Andrea and I walked in silence. The street lamps illuminated the gravel that crunched under our feet as we walked to the corner of campus where the dorm rooms were. There were dozens and dozens of dorm houses, lined up neatly in rows. Each row had a different name related to oceans. (Gosh, this place really had a thing for oceans) and there were shiny brass letters on each door.
“Okay… so you’re Sea Mist D.” said Andrea, breaking the silence.
“What kind of system is this? I know its a marine studies school and it focuses on the ocean and different marine life, but why so many references?” I half-whined, half-joked.
“If you don’t like it, you shouldn’t have come here. Didn’t you know about this? I though you said you had visited before.”
“I… I did. I just…” my voice trailed off. I wasn’t good at talking to people. “Never mind.”
The street was empty. Every now and then we would pass dorm houses that had all their lights on. Shouting would erupt from them and I knew that there was some serious partying going on. Every time we passed one of these dorms, Andrea would roll her eyes and keep walking without a change in step. I wish she had paused a moment. I wouldn’t have minded gate crashing. Everyone would be too drunk to care, and I wanted to taste my first drop of alcohol. But I couldn’t get into that now. It was only my first night!
We made it to my dorm. The lights were off and there was no noise anywhere.
“Okay.” said Andrea. “Open the envelope the front office gave you.” I did, slipping the map back inside next to my schedule and list of books I would need for my classes. I had most of them already, but there were a few titles I still needed. Andrea took the envelope from me, digging into the bottom. When she withdrew her hand, she was holding two small rectangular objects.
“This is how things work around here. This keycard will get you into your dorm room.” she handed me a small white plastic card with a sky blue strip on the top that I could barely see in the dim light. It had my name on it with my dorm name and letter in the lower left hand corner. As I examined it, she continued. “It will also get you into any dorm you want on campus. It works on your dorm every minute of every day, but it only works on other dorms from 7 in the morning to 2 AM each day. 4 AM on the weekends.”
“Okay.”
She handed the next card to me. This one was the same as the other one, except this one had a violet strip at the top. “This card gets you into all the academic buildings. It also gets you into the library, campus lounge, swimming pool, weight room, cafeteria, gym, and auditorium.”
“Wow. Is this place made up of scanners?”
“Didn’t the person giving you the tour of the place during your visit already show you all this?” there was a touch of anger in her eyes.
“Uhh… no. Not really.”
“Oh…” the frustration seemed to slowly melt away from Andrea’s eyes. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. Its totally cool.”
“Okay. I gotta get going. Are you okay from here?”
“I’m good. See ya later!”
“Bye!” Andrea smiled and walked off, leaving me standing at the front door of the dorm house.
I never saw her again. She never made the effort to come see me ever again.
See? I told you so.
I sighed, ready to climb into a nice soft bed. I had been awake since 4 in the morning worrying about having everything I needed for college. I had a little bit of jet lag, and walking around all day hadn’t helped.
I swiped my card over the reader. It let out a low tone, and a green light went on in the top corner. I sighed, picking up the handle of my trunk with my right hand and grabbing firmly at door knob. With my left hand.
I shrieked in pain, dropping my trunk with a loud thunk. I grimaced.
“Fuck!” I mouthed, biting my lip.
I took a moment to pull myself together and wait for the pain to go away. I sighed sharply between my teeth, then scanned my keycard again and opened the door to my new life.
YOU ARE READING
