Chapter 5: The dorm

The classes for the day ended. After the aptitude test, things moved fast. Our roll and class schedule and everything else would be given at a later date. Though this school was supposed to be a prestigious one, it didn't really feel all that different from my middle school, maybe just a bit bigger. At least that's what I felt at first. But after watching the students and their behavior, I really couldn't keep a straight face and compare my middle school with this school. It was like comparing a cat to a lion. 

I went to the dorm: except I didn't. It was right next to the school building. What could go wrong right? Wrong. It took me half an hour just to locate the building I was supposed to go in: and then I went to the wrong one. And unlike what the students said, it was not right next to the school building. Besides, the school had two main buildings. 

Confusion? That was the least of my worries.

I did find the dorm but the first one was the wrong one: the very wrong one. The sheer number of female eyes radiating glares didn't scare me as much as their grins did. No one stopped me and after a while, I walked out myself. It was the girls' dorm. And from the looks on their faces, men visiting weren't rare. And if I ever happened to find the person who said this was the boys' dorm, I'd give him just the perfect dose of radiation so he won't be able to raise his Excalibur between his legs.

***

Took me another half an hour before I finally found the boys' dorm: this time I made sure that it was the boys' dorm before going in. 

My room was on the fourth floor by the stairway. Apparently, I didn't check in whether it was a double or triple room. I didn't even know who my roommate was. 

'Let's just hope, he isn't an asshole.'

"This seems to be it." I knocked on the door. 

Obviously, it was locked from the inside. Because I was late, I had to carry my bags all day with me. It was a major drag.

"Yes, what is it?" A voice came from the inside. But he didn't open the door. 

There were noises coming from all across the hallway. Apparently, the first day of school or rather the dorms were the busiest.

"I'm supposed to be your roommate. So do you mind opening the door?" I had to raise my voice due to all the background noise.

"Yes, I do mind. Could you come back in an hour? I'm a little occupied at the moment." 

I was getting stares again from across the hallway. 

"Uh, no!" I didn't have any reason to heed his request. I'd been tugging these damn bags all day long, why in hell's name would I wait for another hour? "I'm kinda tired. Could you just open the damn door please?" On second thought, maybe I was the asshole.

This went back and forth for a few minutes. I knocked without any remorse. I had better things to do than stand around looking like a moron. 

He opened the door and looked at me with eyes full of despair. "And I was so close too."

I noticed he wasn't wearing any shirt. But before I could blink a girl jumped out of the door and ran down the stairs, all the while buttoning up her own shirt. I could only see her long striped tail and that colorful lingerie. 

'Damn that girl is fast!'

"What the hell?" Really, what the hell just happened?

The guy sighed a big sigh. "Don't just stand there, come on in." I gasped and went in. It kind of smelled but I suppose that was okay. After all, they were in a heated battle a minute ago. "Man, don't you have any sense, or delicacy?"

He wore his shirt. The guy was fairly handsome and had a fair bit of facial hair. I'd say he was an inch taller than me.

"I could say that same about you." I fired back.

His eyes narrowed and his dog ears twitched. "No, you can't. I thought you weren't coming today. New students come to dorms before nine and you-"

"Didn't have a choice." 

"Whatever man."

"Your girlfriend?" Of course, I was curious.

"No- not really."

"Uh-huh."

The conversation died. It was awkward.

***

I changed clothes and started organizing my stuff. The room wasn't that big but it wasn't small either. It had two beds and a fair amount of space for two guys. 

But the sheer amount of junk kind of rubbed me the wrong way. 

"By the way, girls aren't forbidden to enter the dorm right? Well, I suppose that's self-explanatory."

"Hey! Don't just ask something and then answer it yourself! And that's a yes!" Yup, this guy was nuts.

"I'm Jintel. Nice to meet you." It was a little late for introductions but I tried to be courteous. Well, kind of.

"I'm Merin. And who names their kid Jintel? Are your parents okay?"

'Says the guy who's got an even weirder name.'

I didn't say that out loud though.

"Anyway, nice to meet you." I spread my hands. 

He shook them. "Nice to, meet you too. And next time, please take a hint."

"And next time, please try to do things while I'm at school or something."

"It's a deal then!"

'Wait, what?'

I was being sarcastic but he took me for real. But it worked for me.

I couldn't believe the guy, but such was life. There were things, certain situations- that would pop out of nowhere and you'd just have to accept them. This was one of them.

"Are you a senior or something?"

"Yeah, I'm in my second year."

Well, it was kind of obvious. "I see."

"There's no need to be formal though." He puffed his chest in pride. What was he, a century-old vampire that I had to pay my respects to?

"I wasn't planning to." I came out a bit too blunt.

He looked somewhat out of place at my reply but didn't really bother with it. His grin suggested he thought something in the lines of 'why?'

He didn't get another reply from me though.

***

Merin explained some of the house rules. It was okay for girls to come into the dorm before six in the afternoon. It was probably a rule for preventing the cuddling action between students. Given how meaningless that was, I couldn't help but chuckle. As for the actual rules, the only one was the curfew. As long as we didn't stay outside past ten, it was okay. Then there were obvious things like "Don't use powers indoors unless absolutely necessary."

Fairly normal stuff. There wasn't much to it. I didn't pay much attention anyway. Besides, I'd be too busy studying. 

"Think, I'll head out and-"

I needed to know what dis academy had and where what was. I still didn't know where what was since I didn't have a Holo: if only I had money. 

But I at least had to know where I could buy food, or more importantly, chocolate milk. If I was going to live away from my family, the least I could do was to make sure I wasn't going to starve to death or something. 

"Yeah, good luck with that."

I glared at him. "Shouldn't a proper senior offer to be a tour guide in this kind of situation?"

"Yeah, but I'm not a proper senior, am I?" He lied down on the bed, turned on his holo, and grinned devilishly. "Don't you have a holo?" he looked at me with curiosity.

"Never mind." I sighed. At least he wasn't an asshole. Probably.