Soul Theory

Chapter 5. Welcome Week

The scene was overwhelming–all the smells, all manners of faces blurring this way and that, hundreds of simultaneous conversations within earshot, and every color of the rainbow screaming for your attention. Rows and rows of colorful canopies littered the quads. The tables and displays underneath them were manned by upperclassmen flagging the ocean of freshmen with fliers, snacks and free knicknacks (shirts, magnets, pens, trinkets, etc;). The tang of fried foods, sweets, freshmen sweat and plastic "welcome week" swag shrouded the bustling masses.

Verise weaved through the crowd like a professional. Minjung kept almost stepping on the back of her roommate's flats. The native suburban could hardly keep up, splitting their haggard attention between ducking people's shoulders and missing people's feet. Minjung trailed trepidly behind her fearless friend one empty patch of ground at a time. There was so much to take in, and Minjung missed most of it just trying to avoid collision. Verise, on the other hand, was on the scene, bright-eyed and plowing forward like an heiress window shopping with daddy's credit cards.

Minjung nearly buckled into Verise's back when the fearless one came to an abrupt stop without warning. Minjung, jolted out of her careful footwork, looked up in confusion. Verise, beaming at something off in the distance, gave Minjung's arm a sharp pinch.

"Ow!" Minjung hissed.

"Look. Look. Look." Verise whispered. "Not so obviously!" she groaned.

Minjung blushed and looked away, activating her best, most sleuth-y peripheral vision. A group of four guys was strolling through the outskirts of the crowd. It was hard to resist drinking in the view, but she forced herself to maintain a soft focus. The girls waded out of the crowd's currents to gain better vantage. The squad made a beeline to one of the booths ahead. Four tall silhouettes carried angular faces with laid-back expressions focused dead ahead. Minjung pointed out the way the guys were walking in perfectly synced strides. Picturing them rehearsing this like a choreography only to appear so effortlessly cool now threw the girls into fits of giggles.

The four moved in a mode of charismatic cruise control, unmistakably relaxed and self-assured. Each one had their hands casually stuffed into the pockets of their gray hoodie or navy track pants, their shoulders slouched, their gaits wide and confident. Two carried hefty red duffel bags slung over their shoulders that they plunked down onto the table of their destination. They were met with eager greetings from the people seated behind it. The merged group came alive, immersed in conversation. The four milled around the booth as they talked, unbothered and as if completely at home. The roommates watched, transfixed. Verise looked ready to pounce. She grabbed Minjung's hand. The two subtly drifted closer, closer to the cusp of convergence.

Hanging from the booth's black canopy was the sign "S.O.S. CLUB"

"Save our souls?" Minjung nudged Verise.

"Ski or snowboard, silly." Verise shot her a look of "I can't believe you".

Just outside the canopy's shade stood a small wooden sign board under the sun. Minjung noted the large, painted skull occupying most of the sign's surface area and gulped. In smaller, block print, it read: "WHEN YOU HIT THE SLOPES, YOU CAN DIE. THIS IS YOUR DECISION."

Minjung thought that was a bit extreme. Verise's pulse quickened.

"You ski? Or, snowboard?" said Minjung, who never heard her friend mention it.

"I can learn," Verise grinned.

They were lingering too obviously now, only a few booths away from the targets of their stalking. Something needed to happen, either an advance or a retreat. Verise busied herself looking through her bag for something.