Arcadia: Amorphous

Chapter 17 : Meet and Greet

 Not everyone is a people person, Zander is not, David, maybe if he wants to be, but me, I was born to it. My friend group was always large, and diverse. It's not like everybody likes me, but I think I have more fans than critics. It's not hard. I'm just a nice guy and a friendly guy so when I talk to people, people talk back.

Yes I'm good in the classroom, and I'm fun to just hang with, but as a true people person, it's parties where I shine.

Tonight is the night of just such a party, a gala, a social gathering to commemorate our excellents during yesterday's evals. It was an ungraded evaluation, and as such there are no official grades or scores. But this morning the main hall was sporting a ranking list. The proctors of each stage gave each student a score based on their impressions, and they were averaged.

I was officially, unofficially the second highest ranked student by one point. Blake still beat me, I did crush him in the third challenge, but he edged me out in the first and second stages.

According to the rankings there really was a girl, Kaylie, who scored higher them me in the final stage, but her score on the second was zero. I'm told she eventually got tired of waiting for Brad, the she left without completing the task.

Personally, having not seen much from her in class and seeing how over the top she seem to be with fighting, I lean more towards believing she new she'd never figure it out and gave up. Not that I'm trying to judge, it was a hard puzzle, I nearly messed it up myself. And I was clearly not the fastest, or most elegant in my solution, but it is good to know we have at least one strong candidate in class to specialized in slaying.

I've thought about specializing in slaying as well. That is why I've focused on fire manipulation. The pyrokinetics are consistently some of the school best slayers. It's the power, and overwhelming ferocity. They never back down, always pushing towards their goals.

Ooh, there's Zander and David!

"Hey guys. Loving the party?" I asked nearing them.

"It's okay." Zander responded.

"Do we know what the doors are for?" David asked referring to the dozens of doors standing freely around the large room.

"Times messed up here, maybe it's January?" Zander responded.

"That would be stupid even as far as school dance themes go." David replied with a lear.

"Makes it all the more likely."

"Are you two just going to crap on this party or are you going to scotaize?" I asked, prepared for the answer. Neither of them seems the party type.

"I would take my crap at the dorm, but attendance was mandatory." David groand in a snarky manor.

"I think we'll kick back and people watch." Zander added. "You go get your extroversion on."

"Fine, but if you're people watching keep an eye out for this Kaylie girl. She..."

"Slaughtered you high score." David smirked.

"Yes... But I don't remember her from any our our classes."

"I'll keep an eye out, but I'm shit with names, and faces, and caring about how personally you're going to take not being unrivaled."

"What's up your butt?" I asked. David was short and blunt some... Most times, but this we different.

"Just found out a few hours ago, open kestal are a big no no for exams. Even though I did find a way cast, I'm back to square one as far as the school is concerned."