The first morning began at 6:00 A.M, an hour earlier than the time for the tour week, which was already early as is.
The beautifully painful sound of Rohan's Connect alarm blasts the room, and if it weren't for the soundproof walls, it would've probably led to an early expulsion, however luckily it only narrowed casualties to two.
Dexter's eyes slowly open as he hears the crying alarm, and he rubs his eyes, feeling as though he had been robbed early, for he was sure of himself that he felt more well rested on the other mornings; then again he was severely stretching the term 'well rested' to begin with.
He sits up reluctantly, stretching his arms and yawning with great intensity, and as he does, the alarm stops, signaling that Rohan had ended it manually.
Dexter rubs his eyes with his stretched arms, asking out loud "Why does it feel so early? My eyes keep wanting to close...I'm going to fall while walking."
While Dexter complains, Rohan throws himself off his bed and onto his feet. He then picks up his Connect and inserts it in his ear, letting it calibrate on his body. He proceeds to turn to his closet, and begin searching through to find a full outfit for the day.
As he swipes through the holographic inventory, he answers Dexter's question with: "We're going to start waking up at six instead of seven since our classes start an hour earlier than the tours. It's only an hour, you were fine after a few days of waking up at seven so you'll adjust to this too. Come on, there are people who wake up at four."
Dexter groans, and he falls back on his bed, surrendering after his long battle for consciousness. He lays on his bed and stares at the ceiling, whining "Six? Why six? Doesn't that give us four whole hours before class starts? We only need like maybe an hour or hour and thirty for that, not four. Can I just go back to bed...if I miss breakfast...it's on...me…."
As Dexter speaks, his eyes start to flutter, and his voice begins to fade, as though he was drifting back to sleep. His head turns slightly, and he seems to fall back to rest.
As his sleeping body lays on his bed, Rohan says from the other side of the room, "Well okay, guess you can figure the morning for yourself, Dex."
Immediately, Dexter's eyes open wide as though he is a spirit summoned to the living world, and he sits up once more, however this time with a much greater determination, and his head turns to Rohan to see his jacket being put on.
He then asks with a completely monotone flat voice, "What did you say?"
Rohan walks to his desk, and he observes it for a few moments, gauging to see if he needs to bring anything else with him.
He had everything he needed for breakfast and possibly class, however even if he was lacking necessary or serviceable equipment, he knew he would have ample time to figure out what else he needed to take after returning from the hall.
He then turns back and begins walking towards Dexter, having confirmed that he was ready to head out, and he repeats, "I said if you want to sleep in, you'll just need to figure it all out on your own, since I'm going off to breakfast now."
Dexter's eyes glare at Rohan, and he follows with, "And after that?"
Rohan shrugs his shoulders with a smile, continuing towards the closed door. He then stops once in front, as if readying to open it for a leave, and he turns back to Dexter to let out a soft sigh.
He answers, "That was it, Dex."
Once more, he turns back to the door, and lets it dissolve open. He then walks out of the room, and starts down the hallway, presumably to head to the main hall.
Dexter inhales deeply, and he slowly lets it out. He then turns to the bedside table where his Connect case was, and he stares at it for a few more moments, knowing what he had to do, but he didn't know if he had the strength to do it.
He closes his eyes, and whispers to himself, "God damn you."
The dorm room door dissolves open once more, and Dexter sprints out, wearing a change of clothes that would be more appropriate for classes. His forehead sweats, his Connect in his ear, as he realizes he wasn't entirely sure how to navigate to the main hall, nor how to navigate through the app to find the map to navigate to the main hall.
However, as he turns around to face the corridor, he finds Rohan leaning against the wall only a few feet from the door, waiting patiently with his arms crossed.
Dexter stops, and he lets out a soft sigh, realizing that he had been tricked into believing he was being left to fend for his own.
Rohan stands straight, and he simply says, "Maybe I should set the alarm earlier to accommodate for your slow dressup time."
Before Dexter could refute, he starts walking down the hallway, giving Dexter no other choice but to follow silently, embarrassed that he had been humiliated so easily and so early.
Outside the main hall, there were a few students in the outside plaza, as it wasn't completely barren, yet it was clear it was the very few aliens who chose to endure the unnecessary turmoil.
Rohan and Dexter walk down the ramp and through the plaza, side by side, passing a few of the students as they seem to be sitting around by the plaza rather than entering the building, but Rohan and Dexter do.
