I walked into the athletic building just in time. Everyone was gathered on the dance floor warming up. I threw my bag in the locker room, threw on my dance shoes, and sauntered on to the dance floor in front of the mirror. I loved big dance classes like this, because it was easier to stare at everyone else rather than yourself in the mirror.

I glanced about the room for a moment as I stretched my legs out. A couple familiar faces, several of the toms from yesterday's lunch. Oh, and there was Victoria! I didn't know she danced! Well, I suppose she has a very beautiful dancer's body.

I was about to get Victoria's attention when the instructor called for class to start. Mr. Skimbleshanks, he was? He was a very fun tom. He told us to call him "Skimble," it was just easier in his opinion. Maybe I'll just do Mr. Skimble, then. As this was a beginner's class, he told us he had to go through all the basics of all types of dance this semester. I groaned inwardly, but I suppose it's only fair. There had to be some cats in here that never danced a day in their life. The rest of class was pretty boring. He went through basic rules: never wear your dance shoes off the dance floor, always be on time, you're allowed on three absences, yadda yadda yadda. But at the end he put us through some exercises, and those kept me all pumped up and energized even after I changed my shoes and was on my way out of the building.

"Hey, Electra!" I turned to see Victoria's white figure running to catch up with me. "What, think you're too good to wait for your suite-mate?" But it was a joke and I grinned at her.

"Got any more classes today?" I asked her.

"Yeah, a night class. Sucks."

"Ew, that does suck. Is it long?"

"Two and a half hours!"

"Ouch. Good luck."

"Thanks."

We walked in an awkward silence for a while. I suddenly couldn't wait to get back to the dorm just to end this awkwardness.

"So...met any toms, yet?" Victoria asked. I was caught off guard, and looked over at her. She grinned. "There's this tom named Pouncival in my Bio class. He's kinda cute."

"Didn't he sit with us at lunch yesterday?" I was pretty sure I recognized his name, though don't even bother asking me what he looked like.

"I think so," she said thoughtfully. "Oh, and when I went to lunch, I saw this older tom, white with black patches. He was hot. Exotica told me his name was Alonzo, I think..."

"That's exciting," I said. I meant it, too. That she already had toms she was crushing on, and she really thought she had chance with them.

"Well, what about you?"

"What?"

She laughed. "Electra, have you seen any cute toms?"

"Well..." Only one had really caught my attention. But I barely knew Victoria and I didn't really want to talk about such things with her. But, then again, she seemed like she'd be a good friend, if I gave her the chance. "I met a tom this morning, Tumblebrutus. He was pretty cute." Well, he was pretty hot. Victoria grinned in satisfaction.

"I think I remember Tumblebrutus. He's not really my type, so you can have him." That was also a joke and she laughed and patted my arm. I grinned at her as we walked through the door to the dorm building. She chattered about all the cute toms in our dance class as we made our way to our suite. The door to the common room was open and Etcetera called us in when she heard us walk by.

"Our last suite-mates are here," my roommate said. I looked over to see the red queen from earlier and a gold queen together on the couch. I found a chair in a corner and listened in on the conversations. The red queen was Bombalurina, she was a Junior, and had just dumped her boyfriend, Tugger. The gold queen was Bombalurina's older sister, Demeter. She had a boyfriend named Munkustrap and she and him were both Seniors. They couldn't figure out why the school had placed them to room together, but it wasn't worth applying for a new roommate. I learned more about these queens than I really wanted to at this point, and when I looked at my phone, I realized we were going to be late for dinner. I tapped Etcetera's shoulder and showed her the time. She hurriedly said good-bye and walked out with me, Victoria, Jemima, and Tantomile.

"Who else is coming, Cettie?" Jemima asked. Cettie? What, nicknames, now? Was I going to get some weird nickname?

"I'm not sure, I invited a lot of cats," Etcetera said easily.

"You don't know?" Victoria asked.

"Oh, we'll just get a big table and let whoever shows up, show up."

A lot of cats showed up. It was like a repeat of yesterday's lunch. But it was good practice to get everyone's names and faces down. Tumblebrutus was there, and Quaxo sat across from me. He was in my dance class earlier. Pouncival, Plato, a tom named Alonzo. There also came a couple of queens, Cassandra and Rumpleteazer. There were more, but it was still too many for my poor little brain.

I also got distracted from my studying when Coricopat tried talking with me. I had been watching him and Tantomile closely, I was always fascinated with identical twins. They seemed more observant, like me. And thoughtful. Maybe that was how Coricopat noticed my silence. I wish cats wouldn't think I felt excluded because I was so quiet. But I suppose there's nothing to do about that.

I went to bed that night exhausted. At least I had gotten through the first day. Two more new classes tomorrow, and then hopefully things will fall into a rhythm. Etcetera's chattering on and on lulled me to sleep, and I barely remembered to set my phone alarm for the next morning. This day hadn't gone so bad, so maybe this college thing isn't so bad at all.