After his confrontation with Scarlett and Spire, the last thing D thought he'd be doing was enrolling at this place. Despite that fact, he now stood in front of what was to be his living space for the next four years. 'Rookman Hall,' they called it. 'Well, it's better than a prison cell,' he thought. Despite knowing he was still technically a captive he tried to look at the positives.
The transport to the dormitory hadn't been nearly as bad as the trip to this godforsaken island. After he agreed to stay, Spire called the guards to their position, and they shoved both D and Scarlett into what looked like an armored golf cart.
Inside the cart, Spire, sword still drawn, mostly sat silent, looking at the holo-screen projected from her wristband. The same model wristband she made Scarlett place on D's wrist. The damn thing weighed him down like a ball and chain with every shaky step he took.
The part of the trip that really stung was Scarlett's refusal to meet his gaze; neither of them could look at the other. She was forced by Spire to fight him, and then forced to put on that bracelet. She had fumbled around with it as she attempted to clamp it onto him, each bump in the road a harsh setback. Spire wouldn't take her eyes off the pair the entire ride, a frigid smile on her face the whole ride.
D felt a small kernel of optimism amidst his internal sea of pessimism. 'As far as first impressions go, It can't get worse' he thought. His mind swam with thoughts of Scarlett's broken, expressionless face. He shook his head lightly akin to a dog shaking off water, as he cleared out the thoughts as he looked up at the tall black building before him.
The building's design was somewhere smack-dab in the middle of Gothic and modern; it cut through the campus skyline like a knife cloaked in shadow. Its dark walls almost seemed to absorb the inconsiderable amount of light still peeking through the cloudy afternoon sky.
Before Spire dumped him here he was told two things. One, was that he would have fresh clothes waiting for him in front of the building. The second thing was to find someone named Valerie Knight. This person could direct him to where he would be staying.
The thought of staying here away from his mother, made his skin crawl. He would at least enjoy a hot shower after today's utterly unfortunate events.
He pulled the all-black luggage bags that were waiting for him to the front door. The tall glass automatic door slid open with a small creak. The burst of air conditioning hit his skin like a thousand snow-laced kisses causing him to shudder. A sigh of relief and exhaustion left his lips.
Upon entering the hall's black-tiled main lobby, he shifted his eyes between every person he saw and every possible exit. To his relief the lobby was mostly empty. There were a few students seated in a separate room with transparent glass-plastic walls titled 'Lounge.' The group was split into two, with some watching television and the others playing pool.
His fingers unconsciously tightened around the fabric covered handles of his loaned luggage bags. He crept up to the large desk that was in the center of the lobby where a man sat behind the counter. The man seated at the desk had orange eyes and blonde hair so bright they seemed to swim with energy. He didn't bother to look up from his holo-screen as D approached. D's eyes dashed from left to right in an unconscious show of awkwardness as he attempted to get the man's attention.
"Yo -uh-I'm here to see-" he stammered, his words coming out in a balled clump. The man at the desk cut him off without looking up, "Name?" D blinked at the man, not understanding what he meant at first. The man snapped his fingers at him, "What's your name, man?"
"Uh..D?" he said in an unsure tone. The man careened his head back with a laugh, "Not your codename, kid, your actual name. C'mon." He continued looking down at his screen, scrolling aimlessly.
D let out a strained grunt and curled his hands into fists as he said, "Maybe check under...Derrick Cross Jr..." He internally cringed at the sound of his name. The man's eyes finally glanced up from his phone in response to the name and moved his rolling chair over to the computer next to him. He began typing in D's name and his eyes lightened with recognition. "Oh, you're the straggler here to see Val. Why didn't you just say so?" Before D could reply, the man yelled into the room behind the office desk. "Val, your guy is here!"
Almost immediately, a tan-skinned, curly haired woman peeked her head through the doorway. She looked around the lobby until her eyes fell upon D. She stepped fully outside of the black doorframe. She strode around the man in the chair to the small door that served as the exit to the space behind the front desk.