Inside the main room, Rohan and Dexter sit in the long bench they'd sit in with the rest of the group, however now it was far more barren, as there were only a few people scattered in the room.
Rohan takes a bite of his egg, and Dexter takes a bite out of his croissant. Dexter places his croissant on his tray, and he looks up at Rohan, asking "So I'm guessing I'll need to figure out the day myself, at least for class."
Rohan sighs, and he looks up at Dexter, nodding his head. He answers, "Sorry, we're in two different sectors, this is one of the things I can't help you with. But you don't need my help for everything, I know you'll be fine."
Dexter looks down at his tray, and he quietly murmurs, "You're the one with a group."
Rohan tilts his head, as he was sure he heard what Dexter said, but wanted clarification for confirmation: "What?"
Dexter lifts his head to look back at Rohan, and he says, "Don't worry about it, it's fine."
Rohan straightens his neck, and he says in a more serious tone, "Dexter."
Dexter sighs, and he finally breaks, revealing "Okay, okay fine. It's just...even if both of us were starting out knowing no one, you would be way better than me since you just are. But then on top of that you have a whole group, and a pretty big one at that, who you can work with. I still don't have anyone. You would be fine today even without them, but with them it'll be smooth and perfect, while I'll be late for all my classes because I don't know what building is what. It's just...I don't know...maybe I wasted this first week...it seems more and more people are in groups and maybe I should've done the same. I just...you know I'm bad at making friends…."
Rohan stares at Dexter, and he closes his eyes before letting out a soft sigh. He knew Dexter had been feeling this anxiety the whole week, and he was waiting for him to finally come out and say it.
He opens his eyes, and says, "I'll admit I'm overly lucky to have found people so early, and maybe there are people who spent the tour week to find other people in their majors. I know you don't feel as part of the group as me, it makes sense, you know you'll spend most of your time with other people anyways. I'm sorry for holding you back…."
Dexter shakes his head, and he explodes "You didn't do anything!"
Rohan stops, and he looks up at Dexter, surprised by the loud response. He stays silent, realizing he said something wrong.
Dexter sighs, and he speaks in a softer voice once more, "It's not your fault...you didn't hold me, I chose to stay with you. I just...it's just easier...I've lived my whole life with you and I don't know anyone else around here. I know if I told you I wanted to go find another group you would let me...I knew back then too...I just didn't want to do it. But now...now I don't know what to do."
Rohan lets out a soft sigh, and he softly says, "Just because you saw more groups yesterday than a few days ago doesn't mean everyone is secured in a group and aren't looking to add. I only know one of the people from that group, and I barely even remember him to start with. Everyone starts alone here, this isn't some community school, the people here are the outliers from their communities, they left behind the people they knew. When we agreed to take the admission we knew we wouldn't have our old friends, that's our old life and we can't gloom over that. You will find your group Dexter, just as I found mine. You might not be handed it so easily, but you'll find that you're not the only one alone. You'll find other people looking for friends, and when they do, you'll be the one they'll find. You just need to make yourself available, don't hide yourself. But you're not the only one, everyone feels this way. You're a good friend, I can tell you that for a fact. Other people will come to learn that too."
Dexter stays silent, and he tilts his head down at his tray once more. He then grabs his croissant, as it seemed he didn't want to say anything back, as he had nothing to say.
Rohan watches Dexter resume eating, and so he does the same with his toast.
Eventually the two finish their food, and they return to their dorm rooms with a couple hours to wait around. Dexter once more is laying on his bed, watching videos on his Connect to kill the time.
Rohan instead is in the bathroom, trying to clean himself up better to give a better first impression for the day.
Later, he exits the bathroom, and the two of them begin preparing themselves to go out once again with everything they need.
They knew they didn't need to carry much since their Connects were serviceable as computers and notebooks, they also knew that they still should bring some containers in case it was needed, and they also should have extra storage in case they were given anything to keep.
So in order to make sure they were able, they brought along their Pouch, a small device that appeared as a bag, even with a leathery texture, however it was far more sophisticated than any simple pouch.
The opening was sealed off, and the device was small enough to be placed inside a pocket, although it seemed a bit too small, so small it didn't seem to be able to hold anything.
