The back of an empty bus for five hours straight might've been a peaceful opportunity to think, but it also grows to hurt the bones in your backside, and not to mention become incredibly boring.
You'd think, as they were so accommodating about accepting him into private school over the phone, they could have sent a private helicopter or something.
Carlos snickered to himself after four and a half hours of no expression, and found himself smiling just as the campus came into view from the stretch of highway.
It was huge. Absolutely huge, like a city composed of nothing but one giant rectangular building with rectangular branch-offs on the horizon. It must've put the Mall of America to shame. The exit was coming up, but it would still be a while before they arrived. It stood on its own in the middle of the harshest portions of the Nevada plains, not a tree in sight, and naturally, that's what made it so visible from so far away.
He watched it as they passed, and it got closer and closer, then paralleled the bus before sinking back into the horizon behind it. It never left sight once it entered, though, and from that moment to the end of the next three years, probably never would.
Carlos sat back, still wearing a tiny smile. He felt lucky, so incredibly lucky, and so grateful. He couldn't wait to meet with his old teacher, now a boarding school professor at North Vale Private High.
…Why was it called North? Wasn't it sort of south…?
…Anyway, if said professor hadn't gotten this job he never would have gotten in. He wouldn't have even known it existed, as in addition to recommending Carlos as a student to the board of directors, it was Professor… well… what was his name again? Anyway, he also informed Carlos of the schools existence, and it's impressive lab equipment and close proximity to natural and currently unexplained phenomenon. Carlos wasn't exactly sure what that meant, but the acceptance letter was his ticket out of places he would prefer not to remember, so it was an awesome new opportunity on all accounts.
There was a sign in the distance, standing at the side of the rode, just in front of the exit. In big, white letters with a pitch-black background, it read 'Welcome to North Vale High."
It started to change, like a billboard programmed to turn panels every five seconds or so to display another message on the other side. He had to squint to try and catch it, as it wasn't very well timed, sort of slow, and they were already about to pass it. It only got about half revealed before the bus zipped by and left it behind. Carlos jerked his head around to follow after it, wide-eyed in disbelief. It was only just barely revealed, but he could have sworn the other side said… well… no, that was impossible. And silly, they wouldn't put up a billboard just for him.
But he could have sworn it said his name.
He shook that off, and relaxed into the seat. Still a half-hour or so to go, might as well stay comfortable. And try to ignore the fact that his butt had gone completely numb.
o-o-o-o
It was late in the day, and regular school hours were probably over. He was sure there were some students who'd chosen to take night classes, but he hoped the halls would be mostly empty. He hoped to talk his schedule through with the staff, get his dorm number, and get there to unpack. Almost six bags of crap, much of it textbooks and other school related supplies, and the bus driver didn't bother to offer help, or even look in his direction.
The bus dropped him at the main entrance. The outside was sort of bland for such a prestigious place. Just a pair of large, dark-colored gates that lead to a large pavilion (shielding those outside from what, he wondered, as it couldn't have rained often here at all.)
Above the gates the words, again 'Welcome to North Vale High' were inscribed into what appeared to be a black ceramic. Everything around here was either black or some darkened color. Didn't that attract sunlight? It didn't seem like a practical color choice for a school in the middle of the desert, was all he was saying.
He sighed, because it looks like the gates didn't have a buzzer, and he would have to push them open manually. This was an irritating problem when he had skillfully hung most of his luggage over his shoulders, hoping to walk it all in on the first trip. But if he was going to open this thing, he'd probably have to set most of it down.
He wished he would have thought to change before leaving that morning. He'd woken up hours early, as he often did, and decided to continue some little past-time research projects in his father's lab before he left. He wouldn't see them again, or continue, but he liked to keep his mind occupied.
Still, he really should have taken off and packed the lab coat he was currently wearing instead of assuming it would be all right to wear what was, in technicality, a jacket in the middle of a hundred-degree-plus desert. The bus had some impressive air conditioning, but as soon as he stepped out he wanted to curl up and melt. He would have taken it off, except that also would have meant setting down some bags. Anyway, since he was going to have to unload in front of the gates anyway, might as well undress, too.
Or, take his coat off, that was…
He'd only put one bag down before he noticed someone on the inside walking toward the gates, toward him.
