Transferring colleges was hard. Well, it was easy yet hard at the same time. It was easy in the fact that Key would have a better time at this college than the last. It was harder in the fact that he had to move out to America to go there. He hadn't chosen Harvard or Yale or anything, just a small, quiet campus to study at. His grandma had supported his decision when he told her he wanted to transfer, of course, and after she died she'd left all her money and possessions to him, basically.
She'd died that summer, right before he started packing to go to school. He had finally just gotten to Reinhardt University, all the way-fucking-across-the-continent in Georgia, and he was carefully unpacking his things in his dorm room.
Key was a sophomore this year, and he'd heard from several Asian transfer students that schools in America were just so much less stressful compared to the ones over in Japan and Korea, and especially in China.
When searching for a college, Key decided he didn't want to go to some big, famous college, just something small, something more personal and nice. When he'd found Reinhardt it had been a perfect match. Apparently there were plenty of transfers from Korea besides himself, and a lot of Chinese kids went here too, but the biggest thing that caught his attention? It was a school focused on music. The biggest building on campus was the FPAC, the Falany Performing Arts Center, where all the music majors hung out, spent all their time practicing and studying.
That combined with the fact that the student population was only about 1,100, made a huge difference to him. 1,100 students compared to 20,000 was a big change. He was already kinda starting to feel at home here, even if he would have to speak English his whole stay. He'd learned a lot of English back home but it was still a little broken, so he just hoped the students and teachers here would understand him.
He'd already met his teachers even though school hadn't yet started. He wanted to get a feel for the place and his teachers were really, really personal. Instead of classes with 400 students, he had classes with 25 students like a high school. It was comfortable. He only had one real worry. Drama.
He didn't know how he was going to make friends, being a transfer student, but with such a small class size, everyone was bound to know each other and drama would probably start.
He tried not to consider it, knowing he'd be focused on his studies and music anyway, so he briefly wondered who his roommate was going to be.
He stood and walked over to his door. The RA for his hall must have put the names on the doors. He was a sophomore but apparently Resident Assistants were in every dorm hall just for things like this, so his name was written in sharpie on a cut-out cupcake that was taped to the door.
The name next to his read Kyler McKenna. Huh. Oh well. Some American kid obviously. Or maybe he was Irish? That last name got him wondering. He tried not to worry, but he just hoped his roommate wasn't an asshole.
He went back to unpacking, thinking about this "Kyler" and wondering where he was. He was already almost done unpacking and the other side of the room was completely empty.
He started to make his bed up when the door slammed open and in rolled..some really short kid. With a ton of stuff. Oh god this must be Kyler. Kyler dragged in all his stuff one at a time, ignoring Key for a moment since he had carts to unpack and beds and things to make.
Kyler's parents were with him, seemingly the helpful type. His dad was a pretty big guy, he had a little weight on him but he was pretty tall and he looked happy, walking around and setting up things for Kyler, like his mini-fridge.
It was Kyler's mom that introduced herself. "Hi! You must be Kyler's roommate! I'm Sue Yilling, and this is my husband, Fred Yilling. We're Kyler's parents." Different last name? He wondered why, but he shook it off and shook her hand.
"Hello! Ahh..I'm Kim Ki—or.. Well you do first names first here I guess. I'm Kibum Kim, but you can call me Key. Sorry about my English..I transfer here from Korea."
This Sue was immediately interested. "Oh! Korea? I used to live there! I taught over there for awhile. What part are you from? Seoul?" He shook his head. Everyone foreign to Korea always thought everyone from Korea was from Seoul. Oh well.
"No, Daegu."
She smiled again, "Oh Daegu! Okay! I've been there. What are you studying here at Reinhardt? What's your major?"
This conversation continued for awhile. She was really nice. Kyler and his dad finished unpacking all of his stuff, making his bed, and finally Fred introduced himself. "Hi there! I'm Fred, Kyler's dad. Nice to meet you Key."
Key nodded at him and said hello shyly. Kyler's dad was a pretty big dude. It was kinda intimidating, but he was really friendly so that helped.