Rohan places his Pouch on his desk, and then places another small bag that contains other miscellaneous supplies if he so needed them. Dexter believed it to be unnecessary, but Rohan still insisted on taking it.
He then holds his hand over the Pouch, and a holographic display pops up, similar to that of the closet and the bag the two brought with them on the first day, however it was noticeably smaller, as there seemed to be less space for storage.
Rohan places the smaller bag in front of the sealed opening of the Pouch, and then taps on the display before turning to the bag and watching it.
A soft light projects from the sealed opening, and it seems to scan the bag for a few moments. The bag then seemingly vanishes, as though it was disintegrated, although the process took more than a few seconds.
Once the light closes, an image of the bag appears on the holographic inventory.
Dexter grabs his own Pouch after having placed his belongings inside, and he pockets it. He then turns to Rohan, who finishes storing everything he needs, and watches Rohan pocket his own Pouch.
He approaches Rohan, still feeling anxiety within, but feeling more confident after his talk during breakfast. He takes a deep breath and rolls his shoulders, knowing he had everything on him, and now all he had to do was expedition.
Dexter asks, "How much time do we have before we have to go down anyway?"
Rohan turns to Dexter, and he holds his hand out in order to project his holographic screen from his Connect.
The screen shows the time in a large format, indicating that it was 9:15 A.M.
He then lowers his hand, allowing the hologram to close, and turns back to Dexter after having viewed the screen for himself.
He answers, "About fifteen minutes, but we should get moving now. I think there's a lounge in the lobby, so we can wait there. Come on."
He then turns to the door, and opens it before walking out and leading Dexter to do the same. Once the two leave, the door closes and locks itself, leaving the two residents on their first true day of their new life.
Rohan and Dexter walk side by side down the hallway and to the elevator pad, which they take down to the lobby floor. The two stand in silence, as they don't have anything to say, since they were both trying to mentally prepare themselves at the last minute for their classes.
Once the elevator pad reaches the ground floor, the two walk out into the busier lobby, as there were more people standing around or conversing, as it seemed everyone was waiting around for a good time to leave.
However, it wasn't too crowded, and so there were still open spaces to find. Most of the students were standing rather than sitting, staying near the door as they were ready to leave.
Rohan surveys the lobby, turning his head as he searches for the lounge, remembering passing it every morning of the previous week. His eyes then settle on the large garden inside, and he begins to approach it as though he had found it.
Dexter follows behind, looking around at the different people in the lobby, wondering if any of them would be in his classes, and if he had a chance to befriend them.
Rohan approaches the garden, which seems to fill a perimeter, with openings between the hovering pads that hold all the plants up. Rohan walks in through one of the openings to find a pit of sorts, and after peeking down in front of an elevation pad he was standing on, he sees several lounge floors, with squares of sofas surrounding hovering tables, and dispenser machines that showcase holograms of foods and drinks.
Rohan leads Dexter onto the pad, and the two of them descend down into the lounge before reaching the bottom floor and stepping off. He then walks towards one of the many sofas with Dexter, and the two sit down, deciding to wait there for the others to come before they'd all head off.
Dexter sighs, and he lays back, awakening his Connect to look online to kill time. As he stares at his hologram, he wonders if this would become his daily morning routine, if he would spend every morning before heading out waiting with his brother's friends, or if eventually he'd have his own friends to follow with.
For now however, he appreciated the time he had with Rohan, as even though he had nothing to say, it was adequate that he could at least be sitting by him.
Dexter plays on his Connect for some time until finally being interrupted by the familiar voice of Shuraj, who yells: "Rohan, there you are!"
Dexter lowers his hologram to look at Rohan, who tilts his head up to notice the five standing at the very top of the lounge area, looking down on him.
Shuraj and Sriya stand next to each other, with Vrey on their left next to Sriya, and both Ara and Ari on their right. All of them look down at Rohan, waiting for his response.
Rohan gets off of the sofa, looking up at Shuraj with a smile, and he waves his hand. He then follows up with, "Shuraj, you guys are earlier than I expected!"
Shuraj chuckles, and he shakes his head, asking back "What time is it even then?"
Rohan smirks, and he answers, "Nine thirty five, I was worried we'd miss the first class but at least we can still make it."
Sriya joins in, yelling "Hey, he was the lazy one who didn't want to leave his bed, I had to drag him out. Come on now, let's get going!"
