The biggest problem with shopping, is that it was the only thing besides hanging out with Chval that made her lose all sense of time. Pretty sad, considering time was her element.
At least Illianthe looked fabulous while she stood at the bus stop waiting for the next bus to take her to Alfea. With a new purple top, black shorts, and purple ankle boots, she looked so much more stylish than before. Totally worth the awkward wait.
I can NOT believe I missed the bus! She chastised herself for the millionth time in the past hour and a half. Stupid stupid stupid girl. She repined the clips in her hair that were keeping her luscious locks on the left side of her body, the same side as her bangs.
She could do something about it… considering time was kind of her thing, but she didn't exactly have total control of her magic yet and didn't want to risk losing a week of school or something.
"Mind if I sit here?" Illianthe looked up to answer and was taken aback to see-
"Chval?!" she blinked, as though her thoughts of him had magically conjured him up and he wasn't really standing there right in front of her face.
"Illi?!" Chval sounded just as surprised and laughed. Illianthe laughed too, jumped up and gave him a big hug. He hugged her back, making her stomach flip. "What are you doing in Magix? Did you travel here from some distant future or something?"
Illianthe laughed and they sat down on the floating bench. Even though he was her best friend, they'd only ever seen each other in the same time stream once before. She almost always saw him when she time travelled, though. "Hardly, I was on my way to Alfea but I kind of got a little sidetracked." She nodded to the pile of shopping bags next to her.
Chval laughed a hearty laugh, making Illianthe's insides melt. "That's hysterical!" he laughed again, then managed to regain his composure. "Sorry, it's just ironic that you would lose track of time, what with your ultimate time traveling abilities and all." Illianthe playfully elbowed him. Chval nudged her back.
"Ultimate?" Illi rolled her eyes. "Pfft. I wish! I can barely time travel!"
Chval laughed again. "I've missed you, Illi." He smiled, making her heart beat faster. "It's been forever since I've seen you, and now here you are! Just like that." He paused and seemed like he wanted to say something more, but stopped himself. "So you're here to go to Alfea? Isn't that a Fairy school?"
"Yup." Illi smiled. "Fairy college." she corrected. "Turns out all that time travelling isn't some freaky thing that just happens; it's part of my magic. Alfea is the top Fairy school in all the Realms. Maybe even the whole Cosmos! I never applied or even knew I was a Fairy so I'm not sure how I got in…" she shook her silky mane. "Anyway, I got the letter on my sweet sixteen, pretty amazing present, if you ask me."
"Isn't your birthday February 29th?" Chval asked.
Illianthe nodded, slightly shocked but extremely impressed that he had actually remembered her birthday.
"Yes, but we usually celebrate it on March 1st. 2044 was a leap year, though, so I had a legit birthday this year."
"But of course." Chval leaned slightly closer. "You should take advantage of a Leap Year's birthday." He chided. "Celebrate on the 28th and the first. Nonstop party for 48 hours."
"What, no sleep?" Illianthe bantered back at him.
"With your abilities? Pfft- no way! You could easily time travel a week or two ago, sleep, then come back for more festivities!"
She rolled her eyes. "I can't control my abilities like that. Yet. Hopefully, I'll learn when I go to Alfea- and why are you here, even?" she challenged. "Just for an evening outing?"
"Ah, afternoon," he corrected. "Geez, you're losing your touch." Illianthe shoved him.
"OK, OK," he laughed. "My dad enrolled me into Red Fountain."
"But, aren't you only 15?" she paused, realizing what she had implied on accident. "I mean, not to say that you're not good enough to get in- you totally qualify- it's just that I thought that the ages of the Red Fountain students were from 16-19?"
"They are." He gave a heavy sigh. "My dad just wants to get rid of me as soon as possible. I'll be 16 in November, but you're supposed to be 16 prior to enrollment." He turned and gave Illianthe a knowing look. "Let's just say there are some things money can buy."
"Ah."
The bus pulled up just then, severing their conversation. They both hopped on. Luckily, the bus driver was willing to stop by Alfea and continue on to Red Fountain. Illianthe and Chval had about ten minutes to finish catching up.
All too fast, the ten minutes were up.
"This is my stop." Illianthe gathered up her things. "See ya around?"
"Yeah, maybe." Chval gave her a half smile. "We shall see, fair maiden."
She smiled and waved as the bus departed.
"Welcome to your new home." she excitedly told herself as she entered the newly refurbished golden arches of Alfea's gates.
Alfea was beautiful, literally picture perfect. It was painted a beautiful royal blue and gold, the lawns were kept in green, pristine condition. There were other girls- other Fairies- everywhere. Everything looked exactly like the pictures.