He looked welcoming, whoever he was, with a movie-star smile that could be recognized from a distance and a posture that suggested strong pride and dignity. Carlos immediately felt like a slouch, with five bags hanging off his shoulders, weighing them down, and one crumpled at his feet. Damn it, his glasses were even slightly crooked but he didn't have a hand available to fix them. What a horrible first impression. He hoped this guy was just a student and not someone he had to impress. He did appear somewhat young.
The man didn't open the gates when he arrived, just kind of stood, there, looking. Which Carlos found both odd and annoying. Why wasn't he being let in?
Oh, shit! Of course, he had to show his credentials! They couldn't just let in any bum off the street with some luggage! …Not that there were any bums, or streets around here.
"Ah!" He let four more of the bags fall to the ground as he fumbled around in the pockets of his labcoat to find the acceptance letter. Another reason he'd kept it on, and a good thing too.
He found it in one of the lower pockets, near his knee, and started to pull it out. The corner got stuck and he cursed as he struggled to remove it, then froze at the sound of clanging metal. He blinked, and looked up.
"I saw you as I passed by one of the windows." The man said, having opened the gate and stood aside from it, holding his hand out invitingly. "You're some kind of scientist…" he said. "…aren't you." He said it like he was the cleverest person in the world for having figured it out. As if the labcoat wasn't a dead give-away.
"Well, I'm getting there…" Carlos said, mumbling just a little. He wasn't really officially a scientist yet. He has to graduate first, right?
He cleared his throat and straightened up, pulling the letter the rest of the way out, and fixing his glasses as well. "This is my…" he held it out, then thought about what this guy had said, and retracted it. "Are you a student?" He asked.
"Yes." His answer came with a nod and no details. This guy sure liked to smile, it was almost becoming disturbing. But it was a welcoming smile, and that was nice, so he wasn't going to complain.
"Well… are you allowed to just let people in?" Carlos raised any eyebrow. After all, giant gates connected to a huge fence lining the entryway were there for a reason, weren't they.
"It's okay. I heard about you. The new student, science department." The man walked toward him abruptly, and Carlos drew back, worried he was about to be tackled or the like. But instead the man stopped in front of him, crouched down, and in a matter of fifteen seconds, gathered up all of Carlos's bags not including the one he was still wearing, and stood up again.
Their eyes met, face to face… almost comfortably close, when he stood, and Carlos blinked. The man regarded him for a moment, looking a sort of dazed with an emotion Carlos couldn't pin-point or explain. His eyes then drifted down slowly, and Carlos felt his face heat up as they traveled down his neck and chest and… was he doing what it felt like he was doing?!
The eyes stopped on the bag attached to his side. "…Do you want me to take that?" He asked.
"Ah!" Carlos almost jumped out of his skin at the deep voice, so close and so defined and really kind of… he shook his head. "No! You…" how could he be so rude? This guy had just picked up everything he owned and was obviously offering to carry it in for him and he was just standing there like an ungrateful moron!
"Thank you!" Carlos took a step back just to regain some of the comfort of personal space. "You don't have to—," he reached a hand out to the mass of luggage that this man was somehow having no trouble holding just in his arms.
"It's fine." That smile graced his face wider and his eyes brightened considerably. "This is North Vale High! We take pride in our warm welcomes and service to newcomers!" He spun lightly on his heels to face the opened gates.
Wow, he was strong… he wasn't noticeably thin, but he didn't look that capable either. For a few moments Carlos was so impressed he forgot to move. But when the gate started to shut, he sprung forward and hurried through it after the other man. He made it in just before it clamored shut.
"Hey!" he said as he caught up, but received no reaction. "Uh, by the way, I'm Carlos." He introduced himself once he'd made it up beside the other man.
"Carlos…" the man repeated his name, his voice resonating with what sounded like deep appreciation. This couldn't get much weirder.
"…And, you are?" Carlos tried.
"Cecil." He turned to Carlos quick as a hummingbird spots a vacant flower with a smile that could out-pep a baby chipmunk.
Carlos had to look away.
He was grateful for the help with his bags, but he hoped he wouldn't have to be around this guy for very much longer.
He took one last glance at the gate behind them, and his last chance to turn back, back to familiarity and comfort, ran like a chill down his spine. Standing inside the gate, looking at the outside world through dark bars. But didn't have to think about it anymore, this is what he wanted. He needed change, and this was more than enough.