Rohan nods his head, and he turns to Dexter. Dexter then sighs, and turns off his Connect, standing up to his feet as he knew it was time to go. The two walk back onto one of the elevation pads, and ascend up the lounge floors until they reach the top, where they unite with the rest of the group.
The seven walk to the exit of the lobby together, with Shuraj and Rohan leading the pack, speaking to one another as do Ara and Vrey, and Ari and Sriya. They walk down the dorm field and path to the forest, the nexus of the campus. There were a great number of other students as well, walking to their buildings, or at least hoping they were walking to their buildings.
Most of the students were in small groups, either in pairs or triads, however there were some larger groups that nearly rivaled the seven, but then there were also students walking completely alone, for there was a diversity in how students had grouped themselves or if they did at all.
The students all walk into the forest, where they disappear under the trees, and only reappear in their diverged individualized paths to their sectors.
Inside the forest, the seven walk down the wider general path, with Rohan leading with his Connect screen in front of him, acting as a GPS for them to navigate to their buildings. As he leads, he looks at the diverging paths, which all have labels to show what the paths were leading to. His eyes lock onto the label of the path next ahead, as it reads 'ENGINEERING,' and once he reaches it, he stops.
Rohan then turns to Dexter, who had his Connect screen in front of him, but looks up at Rohan anyways. Rohan nods his head, and he announces, "This is your path Dexter."
Dexter sighs, and he nods his head, responding "I know," as he had his GPS as well, and he knew it was time that he had to go on his own. He turns to the path next to him, and then back at Rohan with a flat smile, still clearly anxious about having to go off on his own, but knowing he had to.
Rohan smiles softly, and he wishes, "Good luck, I'll see you later. You'll be fine, just don't play on your Connect too much, and pay attention."
Dexter smiles more genuinely, and he says back, "Thanks, I'll make sure to remember that. Good luck too."
With that, he then turns to his path, and begins walking down it, away from his brother. He keeps his GPS screen ahead of himself as he keeps his hands by his side, following the path through towards the end of the forest. As he walks, he keeps an eye for the building he was heading to in particular, worried that he would somehow mess up his path and get lost.
He then stops walking for a moment, as he hadn't walked too far from the divergence point, and he turns around to where the general path was. However, neither Rohan nor the rest of the group were there, as it seemed they had left off to their classes, and so Dexter was truly on his own now.
He sighs, and turns back before continuing his path before leaving the forest, and entering his sector, off to find the first of many buildings he'd need to go to to take his classes.
In a different part of the forest, farther down the general path, Rohan and Shuraj lead the remaining four, with Rohan using his Connect as the guide. Rohan and Shuraj speak to one another as the rest of the group converses with itself, and they approach yet another divergence in the path.
Rohan looks at his screen, which indicates that the upcoming divergence was the one that led to the Computer Science section that they needed to head to, and so he waves his hand as he steps to the branched path, and leads the rest of the group down the forest. Shuraj and the rest of the group follow him, leaving the wider path for one that was slightly slimmer.
Eventually, there was an end to the forest, as Rohan was the first to emerge on a continuation of the path, and soon was followed by Shuraj, then Sriya, then the rest. Vrey's head perks up as if to look at something in the sky, with some birds flying far overhead, roaming in the early morning.
In front of the six is a massive complex of large buildings and towers, with a wide road that diverges paths into different buildings, and with the road full of other students who walk around struggling to find where they were meant to go. Hordes of students enter different buildings, as while everyone was taking the same overall major, that meant nearly nothing in terms of what path they were taking, and so for that the students were being funneled into their proper buildings.
After viewing the crowd for a few moments, Rohan returns his gaze back to his screen, and continues walking towards the mass to find the building for their first class, hoping that the group would stay close enough to one another to not get lost. Voices of random individuals fill the air as it is impossible to interpret any single word due to the disclarity caused by the tanglement of noise.
Vrey stays close to Sriya, making sure not to get lost as he watches other students much taller than him pass him as they search for their own classes. He gives a light grunt, annoyed at how it had now become nearly impossible to see ahead of himself.
The group battle their way through the horde, with Rohan and Shuraj maneuvering to avoid bumping into others, and Sriya acting as a moving shield for Vrey, Ara, and Ari, steamrolling through the crowd to clear a path for the rest of his friends to more easily navigate.
