Growing up for Naomi Warner was nothing less than a nightmare. She was bullied by her peers, and her home life wasn't always easy. On top of that, Naomi was very different from other people. In fact, she wasn't human at all. She was a shapeshifter...
Once it was time for my break, I made my way outside quickly. It was a nice day. The sun wasn't too bright, and the breeze was perfect. It was in my nature to love being outside, to feel the grass under my paws, and run free. It had been a while since I shifted. I was too busy preparing for the move onto campus.
I pulled out my phone, then sent a text to Calinida.
Hey. Where should we meet?
My phone chimed seconds later, it was Calinida replying.
Let's meet right outside the Dining Hall.
That was the term that was used for our school's cafeteria. This would be the first time I had eaten there. Calinida and I had moved in a week before classes started for the semester, and the Dining Hall wasn't open yet. I texted back my reply.
Sounds good. See you soon.
I admit I had to look up the school's layout on their website but the building itself was actually closer to me than I thought. I stood outside of the building, and waited for Calinida. Several minutes later I heard her voice nearby. She was talking to three guys who had cocooned themselves around her.
"It was nice meeting you too Derrick... Trent... Brandon," Calinida said kindly. The guys walked off with huge grins on their faces while she approached me.
"Sorry about that! I hope I'm not late?" she asked.
I checked my phone. I had only been waiting about ten minutes. That wasn't too long.
The Dining Hall was massive! The color scheme for the walls were bright, but the colors clashed with the boring brown color of the floors and rugs. It looked very odd to me, but maybe I was weird for paying so close attention to the details. There were sections for most kinds of foods, including pizza, burgers, soups, salads, and sandwiches.
Each place had their own set up, equipped with kitchens, kitchen staff, and employees to check the students out. Whatever left over space there was, it was filled with tables and chairs for students to sit at. As I watched other people eating and conversing, it hit me just how big our school campus was. So many humans. No sign of any other supernatural beings yet.
I wondered if Calinida had met any. Our parents had always told us to be careful who we exposed ourselves to, and we were. Thanks to our keen sense of smell, it made it a bit easier to distinguish humans from paranormal folk. I was hoping to meet more supernatural beings here at school, but I kept my expectations low.
"So, how was your morning?" Calinida asked suddenly.
I recalled my morning. Meeting Juliet was unexpected. She was unexpected. After I heard her voice and looked in direction, I caught a whiff of her scent. All supernatural beings had their own distinctive smell, and Juliet's smell was strawberries. Then I took in her appearance; I was awestruck.
Everything about her was... unique and alluring. Juliet was tall, not as tall as Cali, but certainly taller than me. She had this long platinum blonde hair that flowed down to her sides, and I'm pretty sure the color was natural! Juliet had a great body. She had the classic hourglass shape, and her breasts were nice—perky, yet round. My body heat spiked, reaching all the way to my ears. I tried to look away, but I couldn't, and my eyes explored lower. She was wearing a dress that came up to her knees, so her legs were showing. Her thighs were thick for her body frame, but still, they looked very appealing.
I never made conversation after class, because of course I was me, shy and awkward. So for the entirety of my second class, all I could think about was my lack of social ability, and Juliet. Who was she?I mean, I knew she was a supernatural being based on her smell, but I wanted to know a lot more than that about her... Then it hit me. I would never get to know anything about her! How was I supposed to interact with her? I could barely tell her my name earlier.
"Earth to Lovebug!" Calinida said as she snapped her fingers in front of my face.
Her action brought me back to the present. I must have spaced out again. And she hated when I did that.
"Yeah, sorry... My two classes were good I guess," I told her.
"No, no. Hold up. You were all..." she paused and made this funky facial expression. "And I know that means, you were thinking about something!"
I raised my eyebrow at her.
"What?!" she exclaimed.
"Why did you make that face?"
"Because! I was trying to make the face that you make—that's not the point!" she said with a frown.
"I met someone... Well we didn't technically meet," I admitted. "It was more like we had something in common and therefore were forced to speak under certain circumstances."
She rolled her eyes, "Did you actually speak to this someone?"
"Yes?"
"Then you did good!" she said with an encouraging grin.
Despite that Calinida knew I wasn't confident about my encounter with Juliet, she was still supportive. It made my heart swell.
"Now, what to eat. There's so many choices! What do you want?" she quizzed.
I wanted something simple. My stomach was still doing flips, even after hours later. Was I so anxious because Juliet was the first person I met on campus so far? Or was it because she really struck a chord with me? I wasn't sure. But I had a whole week to figure it out. That's when my Chemistry class was, and that's when I would see Juliet again.
"I think I'm going with a sandwich," I decided.
"That works! Look, there's a soup and sandwich place over there," Calinida pointed out. "Soup sounds yummy!"
We headed over to The Sandwich Dipper, which was the name of the food place, and stood in line.
"I hope they have Italian Wedding soup here!" she stated. Then she turned to me. "What kind of sandwich are you going to get?"
That was a great question. The close we got to the front of the line, the more I was able to see. This place had so many options! Starting with the bread. And before I knew it it was our turn to make our orders. Calinida went first thankfully; by then I had a basic idea of what kind of sandwich I wanted.
"What would you like to order?" the cashier asked me.
"I'd like to get a sandwich, please," I replied.
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