we smile at the moon

ONE | IT STARTS LIKE THIS

TWO WEEKS INTO Bridewater College and I rather thought I'd already gotten the hang of it. Every day felt the same, except for the occasional deviance from the regular schedule. Some people found it boring, I found it comforting. I'd always strived in structure.

Lower Fifth wasn't meant to be a stressful year. You didn't get your Junior Certificate of Magic exams until next year, and nothing you did really mattered. At least that's what everyone kept telling me whenever I put any more than minimum effort into schoolwork, but oh well.

After prep time ended at eight o'clock, my roommates always immediately filed out of our shared room. I heard that the place to be on campus was the sports field at the back of the school, but I have no interest in heading there.

If I had my choice, I'd stay here for the rest of the night, enjoying the brief reprieve from the business and overly-social life I know shared here. But Adelina Roche, my housemate and fellow new student, had insisted I join her and meet some of her friends. For the sake of it, I'd invited Luo Yunji as well. Yunji was another of the new friends I'd made, also an international full boarder from China. Though she hailed from Shanghai, and I was from Hong Kong.

Yunji was my escape tactic. Should anything go wrong, I'd just stick with her for the rest of the night.

I pushed my chair away from my table. Casting a quick spell with a flick of my fingers, my phone flew across the room from my bed and into my hands. A basic practical spell that lets me summon small objects. My parents had always insisted I did not rely too heavily on magic, but sometimes it was just far more convenient.

I'd forgotten to shut my wardrobe doors too. So I swiped my fingers in the air, purple aura crackling on my fingertips, and the wardrobe door slammed shut. I winced at the sound, but didn't stop as I pulled the door of the room open and stepped out, quickly putting on my leather jacket.

September, and it already felt cold. Too used to the heat of the Hong Kong weather, I supposed. The cool September air was expected but still surprising. I stopped by Yunji's room first, knocking on the door.

The door swung open a moment later. Yunji had tied her hair up into a high ponytail sometime in the past hour, her dark eyes smiling as she regarded me. "Ready to go?"

"You're awfully excited for someone who most definitely already knows all the people we're meeting."

Yunji pursed her lips. "I'm not close with anyone, you know. Like, outside of house or the other full boarding students. Not even them, really."

"You could spend less time in front of the piano or violin."

Yunji shook her head. "It's going to be difficult for me to fit in now. Major mistake I made last year. Oh well. I suppose it's not completely too late for me right now. Can still give it a try."

"It's funny to know that you're the one who's been here since Fourth Form rather than me and Adelina."

"Oh, shush," Yunji growled. "Come on, let's go, let's not keep Adelina waiting."

I shrugged in reply. "If there's anything I've learnt about Adelina Roche in the past two weeks, it's that she's always late. Don't worry, take your time."

"I'm ready to go," Yunji shrugged, shaking her phone in her hand. "Come on, let's go downstairs and find her."

So we did. My dorm was on the top floor of Lok House, a three-person dorm room that I shared with two weekly boarders. Yunji lived right below me, in a two-person dorm, and Adelina resided in another three-person dorm on the first floor. We tended to gather there, since Yunji's was too small and mine was too far away. For them anyways. Me, I enjoyed the peace and quiet. My roommates rarely returned to the room except at night, finding the stairs too much of a hassle.