F*cked Up High

Earrings

"Sorry?"

Honest to the gods and goddesses and all things good in this world, I was utterly speechless. I was expecting her to maybe say something, but it was anything but what came out of her mouth.

"Oh!- I'm so sorry," the female exclaims, "I'm just a little on edge after that guy." She nudges her head to the tall guy with horns, who seems to be looking for someone but gives up halfway and walks into the halls. "I'm relieved he's gone. He doesn't seem like a respectful individual at all." The girl sighs as she hands me my books. She brushes a strand of hair back to her ear. "My name is Artemis. May I have the pleasure of knowing yours?"

Again, still speechless. I mean I'm fine with someone helping me with my stuff, but I didn't really think that someone would be talking to me. But still, it's probably best I get to know some people here. Even if they do have some rather...bizarre? No that seems kinda mean. I guess...special personalities.

"Oh, Darius. It's nice to meet you! You're new here too, right? I'm just assuming since I think I saw you at the gate earlier today."

I take the things we picked up and stand up with Artemis. As she talked, I began to place my books in my bag, starting with the bigger ones at the back and the smaller ones at the front. "Yes, I'm new here. I thought it'd be best if I got to know some people. I hope you don't mind being the first." "Oh, don't worry. I was actually trying to get to know other people as well." I chuckle lightly and pick up my bag before slinging it onto my back. Artemis smiles and nods before picking up her own bag, which seems to be a book bag, or perhaps a large satchel? I say that because of how strangely exotic it looks. It was green with a large silver buckle on its flap, as well as yellow markings all around it, which I assume are elven glyphs that have some sort of meaning to them. It just seems so specific. I look at my bag for a few seconds. It also seems way more unique than what I have as well. That aside, maybe these aren't just copies of the bags we had at home.

"By the way, is it alright if I see your schedule? I heard that the people placed in our groups all have similar ones." "Yeah, for sure. Here-" I say as I reach into my right pocket and pull out the folded piece of paper to give it to Artemis. The female takes the note and inspects it, slowly moving her gaze to trace the text. "Oh! We have a lot of classes together. All except the last one. Music, huh? Didn't take you for a band kid." Artemis chuckles and hands me back the schedule. If I'll be honest I didn't take her for someone like this, and I can read people pretty well. Lemme prove that real quick. Even though Artemis seems a little snarky, she can be incredibly serious about things. Remember when she suddenly snapped at me? She was probably annoyed because that one shirtless guy was acting all high and mighty. And I'm not even breaking the fourth wall right now; elves are known to have great pride in their species and don't like when others act as if they're better than them. That said, it should be pretty easy to get to know Artemis if I just watch what I say. "Yeah, I get that a lot- The piercings kinda throw people off I guess? Anyway, you down to walk together then? Maybe we'll pick up the other people from our group along the way." 

Now that I know all of our schedules are somewhat connected, then maybe we'll all have similar interests. Even if all of us look vastly different. Like seriously. The only thing I have in common with a few of them is the black hair, and one of them has their hair dyed or something. I get that no one looks the exact same, but I'm not joking when I said I feel incredibly out of place here. As I said before, nearly everyone at this school has some sort of "defining character trait" or something, and I'm sorry for saying this again, but what have I got? Hell, I didn't even know there were people with four arms before I arrived. Everything here all feels like some kind of story book, or an imaginary world some random kid who took up creative writing in freshman year would come up with. But nah, this is the real world I guess. Filled with half-animal people, monsters, and cyborgs. It really makes me remember how little I am compared to them.