Laura Hollis was not nervous about starting university.
How could she be? She's been preparing herself ever since her father told her that this university even existed. Her father, Vincent Hollis, wasn't the least bit happy when Laura, young and adventurous Laura, wanted to attend Silas University.
He told her the stories of his own days at the university to hopefully discourage her and choose some place closer to home. That backfired stupendously.
It became a bedtime story to her. A magical school where people challenged one another, performing feats that you only see in your imagination. Almost like the Harry Potter books she reads but without the wands and flying brooms. On her way up her dorm building she already saw a fight breaking out when she heard yelling out a window. There was a girl, tall and red haired, sending a round house kick to some guy's head. Laura's father nudged her to keep walking, in fear that they might see them.
When Laura reached the doorway of room 307, she hoped that her roommate still hasn't arrived. She wanted a few minutes alone with her dad before he left her for their house, now one Hollis emptier.
Three knocks on the door and a few seconds of waiting later and still no hello from the other side. Laura tried to fish her keys from her pocket when her dad just opened the door for her. He mumbled something about nobody ever locking the doors in this place and picked up a box of Laura's things from the floor.
She walks into a bare room with nothing but two beds, two desks and a closet. It wasn't much, but it was going to be home soon enough.
She dropped her duffel bag on the bed closest to the door, hoping her roommate wouldn't mind she got first dibs.
"I'm going to get the last of your things from the car" Laura's dad ruffled her hair affectionately "The Martiya see parked cars as open treasure chests."
Laura wouldn't be surprised if he was speaking from experience. He was part of the Martiya when he was studying here after all.
She took the time to decorate her space with things from her old room. She puts the sheets on her bed and dumped a pillow against the headboard. It wasn't her favorite yellow pillow but she guessed it was in the box her dad would be bringing up soon. She put a few books on her newly claimed desk and a picture of her and her father from their trip to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
She found a place for everything. From her clothes to her Doctor Who posters, it almost looked like her bedroom back at home if she didn't look at the empty second half of the room.
With hands on her hips she smiled brightly at her interior decorating skills and allowed herself a second to jump on the bed and stare at the ceiling. She'll be waking up to that ceiling from now on. It was almost the same shade of cream as the one in her bedroom.
That's all this place is after all. One big almost. Her side almost looks like her old bedroom. The pancakes in the cafeteria will almost taste like the ones she and her dad would always make. The sound of her father's voice will almost sound the same through the phone compared to talking to him face to face.
Before she could allow the tears to fall from her eyes her father walks in, carrying another box. "This is the last of it, honey" he sets the box on the ground "I don't know why you need this much food though, the cafeteria food is just fine although you have to deal wi-"
As strong as he is, even Vincent Hollis couldn't handle one of Laura's hugs if she put some power into it. He dropped the box he was carrying and began to pick his daughter up in a hug.
"I'm going to miss you, dad" Laura whispered.
"It's not too late to come back home" A line Laura had been hearing all day "You can choose a school closer to home."
"But I have to go to this school dad" Laura said, breaking the hug and sitting on her bed "I want to have stories like you do one day and share them with someone and show them life is only as exciting as you make it to be."
She shakes her head with a laugh, "That and I don't want all those Krav Maga lessons to be a waste."
"But this isn't a fairy tale Laura, this is real life!"
"I know that, dad."
Papa Hollis sighed as he sat down next to his adamant daughter. He's had this conversation with her too many times. You could get killed here Laura. This is not one of your novels where you're the hero that always comes out alive. He just doesn't understand. Most people would cower and even scoff in disbelief at the stories he told her about Silas. Unfortunately, Laura is not like most people.
He just had to trust her.
"Just come back alive once your break comes alright?" he ruffles her hair once more.
"If I didn't come back alive, you would kill me" she joked.
"You wouldn't have to if you followed my guidelines… Which are?"
Laura sat up straight. She remembered the guidelines by heart.
