So. I'm currently a big fan of the Ridonculous Race cast, specifically the college aged contestants, and I began to brainstorm a fic that had to do with the college aged RR cast and the TDI/A/WT cast going to the same college. This popped out. However, while it is a slice of life story with specific focus on Emma, Kitty, and Noah, all of the aforementioned characters will play a part and I do have a plot that everything will work up to.
As such, Nemma will be the main pairing, but I'm wanting to take it in a different direction than canon did. So, it'll be interesting to see if it works or not. Other pairings will show up as well, but they'll reveal themselves as time goes on. Some will be obvious, some won't be, and some will be LGBT. If you can't handle that... you probably wanna find another fic.
But regardless, hopefully this will be an interesting project that will be something in of itself with a (hopefully) engaging plot as it goes along.
So, without further adieu, let's see where we can go with this!
Chapter 1: The Year of the Kit
Fall's cold winds had hit Canada hard that year, to the point that Emma believed it was about three times colder than it should have been. But that was fine with her; more of a reason to overdose on coffee, right?
She decided that would be a good idea in the first place with her new "job." After all, McLean University was undergoing a large change. That month, September, was to open a new dormitory. One that would be either make or break it for the faculty.
They were treading the path of the dreaded co-ed dorms.
As a resident assistant, a student who worked as a leader amongst students who lived in a dorm, Emma was reassigned to this brand new dorm for her good work. With this being her last year of college, barring law school, it would have been basically useless to say no. Besides, she had been a resident assistant since her sophomore year.
Opening the doors to the "meeting room," which was more like a small room maybe a few feet wider than a closet, she looked around to see Dean McLean and only one other resident assistant in the room.
"Emma," Dean McLean greeted her, "I suppose you already know Tom."
"Oh, trust," the lanky fellow replied, holding up a hand to the dean, "We've met."
Tom, who was currently going to graduate school on campus, was known across campus as one of two editors for a popular blog; the other being Jen. Both had an extreme interest in fashion, and would often critique students in their dressing styles.
That's how Emma knew Tom quite well.
"Under not the best circumstances," she clarified, crossing her arms and glaring at Tom.
"It wasn't personal!" he replied, shaking his head slightly, "You just dress kind of…"
"Kind of…?" Emma repeated the same fading tone that the grad school student gave her.
"Drab," he spoke, bluntly, "Besides, it was Jen who picked you for that editorial, not me. Don't shoot the messenger, honey."
"When the messenger isn't really making a good case for himself?" she asked, arching an eyebrow, "Yeah. I can shoot the messenger."
"Hey," the egotistical dean snapped his fingers to draw the two student's attentions back to him, "This is way off topic. As much as I'd love to hear you two argue and fuss over things that don't matter, you both need to stay focused."
"We're like the best RA's on campus," the Korean girl turned to the dean confusedly, "Why exactly do we need a meeting about this?"
"This is a completely different level than either of you are used to," the dean snickered slightly, his hand stroking his square jaw, "And the school board already knows we have some troublemaking students. Of all kinds."
"That happened one time!" Tom shouted vehemently.
Emma and Dean McLean shared a look before the latter said, "I… have no idea what you're talking about."
"...Continue," he gave a weak chuckle and a grin, as the dean cleared his throat once more.
"As I was saying," he continued, "We're a little short on resident assistants this year. So, it's you two. That's it. Trying to control thirty or so other teenagers. Mr. Hatchet will probably help you two out a good amount, but I don't want you to rely on him. Emma, you're twenty-one. Tom, you're twenty-four. You two should be able to handle this for the most part."
That was for the better in Emma's opinion. She never was the most fond of Mr. Hatchet, but a lot of students never were. He had a militant and loud air to him, and often would not put up with even the slightest of backtalk. But then again, she still wasn't exactly sure they could handle this without him.
"Good talk," the dean took a sip of his coffee and began to walk out, "Good luck."
"Wait," Emma stopped him, "Aren't you supposed to give us protocol?"
"If you don't know protocol by now, you're shit outta luck," was his extremely too casual answer. With that, he walked out, leaving Tom and Emma to their own devices.
