Ch. 10
Evan spent all Sunday holed up in his room. He was grateful that his new home had everything he needed so he didn’t have to wander the halls and run into anyone. He played games and watched TV, distracting himself any way he could to not relive the incidents of the previous night. Still, a few memories snuck in, and he found himself cringing thinking about being told off by Alex or using the word scoot.
Even though it meant leaving his safe space, Evan was excited to finally be starting classes when Monday came around. His anxiety was there, but the prospect of learning more about magic outweighed it. Evan’s books and class materials were provided to him by the academy, and they had been delivered straight to his dorm shortly after his schedule was set. He picked out the ones he needed for Monday’s classes, stuffed them into his backpack, and left his room to start his day.
It didn’t take long for Evan to run into a familiar face. He was making his way through the common room when he spotted Clara loitering near the front doors. She was checking her mailbox when she noticed Evan approaching.
“Good morning,” he said.
“Good morning!” she said. “Headed to class?”
“Yep,” he said. “I’ve got US History with Mr. Oliveira.”
“I’m going in the same direction. Want to walk together?”
“Sure.”
Just like that, Evan gained a walking buddy for his first day of classes. It was a lovely morning, only slightly cool. There was dew on the grass and hardly any clouds in the sky. Evan once again took time to appreciate how beautiful the campus was as they walked past the brick buildings and gardens. Both Clara and Evan didn’t speak, seemingly engrossed with the beauty of the morning, or maybe just both feeling awkward.
“Sorry about last night,” Clara said, finally breaking the silence. “I didn’t mean to abandon you.”
“Oh no, it’s fine,” he said. “I’m sorry that guy messed with you. He seemed like a jerk.”
“He is,” she said. “He’s gotten a little too used to getting everything his way.”
“Sounds about right.”
“And I, like, haven’t set my sights on you or anything,” she said in a rush. “I mean, I don’t want you to think I’m some slut or whatever…”
She trailed off. Obviously, she was embarrassed by what Derek had said.
“It’s fine, really,” Evan said.
“Ok.”
“So, you have a boyfriend?”
“Yeah,” she said with a shy smile. “His name is Matt. He graduated last year. He just got a job doing IT work from home.”
“That’s cool.”
Silence once again fell over them as the conversation petered out. Evan wanted to say something, but he couldn’t find the words. He just wasn’t familiar enough with Clara yet to know what to talk to her about. He knew if he opened his mouth unreservedly, he’d probably blurt out something embarrassing about anime or his recent gaming adventures. He could already picture a look of horror forming on her pretty face as she fought back her disgust. Word would then spread that the new kid was a massive nerd, and his reputation would be ruined. Nope, can’t have that. He’d keep his mouth shut until he could gauge how his peers felt about his hobbies.
They continued on in silence for a little while longer before Evan was startled by something jumping out onto the path in front of him. It was a large white rabbit. The same rabbit he had seen when he was with Robin that first day. It stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and looked at him with its large blue eyes.
“Holy shit,” Evan said as he reeled in surprise. Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
Not wanting to spook it away, he stopped and just stared at the creature for a moment.
“W-what is it!?” Clara said.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I’ve never seen one so big!”
“One what!?”
“Huh?”
He noticed then that Clara was not looking at the rabbit like he was. She was instead looking around wildly for whatever had scared him. It was like she didn’t see the big rabbit at all.
“Can’t you see that rabbit right there?”
“I don’t see anything?”
“Really? But…Ah!”
As he was talking, the rabbit flew down the path and out of sight around the corner. Whatever it was, it was gone again. He looked at Clara, and she was giving him a worried look.
“I think I must be going crazy,” he said with a big sigh.
They resumed their walk, but only a few seconds in, he heard Clara snicker. He turned to see her struggling to hold in her laughter, and that set him off as well. They both burst out laughing at the same time. The rest of their journey was fun. Clara giggled while explaining how she thought they were under attack, and Evan poked fun at himself for fearing a rabbit. He had no idea what had just happened, but it had done well to clear up the heavy atmosphere between the two.
Evan waved to Clara as they separated, and he entered the building where his class was being held. It was the same building he had met Mr. Oliveira in when they made up his class schedule. He was able to find the classroom easily enough, and he made it with five minutes to spare.
“Evan! Good to see you again,” Mr. Oliveira said as he entered class. “Go ahead and sit anywhere, we’ll be starting soon.”
Evan was able to get a seat in the back of the room. There were about twenty or so students in the class by Evan’s count. He was the only boy. The only two girls he recognized were a couple of his fellow first-year students. The one with the horns, and the one with the wings.
