So I want to note a change in the story. In the last chapter I specified that Berk was in Cape Cod. Ignore that. Berk is located in northern Mane, still on the cost an still a fishing town but Berk is in Northern Mane. I repeat. Berk is in Nortern Mane!
The air was warm, but with a gentle breeze, the sun was shining brightly and the tree tops were showing the slightest hint of changing color already. These are the things I tucked away in my memory of first arriving on the college campus. Oh gosh I was so excited! I can scarcely remember the last time I was out of my house, much less in the middle of the city! Mother always made sure I was safe, and I know she knows best but GOSH it feels good to be out in the open!
"Well, what do you think, Punzie?" Flynn said next to me. I hugged him in response
"Oh thankyouthankyouthankyou! It's beautiful! I can't thank you enough for everything you've done!"
"Easy, easy, girl." Flynn said "It was really no big deal."
"Well it was to me." I say "I'm really glad I met you Flynn Rider."
"Me too." He said after a moment. A small silence fell over us with the digestion of our own words, then he said "Well I gotta get to work, moving day so everyone's going to be having problems about something. So let's get this moving along."
"Oh, yeah." I say.
He grabs my four boxes, I grab my two suitcases and we head inside. I'm hoping Flynn will have time to stay and help me unpack, but when we get to my room, room 313, he says "How about you get yourself situated and we'll meet for lunch?"
I grin big "Yeah!"
"Kay then, bye." Flynn hesitantly walked away but I know he doesn't want to.
When he's gone I set up my purple bedspread with a yellow sun design on it. I set up my chameleon, Pascal's, cage, food an water I unpack my clothes and books and put up my painting. I hope my roommate doesn't mind, being the art magor I am I'm rather proud of my paintings.
But gosh there was so much to do! I don't know where to begin. Should I start figuring out a plan for getting to classes on time? Should I talk to the people on my floor? Maybe I should look online about my professors!
But, all the same, the awnser presented itself to me simply enough. I had to be outside. I had to go out and envoy the city and nothing else would do! I took a quick survey of myself in the mirror. I'd chosen to wear my favorite long-sleeved purple dress, my incredibly long golden hair (which reached my knee at full length) was in a braid, (thicker then a normal braid because I'd done it into three smaller braids first and then braided those) that came to my waist, looking into my own green eyes I saw sheer excitement. Oh! I was almost dancing on the spot! I couldn't wait any longer or I just might burst! I put on my shoes and headed off into the world.
When I got out there my excitement only grew inside of me and the next thing I knew I was running across the campus. The feeling of fresh air in my lungs, wind in my hair, it was wonderful! . . . For about forty seconds until I ran into a guy carrying a box and all the books inside spilled across the walkway.
"Ah! Watch where you're going!" The guy snapped, getting down to pick up his books
"Oh, gosh, I'm so sorry. I- I just- I didn't pay attention to where I was going and . . ." I stammered out an apology and immediately was on the pavement with him helping the poor fellow pick up the books that had skidded the farthest, landing a five feet away. Looking at the man again I saw he had a prosthetic leg. Which only made me feel worse about hitting him. Oh God how horrible of me!
The young man lifted his head and I got a better look at him. He had a kind face with dark brown hair, soft green eyes and a dusting of freckles on either cheek. Our eyes connected an I saw his eyes change from irritated to understanding and kind. His opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by a laugh behind him. I looked up a bit more and noticed another blond girl standing behind him.
"Don't tell me you've already tripped and spilled everything, Hiccup." She said "My God, how am I supposed to leave you in your own for a full school year if I can't take my eyes off of you for a second with out a klutz attack?" She bent down and scooped up a few books and handed them to the boy referred to as Hiccup. She was a pretty girl, defiantly, she wore a red shirt, a brown leather jacket with a big furry collar, arm warmers, a brown skirt with black yoga pants underneath and the king of Uggs that were all furry on the outside. Her hair was a lighter blond then mine and also in a braid and a thin leather headband wrapped around her skull.
"Oh, no, it was my fault." I explained "I slammed into him. Sorry about that by the way."
Hiccup shrugged "No harm done." He said in a voice that didn't quite seem to fit his body. Then he noticed I was still starring at his prosthetic leg. I really hadn't been meaning to, it was just there and it seemed . . . Wrong somehow, that someone so young should have to go through life with only one leg. I tore my eyes away quickly "Sorry. I- I shouldn't have stared."
"What's your name?" He asked getting up with a refilled box of books
"Rapunzel." I replied meekly
"Well Rapunzel, you want to know what the funny thing about only having one leg is?" He asked and when I didn't respond right away he took my silence as a cue to continue "You learn to walk without it." And he walked away carrying the box full of books with the blond girl.
Now, I honestly didn't mean to easdrop but the two of them were still in earshot and the courtyard was rather empty so I couldn't help it.
"So, three right?" Hiccup was saying
"Three O' clock, every Tuesday afternoon. I'll make sure I'm online. And try to check at about seven on Saturdays too. And we'll text all the time." The girl replied "I know you don't think this is gonna work, long-distance and all Hiccup. But it IS gonna work. We'll MAKE IT work."
There was a small pause "Yeah, you're right. You're right. This is gonna work out, just fine." He said back.
And then they were out of earshot and I felt what seemed like a giant stone in the bottom of my stomach, weighing on me.
I went on walking aimlessly, slower and more cautious this time though. All over people were carrying luggage and saying goodbye to family and friends. I wonder what mothers doing right now. She's probably worried. Should I call and tell her I'm alright? No, that would be a bad idea. She probably doesn't want to talk to me now anyway, after everything that happened. . .