Cecil was patient with his moment, thought he probably didn't understand. He stood still, holding the bags with ease, watching Carlos until he turned back, apologized, and began to walk forward to the large building. It was black, too. Black metal frames with blackened glass windows, not unlike office, college, and hospital buildings he'd seen back home.
The sand was loose under his feet, and their footsteps left shallow, vague footprints behind them. They walked in silence and it felt strange. He wanted to be inside, wanted something to look at aside from the vast empty desert plains. Empty halls and empty rooms were preferred. There was something slightly unsettling about this place.
Carlos stepped ahead to open the door for Cecil, thanking him again as he held it open. He received the same smile as he passed, but no words. He took one last glance behind them, at the prints in the sand, as if he was suspicious just for a moment, that something was behind him.
He then slipped inside, and lightly pulled the door shut behind him.
o-o-o-o-o
It didn't look too special. Carpeted floors and mahogany brick walls lined with wooden doors. It was more dimly lit than other private or public school Carlos has been to, much less bright. Not a bad thing, being blinded in the hallway first thing after you step out of your dorm was never pleasant. He looked up, and saw that there were small cylinders of yellow light attached to the ceiling and lining the main hall, in a single line and each about three feet apart.
"Where do you need to go?" Cecil asked, interrupting Carlos's observations.
"I'd think, main office." Carlos replied. "I wasn't told. But that seems right, right?"
"Right!" He said that, but it sounded like he was just going along with what Carlos said. He wondered, could this man be a senior? He had to be at least a junior. Carlos was a sophomore now, and this guy didn't look too much older, but he had to have been here a while to be so comfortable showing a new student around.
"Follow me." Cecil said, and Carlos wanted to say he'd already planned on it.
"What's the principal's name here, again?" Carlos asked. He wanted to be able to address him properly, just for the sake of a good first impression.
"Winchill." Cecil said. "Pamela, if you like first names."
"Mrs. Or Ms.?" Carlos asked.
"Miss, I believe." He said. "Though, I'm not sure, is she married?" He appeared to be talking to himself.
"You can just point me in the right direction." Carlos said. "You know, I'm sure you were doing something before you decided to help me."
"Actually, I wasn't." Cecil said.
"No?"
"No. Nothing at all."
o-o-o-
The office was empty when they walked in. Across from a pristinely organized and dustless desk were a few sofas, recliner chairs, and even a center table. It was set up like a living room in someone's home. There was even a television in the corner.
A nametag sat on the corner of the desk, turned to face those who entered. It read "Trish Hidge" in black letters on a gold background, framed with a polished wood. Cecil walked to the group of organized furniture, and plopped Carlos's things down on one of the sofas.
"You're probably going to be here a while." He explained. "I'll wait here until it's all done, and help you carry these up to your dorm. It can be a long way and this is a lot of bags." He sounded more like he was asking permission than offering a favor. Carlos regarded him, uncertain, then nodded before turning back to face the desk. He didn't want to be rude.
As if on cue, a woman walked out of one of the branched offices, the one that read 'Principal's' on the door. She stopped in her tracks when she saw him, as if surprised or like Carlos's presence had startled her.
"Oh." She said. Her voice was high, pale skin, and she was somewhat heavy set, wearing an off-white women's suit with a brown skirt and some kind of tribal-looking necklace.
"You must be Carlos?" She offered, and he nodded.
"Miss… Winchill?" He asked.
"Hidge. Mrs. Hidge." She corrected, and walked to sit at the desk that had her name on it. "You won't be seeing Winchill as she's away for business with the head of the school board. I'll take care of you." Hidge smiled, and it wasn't odd or borderline creepy, and Carlos felt at ease.
Cecil appeared next to him.
"Cecil?" Hidge acknowledged him.
"I was helping Carlos." He said, adding a strange complexion to the name, but Carlos couldn't pinpoint its meaning. "Is it all right if I stay here until he's done? He has a lot of stuff and I want to help him with it."
Hidge's eyes moved from Cecil, to Carlos, and then back to Cecil. "That's fine." She said. "All right, Carlos. Come with me, then." She stood, having gathered some papers quite efficiently and quickly into a paper clip during their short conversation. Carlos didn't protest. He hurriedly took the final bag he still had over his shoulder off, setting it up against the couch leg, and followed her into the same office she'd come out of.
o-o-o-o
When Carlos came out, Cecil was still there. He wasn't surprised. He was sitting, lounged about on one of the sofas, staring at the TV with one leg up on the center table. Well, at least he watched television like a normal guy. But he had his arm over Carlos's luggage as if he was protecting it from potential thieves.
