given a chance to speak as Jay rushes into the staircase behind Petra. They quickly caught up to Petra, and said. 

           “Okay, I need to return this really quickly, and then I have to go talk to Jess. But after that we can play Mario Kart okay?”

           “Can’t I just… bring the remote back myself?” Petra asked as she opened the door to the 2nd floor. 

           “You could, but I also would like to put some socks on!” Jay stepped onto the second floor and followed Petra. “Wearing shoes without socks isn’t very comfortable you know!”

           “Yeah, I’m -” Petra froze as she looked at their dorm room. Jay stopped in place.

           “Petra?! What is it -”

           Jay’s eyes widened as they looked at the door to their room which was wide open. He and Petra had left it open right as they left, but it hadn’t been this wide open. Jay walked up to Petra’s side.

           “Do you think someone broke in?” They whispered.

           “Who the hell is breaking into somebody's dorm room?!” Petra whispered back. 

           “Aiden, maybe? I wouldn’t put it past him to do this, and he is our neighbor after all.”

           “Jay, nobody is breaking into our dorm room -”

           “But! Now hear me out on this! What if someone did?”

           “...” Petra stared blankly at Jay. His eyebrows were wide, his lips a straight line. This guy was completely serious. “Then we’d get security -”

           “There’s no time for that Petra! We’re on our own this time and right now -” Jay held out the wiimote in front of him like it was a sword. “This calls for some bold action.”

           Jay sneaked in front of her and slowly tipped toed to their dorm. Petra rolled her eyes, sneaking right behind him. “Oh I know you stole that from somewhere.”

           “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” 

           The duo made their way to the door. Both of them slowly poked their heads through the door frame. Petra’s eyebrows furrowed as she heard the sound of something being rummaged through. Jay slowly looked up at her. 

           “Told you -”

           “Not now Jay.”

           Slowly and carefully Jay and Petra stepped inside. Jay took the front, wiimote still in hand. Petra put her fists up as the two of them tiptoed past the kitchen’s counter. The rummaging was coming from Jay’s room, whose door was cracked. Jay and Petra exchanged a glance, before moving forward. 

           Her heart was pounding in her chest. If this really was the guy who Jay had some unspoken issues with, then this could get dicey real quick. Jay stepped towards the door, slowly pushing it open. Petra prepared for the worst -

           Only to find nothing. Just a clearer sound of… snorting?

           Jay’s bed had been made, and multiple posters had been taped onto the walls. They had opened suitcases, and clothes hanging in the closet. Other than that it looked empty. Aside from their blue backpack that was - was moving?!

           Petra took a step back as Jay’s eyebrows raised. She watched something pink move out of their open backpack. A pig shook its head violently as it stepped out of the bag. Petra lowered her fists.

           “It’s a… pig.”

           “Reuben?!” Jay got down onto his knees, the wiimote was placed down onto the ground. Reuben squealed in excitement as he ran up to Jay. “What are you doing here bud?!”

           “Wait, this guy’s the pig you were talking about earlier?!”

           “Yeah?! He is - I just - I didn’t know he was here?!” Jay looked up at Petra. He scratched the pig behind his ears. “I thought he was at home - I -”

           “Y’know this is actually what I was meaning to talk to you about.”

           Petra and Jay simultaneously jumped and yelped at the sound of Jesse’s voice. She stood in the doorway right beside Petra. Petra looked from the entrance (which was now closed) to Jesse. How she had managed to sneak up to the duo, and get right next to Petra without her even knowing? Petra was unsure. It actually scared her to be honest.

           “Jesse!” Jay stood up immediately. “What the hell?!”

           “When did you even get in here?!” Petra added. 

           “...” Jesse’s eyes flickered from Petra to Jay. “Well, for starters your door is open, and two I watched you guys sneak in here if that answers your question.”

           The duo stared back at Jesse in mild shock.

           “Jess,” Jay breathed out. “Please don’t do that again.”

           “Then don’t leave your door open dummy.” Jesse pointed with her thumb back at the entrance. “Which I took care of for you by the way.”

           “...” Petra looked back at it again for a moment. “Uh, thanks, I guess.”

           Petra picked up the wiimote off of the ground, and left Jay’s room. Jay and Jesse followed after, alongside the pig who stuck close by to the twins. Petra sat the remote back onto the coffee table.

           “Okay, okay, I have a lot of questions.” Jay said as his twin sat on the couch. Reuben hopped up onto it, and onto Jesse’s lap. “Why is Reuben here?”

           “Because…” Jesse smiled sheepishly. “I brought him here?”

           “The academy doesn’t allow pets on campus Jesse, how’d you get him in here?! Last I checked I saw Reuben at home, in Jasper and Jamie’s room?!”

