Around and Down| SF

{Chapter I}

   You receive a powerful waft of cleaner once you open the dorm room. The living area was spotless- cleaner than any room I've been in before. It is nothing to be ashamed of unless you are allergic to certain cleaning products. Avery coughs up a storm stronger than Hurricane Katrina once she enters behind me. "Jesus," Avery mutters between coughs, "how much Lysol do you need for one room?" I shrug, return and proceed to sit the box I just remembered I was holding on the ground. Avery does the same as I, then continues exploring the dorm.

   The living area isn't much of a sight to behold. The walls are beige, and the floor is hardwood. The administrators provide a couch, surprisingly, and a kitchenette. My only concern is whether our private bedrooms will have carpet. There are four private bedrooms, two private bathrooms, a living area, and a kitchenette. I mean that we are not only sharing a dorm ourselves, but we are also sharing it with two others. From the looks of it, we beat the others to it.

   I turn my head off to the side and notice Avery staring at me. "What," I give her a questioning glance in return. She directs her eyes towards my shirt, and I instinctively look down. My shirt is a graphic tee of Chucky with 'Don't fuck with the Chuck' in bold letters. "What's wrong with my shirt," I acquire.

"Out of all the shirts you could have worn for your first day at college, you choose to wear that one."

"I do not see the issue."

   Avery shakes her head at my response, "On another note, the bedrooms have carpet." You can visually see the disappointment in my body language. "Are you fucking kidding me?" I annoyingly ask Avery. I was hoping she was trying to piss me off. "Nope," Avery pops the 'p,' "but to cheer you up, we should go to Starbucks."

"Avery, we still need to unpack both our cars."

"We can do that later. Right now, I want a Pumpkin Spice Latte."

   I internally groan while being pulled out the door. Our room is on the third floor, so we sadly had to go down three flights of stairs- due to no elevator. On our way down into the Residency Hall, we passed a couple of others. The one that stood out the most was a blonde-headed bimbo. She resembled the typical popular whore in high school. Now I am hoping she is not one of our roommates. "Ok," Avery knocks me out of my thoughts, "we need to find Starbucks." I nod my head in return and continue to follow along. "I think it is in the Conference Training Center," I add on. She grins and slightly skips as she continues walking. The campus is spread out a lot. Many people are riding bikes and even skateboards to get to their destinations. Avery brought her bike, but I prefer to walk. The campus is decorated nicely with flowers and brick walkways. There is also a fountain around here somewhere.

   We do not say much to each other on the way there. I think we both are too busy looking at our surroundings. We finally are nearing the Conference Training Center when Avery decides to strike up a conversation, "What are you going to get?" I think for just a moment with a hum. "A Vanilla Bean Creme Frappuccino," I reply. I open the door for Avery to enter first. "That sounds so good!" She brightly exclaimed while she walked through.

   I swear, this place was every introvert's nightmare. There had to be at least one hundred people in this area. "This is too many humans for my liking," I comment to no one in particular. "I know," Avery laughs, "but you will live."

"Not willingly."

"Come on! We need to get in line."

   Avery and I step in line for Starbucks, which is wrapped around the area a bit too much. "Everyone likes Starbucks way too much," I say in Avery's direction. She nods in agreement, "There is, but then again, I am in the line anyways." I snicker to myself, "You're all basic white humans." Avery laughs at my comment as we move forward. "Why do you call people humans?" She questions my words. "That's what they are," I explain.

   At this point, Avery brushes me off, but not before she lightly punches my chest. "Ow," I grab my chest with a look of hurt plastered on my face. "Oh, shut up," Avery laughs at my misery, "you barely have anything there." I put a look of shock on my face, "Only I am allowed to make fun of myself." We move forward. "You shouldn't be making fun of yourself at all," Avery retaliates.

   As Avery and I banter, a group of people gets behind us. I am not paying much attention to them because I have a loud blonde in front of me. "At least I've got laid because of them," I defend myself. Avery laughs a little too loud, "That's because you wanted it, fucker." I cross my arms, "Yes, I did. So what?"

"Because your innocence went bye-bye."

"There wasn't much left of it anyway."

"Hey, Little Red!"

   One of the people behind us tapped on my shoulder. I turned around to meet a guy with long brown hair and a pointed nose. "I fucking love your tattoo!" He told me excitedly while grabbing my wrist to take a closer look. I jumped slightly at the contact. I have a 'The Sun' tarot card tattoo on my underarm. I also have a small ghost above it and a giant ghost holding a gravestone on my upper arm. My mother and I got matching tarot cards and tiny ghosts. She got 'The Moon' tarot.

   When I flinched at the contact, his friend commented, "Uh, dude. You probably should have asked to see it before grabbing her arm." I faced the man who spoke. He has blue hair that sits on his shoulders. He also is wearing a white and pink mask or prosthetic of sorts. "Oh shit," the brown hair male lets go, "I'm sorry, Little Red." I brush him off slightly, "It's fine. And thanks." I give him a slight grin of reassurance. "Hell yeah," He smiles wide, "your tattoo looks awesome! I need to get one of my own." I feel my anxiety start to kick in and instinctively grab the end of my shirt. "Yeah," I whisper, "just go at your own pace." The man smiled and stuck his hand out, "The name is Larry, Little Red." I stare at his hand for a moment before Avery hits my shoulder. I lightly gave his hand a shake and introduced myself, "Jade." 

   Avery rolls her eyes. "Hi. I'm Avery," she happily chirps, "don't mind her. She is a bit quiet and keeps to herself." Larry hums, "That's cool. Sally Face here is a quiet one too." He gestures to the blue hair male. "Yeah. My name is Sal, but my friends call me Sally Face," Sal speaks. "Sally Face?" Avery questions. "Yep. Bullies in middle school would always use the name to hurt me, so I decided to own up to it," Sal explains. "As you should," Avery laughs. I look over and notice that we are next in line. I nudge Avery's foot in an attempt to get her attention. She looks in my direction and notices. "I guess I better order," she grins.