"How'd it go?" Cecil asked.
The question resonated, and seemed to dance around Carlos's head as he searched for an answer. How'd it go… how'd… what go? Where did he go again? Oh, yes, he went to get his paperwork together with Mrs. Hidge. She was nice.
"It went nice." He answered, as vaguely as he felt.
"Good." Cecil replied as he shut off the TV, and got up. "I take it you know where you live now?"
"Oh." Carlos wasn't sure. Did he know? He felt something in his hands. Small, it felt… rough, but also sort of smooth in between. He looked at it. It was a notecard.
"F Wing, 408." It read, and underneath that, his name. He held it up as an answer to Cecil's question.
"Lead the way." Cecil smiled, and went to pick up the luggage again. This time Carlos hurried over to take some as well, so he didn't feel too much like he would owe the guy later. It was divided almost evenly this time, but he could have sworn as he turned he got a glimpse of Cecil pouting about it.
Carlos just couldn't wait to get home and settle in, maybe do some reading or studying before his first day. Had he been given a packet or anything from the secretary? His hands were empty aside from the note card.
As they walked toward what Cecil directed as being the F-wing, the halls become less empty. First a few students passed, then someone older who must've been a professor. He nodded in greeting, and Carlos nodded back. No one bothered to speak to them, or interact at all, which was fine. But they all seemed friendly, aside from the odd unprovoked glare from a few angsty students.
"By the way." Cecil started to speak. He was walking next to Carlos, and Carlos had felt his eyes on him for the past few moments. He'd chosen to ignore it.
"You're hair… is…" He stopped, as if trying to find words.
Carlos felt his face get hotter. Damn it, he hadn't seen a mirror in almost six hours. Not to mention he spent the first three of those six sitting his head out the window while the wind blew by on a 75 MPH freeway. He was probably thoroughly sporting the mad-scientist look and he hadn't even thought about it. Knowing that, he felt extra grateful this guy was being so kind to him… even if he wished he had said something sooner.
Damn it, he needed a haircut, too. Could he even get one of those at this place?
Self-consciously, Carlos pet his hair back. It felt… normal… but he didn't touch his hair a lot.
Before Cecil could finish, a pair of young girls, maybe freshman, surrounded them. If you're asking how two small humans could succeed in surrounding two larger ones, you're entirely justified, but these two managed to do it.
"Oh my god, you're new, aren't you?" One of them said.
"Yeah he's new! I know every guy as hot and and I've never seen you before." She swooned and sort of moved her shoulders alternating forward and backward… it was a hard gesture to describe but it suggested a lot. A little too much.
The other girl twirled a lock of her hair in her finger. "Cecccilll." She moaned. "Who is he?" She grabbed Cecil's arm, and Cecil looked ready to stab her. It was scary to see a guy go from smiling and disturbingly polite to glare invoking painful death so quickly.
She didn't seem to mind. "Carlos." Cecil answered her.
"Ohmygod! Your hair is so nice."
Cecil scoffed at this, and rolled his eyes.
"Erin, look at his hair!" The one on the left, the redhead, insisted. The other reached out to touch it.
"It's so nice!"
Cecil scoffed again. Carlos didn't understand a single thing that was happening or being done by any one of these people.
"Hey, hey!" Another female voice rung out, and through their small crowd came a short, dark-skinned curly-haired girl. She looked older than the others, maybe a senior. She shoved her way between the two girls. They pouted, and whined. "Come on, if you don't start moving they'll never let you leave."
"Dana?" Cecil looked to her in askance. She turned to him, smiling, and started removing the bags he was carrying from his person. "What are you-" Before Cecil could finish, she had everything.
She gave him a smile, and he looked immensely confused as she took Carlos by the arm and started to pull him down the hall.
"Dana!" Cecil was calling after them, and when Carlos looked back he was waving his hand in the air, and the two girls were closing in on him.
"Should we leave-," Carlos protested, but was cut off.
"He can handle himself." Before Carlos could look back again to see if this was true, she pulled him around a corner and they were out of sight. She continued to drag him down the halls for at least a hundred more yards before he started paying attention to the numbers on the doors. 411, 412…
"Wait!" he said, falling back on his heels to make her stop. "We passed my room."
