Violets

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

I quickly found out how difficult it was to find someone that wasn’t in my own orientation group. At lunch, Zaden stayed as far from me as possible, so I wanted nothing more than to talk to Elizabeth. I texted her and her group was on a slightly separate schedule from mine. She had already eaten and was moving on to other things. For the most part, she was busy and couldn’t talk, so I was basically on my own. I wanted to try to befriend some of the other girls in the group, but I already felt left out, as if I had missed my chance. It was clear that Zaden and I were the outcasts of the group. We both kept to ourselves and hadn’t really made any friends, and yet he still refused to let me in. It drove me crazy, but then again, after lunch we all mostly located our parents and sat in Pruis to listen to more lectures and presentations, so it didn’t matter much.

Later, we got back into our orientation groups and our leaders gave us tours of the campus. We learned a little bit about what buildings some of our classes might be in based on our majors, we were shown landmarks to remember like the Whisper Wall and the Gum tree, we got to see the inside of the recreation center, and then we all worked together to create videos that summed up orientation so far (each group made their own). By the time the filming of our videos was finished, it was time to relax and have some fun. The Student Center had a bowling alley as well as ping pong, pool, and air hockey tables, so that was where our group leaders took us. Even though it was crowded, I managed to finally find Elizabeth.

“Hey! This is weird - I haven’t seen you all day!” she greeted me.

“Yeah, I know. How has your day been? Do you like your group, at least?” I shouted over the loud music and voices that filled the room.

“It’s been crazy busy and really tiring. I like my group, though. My leader is super nice, and she’s an el-ed major, so you probably should have been the one to have her. Other than that, though, I’ve made a couple friends. What about you?” 

“My group leader is nice. I could have a friend in my group, but he’s really distant,” I said shortly.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, he has eyes like mine, so naturally, I tried to talk to him. I figured since we both must have had similar experiences growing up with that difference, maybe he’d want to be friends. Instead, he told me that just because we’re both different, doesn’t mean we automatically have to have a friendship, and he said I wouldn’t want to be his friend anyways,” I explained, replaying the scene in my mind. I didn’t get it. I’d never been rejected a friendship like that before. Of course, I wasn’t usually the one to reach out to anyone, but still.

“That’s so weird!”

“The eye thing, or the rejection?”

“Both! You’re too nice of a person for someone to shut you down so quickly for no good reason. And I can’t believe you met another purple-eyed freak like yourself. The fact that it’s a guy, too…maybe it’s meant to be,” Elizabeth joked.

“I highly doubt that. But I would think we could at least stick together. He doesn’t have any other friends in the group, and neither do I…holy shit, that’s him!” I spotted the dark hair and black v-neck in the sea of people around us, and sure enough, his eyes stood out among the rest.

“Whoa, pretty eyes. Actually, he’s pretty all over. You better reel him in, Xar,” Eliz laughed, and I softly punched her in the arm.

“Zaden! Hey, Zaden! Purple eyes!” Even over all the noise, he heard me and he turned towards me. However, when he recognized me and realized I had a friend, he spun around and quickly began pushing through the crowd, going in the opposite direction of my best friend and I.