Chapter V: The Room and the Roomie

Harvey sulked down the carpeted hallway, dragging his overly large luggage with him. His eyes flickered back and forth between the many doors lining the walkway and the little plastic card-key he had been given by the man at the welcome center.

"360…361…362…Here it is! 363!" Harvey was practically shaking with nervousness. He was cursing his luck for what had happened to him. Now he had to attend McClintock! Had his roommate already arrived? Would all of Rachel's lengthily spiels about the glorious living conditions prove true?

Gathering his courage, he brought the keycard up to the slot with a shaky hand. He watched as the little red light flashed green, and with a certain solemnity, he twisted the brass doorknob.

He eased open the door with deliberate slowness to prevent himself from simply ramming it down. Degree by degree, his new home greeted him. One watching from the hallway may have been confused as to what the sandy-blonde boy was doing standing there with his mouth wide open - but fortunately for Harvey, there was nobody in the hallway.

When he had succeeded in opening the door, Harvey tentatively stepped inside the short entrance hall. From it, he entered a sizable space, presumably the living room, with a couch and a plush loveseat gathered around a central television. To the right was an open kitchen, fully stocked with a stove, microwave, and refrigerator, and a kitchen table to boot. To the left was a hallway, presumably leading to the bedrooms. Straight ahead was a large window, which bathed the space in natural light.

Harvey was spellbound. Rachel had been right - the place could have easily been categorized as a penthouse, and a pretty huge one at that. He dragged all his luggage behind him as his mouth was left dangling, he walked down the hallway to the left.

At the end of the hallway were two doors, both open. Peeping into the left one, he saw no immediate signs that it had been claimed by his roomie and walked in. It was quite sizable, and held a queen-sized bed with a dresser at its base, with another TV placed on top. A door reviled a large bathroom, complete with a shower. But what interested him most was the large basket of what looked like chocolates which sat on the bed.

He examined the basket more closely and found a card nestled between boxes that, indeed, held sweet chocolate goodies.

"To Harvey McKenzie," he read out loud. He picked up the envelope, carefully broke the seal, and silently examined it.

Dear Mr. McKenzie, we would like to take this opportunity to welcome you to The McClintock Institute for Gifted Children! We hope that your time with us will be satisfactory to suit your educational needs and help you learn more about your powers, and please know that you will have all resources necessary to ensure that your future ambitions will be realized and adjustment to your new life will be as superb as possible.
We invite you to attend the Freshmen Induction Ceremony to learn more about your new school, classes available, schedules, and any other information you may deem necessary. Dinner will follow after the gathering.
This ceremony will take place at the Auditorium at six-o-clock. If any information is needed before this time, please refer to a Welcome Center guide.
Thank you for your cooperation, and we hope you enjoy your time here at the Institute.

After a few minutes of re-reading - he was sure to memorize the note - Harvey placed it back into its envelope and placed that into its original position, nestled in the center of the many chocolates.

He hesitated, looking at that basket. He just didn't want to ruin the perfectly arranged treats, but…he was a tad peckish. It had been a very long car ride, after all. Reluctantly, he made a tiny slit in the plastic wrapping of a bag. He fished around for one of the individually wrapped candies, and carefully fished it out.

There. Still perfect.

He unwrapped the little treat and plopped it into her mouth. As he chewed, a wave of chocolate and caramel filling hit him like a truck. He savored the treat for as long as possible - he had forgotten how good chocolate was. Candy had been all but banned from his home for quite some time now, ever since his parents got concerned for their kids' health after Rachel's hyper-steatopygia cropped up when puberty happened.

As he sadly swallowed her emancipated goodie, he couldn't help want just one more. Just one.

But one more foil-wrapped treat later, he craved more. He knew his parents wouldn't approve of any sort of candy-munching. And really, the whole balance of the arrangement would be ruined without that one bag. But after a few moments of internal struggle, Harvey grabbed the whole package.

'What harm could a couple of chocolates do?' Harvey thought to himself as he prepared to make a complete and total piglet out of himself, intending to savor each bite of the contents for as long as he possibly could. He probably would've too, had he not been so rudely interrupted.

"Oh! I didn't think anyone were in here yet!"

As a voice came from behind Harvey, he instinctively whipped around on her heels, tucking the discarded wrapper as well as an attempted second into his white-knuckled fist in an attempt to hide it. Large blotchy blossoms of embarrassment traveled from his neck up to force his cheeks a flushed red, a side effect of his embarrassment. As mentioned prior, candy was contraband at the McKenzie household. And his father was one hell of a drill sergeant.

"H-Hi!" Harvey shouted as he dropped the discarded wrappers to the floor, balled up to be (hopefully) forgotten, "I-I, uh, this, uh, this isn't mine!" he stammered as a nervous smile before letting out a distressed puff of air. "I mean, it is, but, I guess I, sorry. I'm new here." He finally admitted to the innocent figure standing in the doorway.

"I'm gonna gitty-up out awn a limb hair an' say ya'll are a freshman?" a stack of boxes from the doorway grunted in reply, a peak of pale skin and golden blonde hair jutting out from behind it, "Tell ya what, we call it even ifin' ya help me out a bit?"

"Sure thing." Harvey whimpered as he grabbed the box off of the top. It wasn't all that heavy, but he can imagine that three of the same weights would give anyone trouble. "Where do you want this?"

"Ya pick a room yet, sugar?" the slightly smaller stack replied

"Yeah, on the left."

"Jus', whoa, gotcha, take it ta the right then…" Harvey's apparent roomie fumbled slightly with the box stacked highest

Harvey did as he was told by the enigmatic roomie concealed by cardboard, lugging the cumbersome load through the common area towards the now claimed bedroom. He stepped awkwardly to and fro, rocking slightly with the weight of his package, until he was safely in the doorway and then some, leaving ample room for his significantly more weight-addled flatmate would be able to work her way in.

To which the mud-brown mountain started its awkward trek over towards the door while Harvey carefully set her package down, gold mane and pale freckled arms being the only portion visible of the sandy blonde's new roomie.

"There ya go," Harvey said, satisfied with his placement of the box as he turned around to face the new arrival. "What's in all the boxes, uh…"

"All mah junk." Said the pile as it lowered to the ground, the porcelain arms that secured it letting go once it was safely off the ground, "Mah name's Kimberly Forsythia Adelaide Sydney Cassandra Cassie Hannah Michelle Louise Elena Raven Kasey Jones Alberta Georgia Nicole Anais Amelia Violet Shannon Madeline Katherine Agnes Claire Graythorne, CCCLXXXIX, what's yours?" she said as she slowly stood up to meet Harvey face to face and it was then that Harvey found that Kimberly was a little chubby for her age…which, going by how plump she was, made her rounder than Bustopher Jones from CATS.