"I guess we shouldn't be too surprised, should we?" Tom asked, turning to the shorter student.
"Probably not," she sighed, disgruntled, "It's divided by halls on each floor, right?"
Tom nodded, "Guys on the left wing. Girls on the right, I'm pretty sure."
"Easy as cake," was her response, "Besides, this is just moving in day. There couldn't be something too hard to handle on the first day- ...Oh." Right.
Her sister's first day at McLean University was today, wasn't it? But surely she wouldn't want to move into the co-ed dorm, right?
Kitty breathed in the fresh September air as she strolled throughout the campus. Her days as a highschooler were officially over, and her days as a college student had officially begun. However, she was even more excited for something else.
She would be going to the same college that her older sister was going to.
While a lot of people thought otherwise by the way Emma's coldness came off as rude and condescending towards Kitty, Kitty legitimately saw Emma as not only her sister, but as her best friend. She knew that regardless of Emma's no-nonsense nature in comparison to her own happy-go-lucky nature, that she would ultimately do anything for Kitty. And vice versa.
She walked to the dorm room that she was assigned, leaving her suitcase inside the room. She looked around for a moment, wondering who her roommate would be. Deciding to exit the room, she stopped in her tracks when a blonde girl stood outside the door.
"Uh," she spoke, giving Kitty a wave, "Hey, roomie."
"Hey!" Kitty exclaimed, smiling at the girl, "It's rad to meet you! I'm Kitty."
"Carrie," the girl replied with a smile, "It's nice to meet you, too."
The two shook hands for a moment before Kitty stepped to the side to let Carrie inside the room. Placing her bag near the other bed, Carrie looked around for a moment.
"Well, it's definitely… small," she noted, laughing nervously.
"We'll deal," Kitty shrugged, before asking, "Hey. Are you a freshman, too?"
The blonde nodded. "Yeah. I'm here for a degree in early childhood education, actually."
"Like… a preschool teacher?" the Asian girl asked, tilting her head slightly.
Carrie nervously nodded and said, "Uh, yeah. I know it's not the most prestigious of career plans, but-"
"Are you kidding?" Kitty grinned at her roommate, "That sounds absolutely fantastic!"
Carrie gave a less nervous smile to Kitty and said, "Uh, thank you. What exactly are you here for, if you mind me asking?"
Kitty gave a low hum for a moment, "I… don't know."
"You don't know?" Carrie repeated in shock, "But… Don't you think that you should find out?"
The easygoing girl gave a shrug. It didn't really matter to her right then anyway. All that she could do the first two years of college was get the normal teaching regimen anyway. If she decided, she would decide. While Carrie gave her a strange look, she ultimately shrugged as well and moved on.
For all Kitty knew, she might not ever find her "place" in the working society.
"This isn't going to work," a deadpan Indian student spoke. And in a way, he felt like he was correct. The other two of his friends both turned back to him when he said this, as they stood in the back of the new co-ed dorm.
"Of course it's gonna work, Noah!" a taller, chubby boy by the name of Owen exclaimed, "Has Izzy and I ever done something to lead you astray?" Owen and Noah were an unlikely duo, but they were extremely close. Wherever Noah was, Owen usually was. Wherever Owen was, Noah usually was, even if he was supposedly regretting that decision.
"Let's see," he began to name off a list of times that he had been led astray by Owen and his girlfriend, "How about the time you said it was a good idea to eat all of those nachos before going on that huge rollercoaster and you vomited all over my lap?"
"Okay, that was once-"
"How about the time you said mouthing off to Duncan about him smoking in his dorm was the right thing to do earned me a black eye?" Noah added, crossing his arms.
"Well, it was the right thing-"
"What about the time Izzy led us into the forest and we couldn't get back to the college for three days?"
"Shhhh!" Izzy interrupted Noah's annoyed rant, "You're upsetting Li'l Noah!"
"I told you to not name that thing after me!" the bookworm exclaimed, glaring at Izzy.
Owen and Izzy, through some transaction Izzy had made, had bought a pig. A pig of all things. From a shady red-haired highschool farmer, at that. And what did they decide to name it?
