It had been a while since Alyth Faulkner was last in this city, this city with its shimmering glass buildings and bustling crowds.

The last time she'd been here, she'd punched a boy in the face for being cruel to her best friends, breaking his jaw, prompting an abrupt expulsion from her school. She supposed she should have been sorry, but, hey, he'd deserved it. She'd been expelled at the age of thirteen, and her parents had decided to move to an island near off the coast. "We're not moving because of what happened," they told her. "We're moving because several good job opportunities have arisen!"

Sure. Whatever you say.

She was nineteen, now, and knew that her parents had said that to simply spare her feelings. The city was big enough to be a city and not a town, but not big enough for a large amount of schools. When Alyth had been here, there'd been two primary schools, a single high school, and a single university. She'd been expelled in her second year of highschool, and had had no where else in the city to go.

So they'd moved.

And now she was back.

Alyth sighed, raking a hand through her long, dark hair. She was feeling slightly nostalgic, standing here at the busiest crossing in the city, watching the people and the cars go by.

"You look lost." A boy strawberry blond hair smiled gently at her, slowing in his walk. He had dark sunglasses on his head but not over his eyes, and a yellow orange vest jacket on. "Do you need any help getting anywhere, or...?"

Alyth glanced quickly at the boy. Did she know him? "I'm all right, thanks. Just taking in the view."

"You new here?"

She paused. "You could say that," she said slowly. Indeed, the city did feel new to her. It'd been six years; of course there would have been some changes.

The boy raised an eyebrow. "Well, anyway, my name's Rod."

Alyth blinked, slightly startled. She'd half expected him to have walked away by now. "I'm Alyth. It's nice to meet you, Rod. I appreciate the offer for help, from before." Rod... no, she didn't think she recognised that name.

He grinned. "It's awful nice to meet you too, Alyth. Well, I'll be going now, but it was nice meeting you, even if it was brief." He waved and walked off. Alyth watched as he jogged quickly across the road, heading towards what she thought she remembered as the Market.

Memories of the Market rushed through her head, and she sighed as she pushed them away. Her university classes were starting tomorrow; no use getting hung up on silly things.

This was, essentially, a new life, after all.


Alyth shoved her laptop in her bag as she stood from her table at Howard's Cafe. She'd been there for an hour already, eating breakfast and sipping water as she'd gone on the Internet. She'd been looking for possible part-time jobs, and then had spent some time watching videos on her screen.

She wasn't going to be late to her classes if she left now, but she most certainly wouldn't be early. And she always preferred being early. As she stood, she almost collided with the waitress.

"Oh, sorry," she said, glancing at the girl. The blond-haired female huffed, gathering up Alyth's plate and cup.

"It's fine," she mumbled back. The waitress glanced at Alyth, started to walk away, and then froze. "Hold on, do I know you?"

"Uh..." Alyth blinked multiple times, squinting at the blonde girl. Now that she thought about it... the waitress looked an awful lot like a girl in the year above her at high school. Alyth couldn't quite remember her name, but she did remember that she used to be one of the 'popular' kids, hanging out with that pleasant boy with the purple hat, and that other cocky, egoistic kid with the styled red hair. "Maybe?"

The girl - did her name begin with an L, maybe? - narrowed her eyes. "I do," she muttered. "Are... you the girl who punched that kid in my year so hard you broke a bone of his?"

Alyth sighed. She'd hoped to avoid awkward encounters like this at least until the first class.

But, no, it was just her luck.

"That's me," she said. "In my defense, he deserved it."

"Mmm." The waitress nodded, to Alyth's surprise. "He was a total dick. Um, is your name... Alyssa? Oh, no, wait, Alyth, right?" She smiled.

"Oh, yes. And you're... Lanna?" Wait, that still didn't sound right...

Lanna-not-Lanna smiled. "Laney. You were close."

"Ah." Alyth shuffled uncomfortably. "Well, it was nice seeing you again, Laney."

"Likewise." Laney glanced at the bag Alyth was holding. "You going to uni here?"

"That's right." At this rate, Alyth was going to be late. "Do you not...?"

"Oh, I do, but I don't have a class until after lunch." Laney beamed.

"Ah, I see. Well, I'm the opposite - most of my classes are in the morning. Anyway, I have to go now, or I might not be able to make the first one." Alyth smiled vaguely at the older girl, who gasped.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! I'm holding you up. Off you go. See you later!" Laney shuffled away, taking Alyth's plates to the kitchen, throwing a smile at the dark-haired girl. Alyth gave the blond hair a weak smile back and hurried out the door.

