The Echoes of Rivalry & Ruin (The Acamancy Series I)

Chapter 7: 9 Days Until Year One

Because I dozed off while texting, like usual, I forgot to set an alarm to wake up extra early this morning. Luckily for me June did not forget, unluckily for me her alarm starts blaring at 5:00 in the morning. When I planned to get up early, I had planned to set my alarm for 7:00 and maybe even snooze it once or twice. Classes do not even begin until 8:30 unless you opt for a morning training center or battlefield slot for early workouts, which it appears June plans to. Regardless of my earlier than planned start to the day, and my inability to fall back to sleep once I am jolted awake by an unfamiliar alarm sound, I make the most of it. Admittedly I was pretty disoriented when I woke up, staring at the top bunk, in gray sheets inside of my usual blues one, and surrounded by the sounds of soft snores, so it took me a few seconds to get my thoughts together and realize where I was.

I lay in bed and plan out my day in my head, as I hear June trotting around the room, slam open our creaky closet door, and riffle through her drawers, before staggering to the bathroom and turning on our shared shower.

Game plan for today:

Find a coffee shop on campus and hope they have my preferred sweet sugary lattes and not just hot coffee.

Grab a pastry from said coffee spot or find something to eat. I don't have money in my cafeteria account yet since I am not registered for campus meals yet so i need to get that done today.

Go to the office to set up meal card.

Get my class schedule from the registration office.

Take my ID picture and get my campus card, to be used for entry to all classroom doors and entry to buildings.

Check on fingerprint scan progress for dorm doors.

Eat my first meals in the cafeteria, avoiding the fish like mom warned.

Check out the training grounds or battlefields.

Check out the library to browse and maybe even make some friends, i want to meet more Year Twos to get a good word in and make an impression to raise my chances of being selected as an Apprentice.

Read a book by my favorite fountain.

By the time I finished making my short mental list I heard the bathroom door open, saw a fully dressed June slip into her boots and head out of the door. Our shower turns on loudly, but it seems to be silent when it's turned off. That or I was too lost in thought to notice, I didn't hear June turn the shower off or hear her getting ready. And also, she was only in there for what seemed like two minutes. but then again, when I am in planner mode I tend to lose track of time. Either way it was a short shower, which makes my mind wander again wondering if we have time limits or if we need to make a shower schedule for all 4 of us. I wonder how well our roommate's chemistry will be. June seems pretty independent, Mal and I know each other very well, which is either perfect or a disaster as far as roommates go. Brynn is the wildcard, she is nice enough, but we don't know her all that well yet, and she seems like the type to be a shower hog...

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I was hoping to find a good book after chatting with some friends and maybe meet some new people during my library adventure, but it's a ghost town here. Literally empty and silent. If it wasn't for the lights on and the librarian at the desk, who gave me a soft smile and slight nod when I entered, I would think it was closed for the summer. My only company here is the characters of the books I am browsing.

I was at least able to accomplish everything else on my list pretty easily. The cafeteria sandwich was good enough, the coffee was much better, and they had the tastiest sticky buns and muffins in there. My ID picture isn't great but, when is it ever? I found out we don't really even need them for anything though. We needed a picture taken but the card is a backup, like the keycard for the dorms, in case our fingerprints are glitching, or there is a technical issue. Every entrance in the whole school has the same door handles. They are a gunmetal color, above the handle itself is a panel with a circle to place your thumb for print reading, there is a backup keypad professors can use to get in, and there is a scanner below the knob to read ID or key cards if needed, and so far, I haven't needed it. I got into the library using my fingerprint easily enough.