"Hiiiii, you must be Derrick. I'm Valerie, your Residential Advisor!" Excitedly, she grabbed his and shook it. Before he had a chance to think, his hand instinctively pulled his hand back. "You can just call me D, It's nice to meet you." He said, though his internal opinion on her hadn't formed yet.
'It isn't nice to meet any of these damn people' he thought to himself, as a fake smile was plastered across his face.
"Now, did you want a tour of the hall or should I just show you to your room?" She turned from him and started walking, expecting him to follow. He clumsily grasped his luggage and strode after her. "Uhh, just showing me to the room is fine." He couldn't stop his head from looking around at the place's interior. 'This place has got to be old as shit' he thought.
Black bricks were intricately ordered on the interior walls, and the chandeliers looked like they cost as much as both his kidneys. As they walked, he also stared at the posters that adorned the walls. There were ones for every type of club, ones for job offers, and ones for the student office. After a quick walk from the desk, the pair arrived in front of an elevator door.
Valerie pushed the button for the 9th floor, and a soft chime sounded as the doors opened. Valerie strode inside with a grace to her steps that was a far cry from how D clomped about. He yanked his luggage over the edge of the elevator shaft and stood next to her awkwardly. "Soooo, how are you liking the hall so far?"
He looked over at her with an expressionless face and shrugged. "It's alright; I haven't seen much of it." She looked down at the floor, showing that it wasn't the answer she had hoped for. D scrambled to undo her frown, saying, "Sorry, I'm sure it's great, y'know. I just gotta see more," he said as he gave her a weak thumbs up.
Before she could respond, the elevator chimed again, indicating they were at their destination. D looked up at the security camera at the back left of the elevator as the doors opened. His head snapped to the sliding doors as Valerie stepped out of the elevator onto the gray carpeted floor.
He trailed behind her awkwardly silent until she asked him, "Have you thought about joining any clubs?" He thought a little about her question before answering. He tried to make sure it was an answer she wouldn't pout at.
"Well, I didn't know we had clubs till I looked at those lobby posters." She looked at him inquisitively, her bright, colored eyes scanning over him, akin to how a machine would. She looked deep into his eyes as they walked forward. She broke the tense silence, saying, "I guess you're telling the truth, though it is hard to believe no one told you at orientation." He sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "Let's just say orientation for me was—uh, different."
Her lips formed a polite smile. "Well, if you are interested in joining a club—" She reached deep into her skirt pocket and pulled out a piece of paper that looked like it had been in a war zone. She handed the paper to him and continued, "You should consider the literature club; I'm co-president, and we'd love to have you." D looked down at the sloppily drawn invitation paper, put it in his pocket, and said, "Yeahhh, I'll uh consider it."
D turned his attention to the almost endless number of doors they passed on their way. Each one had some sort of decoration or group of people inside doing any number of things. Some were still setting up their rooms, others were listening to music, and D even spied one duo smoking something in one room. Valerie seemed completely oblivious to the countless wrongdoings going on on the floor. She had her eyes forward or glancing back at D, her attention firmly on getting to their destination.
"Since you seemed to have missed orientation, I'm going to assume no one taught you how to use your V-band?" D blinked at her. "Excuse me, my what?" She raised her arm and pointed to the all-black wristband. "This," she said while looking at the one hanging from his wrist.
"Oh, nah, I don't know what this thing does." He looked down briefly at it before snapping his eyes back forward. "Well," she said, "the V-band acts as a timepiece, tracking device, communication device, and—"
"Does it come with the cartoon channel? I refuse to miss my evening programs," he cracked a sardonic grin, as she stumbled over her words. "I-I don't think it comes with that, sorry." His smile faded as he realized she didn't get his humor.
They stopped in front of a black metal door with the numbers 907 engraved right above eye level. "Hopefully you hit it off with your roommates!" She stepped forward and lightly knocked on the door. D's eyebrows jumped so high in shock they had almost touched his hairline. "Roommates?! I thought this was a solo gig?" But it was too late as a familiar blonde figure in a black tank top and blue jeans opened the door and stood in the doorway.
