The rain was exceedingly appropriate. The girl could not help but note that, as it poured from the dull gray skies, the endless swatches of cloud that blotted out all sunlight. So appropriate. She sighed and leaned back in the seat of the carriage, feeling it roll underneath her as it ran along the cobbled road. So close now. She had caught sight of the massive building of sandstone, black, and brick a couple moments ago. The library. Soon the entirety of the campus would fall away before them as the scattered shops and houses dwindled away in favor of the halls and dormitories. She had seen this place many times before. It was a common enough location in Neopia, the Neopian University, the only place for any sort of higher education. A couple miles outside of Neopia Central, supported by an array of smaller stores and boarding houses for the students with multiple pets. She didn't know whether or not to count herself lucky that she only had one pet and thus could fit into the dormitories on campus. She had made it into the Honors program and was thus in the Honors dorms on the east end of campus, in Darrow hall. She wasn't sure if this was a good or bad thing.
"Painted in shades of black and gray, rainy day, rain gray Payne."
It was a childhood taunt they'd throw at her as she passed in the hallways. As she grew older it grew a little more out of use, although she'd find it sneered at her across the classrooms on occasion. It wasn't her fault. It really wasn't. She couldn't help being smart, she couldn't help that the Gray family was rich. She couldn't help it.
And now. This could be her chance to start over, her chance to get away, be someone new, be someone different. Everyone said that these would be the best years of her life. She desperately hoped that was true. An adult now, ready to get away from the family mansion, on her own. In a small room with a stranger she'd never met before for the next school year. Her belongings fit in one carriage, a plain rented one as opposed to the family-owned one. She didn't want to draw attention to herself, not now.
She looked out the window, watching the steady stream of water beat against the glass, puddle in the streets, slick the grass down like so much hair. She closed her eyes briefly.
"Rainy day, rain gray Payne."
On her lap rested the head of a Gelert. She was asleep and had been that way for several hours. Mia, her first and only pet. She had gotten her years ago, when she was only eleven. The two had grown up together and were now the same age. She had started as a blue Gelert, then faerie simply because that was the most expensive brush at the time. Now she was white, at her own request. Like a snowfield, or the sunlight reflecting off a frozen pond. They were like sisters.
The Gelert stirred and yawned, sitting up from her lap. She blinked lazily, her ears hanging limp as she took stock of where they were at.
"We almost there?" Mia murmured.
"Yes. Look, there's the dorms."
The two peered out the far window, the girl practically crawling over her pet. She wasn't that big of a person, short and skinny, as if a strong wind would blow her away. Eighteen years old, although she was commonly mistaken for something around fourteen. It did not bother her. She had long brown-red hair that hung loose over her scrawny shoulders in a wave, the tips bleached white and then dyed bright blue. Thin silver frame glasses and a constant worried and frightened expression. And then there were the eyes, deep gray eyes that appeared to be the essence of the clouds themselves – the Gray family trademark.
The carriage finally rattled to a stop before the dormitory. It was a four-floor quadrangle, or four wings of dorms spinning off the circular center – the cafeteria. The four wings each had a different name and different themes to them. One was for music students, one was single occupancy rooms for students with a lot of pets, one was the honors dorms, and the last one she was not sure about. She threw open the door, pulling the hood of her navy jacket up over her head and ducked out into the rain, Mia springing out behind her. A young man with a badge labeled "Resident Advisor" came running out to greet her, a green Lupe at his heels.
"Hiya miss," he said cheerily, "We're helping people get moved in today cause of the rain. Hand your stuff down and I'll carry it in."
She nodded and ran to the back of the carriage, digging in the compartment in the back and pulling out one of her trunks. He lifted this up over his shoulder while the Lupe grabbed her backpack out of the back with his mouth and took off after him. She grabbed the other trunk and Mia took up the rear with a bag holding Payne's shoes as the carriage rattled off behind her. She was finally here, she was finally on her own.
She found the boy inside, leaning on the trunk and talking with someone at the front desk.
"You're the lucky one," he said, flashing white teeth in a broad grin, "All the other students are taking their sweet time to get here. Probably because of the rain. That and honor students move in a day early. So… what's your name?"
"Gray," she said, "Payne Gray."
"Nice name," he commented, looking over the list with the other resident advisor, "Ah, here we go. Room 228. Second floor. It's in a good location, if I recall."
The girl behind the desk nodded. She was tall and brown-haired, utterly self-assured.
"Near the laundry room, near the food court," she said, "Although it's over the walkway. There's nothing beneath us so it gets real cold in the winter. There's a wind that comes straight across campus and is rather nasty. It's strangely absent today, but it'll be back tomorrow. Oh, believe me, it'll be back. It's always strongest after it rains."
Payne nodded absently, glancing down at Mia.
"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself," the girl said, "I'm Leslie. I'm your resident advisor."
"Pleased to meet you."
"Alright. Here's your keys. Don't lose them. If you lock yourself out you can get a lockout key at the front desk here. But we get mad if you do that too many times. Although…"
And here Leslie leaned over the desk. Payne leaned closer to make the conversation private. Mia and the green Lupe just sat and waited patiently with their loads.