Warm air blew across Alyth's face as she hurried down the street, checking her watch. If she kept walking at this speed, she most likely would manage to get there on time...

She shifted her bag higher on her shoulder and relaxed when she saw the university's signpost outside their campus. There were several other kids hanging around there, laughing and talking and basically, interacting.

Alyth mentally prepared herself. They didn't look familiar from back here, but... she didn't really want to go through any more awkward encounters. She hurried across the road, and several of the people standing at the entrance turned to look at her.

Most of them she didn't know, but... there was that boy who'd hung out with Laney... Cameron or something like that. He turned his green gaze on her, but didn't comment as she walked past. She sighed quietly in relief, and looked around at the buildings.

They were pretty, like most of the buildings in this city. Some of them were made of old red brick, and some of them were made of glass. She liked both styles, and smiled a small smile as she glanced around.

She checked her watch. She still had a few minutes before her first class. No, wait, hold on, it was the introduction first, wasn't it? Didn't every student have to attend? But, then, what about Laney? Had she been lying, or had the girl forgotten?

Alyth sat on the bench beside the main lecture hall, where the introduction would happen. She half wanted to glance at the faces around her, and half didn't. In the end, she looked up to study the students.

She recognised multiple faces, despite it being six years since she'd last saw them. Ivan, an older boy who had always been rather popular in high school, along with his brother, Dirk. Alyth remembered him quite well, as he'd be the subject of many of her friends' crushes. There was also Amir, a foreign boy in her year, who was always around his best friend, Sanjay. Vaughn, the grumpy silver-haired pretty boy who had been a bit of a loner in high school. Chelsea, a girl who'd tried overly hard to be nice to Vaughn, and her friend Sabrina, a shy dark-haired girl with glasses.

Some faces she didn't recognise. They'd probably come from a different city, Alyth decided. That must be it. And Rod, as well, most likely.

She wasn't surprised when she saw the strawberry blond haired boy come into view, chatting with some friends. He'd certainly appeared intelligent enough on the street earlier in the week, and he definitely looked around about Alyth's age. She'd expected him to go to university, and so he did.

Her mobile buzzed in her pocket, and Alyth hurriedly pulled it out. It kept buzzing, the notification light flashing. She scowled at it. What now?

She pressed the power button, entered her password, and saw that she had multiple texts from an unknown number. Frowning, she pulled up her messages.

'holy crap!' the first one read. 'you're back?' read another. Alyth blinked several times, confused, until a loud squeal interrupted her thoughts. Something barrelled into her, and her back squished painfully against the wooden bench. She groaned, pushing the person off her-

"Tina?!" Alyth's eyes widened, taking in one of her best friends from five years ago. The brown haired girl giggled and hugged Alyth again. "Oh, Jesus, okay you can get off me now. I'm happy to see you too."

As the weight shifted off her body, she noted that many of the students around them had stopped and begun to stare. Alyth sighed, but grinned when she saw Tina's beaming face.

"It's been too long," she gushed, sitting beside Alyth on the bench. "God, what, five years?"

"Six." Alyth took in Tina's new image. She'd been short when they were kids, but Tina had clearly shot up (much like Alyth had in her 3rd year away) and was a lot more gorgeous than when she had been when they were thirteen. Her brown hair was still short, but stylish, a healthy glow to her face and her green eyes sparkling like jewels. "You've grown taller."

"You have, too!" Tina clapped her hands together. "This is great. We need to catch up sometime! Oh, oh, and you have got to see Iroha! I know she'll be absolutely delighted to see you!"

Alyth smiled at the thought of seeing her other best friend again. She'd punched that blonde haired boy for both of her friends. They were the only people she'd punch someone else for.

An announcement for the introduction blared over the campus, and Tina stood quickly. She was just as full of energy as she had always been, ever since they were children. It was one of the things that Alyth had loved about her friend; her bubbly-ness. "Let's go, Alyth! We can see Iroha in the auditorium."

The darker haired girl let the brunette pull her to her feet. "Sounds good to me. Is she still the same as she was years ago?"

Something odd passed over Tina's face, but before Alyth could register it fully, it was gone. "You'll see!" Tina said, as cheerful as before. Perhaps Alyth had only imagined it. Tina pulled her towards the university's auditorium.

It looked like another new life was beginning, sprouting from an old one.