Campus Life

Chapter Two: New Beginnings

Anadil took a sip of the coffee that she had slipped out of the room to get, watching Kyla sleeping. Looking at her phone to check the time, she decided that nine in the morning was the latest time they should stay at the motel. She bent down over Kyla's comatose body and waved the coffee around her nose.

"Wakey wakey, sleeping beauty~" Anadil laughed as Kyla's eyes opened wide. "There we are!"

"Out of everything, you chose coffee... Black to make it even more of a sin..." the blond grouched, rubbing at her eyes and sitting up in bed.

"Just like my soul--"

"I would not doubt that..." Kyla responded before rolling out of bed, eyes slitting as the sight of another styrofoam cup. Shooting her friend a withering glare, she finally asked, "Is that coffee?"

"You can take a sip to see for yourself. Take a risk once in a while, Ky!" Anadil laughed as Kyla shook her head suspiciously and rifled through her suitcase to pick out some clothes. She headed into the bathroom to quickly change and came back to find Anadil trying to her best to perfect the made bed.

"It's not going to be great, Anadil," Kyla offered as her friend shook her head in response. "Alright well, we are going soon, I think. Why else would you have woken me up this early?"

"It's not that early, Kyla!" the brunette exclaimed before abandoning the bed and taking a sip of her coffee.

"Liar..." she murmured as she picked up her cup as well and took an investigative sniff of the contents. Seemingly appeased by the smell, she gulped down a small portion and went about picking up the forgotten pieces of cosplay.

As soon as everything had been packed back into the suitcases that they had brought into the room, Anadil offered to check out for them.

"Wouldn't want you having a heart attack on the way there, would we?" was Anadil's explanation as she tossed the car keys into Kyla's waiting hand. "In return, you drive~"

Kyla slipped into the driver's seat as she patiently waited for Anadil to return. About fifteen minutes passed before Kyla finally decided to venture back into the main building. As she entered the room, she was met with the freezing air blowing from the AC. She pulled her jacket tighter around herself as she turned her head to try to spot Anadil. Her freckled cheeks pinked when she noticed her friend was talking with a random boy rather flirtatiously.

"Sorry, but she has to do something, handsome!" Kyla tried before wrapping her hand around Anadil's elbow and pulling her out of the room. Kyla had made eye contact with the boy's wide blue eyes and she fought the urge to blush at how flustered they looked. Anadil quickly pocketed her phone before the two girls continued their trek to the car and piled in. "I spend my time waiting out here while you're flirting with a boy-"

"I got his number!" Anadil flashed her a smile and moved to nudge her with her elbow. "Lighten up, sunshine. I was talking you up, and I found out that he's a writer as well~" When Kyla made a soft noise of recognition, Anadil groaned and continued on, "Just give him a try. His name's Armin! Turns out that he was heading for the same university as us."

"Only you can pick people out like a bloodhound..."

"That's my job to find my friend a partner!"

"I don't know, Anadil... What if he's a creep...?"

"You have to get out of that mindset. Not all men are like that, you know? Of course, they aren't perfect like the boys you write, either-" Anadil stopped talking as Kyla turned onto the highway. "Now, please start watching. We don't want you daydreaming about your fantasy worlds while you're driving!"

"Yeah, I don't think they can pay if the car gets totaled~" Kyla responded as Anadil nodded her head and giggled in response.

"Exactly!"

---

As soon as the girls neared Chishiki Academy, they started to chant the name and pump their fists in the air. When they had parked, Anadil shot a meaningful gaze at Kyla before opening her mouth to say something. Her words, however, were drowned out by a car horn honking loudly behind them.

"Oh for God's sake..." murmured Anadil, rolling her eyes and adjusting her hands on the wheel. "What kind of fool--"

Kyla fought back a laugh as the brunette boy behind the steering wheel seemed to be shouting out at every possible moment. A girl with black hair and a bright red scarf--she was sitting beside him--could only cradle her head as he carried on with his rant.

"I think you took his spot, Ana-"

"Oh, you think?!" the girl shot back before rolling her eyes. "He should be happy that he's an attractive idiot..."

"Falling in love with the first boy you yell at you? Your masochism is showing, sweetheart~" Kyla lightly teased before unbuckling herself. "What were you going to say?"

"Some kind of first day affirmation or whatever. Something fluffy, most likely. However, that--ugh!"

"Well, that was going to be sweet whatever it was going to be. Now, we have to go find our dorm house..." Kyla responded as she looked behind her shoulder at their belongings. "Where did we put those papers again...?"

"Right here. I knew that it would be wise to snatch them from you!" Anadil answered, leaning over to retrieve the folded papers from a compartment. She unfurled the papers and looked down at each one, her smile growing a bit. "Well, it seems that we're actually in the same building as each other... Not the same room, though."

"That's a bit of a bummer, but at least we're close!" Kyla undid her seatbelt and got out of the car as Anadil nodded and followed her towards the main building. They looked back at the other people milling around and Kyla nervously gulped as a smile spread across Anadil's face.

---

"Okay, how in the world did it take us so long to find this stupid place?" griped Anadil as Kyla fought the urge to laugh in the bustling halls because she didn't want to draw attention to them. "A good hour of our time-"

"This is what happens when I'm too afraid to ask for directions and you're not willing to do so," Kyla said as she motioned towards two doors that were next to each other. "I guess we're even closer. Let me see..." Grabbing their papers, she looked at the names of their roommates.

"I am rooming with Annie Leonhart. She's got a pretty name. Um, you have Mikasa Ackerman--" Kyla stopped talking as Anadil opened up the door to her shared dorm. The same pair of people from earlier looked up from piling up some boxes in a corner of the room.

"Not you again!" groaned the brunette boy as Mikasa smiled slightly in greeting to the two. "Honestly, what is the possibility?"

"Eren, please stop. They probably didn't know," Mikasa tried but the boy only shook his head and turned back to putting up the box. "Well, it's nice to meet you both. It seems that our two rooms are connected. Which one of you would be Anadil Pierce?"

"Right here. Nice to meet you and him again." Anadil shot a look at Eren before gesturing toward her friend. "And this little ray of sunshine would be Kyla Thomas-Genovese."

"Well, our other roommate is in her room..." Mikasa murmured before turning back to talking with Eren.

Anadil gave Kyla a wave before placing her suitcases on her bed. The blond exited the other room and opened up the door to her dorm. Annie looked up from folding her clothes, moving to take her earbuds out.

"Hey..." the girl muttered before turning back to the task at hand as Kyla padded over to the remaining bunk and undid her suitcase. "I want to make one thing clear right now. I am going to up late at night because I took a big load of classes so try not to bother me while I'm working, okay? We can do bonding or whatever later on."

"Sounds nice. Another heads-up. My friend is one of our roommates and she is most likely going to be knocking at our door at all times to invite us to a party," Kyla responded, carefully taking out her packaged wigs and placing them in the top drawer of her dresser. Annie eyed her for a second before sighing and shaking her head.

"That's just great..."

With that, the girls got settled into their rooms and prepared for the start of classes and activities.