They make their way through the long entrance path, as it seemed to be where the bulk of the buildings were, but they continue through it and past what seems to be a fairly large intersection, which opens even more roads to different buildings. The group moves straight through to the back region, as it seems their destination was one of the farther buildings.
It was gradually becoming more of a concern if they had come too late, as there didn't seem to be many people the farther they moved, as though those who were meant to go to the same building were smart enough to go earlier to avoid tardiness.
After a long hike through different sections of tall or wide buildings, diverging onto different paths and crossing different roads, the group finally seem to approach towards the path of a single building, where Rohan has been leading them to. There was no longer a crowd of people outside, but instead only very few strayed individuals among the path.
Shuraj sighs in relief to see that there was at least someone, and Rohan sighs as well, however in disappointment that it seemed he was having a rather rough start to the day, as there was now a chance of him being late, which would make it incredibly difficult to redeem himself at least early.
Rohan turns his eyes back on his Connect, and notices the time to be 9:50 A.M. He lets out a breath of air, both relieved and stressed that he wasn't late yet could very well be if he took too long to find the right room. He raises his head to look at the building he was heading to, which stands amongst the more open space, since there were less buildings surrounding it.
The six approach a massive circular building, which has an incredibly wide base that consumes a large field, and a decent height with a clear plethora of stories, however it was still clearly more built on width rather than height. The building has a glassy texture to it, and the front of the circle seems to be cut in to allow for the entrance, giving an imperfect design. It was one of the more oddly shaped buildings, however that said it was still beautiful.
Rohan leads the group to the door, which was already opened since there was a student not too far ahead of them who had only just entered, and the group walks into the interior lobby. Ara looks around the lobby to find it rather spacious, with a white theme and different sofas placed around with some surrounding tables and others acting more as benches. There seems to be a lounge of sorts, with some of the students standing by it, trying to figure where they were to go.
Shuraj turns to his right to notice the entrance to what appears to be a cafe inside the lobby, and his eyes widen with delight as he stares at a plethora of seating options and different signs advertising baked foods and royx drinks.
Shuraj smirks, and he turns to Sriya before exclaiming, "Look there, it looks like they serve breakfast here. We could just come here in the morning for food, we wouldn't even need to worry about going to the food court! This is nice!"
Sriya notices the cafe as well, and he nods his head, noting "True, that doesn't sound like a bad idea. I'd be down for that."
As the two speak, Rohan continues leading them down the lobby, specifically towards the elevation pads. By the center of the lobby was where the pads were, encapsulated in a translucent shaft. A few students enter one of the pads, and they begin to ascend shortly after, clearly in a hurry.
Rohan walks to one of the other pads, and as he closes in on it, an opening forms in the wall, allowing easy entry. Ara follows next, looking around the lobby through the shaft with curiosity, as he was surprised at how the lobby to one of the class buildings seemed to be so nice.
Once the rest of the group enters the pad, Rohan approaches the podium, where he keeps his Connect screen on his left side to read the floor level he had to take. He then looks back at the podium, which projects a holographic menu, and he presses on floor 8.
The translucent walls once more seal the entrance, and the pad begins ascending up and out of the sight of the lobby floor, bringing the passengers to the eighth floor where they would find their first class.
The elevator pad is fairly large and spacious, especially for only six, and so they each wait on their own edge of the circular pad, waiting for the pad to stop and for them to be able to leave.
The elevator doors open, revealing Rohan waiting by the edge of the elevator pad, with the rest of the group behind him. Rohan steps forth into a hallway, where he looks at both ends to see different doors and windows along the walls, and what seemed to be more open spaces at the far ends. He looks back at his Connect screen to once more view his map, seeing that he was incredibly close to the room they had to enter, and so he begins down the left side of the hall, leading Shuraj and subsequently the rest.
The six walk through a short series of halls and intersections, until finally Rohan leads them towards a door, and on the Connect screen it shows that the door was the destination. Rohan looks to confirm that they were at their room, looking at the room ID he was supposed to go to, and then looking at the door, which had the ID on a plate next to it. He confirms that they were equal, and the Connect screen turns off. Rohan smiles, and turns back to Shuraj, nodding his head.
Rohan remarks, "Well, at least we're a few minutes early, maybe next time we should adjust when we leave."
He turns back to the door and approaches it, which triggers it to dematerialise to allow entry, and he takes it into the room.