"D!" Max shouted a little too loudly. "What happened to you, man? We thought they'd killed you." He rushed D with a friendly bear hug. D let out a stifled groan of pain, his body still sore from his battle. He softly patted Max's back. "It's, uh, good to see you too, Max." Max released him from the suffocating embrace. "We tried vouching for you after you... you know, jumped."
"What do you mean, we?" D peered into the room and saw who was sitting on one of the three beds inside.
A fiendish smile spread across his face as he saw Roxanne standing in front of the farthest bed. She was picking between two different pairs of pants laid across it. Despite their initial meeting he felt a small spark of relief seeing her again. D stepped past Max and waltzed into the room, arms outstretched. "It warms my heart to hear you, of all people, defend me, Roxy."
Without even turning around, she leveled the pair of scissors in her right hand at him. "Again. That's. Not. My. Name." D raised his hands in a mock surrender as he backed away. She took a long sigh, lowered the scissors, and put them back into her dress pocket. She rolled her eyes and spun around to face everyone. "And I didn't 'defend' you; I just asked them not to LETHALLY wound you."
D looked down and patted his body in a way that said 'look, no wounds.' Max turned back to Valerie with a smile and asked, "Forgive me for asking, but I thought the dorms here weren't co-ed?" The moment the words left his lips, her eyes widened as if remembering something important. "Oh, thank you for reminding me, Max." Valerie stepped past Max and looked at D, her honey-colored eyes piercing through her long dark bangs.
Her typically soft face hardened into a hard gaze similar to that of a statue. "Student Derrick Cross...as you have, uh, missed the...expected orientation testing, you will, um, be given a tier 3 i-infraction." Her face, while serious, was betrayed by the uncertainty sprinkled throughout her speech.
"Due to this issue both students Maximus Grimstad and Roxanne Caverro were relocated to live with you, and will serve as your roommates. Our footage shows you seem to get along with them." She smiled, the false hardness of her gaze now melted away.
"Of course, I am also here to assist you in any way I can; my room is right at the end of the hall." She pointed a pink-tipped finger to her right side. D smiled back and exhaustively nodded his thanks. He shuffled past Max and began grabbing his matte black luggage.
"Well, if you're all set, I'll see you all at the floor meeting in about..." She raised her arm and tapped her V-Band. "Two hours!" She began walking down the hall before stopping in her tracks. "Wait, wait, wait." She jogged back into the doorway. "This letter is for you, too." She handed the letter to D and quickly left the room, likely to prepare for the meeting.
D looked down at the unopened envelope as he sighed. He tossed the letter on his desk and hopped onto his bed. 'Just another thing to do,' he thought to himself. Roxanne went back to organizing her clothes as she said, "Anyone else feel like our RA is a little..."
"Nice?" Max said.
"Crazy" D corrected him.
"I was thinking more like overenthusiastic, but those, too."
D's bed felt like concrete wrapped in sheets and pillows, just comfortable enough to sleep on but never comfortable enough to feel like home. He rolled back and forth, attempting to find a comfortable position. A few seconds of trying seemed like enough as he sat up and looked over the entire room.
The room's walls were a deep gray, with the floor being a soft black carpet. Their metal-framed beds were arranged with each bed against a different wall. Roxanne sat on the wall opposite the door, where the windows overlooking the campus hung. Their closets sat against the same wall where the door was positioned. Each bed was slightly lofted, allowing for storage space underneath.
"So, what exactly happened after I left?" He mainly looked toward Max, unsure of how helpful Roxanne would be. Max was standing on his bed as he attempted to tape a poster of a racing car above his bed.
"That old guy finished up his speech on the roof." Max set the poster down and looked at Roxanne. "Faen, what was his name again?" She didn't look at either of them as she finished stuffing suitcases underneath her bed frame with a huff. (Faen is a Norwegian swear)
"Headmaster Blackthorn, how do you not know that?" Max leaned his back against the wall and put his arms behind his head. "After the beating I got earlier, I am surprised I remember my name." He let out a hearty laugh.
"Beating?" D looked him over, trying to assess if Max had taken any new damage. "I assume this beating happened during orientation?" Max crossed his arms and let out a sigh. "Do you remember the girl from the plane?"
