"She's been walking around this area for the past twenty minutes," Farlan Church pointed out to his friend Levi as the two sat in one of UC Mitras' smoking areas.

"Looks like her map's not helping her at all," Levi smirked slightly, watching the ginger girl looked from her map up to the buildings around her in confusion. "We were never that confused when we were freshmen."

"We were here before they added the new buildings and fucked up the maps and building numbers," Farlan pointed out.

"True," Levi commented. It was almost sad to watch this little ray of sunshine wander around so lost. She looked like one of those stereotypical fifties girls: hair pulled back in a headband, floral dress, exuding an innocent aura. The only thing that deviated were her black Vans. "She's gonna be late on the first day if she doesn't get her shit together."

"You think we should go help her?"

"Look at us: if we both go to her she'll freak the fuck out. Probably will think we're trying to jump her or something," Levi said. He put out his cigarette and flicked it into an ashtray. "I'll go help her by myself. Watch my stuff." He stood up and approached the girl, nose down in her map.

"You need some help there?" he asked The girl looked up from her map and Levi saw the familiar look of surprise in her honey-colored eyes, although her face did a better job at hiding shock than others did. You'd think that people never saw a guy with piercings and tattoos from the way they stared.

"I-I, yeah, I need help," she admitted defeatedly. "I'm trying to find the engineering building."

"It's on the other side of campus," he informed her.

"A-are you sure? The map says it's -"

"They switched buildings last year. A word of advice: don't trust the school maps. They're outdated," he told her. "Do you know where the performing arts center is?"

"Vaguely."

"Head in that direction, walk past it. Cross the street, make a left in front of the Sina dorms, make another right past the pools, and it should be on your left besides the statue of Nike," he directed her. But from the blank look on her face, she still looked incredibly confused. "When's your class supposed to start?"

"Twenty minutes," she replied, giving him an embarrassed grin. He sighed. This girl was a piece of work.

"All right, I'll just walk you over there. I doubt you wanna be late on the first day," he replied. "Let me go grab my stuff."

"What building is she looking for?" Farlan asked as Levi grabbed his backpack off of the picnic table.

"Engineering. Looks like you have a freshman to mentor," Levi replied jokingly, through his bag onto his back. Farlan grinned.

"Sounds good. I wouldn't mind having a cute little freshman come to me for help," he replied.

"I'm gonna go walk her over there because directions are confusing for her. I'll be back," Levi told his friend, but Farlan waved away his words.

"I'll just catch up with you later. My psych class starts in thirty minutes. I'll see you back at our place," he responded.

"All right." Levi grabbed his stuff and went back to the girl, motioning for her to follow him.

"I really appreciate you doing this," she said, giving him a warm smile.

"Don't worry about it," he shrugged it off.

"I'm Petra, by the way," she introduced herself.

"Levi," he replied.

"So . . . Levi, how long have you been at UC Mitras? Or is this your first year too?" she asked, clearly trying to break the ice with him. At least she was making an effort; he was shit with trying to start conversations.

"This is my last year, actually," he told her. "I have a few credits to finish but I'm graduating this May."

"Oh! That's so exciting!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah, I guess," he responded.
"You don't want to graduate?"

"No, I wanna get the fuck out of college. I'm so fucking sick of school. I just don't have a career lined up, is all."

"Oh. I'm sure you'll find something. What's your major?"

"English, minor accounting," he replied. "What about you?"

"I love English!" she said enthusiastically. "I'm majoring in engineering and minoring in English."

"Nice. I'm taking it that this is your first year here?"

"Yeah, I just graduated from Trost High School in the spring," she told him. "I did a campus tour but that was so long ago that I don't remember where anything is."

"Well your map is shit and I'm free this weekend. If you want, I can give you a good tour of campus," he offered. Her face lit up. He had to admit, she was cute and her smile was just as cute as she was.

"I'd like that. Thanks!" Levi grinned at her and she smiled right back at him. For the first time in a long time, he was looking forward to something school related.