Li'l Noah, of all things.
"But he's just as lazy and bored looking as you are!" Owen replied, picking up the pig and holding it in front of Noah's face.
"...I can't deny that," he replied before snapping, "Will you get the pig out of my face?!"
"Sorry, buddy," the blonde chortled as he pulled Li'l Noah away from his best friend, "So. You're still gonna help us, right?"
"I might as well," the bookworm scoffed, rolling his eyes, "I don't exactly trust you guys in sneaking a pig into Izzy's new dorm room."
"No, silly!" Izzy shook her head and giggled, "It's not going in my room!"
Noah fell silent for a moment before widening his eyes, "No. Oh no. There is no way in hell, that you're sneaking that pig into me and Owen's new dorm room! No way! I'm not going along with it!"
Of course, he didn't really have a choice.
"Ohhhh, so we can't have the same room?" a blonde asked, as she tapped her lip when Emma told her that her and her boyfriend were not assigned to the same room, "This is the co-ed dorm, right?"
"Of course it is," was Emma's curt answer, "But this is still a school with standards, you know. Guys are on the left wing, girls are on the right."
Tyler, the girl named Lindsay's boyfriend, gave a snicker, "This school? Standards? Since when?"
The study-holic stared flatly at Tyler, but said nothing, her hands on her hips. Tyler sighed and said, "Okay, fine. We'll go to our own rooms. See you later, Linds?"
"Oh, definitely!" the bubbly girl replied to the jock. Before Emma could say anything, the two had begun to kiss and the girl rolled her eyes in response. Right now, she wasn't the most receptive to seeing "happy" couples. And to be honest, she hadn't been throughout all of her college career.
"Could you please keep PDA to a minimum?" she asked, cross with the two.
Lindsay and Tyler looked at Emma, then back at each other, before resuming to make out.
With a grunt, Emma turned on her heels. Oh, she'd definitely write these two up on this. And if she caught them doing anything more? Oh, ho. That would be much worse for them.
She skidded to a stop when a familiar face met her own. Before Emma could say anything, arms were wrapped around her.
"Hey, Emma!" her younger sister, Kitty, exclaimed.
"Hey, Kit," was Emma's response, "Can you… not crush me to smithereens?"
Kitty gave a giggle and let go of her older sister, saying simply, "Sorry about that, Em."
Emma dusted herself off and cleared her throat before asking her, "So, uh. Are you sure you've got the right dorm hall?"
The taller of the sisters looked a bit bewildered for a moment. After thinking over it, she said, "Well, this is the new co-ed dorm, right?" From what she could see, it was newly renovated from an old, probably condemned dormitory in the past. There was no way she could see anything that proved it wasn't what she was looking for, anyway.
"Well, yeah, it is," Emma crossed her arms, giving her sister a stern look, "I'm just not so sure that you're ready for this."
"I'm eighteen, Emma," Kitty mirrored her sister's stance and rolled her eyes, "I'm practically an adult now!"
"That's the key word," Emma replied, "Practically. You don't quite get the chaos that comes behind living in a co-ed dorm, do you?"
"Well, yeah, of course I do," Kitty shrugged. Before Emma could say anything in response, two rockers, clad in towels walked past them.
"Sup, brahs?" the taller one, Rock, spoke to them.
Emma's lids drooped as she said, "Rock? Spud?"
"Yeah, man?" the other one, Spud, asked, giving Emma a "rock on" sign in greeting.
"Don't walk around the dorm in your towel for the love of what's good and holy," was her deadpan response to them.
"Well, we were just-"
Emma gave a silent point to Rock, who gave a sigh and said, "C'mon, Spud. Let's get dressed and pig out on Choco-Oinks." With that, the two went on their merry way, as Emma turned her deadpan gaze towards her sister.
Kitty, however, seemed barely affected as she turned back to her sister, saying, "They seem nice!"
Emma pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed, before saying, "Are you sure you can handle this? You're a freshman. College is a huge responsibility, and you don't have time to lollygag."
"Yeah, but I'm also not going to become a shut-in like you are," Kitty replied, shaking her head. She hated to break it to Emma, but it was the truth.
