A/N: Hey guys! After some very helpful guidance from RedeemingEndeavour I've decided to re-write the first and second chapters. Not much will be altered, but I wasn't happy with the first one and after some deliberation decided to change it. The first chapter is what's going to reel my readers in, so I'd like to make it as interesting as I can while focusing on the main themes Insatiable is going to explore. So without further ado, here's take two!
For those just checking out my story, welcome! I hope you really enjoy reading, I have big plans for this story and am looking very forward to writing it.
For a fleeting and exceptional moment, I paused to look away from the lecturer at the front of the room to gaze behind me, and I felt a strange, overwhelming sort of feeling as I looked over at the hundreds of other people sitting around me. Some were huddled in groups looking excited and happy, while others, like me, were sitting alone, their eyes glancing around with a scared, lost sort of look. Others looked completely bored and probably wouldn't return for the rest of the semester's lectures.
I turned back to the front where the lecturer continued to talk. It was the third day of uni today and I was feeling a little… non-complacent.
I had no desire to leave high school at all, and I absolutely abhorred change. It bothers me when mum buys the wrong brand of milk, so how was there any hope for me transitioning from high school to university?
A lot of people don't believe the old 'high school makes up the best years of your life' saying, and going into it, I didn't either. But upon finishing high school, I realised they truly were the best years. I was able to go through the entirety of high school with a close group friends, I was able to divulge in my art, and I had experiences with the others I will never forget. Sports days, goofing off in class, graduation… these were the days I would always take for granted.
What made the transition to university even worse was the amazing summer holidays. We had absolutely no homework and were fresh out of high school, and it was the most relaxing and exciting summer holidays I've ever had. So to have that stripped away from you to begin anew at a completely new institute made me even more disdainful.
My thoughts were interrupted by the loud clang of books and pens hitting the floor. Someone's desk had just fallen down, dropping its' contents with it. The student picked up their things with a pink face as just about every other person in the room turned to look at them. Another thing I was going to miss about high school was actual tables, and a class size actually suitable for getting to know people. When I walked into the room I knew I wouldn't have the guts to sit next to any of these five hundred people.
I tucked my blonde hair behind my ears as I looked down at my phone, which began to flash. I picked it up and saw a message from Kairi.
"Olette and I have a break now, would you like to meet up with us? We'll explore the uni and try and find a good place to hang out and have lunch!"
I smiled for the first time in three days. I had been too exhausted to muster so much as a word with all the new places, times and theory to remember. I quickly texted back an eager yes and offered to meet them outside the campus centre. It was the only place I was sure all of us knew. You couldn't miss it, really – the giant building in the heart of the campus. If that didn't help, the smell of food cooking from within the many cafés and restaurants might.
Lectures started at five past the hour and ended at five to the hour, but by ten to people were already packing up their books and clamouring to leave. I was too, but only because I was so excited to meet up with the girls. Since we were all still getting used to our timetables I hadn't been able to meet up with anyone yet, and I'd spent the last two days eating lunch by myself. This would definitely be a welcome change.
The lecturer finally gave up trying to talk over the noise of everyone packing up and let us out early, and I almost leapt down the stairs and towards the campus centre, walking past hundreds of unknown faces. This was just too daunting for me.
I entered the building and tucked myself in tight to avoid hitting elbows with other students, and finally made it to our designated meeting point, under a sign that appropriately said 'meeting point'. At least our uni understood the difficulty for first year students to find their way around.
"Naminé!" I heard a familiar voice, and spotted the two girls a little ways off. The voice belonged to Kairi, who was waving her arm around to get my attention, her shoulder-length auburn hair framing her face. She had an excited smile, as opposed to Olette who looked a lot more like me, with a tired sort of look about her. She was smiling too though, that shy little smile she usually wore, and her brunette hair was styled in its usual way, with two long wavy strands hanging down each shoulder and the shorter layers bouncing up and down as she walked towards me.
My face lit up and I waved in return while they waded through the hordes of people. "Hey, guys! Didn't get lost in the crowd?"
"There are so many people here…" Olette looked around at the people with an uncomfortable expression. "I feel so small and helpless!"
"I like being around lots of people like this! It's no different to shopping anyway," Kairi giggled. Oh Kai, always the fashion connoisseur and an expert at wading through the crowds at the shops, something both Olette and I had been subject to.
"I dunno about you two, but I am completely exhausted and it's only been three days," I huffed. I was not ready for another eleven weeks of this until mid-year break.
"I thought you'd be excited about starting your studio classes?" Kairi cocked her head to the side in confusion. "You were the one who said you could only dream of doing such a course!"