Eventually I just returned back to my dorm, hoping to maybe take a nap or something to kill time. Even though I'm out in the city for once, and surround by people, I feel more alone then ever. I had a strong yearning to go and talk to Flynn but I knew he would be busy with students and work and it would be wrong if me to distract him.
In the hallway of my dorm I got a little road blocked as a family of four was taking up the entire hallway. There was a strawberry-blond girl with her hair in twin brains sitting on the floor against the wall opposite one of the doors, looking bored. The three other parents stood very straight at the door, the parents were apparently saying good-bye to their daughter, who was a strikingly beautiful young lady, tall and slender, with platinum blond hair in a tight bun and piercing blue eyes she was dressed in a tercoise dress with a sweetheart design and black material around her shoulders and a thin gold belt around her slender hips, though it sounded more like a lecture to me.
It went something like this: " Don't think just because you're in collage now, don't think you can start slacking off, young lady. That's not what I'm paying for and I won't have it. Not from my oldest daughter, oh no. I expect top-marks, Elsa, just as before." In several variations, keeping the same tone.
Elsa replied at several points with an appropriate and stony-faced "Yes Father." Or "No Father." "Of course not Father."
I slipped into my room quietly. I felt bad for Elsa, but I just didn't know how to help. Anyway, I didn't have time to worry about her problems because it wasn't a moment after I got back into my dorm room that I was faced with my own.
Half if my hand-painted posters had been torn down messily from the walls and discarded in a large pile on the floor. Hours and hours if work was thrown away and more then a few had been torn in the process. Now I can let things go, but my paintings are all I have to remind me of home, no way in hell was this okay.
On the bed that wasn't mine a girl with a mane of wild red locks was still tearing down the last few posters from the wall.
"HEY!" I yelled and scattered up to stop her but not before a large tear appeared in it. "What do you think you're doing! These are mine!"
"An' what do ye think yer doin'." She countered in a thick Scottish accent, unfazed "Takin' up the entire room with 'em. Half this wall space belongs to me and I don' want yer paintings on it withou askin'. Thank ye very much!" This girl was up in my face now and her blue eyes blazed mad and she was so close that her wild orange hair fell onto my face as well.
But I wasn't backing up "That doesn't matter! I put these up because I liked them! I made them all myself! And if you think I'm just gonna let you get away with ruining hours of work-" I was in hysterics by now but this . . . This BITCH just goes
"Pff, they're fine. A little year here and there but no worse for the wear."
"They're crinkled and dirty and . . . And . . . "
A knock came at the door. "Hey Merida, I think you forgot this in my room earlier." Came a familiar male voice through the door. My stomach dropped . 'Oh God.' I thought 'No, not yet. If I have to see him, let him forget first!'
My roommate who now had a name opened the door before I could do anything and in walked the one-legged man that I'd toppled earlier. He was holding a small cardboard box in his hands. When noticed me, there was no hostility in his eyes, I was relieved to see, he smiled and said "Oh, hello again."
"You two know each other?" Merida asked
"We've met." I said, struggling to keep looking into his soft green eyes
"Anyway, Merida, I think you forgot this in my room earlier." He said, turning away from me.
Merida took it from him and ripped off the tape saying "Are ye sure? I'm pretty sure we got everything." Inside were a bunch of little orange bottles, the kind doctors put prescriptions in, a day-by-day divider, and some papers with instructions. "No, this stuff's defiantly not mine. Oh hey there's a name on the bottles. Jack Frost. Does that ring a bell?"
"Oh, that's my roommate. Sorry, I guess I just assumed he already had his stuff in order Since he got here before me." He said
Merida shrugged "No problem."
Hiccup turned to go but stopped when he almost stepped on the painting on the ground I let out a noise somewhere between a shriek and a gasp. He saw what I meant and not only carefully stepped around the pictures. Hiccup bent down and got a closer look at them "Hey, these are pretty good." He looked up at me "Did you do these?"
I nodded "Yes."
"But we seem to disagree on weather or not they should take up all of MY wall space." Merida explained
"I worked hard on those painting and I brought them here to remind me of home! You don't get to just tear them off like they're trash!" I snapped
"Whoa, calm down." Hiccup said in reply "I think I might have a solution. I know these two guys back in my hometown, they work on my dad's construction company, and they do, kinda like, extreme recycling projects. One of them, Ralph, he once made a skirt for his daughter out if Recess Peanut Butter Cup wrappers. She wears it all the time. They'll take just about anything and turn it into something amazing. I can give the paintings to them and maybe they'll come up with something you both can enjoy? I mean, it's just a thought."
I looked at Merida and I knew she and I both liked the idea. "That could work. What would they make?"
Hiccup shrugged "I dunno. Whatever you tell them to. Or whatever strikes their fancy if want to give them total control."
"Maybe . . . " Merida said, looking at me like she was skating on thin ice. And in that moment I saw her trying to apologize, she knew maybe she was in the wrong there and didn't want to start off on the wrong foot. "Maybe a horse?"
I nodded, and a silent agreement passed between us. We would forget the yelling we'd just done and start afresh. "A horse sculpture. Yeah, I like that."
"Okay then." Hiccup said, collecting the paintings in his arms "I'll give Ralph and Felix a call and see what they can do." He handed the paintings to me and left the room with a pleasant "See you around."
And for the first time, I really felt that I'd made the right choice coming here. And I knew I was going to be just fine.
That's all for now. I wish I could've fit Jack into this chapter but other only way I could see would've been to have Rapunzel bump into both Hiccup and Jack and that would've been to cheesy. Also, fun fact: Ralph is the head of the demolition crew on which Tuffnut and Ruffnut now work. I'm hoping to include all of the riders in some way or form later in the story, so keep your eye out for references!
And I'm looking for some opinions from the a audience for the next chapter. Should go have it be the first day of classes or skip right to Halloween?