Nothing of note happened during that first class, unless you count Mr. Oliveira getting unnecessarily worked up over his history lesson. Evan took some notes and tried to pay attention, but there wasn’t much for him to do except sit and listen. When the hour was up, he had to get up and go in order to make it to his next class.
Next was a basic psychology class required for all students. It was in a building he had not been in before, but he had passed it a couple times while roaming the campus. He managed to find the classroom easily enough and secured another seat in the back. There were a few more students in this class, but he didn’t recognize any of them.
About five minutes after the appointed starting time for the class, the teacher finally showed up. She was thin and tall, with golden blonde hair falling halfway down her back. She wore a red sundress with a white cardigan on top. It was like a burst of sunshine entered the room along with her as she carried an infectious energy right off the bat.
“Good morning, everyone!” she said. “Welcome to your first day of Psych 101!”
“It will be oh so fun,” she went on. “I’m sure you will love it a ton!”
She started laughing at her own rhyme and covered her mouth to stifle it. Someone in the class groaned, but that only made the teacher nearly fall over as she couldn’t hold back the laughter any longer.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she said wiping her eyes. “Sometimes the poetry just flows out of me.”
She moved her hands in waves as if to illustrate. Clearly, she was a total goofball, but Evan couldn’t seem to find it in him to hate it. In fact, he was having trouble suppressing his own laughter after watching her show.
“For those that don’t know, my name is Ms. May. Ms. Gloria May,” she said. “And I’m looking forward to getting to know you all!”
While he was listening to Ms. May’s lecture about what the semester was going to entail, he realized that she had very pointy ears. He couldn’t see a tail or wings or any other modifications to her body, but she was clearly a monster mage of some type. He spent the better part of the class trying to guess what she might be. Follow the newest chapters on novelping.com.
Outside of another failed joke or two on Ms. May’s part, the class ended without much else happening. Evan had a long period of free time before his next class in the late afternoon, so he decided to head back to the dorm. He made it back to his room without any run-ins with familiar faces or possibly imaginary rabbits.
He spent an hour or so wasting time on the internet before his stomach began to angrily let him know that it needed filling. It was close to 1:00 PM when he decided to finally give the cafeteria on campus a try. He hoped that the majority of the lunch crowd had finished already, and he would be able to eat alone without a fuss.
Evan discovered the cafeteria had two meal options. There was an area with a dedicated restaurant serving burgers, fries, pizza, and all the greatest hits of American fast-food. Then there was an area serving food set out buffet style. This was the free food set out for students to enjoy three times a day. Evan opted for the buffet. He got a tray and began to load up on anything that looked decent.
When he was done, he faced the seating area and looked for an open spot. Unfortunately, the crowd did not seem to have thinned much, if at all. There were no completely empty tables, so he was going to have to sit with someone. He wandered around a bit before spying a group that looked friendly to his eyes.
“Hey guys,” he said as he approached their table. “Mind if I join you?”
“Not at all,” Zayla said with a smile.
Zayla was once again his savior by providing a safe place for him to eat in comfort. Her boyfriend Barry sat next to her, and he just nodded to Evan with his mouth full. There was one other at the table as well. Evan did not know her name, but he had seen her that first day when he first came to the dorm. It was the girl with the orange and black hair that was playing pool.
“Hello,” he said. “I’m Evan.”
“I’m Billie,” she said. “Good to meet ya, mate!”
“Are you Australian?” Evan said before he could stop himself.
Her accent was clear and took him off guard, so the question just popped out.
“Yep!” she said. “Born and raised.”
“Billie was an outsider to Tourmaline when she came here three years ago,” Zayla said. “Just like you.”
“That’s cool. Guess we have something in common then.”
“Mmhmm,” she said while chewing on some fried chicken.
Evan found the three easy to talk to, and he had a good time while he ate. They talked about their classes for the semester, and they all shared some laughs as they traded stories of their classes with Ms. May. He ended up chatting with them well after he had finished his food. He found he didn’t really want to head back to his room just yet. Sadly, the others had classes to get to, so they started to leave. When Barry and Billie went to dump their trays, Zayla asked Evan for his phone. He handed it to her a little reluctantly.
“What are you doing?” he said.
“I’m putting my number into your phone, and sending a text to myself so I have yours,” she said. “There. I’ll shoot you a text when we come back for dinner. Not everyone eats their meals at the cafeteria, but Barry and I usually do. You’re free to join us any time.”
“Thanks, Zayla,” he said. “That helps a lot. I was kinda stressing about where to sit in here.”
“No problem,” she said. “I’ll see you later, ok?”
“Yep, see ya!”
Evan confirmed the new number in his phone. Zayla was a good person. She seemed to have a knack for looking after those around her. He felt lucky to have found such a great potential friend so early in the semester. He felt confident that no matter what happened at his remaining class, his first day in college had been a success.