Eventually, Kyler's parents left and Kyler hugged them and kissed them goodbye. "Bye Mama! Bye Daddy!" He waved and watched them walk back to their car outside.
Key liked those two, they seemed like good parents. But when they were gone, Kyler shut the door and sighed, leaning against the door frame.
"Sorry I didn't introduce myself. I guess my mom was busy talking your ear off."
Key just laughed. "No, no, it okay, really."
Kyler smiled. "So..transfer eh? Here to study music like the rest of 'em?"
Key raised an eyebrow. "Yeah..what's that supposed to mean?"
Kyler laughed. "All of my friends are music majors, I swear. They run rampant through the campus. If you're not a music major everyone looks at you funny. Come on, let's go walk around. No one spends their time in their rooms. You'll have to get to know the campus."
Key smiled again and nodded and let out a simple, "Yeah, okay," and followed Kyler out of their dorm. They were on the second floor, which was level to the parking lot, so they didn't have to bother with stairs.
When they walked outside, Kyler stopped. "Oh call me Ky, by the way. Everyone else does because it's easier. Okay so, our dorm is Roberts." He turned around to face the building. "So if anyone asks what dorm you're in you can just say Roberts."
He then pointed to his right. "Right next to us is Smith Johnson, for the sophomore and up girls. Most of us around here just call it SmoJo, so if anyone says something about SmoJo you'll know what they're talking about."
He pointed down even further. "THAT building all the way down there is Paul Jones, another guy's dorm. One of my buds, Wesley, stayed there last year. I think he's there again this year. Another of my friends was there too but he transferred to another school so he's not here anymore."
Key nodded and then turned back around to the left side of the parking lot. There was a set of stairs. Kyler smiled and grabbed his hand, rushing down them. "Let's go, we'll walk around and I'll show you everything cool and who to be cautious of and stuff."
Who to be cautious of and stuff… Oh god that worried Key. They walked down a long, downhill path and there was a another dorm lined up with the rest of them, just separated by a parking lot and downhill. "This is Gordy, where all the freshman girls stay. I know it's huge. There's a loooot of freshman girls every year. I dunno which way you swing but in the case you like girls I guess at least there's a lot of them haha."
He pointed down further. "We won't go all the way down there, but there's another guy's dorm right next to Gordy. That dorm is called Cobb. I had some friends there last year, Kyle and Jamarcus and some others, but I think most of them moved to Roberts with us, or they transferred out. Waaay down there, those buildings all surrounding that huge area? Those are the apartments. I'm sure you were told for extra money that you could get an apartment instead. They're not that much better but my friend Nate lives in the apartments and he likes them because you get your own bedroom."
Finally they got to the entrance of Gordy and they started walking away from it, towards another building. Key looked at the name and cocked his head to the side. "But..that's Gordy too?" He asked, pointing to the large building in front of him.
Kyler nodded. "Yeah but mostly it's the cafeteria and The Varsity, a restaurant we have on campus. And then connected to it is the Rec Room, where everyone hangs out. My friends and I love having movie nights and playing pool and air hockey there."
Eventually they walked through the doors and down a small hallway where they turned right, and immediately on the left were double doors to the rec room. Lots of kids were in there currently, and Kyler smiled when he saw some of his friends.
He opened the door for Key, who walked through shyly and looked around.
Key watched as Kyler squealed, "Jamarcuuuus!" And Jamarcus squealed Kyler's name right back, and they ran at each other and hugged as if they thought they'd never see each other again.
"Raaaaaaawr I missed yooooou!" Jamarcus swung Kyler around and Kyler laughed.
"I missed you too, silly." He waved for Key to come over and Jamarcus set him down. Kyler caught the attention of a few others. "Hey Matt, Nate. Hiiii Jessica!"
Whoever Jessica was, she smiled when she saw him and got up and hugged him. "Heeeey guuuurl whatchu been up to?!"
Kyler laughed. "Guuuurl I haven't seen you since yo' parteeeeeh. Mmm it's been too long."
"I knoooow riiiight? Daaamn gurl you betta getchyo self caught up now."