"Pick a gang early and stick with them." Easy enough to do.
"And?"
"Don't be too trusting." A little trickier for Laura.
"What else?"
"Avoid fights and don't start them." He told her this when she set off for preschool.
Her father nods.
"And don't die." Manageable.
Her father looked at her with a smug smile, as if he was waiting for her to understand a punchline of a joke.
Laura laughed at him as she remembered the final and most important teaching of all "The Myntan are butts and Martiya rule."
From the stories he told her, Vincent never had the best experience with the smartest gang on campus. It was always killer robots and poisonous substances with them. He was more of a silent killer kind of guy, making Martiya the perfect family for him to join. It's all in the past now, but he can't help but joke about it when he can. Especially now that Laura is studying at his alma mater. It's not what he would want for her but the least he can do now is support her.
"My little girl is all grown up…" he pulls her into another hug.
"That's too cliché, please don't say that again" she was going to miss those clichés.
Laura could tell her father didn't want to let go. She didn't either but she knew they had to let go soon.
"Don't have too many wild parties at home okay dad?"
"You got it. Try not to stab anyone you don't need too."
"Noted."
It was time to let go.
It's been barely an hour since she got here, and only around ten minutes since her dad left and she already felt like an awkward freshman.
She didn't know what to do or who to talk to. She had finished unpacking all her stuff with no sign of her yellow pillow anywhere. She tried to positively convince herself she left it at home which she is sure she did not. There was nothing else to do, or at least nothing she could think of right now.
She wasn't keen on going out by herself just yet.
Now she hoped her roommate would get here so she could talk to someone.
It was no surprise that Laura managed to doze off after doing completely nothing. Doing nothing was not something she was used to. But when the door slammed open, Laura immediately jumped and faced the door with her arms out, ready to fend herself.
"Whoa there" the girl who entered, raised her hands in surrender "Relax it's just me your roommate."
With arms still up, Laura watched as the taller girl dragged a suitcase and a box to the other side of the room. She sat down on her bed with a smile and held out her hand "My name is Betty and you must be Laura."
Not the friendly greeting she imagined but it's better than angry yelling. She shook the hand offered to her and smiled "It's nice to meet you, Betty."
"Likewise." They dropped their hands and Betty began to unpack her belongings.
"I'm a sophomore by the way. Myntan. You're a freshman right?"
Laura almost laughed at the mention of the gang. Her dad would have a field day if he found out.
"Yeah" she nodded "I don't know what gang I'm going to choose though. There are only four choices but that's too many in my opinion. And I have to stick to this gang like glue until I graduate. If I even graduate that is and I just want to make sure I'm going to choose one that's best for me and-"
"Laura!" Betty cut her off with a laugh "Breathe. I only asked if you were a freshman. I don't expect you to have chosen a gang this early in the game. You've got time."
From what Laura has seen in movies, the common question is to ask what each other's name and major are. Graduating is a big deal but what really build character here were the gangs.
"It's a great that you even know about the gangs in the first place" Betty said as she placed thick books on her desk. "Some new students won't even know about them until the Bonfire or worse, their first fight." She nervously rubbed her neck.
"Bonfire?" Laura asked.
"All the gangs are going to get together on the Battle Field later tonight to celebrate the new school year" Betty looked back at Laura with a smile "You should come too. It could help you decide."
She heard about the Battle Field from her father. Its real name was the Bell Field but the nickname was appropriate and just stuck.
"I was planning on just staying in and watching Netflix all night" Laura joked "But, you know what? Why not? Maybe I will get to choose by then."
"Excellent!" Betty wasn't even looking at Laura "Just let me put away everything and I'll help you pick out something to wear."
Laura thought Betty was helping her choose a nice dress. Betty advised her to only wear a dress if she could look like she could kill someone while wearing it. That was something Laura could not do. She could wear a bloody shirt and be holding an active chainsaw and people would still think she's just a lost little girl. They both decided Laura couldn't get anymore menacing if she tried and settled on wearing jeans and a shirt. A safe bet.