His abrupt stop caused her to drop his sleeve and she made it a few more steps before registering that she was no longer with him. "Sorry." She said, smiling apologetically. "Which one?"
"Back here." Carlos lead her back a few doors to the one that said '408.'
"That one, hm?" Dana said. "Telly lives there. He's taking cosmetics."
Carlos considered this for a few moments, trying to figure out what she meant. It was occupied and they'd given him the wrong number? …Or…
"I have a roommate?"
"We all do." Dana snickered. "I have three." She noted his discomfort with this new realization, and tried to reassure. "Don't worry, they're big rooms. Lots of space to yourself, especially with only two."
Carlos nodded. "Good, good." He cleared his throat, and reached for the door handle. There was a key-card lock on it, and he froze half-way.
"I… I don't have a key?" He held up the notecard to his face. It was all he'd been given, wasn't it?
"You check your pockets?" She asked. He blinked, disbelieving her for a moment, before he felt up his labcoat, all of the pockets, until he felt something rectangular and firm in the breast pocket.
He pulled it out, looked at it for a moment, and then chuckled sheepishly at her. She snickered as well, and shrugged. Panick defeated, Carlos turned back to the door, and stuck the card inside the lock. He pulled it back out, the light turned green, he turned the handle and—
…the room was empty. And dark.
"Telly takes a lot of night classes, he's probably not here right now. You'll meet him later."
"Ah." Carlos flipped on the light, and looked around. It was apparent which half of the room was his. One of them was overrun with cosmetics equipment, mostly busts with blank colorless faces but extravagant hairstyles. There were also many bobble-heads of major-league atheletes from all sorts of sports. Some looked like baseball, others like football or basketball. There were also a few sports-related framed images on the walls, but the oddest thing might have been the multiple large posters of various… combs.
The other half was blank. Just a bed, a night-stand, with a simple lamp, a double-door that was probably a closet, and a tall set of drawers next to it.
"Can I come in, or should I hand these off to you?" Dana interrupted his look-around from behind him. He turned back fast.
"No, no… he stepped out of the way. Come in. And thank you so much."
"No problem." She shot him a smile as she walked by. "Those two think it's their job to crawl into the beds of any guy around here that looks half-decent. Felt like you needed rescuing."
Carlos swallowed. Why were their so many strange people…
Well, at least Dana was normal.
She set everything down next to his bed, and he unloaded as well, against the wall next to the door.
"My room number is 316." She said, smiling. "Just a few turns down the halls, or you can call it on the phones. I'll unblock you. Let me know if you need any help with anything."
"Unblock?" Carlos asked, just curious.
"All numbers aside from staff offices are blocked so random students can't just prank call each other whenever they want. You can unblock specific people by speaking into the receiver."
"…okay." Carlos didn't fully understand.
"Remember, 316, just dial the number and if I'm there, I'll pick up." She said, smiling as she walked toward the door to take her leave.
"Thank you again, Dana… was it?"
"Dana." She confirmed. "Nice to meet you…?"
"Carlos." He replied.
o-o-o-o
Carlos was lying on his bed, hardly unpacked at all, just having pulled out a few books to pass the time. It had been a long day, and he'd unpack tomorrow. Also, he'd removed his labcoat, and found his class schedule in one of the pockets. He didn't remember putting it there.
He was reading… or, appeared to be. He wasn't paying a whole lot of attention to the words on the page. It was bad, and he shouldn't have been slacking, but his mind was too absorbed in this new life he was about to begin. What did his professor mean by natural and currently unexplained phenomenon? How unexplained? Most theories in science weren't one-hundred percent explored, but what could have been so special as to mention? In the middle of the desert? Sandstorms… perhaps? He didn't know how much of a mystery those were, he'd never looked into them, but he couldn't imagine there was much left to investigate.
He blinked. Then blinked again. A third time before he realized that there was a light hitting his eye, causing him to blink. It was bright, much brighter than his dimmed lamp, and coming from between the closed blinds of his window.
He turned his head at first, and noticed a bright white light visible against the upper and lower edges of some of the blinds. He got up, placing one finger between the pages of the book to save his place, and walked to the window. That couldn't be the moon… it was after dark now, but no way the moon was so bright.