Illianthe checked in with some senior Fairies who were helping Headmistress Ambrosia with registration. They told her where her dorm was, gave her a couple of handouts containing information on clubs and such, and told her the annual "Welcome Freshmen" speech would be held in the cafeteria after dinner. She thanked them and went off in search of her room.
"Dorm room 537." She muttered to herself and bit her lower lip in excitement as she opened the door.
Inside the room was a couple couches and chairs and a coffee table. Not very impressive, but students were allowed to decorate their rooms however they wanted, so long as the dorm was left exactly the way they found it.
Beyond the main entrance was a mini kitchen with a table and half a dozen chairs. Just beyond the table Illianthe could see a large glass double door that led out to their balcony.
But, where are the beds? Illianthe wondered, then noticed the four doors on all sides of the room as two girls emerged from one. Then Illianthe understood; three of the doors were for the bedrooms and one led to the bathroom. She remembered reading about it in the brochure sent to her apartment back in Neo Chicago.
"Out, Rhyla!" the shorter one scowled, her brown eyes blazing. "I already told you; NO BALLOONS IN MY ROOM!" Her silky black hair was perfectly straight and fell just beyond her shoulders. It was parted perfectly down the middle, even her clothes seemed to mirror her perfection. The only thing off was the murderous look in her eyes, though the rest of her porcelain face showed no signs of emotion.
"But we can't have a party without balloons!" the girl Illianthe assumed was Rhyla pressed on. She had fiery red hair that was pulled back into a high short side ponytail.
"I already said; it's not a party." The short one rubbed her temples. "It's just the 'Welcome Back To School' speech the headmistress gives each year. Same boring thing every time, only- yippee- we have to stay longer for the 'Welcome Freshmen' speech." She gave an exasperated sigh. "It's the same thing every year, it's not a party."
"Oh." Rhyla frowned slightly then turned. Her big bright green eyes grew bigger under her bangs once she caught Illianthe's violet ones.
"Hi!" she beamed and skipped over to where Illianthe stood, blue skirt swishing against her legs. She rolled up the sleeves on her red shirt and adjusted the suspenders on her skirt. "I'm Rhyla! I'll be one of your apartment buddies!" she giggled.
"Illianthe." Illianthe nodded. "Nice to meet you." She turned to the other girl, who was adorably short in comparison to Illianthe's freakishly tall 6'1" figure. "You too-"
"Simoriah." She sized Illianthe up, as if she were determining if Illianthe was a potential threat or not. Not the typical "Girl World" threat, but the "am I going to have to kill you before you kill me?" threat. "My friends call my Sumi. You may do the same, if you wish."
She did not wish, she didn't want to get eaten alive. This Simoriah definitely had an air of authority about her, the kind Illianthe hadn't felt even from her former teachers. She was confident, that much she could tell. Maybe she was a Princess? Many Fairies at Alfea were Princesses.
Illianthe opened her mouth to reply when Rhyla gasped "Wait! Illianthe! You're my roommate!" she jumped up and down like a bunny and excitedly grabbed her wrist dragging her to a pair of doors on the far left.
"This is our room!" she opened up the double doors and Illianthe's jaw dropped. The room was huge! From the outside of Alfea, she would have never thought that rooms this large could exist in the school!
But wait-magic. She gave herself a moment to stare in awe at her new room she'd be sharing. Half of the room was completely white and the other half was clearly Rhyla's. It had nothing but all kinds of shades of pinks and reds and hearts everywhere. On Rhyla's bed were several stuffed animals and all kinds of fluff stuff, pillows, pillow-pets, blankets. Illianthe giggled, "I see you like pink?"
Rhyla laughed. "Nah." She joked. "I had no idea what you'd want on your side, I totally had this perfect idea in my head; purple and floral everywhere, but I didn't know if you'd like it or not, so I didn't."
Illianthe's eyes widened. "That's actually just what I was going to do!"
"No way!" Rhyla smiled. "Here, let me help you!"
Together, they got Illianthe's half done in no time. All the while, Rhyla and Illianthe got to know each other some more. Rhyla's family was huge and Illianthe's was extremely tiny in comparison. They both talked about how Eros differed from Earth; apparently the Love planet was split; one half was completely modern and high tech, the other stuck in the Middle Ages.
"That's so cool." Illianthe commented as they finished her purple floral-themed side.
"I know!" Rhyla giggled, jumping into a pile of pillows left of the floor.
"Oh!" Rhyla bolted up. "We're going to be late for dinner!"
Illianthe glanced at the clock. "Ohmigosh; you're right!"
They both ran down the corridors and the many stairs to the cafeteria.