D scanned his memory of the day's events for a moment until he remembered the white woman he and Max had spoken to. "Ohhh, the hot one? Yeah, I remember her." In a flash, his eyes widened. "Don't tell me you let her beat you down?" Max's eyes rolled up, and he leaned back more to avert D's shocked gaze.
Roxanne hopped back in the conversation. "Well we can't all go around stealing people's powers without asking, now can we?" Her eyes fell upon him like a two ton weight.
"Hey, that's a secret and it doesn't leave this room. Got it?" The seriousness in his voice made her muscles tense, like an animal unsure of its surroundings.
"Fine, not like we have anyone to tell anyway." D crossed his arms and walked closer to her side of the room. "Its not really fair that you know both of our powers, but we don't know yours."
She smiled a devilish grin as she said, "tough shit, one of you talks too much and the other one jumped off a fucking roof." She looked between the two of them as if trying to decide which was more stupid.
"Fine whatever, don't tell my business and I wont ask yours. Deal?" he snapped
"Deal."
D turned back to Max, "Now what happened with Miss tall and tan during orientation?"
"Well....I didn't plan to go full force against her." He put his arm out in a flex in a show of strength. "Let's just say she did not feel the same way." He let out a soft laugh, "She was a good sport about the loss, though she's pretty cool—"
"Wait, you won? Here I thought you'd be a gentleman and let her win." He hopped off his bed, strode over to his desk, and sat in his chair. "So this orientation, it was just some fight between two students?" He picked up the envelope and looked it over.
"There was a written section along with it as well," Roxanne added, "Someone didn't do too well on his test..." She glanced over at Max, who shrugged as he scrolled aimlessly on his V-Band's holo-screen. "Dad always said book smarts were overrated anyways". D wasn't listening to the banter between the two as he felt the envelopes ornate seal, "You should stop messing with that letter and open it already." D was spinning the letter on one of its points. His brow twitched in irritation at being ordered around.
"Fine, I'll open it, but knowing this place is probably a bomb." He popped the black wax seal off the envelope and pulled out a folded piece of paper. The letter read:
To Mr. Cross, from the Office of Student Academic Affairs.
As you have failed to complete the traditional student orientation, you have been placed in the Hench Student Track.
Your assigned schedule has been attached. If you have any questions, you are free to visit the Office of Student Academic Affairs.
Signed, Nocturia Knight.
He looked up from the letter and turned to his roommates. "What the fuck is a hench? Is that some sort of class?" he asked as he tried to toss the letter into the small trash can next to his desk. It didn't make it in.
"Well, uh how do I put this..." Max said while scratching at his blonde hair. Roxanne, who was finally finished organizing, chimed in. "A hench is what we all are," she gestured her hands in a sweeping motion. "It's one of three different tracks for students at this place... the lowest one."
"Wait, wait." D raised his hands, stood up, and faced her. "I get why I got placed there, kind of unfair, but whatever." He took another step closer to her and pointed to Max, "I get why Max, no offense, got placed there." He took another step closer. "But Miss Perfect herself? On the hench track? The horror!" He made a mocking gasp, and she growled at him. For a second, he thought she'd pull out the scissors again, but she just sighed.
"It's not my fault; the guy they had me fight could breathe fire! I couldn't get close to him."
D let out a laugh, "Well, don't worry, we can all be failures together!" She growled and rubbed her temples, frustration leaking from her every pore. "Something tells me you're not taking this, or anything else, seriously."
D let out a strained yawn, sat back atop his bed, and smelled his armpit. "Look, I was given two choices: either play villain in training or lose my head." He tilted his head and pointed to his neck. "As you can see, I'm quite attached to my head, so that left one choice." He began taking off his reeking clothes, paying no mind to the girl mere feet away from him.
"So if they want to place me on some lower track, who cares?" Roxanne's jaw clenched at his uncaring attitude, and she launched into a rant. "Um, ME, I fucking care about being the lowest tier of the hierarchy in a place like this!"
D sat back on his bed and twirled one of his dreads between his fingers. "You say we're the lowest tier, but what are the other tiers?"