"You won't need to use the lockout key. If you have a card of some sorts you can force the lock. Maintenance has never bothered to fix that. I had that room freshman year and locked myself out all the time. My pet – he's a Mynci – finally figured out how to force it. Never got in trouble from the front desk again."
"Isn't that unsafe?"
"Nah, hardly anyone knows about that. Just don't go talking about it, okay?"
"Right."
Payne shot her one last hesitating glance before picking up the trunk again and following the boy across the lobby to the stairs. Up one flight, into the cream brick hallway with rows of identical gray doors. He stopped at the one marked 218 with two brightly decorated construction paper signs on it. One read Payne and Mia, the other read Maria and BlazeFast.
"Our roommate?" she asked the boy as she unlocked the door.
"Yep."
He edged past her and deposited the trunk on the floor, his pet dropping her backpack beside it.
"Aright, I'm off to help the other students. Have fun, Miss Payne."
And he shot her another smile and vanished off down the hallway.
"You," Mia announced as she dropped her own load and started inspecting the room, "are an idiot."
"Why?" Payne asked, also examining the room. Plain white walls, a window with a large tree from the courtyard filling the view, brown branches nearly black in the damp. Two desks with gray shelves right above, two dressers, two closets, both arranged on opposing sides of the room right by the door. A full-length mirror on the other side of said door, and the bare bunk beds against the left wall. Nothing else.
"How Spartan," Payne muttered, "Now why am I an idiot?"
"Because!" Mia cried, "That guy. He was obviously good-looking and you didn't get his name! Or did you fail to notice him smiling at you? Do we need to get you better glasses?"
Payne looked at her pet, shocked.
"Excuse me!" she cried in indignation, "I'm the human owner here. You're supposed to not comment on those kind of things."
"Hah. I can do what I darn well please. Now let's start unpacking. I want top bunk."
"There's no ladder."
"You climb up the frame. I can do that. So I want top bunk."
"You don't get a bed to yourself!"
"Alright, -we- want top bunk. And if you kick me off in your sleep at any point of time you'll be sleeping on the floor."
"I stopped kicking you a long time ago."
"Not after inflicting permanent damage from the first week I started sleeping on the end of your bed."
"I wasn't that strong at that age."
"True. And you haven't changed much either."
"Excuse me!? Are you calling me weak?"
The white Gelert laughed merrily and popped open the trunk with one paw, pulling out some bed sheets with her teeth. Dark blue. A picture of Jeran on the comforter. Payne sighed and ran her hand through her hair, sighing deeply before going to help.
It took several hours before the room was arranged to their satisfaction. After that Payne retreated to the top bunk, staring out the window, watching the rain, a diary in her lap. She had only written the date in sparking blue ink, nothing more.
"Excuse me?" a small voice inquired from the doorway.
Mia leapt up from her spot on the ultranova rug in the middle of the floor.
"Yeah, com'n in!" she cried and a girl laden down with bags staggered in, dropping them on the floor and looking about her.
"I'm Maria," she finally announced and Payne slid off the bunk bed, landing in a crouch.
"Payne," she said, studying the other girl, "Payne Rain Gray."
Dirty blond hair, long and pulled back into a ponytail. Plain features, brown eyes. Her clothing and luggage was a bit worn, betraying either age or a lack of money. Behind her was a mutant Ixi, long green ears, yellow eyes, and long tail and shock of black fur on the back.
"Wow! That's a name. Oh, this is BlazeFast."
"Yo," he muttered, edging into the room and looking around.
"This is Mia," Payne said, ushering the white Gelert forwards.
"Geez, we got a Jeran fan?" the Ixi said, looking at the posters on the wall.
"Yes. Is that…?"
"Awesome! We can be friendly rivals!" Maria exclaimed, throwing her stuff on the bottom bunk and digging around.
She pulled out a Kass poster, unrolling it and throwing it on the ground face-up, followed by a Darigan banner.
"Meridell and Darigan. This should be interesting," Mia commented, "I actually wanted to paint BlazeFast Darigan but you can't and the brush is way too expensive for me."
Maria continued to dig through her stuff, pulling out more items. A desk lamp, pens and notebooks, and that was about it. As she unpacked Payne wished she could sink into the dirt, noting the cost of her ultranova and Jeran suite compared to Maria's rag-tag collection.
"So um, I guess we're roommates," she said, trying to start up another conversation.
"Yep. We'll have a good year. Thanks for letting me have bottom bunk, by the way. I roll out of bed."
"Oh."
"So. What's your major?"
"I'm undecided."
"And… Mia, was it?"
"I'm not here for classes!" the Gelert declared proudly, "I'm here to tag along with Payne. Well, I'm taking a couple just for fun. But no degree. Not for me."
"Like that's something to brag about," BlazeFast muttered from where he was standing on hind legs to look out the window, "I plan to get myself an education. Early childhood education for NeoPets. Maria is the same, except for humans."
"Those poor kids," Mia said mournfully.
"Tell me about it!" the Ixi replied with an evil grin.
Payne looked startled for a moment, then laughed. Roommates and friends already. This would be a good year.