Silver Rose

Chapter V - Hustle and Bustle

Lilly awoke to the sound of shuffling around her. She looked to the right. Ingrid, Leon, and Yuan were all getting ready for classes.

"What time is it?" she yawned.

"She's awake!" Leon said, throwing his arms up in the air.

"Wait," she said, rolling out of bed. "What time is—"

"Lilly! No!" Ingrid said just as their team leader yelped, falling down to the ground. "Oh my god! Are you okay?"

"Ow," she said, rubbing her head.

"Did you forget you were top bunk?" Leon chuckled as Yuan extended a hand to help her up.

"We might need to switch places," Ingrid said.

"Thanks, Yuan," Lilly said. "Ow, my elbow."

"So, you might wanna hurry," Leon said. "Classes start in about fifteen minutes."

Her eyes opened wide. That wasn't enough time to get dressed and run to class.

"But hey, we already got your uniform ready!"

Lilly looked at the skirt. "That's way too short!"

"But it's cute, isn't it?"

"Leon!" Ingrid yelled before pulling out Lilly's real uniform. "Ugh! This isn't the time to be joking around!"

"Thanks, Ingrid," Lilly said, accepting the uniform from her. She stuck her tongue out at Leon as she passed by to go change in the girls' showers.

"Fourteen minutes left!" Leon yelled down the hall. Echo was just getting out of Team APEX's room across the hall from theirs. "Oh, g'mornin', Echo," he said to her.

She returned his smile.

"Hey," Leon said, leaning in toward Ingrid. "Who do you think is quieter? Yuan or Echo?"

"Hmm," she said, pausing in thought. "You know what I think?"

"What?"

"I think I don't care."

"Oh, c'mon! Don't be like that!"

"Is he bothering you again?" Athena said as she and her team passed by their open door.

"He's always bothering me," Ingrid said.

"True."

"Hey, nice digs," Perseus said, stepping into their room. "I'm guessing this is the boys' side of the room, huh?"

"You got it," Leon said. "How does thou liketh my humble abode?"

"Oh, shit, y'all got video games. Yo, real talk, me and Xanthus, you and Yuan."

"You're on, brotha."

"Not now, oh my god," Ingrid said, letting out an exasperated sigh.

"No, no, of course not!" Perseus said. "After classes. First homework is kicking Team LILY's ass on the console."

"I shall do my best," Xanthus said, pushing up his glasses.

"Okay," Lilly said, arriving at the group. "We ready?"

"Don't forget your backpack," Ingrid said. "I packed everything up for you already, so you're good."

"Let's go!"

Teams LILY and APEX gathered outside. The first-year dorms were all the way in the back of the south quadrant and they had quite a walk to the north quadrant.