He looked out, half expecting just a courtyard lamp, or maybe nothing but stars… but what he saw when he stuck his fingers between two blinds and pushed the lower ones down made him jump, and pull them back.
It wasn't really startling, not exactly… but certainly not expected. He looked again, and this time studied the light. Not just one, but a few… they were high in the sky, above where he was roomed but clearly visible above another portion of the school building, the one across a large courtyard that must've been as big as a football field. They were just… hovering. Not moving, at all, but almost twinkling, like starts except much larger, and far too close to be stars.
What… the hell? He'd ask someone tomorrow. Or maybe his roommate, if he ever returned.
Just when he'd stepped back from the window, he heard a quiet clicking from the door to the dorm, and looked over his shoulder just as it opened.
A short man, who looked a little older than he should have even to be a senior, poked his head in. He had buzzed hair, just a few centimeters long, and a small mustache at the center of his upper lip. He was a little chubby, but a little muscular it appeared, as well. It was a hard body-type to describe.
"You must be Telly." Carlos said, after a long period of silence once the door was shut.
"Yes." Telly was looking at him, but not at his eyes. Something slightly above his eyes…
Carlos shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot. "Your hair." He had an accent… Carlos wasn't good with linguistics, he couldn't place it. "It's good." He said.
"Thanks." Carlos snickered. He'd actually gone in the bathroom and ran a comb through it this time. Surprisingly when he went in to begin with, it didn't look as insane as he was expecting.
Telly nodded firmly to him, and then walked toward his desk. He immediately picked up a pair of scissors, and began snipping at one of the busts. Carlos stood there awkwardly as the blank-faced hair model stared at him.
"You ever need a cut, you let me know." Telly said, not looking at him, focused on what he was doing. "It's the only way for students here to get a professional one. It's cheap, too. Five bucks."
Carlos was relieved. How convenient. "Thanks! I will!" He said, smiling. Telly looked at him, but didn't smile back before getting back to snipping.
Carlos was glad for this, he didn't want a talkative roommate that wanted to interact all the time. Telly seemed very absorbed in his work, and that was great, because Carlos often would be too.
As the night went by, Carlos grew tired, his eyes aching behind his glasses, and finally made the decision to take them off. He set them on the stand next to him, rubbed his eyelids, before opening the drawer to set his book inside. He stood, took off his pants, and walked over to the dresser to set them in the bottom drawer. Maybe he could ask if there was anywhere he could get a basket for dirty laundry? Telly was still busy, though, working at another one of the busts now. For now, it would do. At home he would have thrown them against the wall but he didn't want to give a bad first night impression to his new roommate.
Once adequately undressed, he pulled back the sheets and blanket, pleased to find that they appeared completely clean and even smelled nice, like scented dryer sheets.
He got in, and pulled them over himself, shutting off his lamp. Telly's light was still on, but that was absolutely fine. Carlos could sleep through it, and he preferred if Telly wouldn't expect him to turn out the lights whenever he went to bed either.
But, as if to be considerate, moments later, Telly's light went out as well. And what followed was only silence.
He smiled to himself, thinking he'd pretty much hit the roommate jackpot. Quiet, considerate, focused on studies… this could really work out. Even if the comb posters were a little weird.
o-o-o-o-o
His first class was, great news, physics! Not all of the classes he was taking were in his field… he had an English, and even a Latin, and also of course, History. But it was nice to start off the day with something he was good at, and physics was definitely his topic of choice.
It took him a while to find the room. Everyone in the halls was either busy with conversation or in as much hurry as he was, so he didn't receive any help like yesterday. But that was fine, he was good with directions, even when he didn't have any.
He wasn't late, but he was one of the last ones in. He was very, very pleased to find Dana in the room when he walked in, and even more pleased to see that the spot next to her was empty. He didn't expect to do much conversing after the class began, of course, but it was nice to have someone familiar there just the same.
He was more than pleased when she spotted him, and a toothy smile graced her face as she waved him over.
He nodded and went for the open seat. Once there, he asked "does it start when the professor walks in, or…?"
For some schools he'd been in there was a bell, just like public high school. Others, the class started at different times, whenever the professor decided everyone or enough students were present.
"Not yet." Dana said. "We start out with the morning broadcast. Just some local news throughout the school."
"Really?" That wasn't new, but to Carlos's experience that sort of thing happened during "homeroom" …Homeroom didn't seem to be present on his schedule, though.