Max briefly chimed in, "There's three tracks Hench, Mercenary, and Villain." Roxanne looked at him, dumbfounded at the accuracy of the information. Max starred back blinking. "What? I pay attention sometimes."
"What does any of that have to do with what I just said?" D continued getting undressed. Losing his filthy and battered shirt and pants in a flash. "Hey! You can't just strip in the middle of the room!" Roxanne yelled, red painting her cheeks as she covered her eyes.
His mouth spread into a toothy grin. "Hey, if you're gonna live here, you're gonna have to get used to a couple of naked dudes now and then." He stood shirtless in front of his open luggage case, as he rummaged through the clothes they'd given him. The clothing options before him turned his grin to a scowl. Aside from a few school uniforms, all they'd given him were a few pairs of gray jeans, gray shorts, black sneakers, and some form-fitting black shirts. The other suitcase held towels, soaps, and other toiletries.
"You know, there's a communal shower literally down the hall, right?" D's ears almost perked up at the word shower. He lifted his arm and smelled his armpit again and reeled back from the smell. "A shower would be bomb right now, thanks, Roxy."
"It's not like you've been stinking up the room since you got here or anything," Roxanne said. Eyes still covered as she felt around for one of her many air fresheners. D grabbed a towel and put it around his waist and gathered up his clean clothes. "Alright, so the plan is I shower, we go to the meeting, and then we stay up all night. Sounds good? Great." He trotted to the door.
"Wait, are you going to the meeting?" Max said, finally looking up from his holo-screen, stopping D in his tracks. Roxanne cut in, "Umm, excuse me, isn't the meeting mandatory?" She finally took her hand off her eyes as she sprayed perfume on D's side of the room. Max yawned and placed his arms behind his head. "I don't think it is mandatory; there are forty students on this floor." He moved his right hand from behind his head. "She won't notice if we are not there."
D leaned against their door as he listened and tried to decide if he wanted to go to the meeting.
"That's all well and good, Max, but what if some of us want to go?" She finished spritzing her lavender-scented air freshener and set it back in her drawer.
"Well, I don't exactly want to go, but it's not like we got shit else to do." D shrugged and began attempting to leave before anyone could launch another reply. Max's face spread into a nearly too-wide smile as he said, "Well, I wouldn't say that. Take a look at this." He jumped up from his bed and landed on the floor with a thud. He tapped his V-Band a few times, as if he didn't fully understand it yet. The blue projected screen turned outward and had two large words across it.
D squinted and read the words aloud. "You're invited? Invited to what exactly?" He looked over at Max.
"Well, remember Izzy? After our fight, we got to talking, and she said some friends of hers were throwing a party. He tapped the screen again, and the invite disappeared. "I was thinking we could all go; it would be fun."
D looked at his newfound friend, really listened to the sincerity in his voice, and decided, "All right, I'll go, but I don't know if Miss Snarky will be joining us." His eyes rolled over to Roxanne, who also stood in the makeshift triangle they had made with their bodies.
She scoffed, "As if classes start in two days. If you two want to run around playing frat boys, then be my guest." She walked from the triangle and grabbed a bag that looked like a cross between a purse and a backpack. "I'm heading to the library to try to get some studying done; you're welcome to join me."
Max and D shared a look and both burst into laughter. She growled to herself as she hiked her bag onto her shoulders and shoved past them. "If you think I'm putting in any extra effort for this place, you thought wrong," D said, hand on Max's shoulder as they heaved. "Yeah, let's see how far that gets you around here," she said, venom coating each word as she walked out and slammed the door.
The slam of the door instantly took the fun out of the situation for Max, as he realized she was royally pissed off.
"Father always said a laugh shared is a friend gained." He glanced nervously at where Roxanne had been. "I don't think this is what he meant." He let out a weak, comforting chuckle.
"Don't worry about her, she'll come around... eventually," D said as he shrugged. "More importantly, we have a party to attend!" He pointed to Max and grinned. Max grinned back, "Damn right, man!" He sniffed the air above D's head. "After you take a shower!"