"And you were the one who blackmailed me into choosing it," I sighed, remembering how Kairi had used some of my most embarrassing moments against me in our final year of high school to get me to apply for my dream course. Of course I had to be grateful to her since I actually did make it in, but she could have just been encouraging like the rest of my friends… the blackmailing was a bit much. "I love my studios, but the lectures and the uni atmosphere itself is… a bit of an acquired taste."
"I admit the lectures are pretty hit-and-miss, but I like uni itself! Less contact hours than high school and a shopping centre a bus ride away!"
At least Kairi was seeing the positive side of it. Olette however took my side on this one.
"It's just so different to high school though… I really miss it," she admitted forlornly. "Everything's online, the lectures are way too big, and I already have so much work to do!"
I sighed, placing my hands on my hips. "Uni is going to take some getting used to… but it's only day three. I'm sure it'll settle down." Or at least I hoped so.
The crowd was getting thicker as it neared closer to lunch time, which at uni seemed to be any time between 10am and 3pm. We had already restricted ourselves to a tiny corner by the meeting point and decided it was too squishy for comfort.
"How about we take a look around the uni? I dunno about you two, but I've had barely any free time to actually check out the place." Kairi dragged the two of us outside before we could agree, and soon she was playing leader. "So which way should we go first?"
We followed the redhead along the path, where we came across a market, the gym, the arts library, the rotunda, the different faculty buildings, restaurants, and a grassy patch with a perfectly round hill in the middle and what looked like a sewer opening on the top. Kairi told us Sora had overheard this place had been affectionately named the 'boob lawn'. We'd just about circled the entire academy when we finally rounded a corner and came across another library, hidden by other tall buildings and foliage. Underneath the library we saw a café, along with other food outlets.
"Let's check that out!" Kairi said enthusiastically, dragging us yet again, not unlike the way she'd drag us towards a dress she liked. The automatic doors opened and the smell of coffee hit us instantly.
The little café under the library was warm and, best of all, not too populated. There were plenty of seats around and it wasn't too noisy, so you could have a decent conversation in here. There were even couches to the left of the room where you could plug in your laptop and relax. Other than the main café was a kebab shop and a small Japanese cuisine takeaway outlet.
"This place looks nice," Olette commented first, gravitating towards the café. "Hot chocolate, anyone?"
"That sounds good!" I agreed. It was still quite hot out, but after the last three days I'd had, a comforting hot chocolate with friends sounded like the perfect pick-me-up.
Olette and I ordered a hot chocolate, Kairi being more of a coffee-nut and ordering a latte. We found a cosy spot on the couches with our beverages and had a girly chat like we used to at our usual spot back at high school.
After complaining about the uni's online system, lectures, those tables that flipped downwards in the middle of the lecture, hearing Kairi's story about how Sora was late to his second lecture and walked right into the lecturer, raving about the hot chocolate, reminiscing about the summer holidays, organising a shopping trip for next week, looking at a cute guy Kairi pointed out (ever the match-maker) and talking about how lucky we were to be here, it suddenly dawned on me that this was the first time I was truly delighted to be at uni. Of course, I knew I'd fall in love with my studio classes, but this right here was what was going to make it really special. Meeting up with my friends and making memories just like we did at high school.
"Hey guys," I sat up in my seat, clutching my empty cup, "we should make this place our new 'usual spot'. It's near the centre of the campus so everyone can get here easily, and it's nice and quiet."
"That sounds like a great idea!" Olette nodded. "We should let the others know too. Hopefully we all have lots of breaks together in our timetables."
"I'll tell Sora to pass on the message," Kairi added. "This'll be great! It'll be like we never left high school."
Kairi's comment left me with a nice feeling welling up inside me. Even though we all had to go through this transition of growing up and following our dreams and aspirations, we were doing it together, and that's what made the experience truly special. We'd get to hang out in the new place and share in the delights and downfalls of uni life.
Looks like Radiant Academy had a silver lining after all.
…
Preview
"I knew you'd see things my way!"
"We've got our three year anniversary coming up."
"Um... I like your shirt."
"Does anyone here want a job?"
"So how are you kids enjoying the uni life?"
…
A/N: In the coming weeks Naminé's going to find a few more silver linings! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter and look forward to the next one! Feedback and critiques would be greatly appreciated!
For those who've read from the start, I apologise, you're gonna have to re-read some bits in the next chapter since I've altered the first one, but I hope you can look past that and continue to enjoy my story!
Also, please check my profile for my new blog, Fiction Café, where I will be posting up extra information about Insatiable! These will include chapter reviews and extra information for those of you who are interested!