"Is it done by the staff, or a group of MIT students, or…?" Carlos inquired.
"I actually help out with it!" She said, proudly. "It's not like that though, it's more like a job. I just intern along with a few others, just so I can stick it on my resume later. It's like an actual news station, but just for the school. Most of the workers don't do anything else, and no one even knows who organizes the whole thing. Ah- but the spokesperson is a student."
"Really?" Carlos blinked. "Does he… or, she… get paid?"
Dana nodded. "Pretty good money, too." She sighed. "Which is all right because I guess it's how he pays for his classes and dorm. The rest of us are moochers."
Carlos chuckled, confirming himself guilty.
"So… is there a monitor?" Carlos looked around the room.
"Nope." She pointed toward the door leading out of the room. "All audio." She said.
Carlos saw a square-shaped speaker next to the door, and blinked. "Huh." He said. "A little old fashioned…"
She shrugged. "It works, I guess." Before Carlos could comment, a soft music, slow… almost unsettling music began to play throughout the room, and everyone fell silent. Everyone, even those two chattering, most likely freshmen, in the back. Everyone was just listening.
"The school board announces the installment of a new student lounge in the Earl Wing near the cafeteria."
…The voice rang out, and Carlos immediately understood why he got paid to do this. The voice was clear, professional, and not to mention, easy on the ears.
"They would like to remind everyone that students are not allowed in the student lounge. Staff are not allowed in the student lounge. Do not approach the student lounge."
What? Was that a joke?
"Try not to look at the doors leading into the lounge. The student lounge will not harm you."
What?
"What is he talking about?" Carlos leaned over to Dana and whispered. She reacted surprised, like she'd been absorbed and he'd pulled her out of it.
"A new student lounge was installed." She said, simply, before turning back to stare blankly ahead, and listen.
Well, he'd gathered that much… seriously though, this whole thing must've been a joke… what was this guy talking about now? Angels? He couldn't even take most of it in, how was this news? Who would buy a light bulb…? Was this an advertisement or news?
"A new student joined our student body yesterday."
…Well, that was news. Not exactly important news though. He couldn't have meant…
"Who is he? What does he want from us? Why his perfect, and beautiful haircut? Why his perfect and beautiful coat?"
Carlos had sunk so low into his seat that he expected to fall through the floor. He glanced at Dana, she wasn't looking anywhere but ahead, still just listening.
As the talking went on, Carlos was finally starting to recognize and place that voice. He didn't know how he didn't make the connection right away. Cecil, the one who opened the gate for him yesterday. …Did he just call him a scientist? Well, maybe, sort of… but not technically.
"Well, we have all been scientists at one point or another in our lives."
"Excuse me?" Carlos whispered, and huffed under his breath, barely audible even to himself.
"And just what does he plan to do with all those breakers and humming electronics that an anonymous source reports having found in his luggage inside his dorm?"
WHAT! That… Telly! It must have been him! Roommate jackpot my ass… Carlos scoffed. Act completely normal while he's awake, go through his stuff in his sleep. Jesus.
The speaker was now talking about pizza or something, and Carlos had already decided he'd had enough. He got that it was his first day, and maybe they were messing with him. Maybe they thought it was all in good fun but that was an invasion of privacy! He hoped Dana didn't have anything to do with this.
The broadcast went on for about five or six more minutes, and Carlos felt like he should have slept through this portion of class. A commercial airliner appearing and then disappearing in the gym? What? What the hell was wrong with these people? Was this guy just making all of this up as he went?
Finally, it ended, and Carlos released an audible sigh of relief.
Dana immediately turned to him. "That's interesting, right? An airplane out of nowhere?"
Carlos looked at her, stunned for a few moments, before answering. "You… actually believe that?"
"Well, yeah." Dana said. "It's all news… I mean, we heard it there first but I'm sure we'll hear about it later from people who were actually there." She looked thoughtful. "Ah! I think Richard visits the gym early in the morning! I'll have to ask him!"
"You're insane." It came out before Carlos realized he was speaking. He tensed right after, expecting her to be offended.
She laughed, loudly. "That's right, you're new!" She said. "New people are always so weird…" She snickered a few times, shaking her head at him like he was some sort of funny mystery.
Well, he was glad she wasn't offended, but…
…this definitely put his 'normal person' count back to zero.