           The game was loaded onto a fail screen. Petra picked up the player 1 remote and started to exit out of the game. Side eyeing the twins as they continued.

           “You see…” Jesse laughed nervously. “Uhm, Reuben actually hopped into one of my bags just before we left. And we were already so close to the academy that I thought it’d be too much of a hassle to bring him back home.”

           “You -” Petra turned around to gawk at Jesse. “You smuggled a pig onto campus?!”

           “Not just any pig, I smuggled Reuben onto campus thank you very much!” Reuben nodded - the pig nods? Whatever, Reuben nodded with a rather proud look on his face. Jesse continued. “And in my defense that’s not what I wanted to do in the first place!”

           “And you didn’t tell me?!” Jay raised his arms out. With a very hurt look on his face. Jesse sputtered.

           “I - I was going to!” They frowned. “I promise! I just didn’t have the time, and me and Olivia were trying to figure out ways to hide him in case anything went wrong! And then today he snuck out, and I panicked while trying to find him!”

           Jay pouted and folded their arms. Petra exited out of the game fully, and went to take the disc out of the console. Jay continued. “So Olivia got to know Reuben was here before me? That’s cold Jess.”

           “I had to convince her to help me and to stay quiet.” Jesse’s eyes widened as she realized something. They looked over at Petra. “Petra! Hey uhm! Can you also be quiet about this? Please? I swear to you Reuben’s not going to cause a ruckus. He’s a really good friend, and he’s very well behaved.”

           Jesse’s big puppy dog eyes stared at Petra. Petra quickly looked away. “I wasn’t going to say anything in the first place.”

           “Oh, thank you! Thank you so much! You’re the best, I’m going to have to repay you for this someday!”

           “You don’t need to go that far.” Petra placed the disc back into its case. 

           “You say that, but she's going to do it anyway.” Jay muttered. He put his hands on his hips. They squinted their eyes. “I’m still salty I’m only just finding out Reuben’s been here the entire time. Where’s my repayment Jess?”

           “Reuben gets to stay in your dorm every other week?” They said as they picked up Reuben, showing him off to Jay. Those big puppy dog eyes blinked once, and then twice. “Hm?”

           “You drive a very hard bargain.” Jay walked over, and picked Reuben up. They held the small pig up like he was a baby. “But, I accept.”

           “Yay!!” Jesse raised their hands into the air, with a big smile on their face. Petra snickered as she shook her head, walking away from the TV and to the kitchen. 

           “Does that sound good to you Petra?” Jay called over as she walked past the counter. Petra went over to the fridge, she opened it.

           “Sure. As long as he stays out of my room.”

           “Yes!” Jay jumped up. Reuben made an annoyed squeal. “Oh! Right, sorry!”

           Petra rummaged through the fridge. Her eyes lit up as she saw some soda cans.

           “Oh, wait! Shoot, Jess what about mom and dad?! What are they going to do once they realize Reuben’s missing -”

           “They already know.”

           “WHAT!” His jaw dropped. Reuben squirmed around in Jay’s arms before he put the pig back down on the ground. Said pig stayed by Jay’s side as they raised their arms out. “So mom and dad knew before me?!”

           “And Jamie and Jasper…” Jesse said through gritted teeth.

           Petra closed the fridge with a rootbeer can in hand. She looked over from the island at Jay. He gasped and huffed. Making overly dramatic noises.

           “Jamie and Jasper?! They both knew before me?!” Jay was stunned. “Before your own twin?!” It’s obvious from Jay’s tone that he wasn’t serious. They put a hand on their chest dramatically. “I’ve been by your side since birth, and this is how you repay me?!”

           “Frankly I’m not fond of the idea of our two baby siblings panicking over losing Reuben, but yes, I know. My cruelty knows no bounds, my own twin is not safe from it.” 

           Petra cracked open the rootbeer can. Watching the twins’ little back and forth from a distance. And she herself could admit it was a little amusing. 

           “Reuben, are you sure you want to even stay in her dorm now?” Jay looked down at the pig. “Can you not see the tyrant she is? Their cruelty? Their lack of shame? And no honor?”

           Reuben, somehow, emoted more like a human than Petra had ever seen a dog do. The pig looked so ashamed of Jesse, Petra honestly was getting a little freaked out by it. And she could tell that it was an exaggerated expression.

           “Reuben!” Jesse gasped. “You cannot seriously be siding with Jayden of all people?!”

           The pig hung his head low as he walked behind Jay. Jay smiled proudly, putting their hands on their hips.

           “Reuben! No! Come on, don't do this! I’ve been the one feeding and hiding you for the past week, not Jay!”