The bonfire was huge. Piles of burning lumber sat in the middle of what could have been a football field (she was told the football field was elsewhere) if it weren't for the bonfire, the stage with a band playing and the hundreds of students around it. Everywhere she went, the loud music blared through speakers.
This party was not like the college parties in myths where girls dress up to attract guys and guys would try to get lucky and take someone one home for the night. The Bonfire was a gathering to check out fresh meat and to assert dominance on other gangs. It was a night when a fight could break out at any time and freshmen could get a glimpse of what it truly means to be a part of Silas University.
If there was one thing that the myths got right it was the never-ending supply of alcohol.
Without Betty beside her, Laura would be just like some of the freshman she walked past. They had red cups in their hands, speaking briefly and awkwardly to those around them. Betty told her they would get eaten alive if they don't straighten up soon.
Laura had a drink in her hand as well, but she didn't feel like drinking. Her resolve to not drink grew stronger when she spotted people already drunk and rolling on the grass with crushed cups in their grips. Even Betty who was supposed to stay with her throughout her first college party couldn't stay sober for long. The taller girl in her drunkenness followed another group of students in the same inebriated state, leaving Laura all alone.
She felt like a pinball and every other student was a flipper, bumping her this way and that way. At this point she would want nothing more than to fall where the flippers won't reach her and never play again. Her full cup of beer was now spilt on either the grass or someone else's shirt, she couldn't tell. A girl can only be pushed around for so long. Laura shoved her tiny self past the throng of much taller students until she reached the edge of the field where that people seemed to be repelled from.
Except for one person.
She was easy to spot, sitting away from the festivities. Her features illuminated by the fire burning brightly behind Laura. The girl had combed her dark wavy hair back as she stared at the crowd from where she was sitting on the grass. She didn't even know Laura was walking towards her. Not even Laura was aware that she was getting closer to the other girl herself.
With each step she took, she realized just how stunning the girl was, even with the apparent scowl on her face. The burning light shone through the students and gave Laura the most beautiful sight she's seen in Silas so far. Possibly the most beautiful sight of her entire stay there.
"Do you need something, cutie?"
Was Laura aware that she was already right in front of the girl she was obviously staring at? Absolutely not. The girl in front of Laura raised her eyebrow, waiting for Laura to either leave or answer her question.
"I don't really need anything, per se" Laura was aware she was about to ramble, not that she could stop herself anyway "I was just getting really tired of being pushed around in there and somehow I found myself here and I saw you and I thought that-"
She had no reason to come up to this girl who was minding her own business, but now she had to try to not sound like a fool for five minutes "-that maybe we could chat. That's what you do at these parties right?" Laura stretches out her hand and immediately regrets it "Hi I'm Laura. What's your name?"
The girl ignored her outstretched hand and looked straight up into Laura's eyes, obviously amused by what's taking place. For a moment, the scowl was replaced with a smile that the girl tried to stop as she shook her head as if to say Is this girl for real?
When the girl firmly held Laura's hand, Laura took that as a sign to pull her up. Before she could do anything however, the other girl held her hand tighter and pulled her down. When Laura realized all too suddenly that she was very close to this girl whose name still escaped her. Laura's hands were on the grass on either side of the girl, keeping Laura from falling further and keeping her face as far away from the other girl's. The stranger had her hands stretched behind her, keeping her up as well. It showed way too clearly on her face that she doesn't regret what she did.
"Carmilla." Her breath was warm against Laura's ear "It's nice of you to drop by. I was wondering when my night would start to get interesting."
Laura Hollis was not nervous about starting university.
What she was nervous about was how the smile of the girl beneath her was much more magical than anything Hogwarts or Silas could throw at her.
It's been a while since I've written anything but I am glad I got this out. The entire concept is based on the setting of a roleplay I managed a year back. Might post this somewhere else later on. Hope you enjoyed it!