"Gurl don'tchu be tellin' me ta get caught up. Mmmm I got myself a new roommate he and I were chillin' so jus' relax an' introduce yoself. You betta be nice."
Jessica smacked her lips. "Excuse me, I'm always nice."
Kyler scoffed. "No you a bitch."
"Excuse me?"
"Gurl you heard me, you a bitch."
Jamarcus laughed loudly at this. "He's right you're mean!"
Jessica laughed and pushed him playfully. "I am not!"
Key didn't understand their humor, but they were having fun so he smiled. Soon enough though, everyone was introducing themselves. Jessica, this cute li'l black girl who obviously adored Asian men because she gasped when she saw him and said something along the lines of, "Oh my goooood that man is fiiiiine."
Kyler laughed and slapped at her a bit. "Don't scare him off! He's a transfer from Korea so be nice!"
Then Jamarcus of course. He was also black and he was a lot taller than Jessica and especially Kyler, though he was around Key's height. He was really nice and funny, but a little too loud for Key to handle.
Then there was Wesley, who was sitting on one of the couches around the t.v. He was a little quiet at first, and he seemed like one of those frat boy douches just by his looks, but when he talked it was obvious how gay he was, not that he seemed to mind or notice.
There was Matt, who said hi but that was it. He was just really quiet. And then there was Nate, who seemed nice enough but kind of awkward. He seemed to like attention, too, and was a little bit of a know-it-all. After saying hi to Key, he turned back to Matt and talked his ear off about Sonic, a game he was apparently totally obsessed with.
Nakia was a pretty cool girl. She described herself as being straight from the ghetto, not that Key had any idea what that meant in English.
Nadiyah was really out-going and crazy fun, and she wasn't afraid of yelling things like, "suck my dick" to the rest of the world. Everyone loved her it seemed.
Apparently, according to Ky, their group of friends consisted of a lot more people, but these were the only ones present for now. Most of them were sophomores though Nate and Matt were juniors.
They were all having fun chatting and Key was enjoying himself, but he really wanted to go to the FPAC and see what was there.
As everyone was hanging around, he tugged on Kyler's sleeve. "Uh..I'm gonna..walk to that really big building across campus..the FPAC? I want to see what it's like..you know..?"
Ky smiled and stood up. "I'll walk over there with you! The FPAC is great, you'll love it there."
Jamarcus immediately jumped up at that. "You're going to the FPAC? I wanna go!" Jessica and Wesley jumped up too.
Kyler smiled and nodded. "We'll all go. Wes, Jamarcus, just don't kill each other on the way over there."
Wesley glared at Jamarcus and Jamarcus right back at Wesley, but they nodded and everyone headed off for the FPAC.
Key wondered what that was about.
The walk was longer than he thought it would be, considering there were lots of up and down hills from the Rec Room. Down the hill, past the glass house, back up and past the library, up a lot more then down past Lawson (one of the academic buildings), up past the front of the church, and across an absolutely endless parking lot toward the FPAC.
But eventually they made it there, though it seemed a couple of them were a little out of breath. Probably since they hadn't walked that far all summer. Ha. Key walked everywhere so he had no problem with it personally.
They walked in a side door of the building, which confused Key a little but it seemed this was totally normal for the rest of them. Inside the building were a ton of small practice rooms, just big enough to fit a piano in each room and a couple of people. "Why so many piano rooms?" He asked as they walked around.
Jessica looked back at him. "Every music major here is required to take piano lessons."
That was new. Required? He wondered why, especially if they were already busy with other instruments or something.
They walked through a door somewhere along the line that must have led to the lobby of the building, because it was a huge room with marbled tile flooring and it was gorgeous. There was a really old piano in the room and a set of double doors leading to a theater for performances. There were stairs to an upstairs balcony, as well. Key was amazed.
As he looked around, he heard laughter above them and looked up to see a group of students walking toward and down the stairs. There were at least seven of them in the group, if not more. The two at the front were most noticeable.
But as they walked down the stairs, Key saw Wesley glaring at the group, and Jamarcus and Jessica sighed. Kyler groaned a little but fear seemed to show on his face.
Key was worried. Who were they..?