           Reuben shook his head at Jesse, and then sat down. Jay let out a laugh and pointed to his sister.

           “HAH! He recognizes a tyrant when he sees one!”

           Jesse huffed and folded her arms. “You wouldn't recognize a tyrant even if they hit you in the face!”

           Jay rolled his eyes. Taking a moment to look at Petra and shake his head. She simply took a large sip of soda.

           On the coffee table, Jay’s phone began to ring. They gave Jesse a “one second” gesture, and walked over. They picked up the phone and answered it.

           “Hey Lukas!” Jay went quiet, then his eyebrows raised. “Oh really? Okay, sure, I can totally go over there. Lemme just get my socks.”

           Jesse put one leg over the other and leaned back on the couch. Her elbows were raised in the air and her hands on the back of their head.

           “Wh - no I don’t mean shoes, I already have those on, I just forgot socks.” He said as he turned around for his room. “Look it’s a long story!”

           Petra set down the can, and took a moment to take off her boots almost forgetting she had those on in the first place. She placed the boots besides the front door where they belonged and then went back to grab her soda. She walked over to the couch.

           Jay came out of his room. Assumedly with both socks and shoes on. Though now he wore his black flannel over his shoulders. The phone was still up to their ear. 

           “Yeah, okay, see you later Lou, bye.” Jay sighed as they hung up the phone and put it back into their pocket. Petra set her can onto the table as she sat back down on the couch next to Jesse. Reuben trotted over to Jesse. With a smug smirk on her face, Jesse said.

           “What was that about Jay?”

           “Oughh, Lukas said he lost his bag in the library so he needs some help finding it.”

           “Uhuh, okay then.” Jesse’s eyebrows raised. “Well, have fun, I’m going to crash here if that’s alright with you.”

           “As long as it’s alright with Petra!” 

           Petra and Jesse exchanged a glance. Petra hummed. She wasn’t as familiar with Jesse yet, but overall, she thought they were nice. Eh, why not. “Yeah, I’m alright with it.”

           “Cool, but before I go are there any games you want to play?”

           “Mario Kart!!” Jesse exclaimed. “Can you put it onto Mario Kart, the online still works on here too right?”

           “Yup, I was just playing on it a couple days ago.” Jay quickly put the Mario Kart disc into the console. They then grabbed the wiimotes, and the steering wheels, giving them both to Jesse and Petra. Reuben went and sat on the couch next to Jesse. Jay bolted for the door saying, “Anyways have fun guys, I’ll be back in a little bit!”

           The door opens and shuts, leaving Petra and Jesse alone. Excitedly Jesse already opened up the game on the TV. Petra said,

           “So, can you tell me what’s going on between those two?” Jesse started snickering as Petra put her wiimote into the steering wheel. Petra continued. “Because Jay was telling me they’re best friends but I’m still not sure.”

           “Oh, they’re insufferable dorks. That’s what they are.” Jesse clicked on a box with their mii in it. Petra raised an eyebrow, and gestured for Jesse to continue. “It’s basically just, Lukas is crushing on Jay, I think Jay is crushing on him too. However! Jay’s stupid. Like. Actually stupid. Lukas could kiss him right now, and Jay still wouldn’t get it. That’s how dumb he is. And I can see Luke is so close to losing his mind about it.”

           “That bad huh?”

           “Yeah.” Jesse chuckled. Reuben nodded alongside her. “It’s that bad.”

           “Psh.” Petra snickered. Well that was nice to know. 

           Jesse started putting her wiimote into a steering wheel too. “Also, have you ever played Mario Kart? Because if not we can stick with racing the computers for now. Online can get pretty tough. Especially wii players, because the only wii players left are sweats.”

           “Does that include you as well?” Petra quickly added. “Also no, I haven’t played this version of Mario Kart.”

           “Y - uh -” Jesse let out a dramatic sigh. “Yeah. I’m a sweat at this game. Me and Jay used to get really competitive when we were younger, and it turned into this. But!” She winked. “I’ll go easy on you… for now!” 

           Jesse giggled to herself, and turned back to the screen. Petra’s smirk widened. “Just you wait Jesse, once I start to figure this game out, you won’t have to go easy.”

           “We’ll see about that! I’ll have you know that the only person who’s ever been able to beat me is Jay, and that’s only half the time! Because the other half I always win against them!”

           “You’re on then. I promise you, that by the end of this year, I’m going to be able to beat you in a race in Mario Kart.”

           Jesse laughed. “I’d like to see you try.”

           Petra was mildly surprised at the sudden change in tone in Jesse’s voice. But honestly, she liked it. Liked Jesse’s spirit. This was going to be a challenge, but she was going to win against Jesse at least once. That was a promise. And Petra was not one to break a promise.