Emma knew that. Studying was her major focus and it always was. Moreso than ever, nowadays. But that didn't mean that Emma wasn't social. She did have a couple of friends. Courtney came to mind. Mary and Ellody came to mind. Wasn't that enough?
"I've got my resident assistant duties," she spoke, "That basically forces me into social situations."
"Ooh!" Kitty replied with a smile, "Fancy, Em! I'll totally be sure to join you in a couple years or so. Well. If you decide to take your graduate classes here that is."
"Please," a smirk crossed Emma's lips, "There isn't a thing in the world that could keep me here, Kit." Kitty frowned for a bit, and almost opened her mouth to ask something regarding that, but ultimately decided against it.
Emma, recognizing the hurt in her sister's eyes, said, "Kit, I didn't really mean it like tha-"
"SOOWEEEEEE!"
Both girls turned on their heels as a redhead, smuggling something underneath her shirt, screeched and ran down the hall to go towards Owen and Noah's dorm. Behind her were the aforementioned boys, Owen looking incredibly nervous and Noah looking quite apathetic about the situation.
"Something tells me that's far from a good thing," Emma finally spoke, before heading off down the hall behind them, "Hey! What're you three up to?"
Kitty watched her sister run off, before deciding to trail after it, "Emma! Wait up!"
The two sisters watched as the three retreated inside a dorm room, and the sound of the door locking clicked throughout the hallway.
Banging on the door, Emma called, "What's going on in there?"
"Um, I'm in the shower!" Owen's voice called back, "Leave a message after the beep! Beep!"
Kitty gave a giggle at the charade, but Emma, of course, was less than amused.
"I literally just saw you guys go in!" she called as she banged on the door again, "You didn't have time to jump in the shower that quick and you know it!"
"Crap, she's onto us," she heard Owen whisper from the other side of the door.
"Well, yeah, she definitely will be if you say that without moving away from the door," Noah's sarcastic voice replied.
Emma gave another sigh and massaged her temples for a moment, "I'm one of the resident assistants of this dorm, you know. If you don't open up, I'll have to go to some sort of administration about you. Or at the very least, write you up."
"Hah!" Izzy's voice came from behind the door, "You and what army?!"
"Izzy!" both Noah and Owen's voices chastised her. Honestly, neither of them wanted to be kicked out on the first day of sophomore year.
"Okay, we're opening the door!" Owen replied in exclamation, as he began to unlock the door.
"Thank you," was Emma's insincere reply as she stepped back for a moment.
"Do you really think they're doing anything against the rules or something?" Kitty asked her sister, "I mean, as far as I can tell, they were just running in the halls!"
The resident assistant shook her head, "No, Izzy had something in her shirt. I'd know. This isn't exactly the first time I've had this conversation with her." Being Izzy's resident assistant last year, she already knew about the hijinks the redhead could cause. Only she hoped this time that whatever she had hidden wasn't a venomous snake.
She really didn't want to talk about the whole problem with the venomous snake thing.
The door opened slightly, which Emma ended up pushing it all the way open, accidentally bumping it against Owen's nose.
"Okay," she spoke as she began to walk inside the dormitory, "What do you guys have hidden in heeeeeeere-"
Emma felt something run between her legs, causing her to trip and land on her butt in front of Izzy, Noah, and Owen. The three gave a look before Izzy said, "Li'l Noah! You were supposed to stay in here until she left!"
Kitty, however, had reached down and picked up the piglet, cooing, "Awww, Emma! It's adorable! See? This isn't a problem at all, is it?"
Emma looked at Kitty coddling the piglet. Then at Noah, who seemed to want no part of this in any way. Then at Owen, who was nervously fidgeting over the whole situation. And lastly, at Izzy, who was trying to reprimand the piglet for his actions.
It was only the first day and she was already ready to call this whole fiasco quits then and there.
And there's the first chapter. It's mostly to introduce the main three characters, introduce the setting of the fic, and etc. After the first few chapters, the plot will be kicking into high gear.
What did you think? Like it? Hate it? Let me know!
Until next time!
