The trip to Alice University had been painful.
Mikan is convinced her life span has decreased by about fifteen to twenty years max due to her mother's insistent talking down on her as if she's still a child, as if they weren't driving to where she will be attending university at that very moment.
She fights the urge to roll her eyes every time her mother would remind her for the umpteenth time of a certain item in her infinite list of Do's and Don'ts. She wants to tell her she's got it all memorized with her talking about it over and over again like a broken cassette but fears being subjected to a much longer scolding regarding her impertinence so she shuts her mouth.
She bets she'd be deaf by the time they arrive at their destination.
She hadn't gone deaf when they finally did though, but she can feel her ears bleeding from within and she blames her mother for it.
It was one of the most painful rides she had to endure, with her earphones confiscated alongside her mother's inability to be silent for even just a second. It was absolutely brutal. She's tired and wants a moment of peace but as she looks out the window, she's blessed with a new set of conflicting and unsettling emotions.
She watches, with growing fear and trepidation, the chaos ensuing around her.
"Well, this is it." she hears her father say as he successfully parks the car.
Her mother, the lovely menace, turns her body halfway around the passenger seat and Mikan glares at her with every fiber of her being.
"Remember what I said—"
"Mom," Mikan interjects exasperatedly. "I can assure you, I've successfully internalized the whole thing by the third repeat."
Her mother merely rolls her eyes before she reaches out to hold her daughter's hand. "It'll be fine." she gives her a comforting squeeze and before Mikan could object, both her parents steps out of the vehicle and begins unloading her belongings, leaving her to deal with her own anxiety.
She sits there for a while, contemplating about her life and her choices and whether she made a mistake by accepting the offer because she hadn't really thought this through. Not really. Everything had been spontaneous and a product of series of YOLO motherfuckers. Because filling in an application form for Alice University had been done out peer pressure, and after taking the entrance exam, she decided it was out of the question. She isn't brilliant, and only brilliant people are allowed to attend Alice University.
Yet, in spite of all that and perhaps due to her idiotic tendency to become wholly dependent on her devil incarnate best friend and, well, for the sake of her ego, she still went through the hassle of devoting time and effort to pray for the odds to be in her favor, and she hadn't expected every deity and supreme being to answer her prayers because they aren't supposed to be real and seeing all these people with their families makes her want to crawl back into her mother's womb because maybe, maybe, she fucked up and she's not above admitting she's partly at fault for her lack of discernment, and crowds can be extremely overwhelming sometimes and—
There's a knock on the window.
She turns and sees her mom raising her eyebrow at her.
She hears the faint bustling noise from the outside and groans. She resolutely shakes her head.
Her mother crosses her arms over her chest and gave her a look—one that challenged her to defy when there's no room for defiance.
Mikan sighs in defeat, scared for her dear life if she refuse to submit, and scoots over to the other side of the car, reluctantly opening the door. Drawing in a deep breath, she steps out quickly before she changes her mind and decides to drive the damn thing home herself.
It's noisy outside, and she feels an intermingling surge of sudden excitement, which surprised her a bit, but mostly uneasiness overrun her senses. There's a monotonous voice speaking through the speakers that reminds Mikan too much of her best friend. Mishmash of chattering and footsteps hitting the pavement envelops her and she regrets having to take her solitude for granted.
"I want to go home," she finally says.
Her father laughs heartily at her misery and pulls her into his arms. "Welcome to college, sweetheart. It sucks."
The freshman dormitories are located on the campus grounds, surrounding the beautiful main courtyard area and are closest to the main campus. It is gender segregated, planted alternately between male and female dorms. In each building, there are sixteen standardize large rooms, and a common area with a television set. Each space consists of a private bath and arranged to be shared by two students max. Mikan has no idea who her roommate is but she surely wouldn't be living with Hotaru if the assigned number in her letter is anything to go by.
Mikan sighs, raking her fingers through her chestnut tresses and rolls the sleeves of her jumper before she picks up one of her boxes and begins walking to where her room is supposed to be located.
Her thoughts drifted naturally and she had been too engrossed with her own musings to really pay attention to where she's heading when she feels her shoulder collide with something solid. She snaps out of her retrieve and automatically turns to apologize. However, whatever generic apology she has readied dies at the tip of her tongue when she finds herself staring back at a pair of mesmerizing crimson orbs.
Her body stops functioning for a second and she stares and stares and holy fucking shit—
She blushes furiously, much to her embarrassment and miraculously manages to utter a small apology amid the wild beating in her chest—thank god for small blessings really that its scientifically impossible for hearts to just leap right out of their throat—before she casually turns around and resumes her pace, gripping her box tightly and not daring to glance back over her shoulder because she knows her terribly conservative parents are right behind her, watching her closely with their microscopic eyes and she can still hear the nagging voice of her mother in her head telling her she isn't allowed to have a boyfriend just yet because have you seen the rate of teenage pregnancies these days? and it's not like she's pining over him anyways—like what the fuck—that's preposterous and insane and silly and she doesn't even know him or anything.
It was just a small, accidental contact between their shoulders and even if she does kind of like the idea of his dazzling crimson eyes focusing solely on her for a millisecond of his day, it still doesn't mean anything because she doesn't know him and she's just being ridiculous and she has no idea why she's even obsessing over this to begin with.
Yet—
Despite all the efforts she puts into maintaining feign nonchalance, she can't help the sudden rush of giddiness that surged through her body causing her mouth to curve into a smile. At least, she thought, that if her godforsaken roommate were really to coerce her into admitting a crush, she'd have a nameless face in mind.
Mikan sets her last box on the floor and stretches her tired limbs. She looks around and purses her lips, reaches for her phone on her back pocket and scrolls for any unread messages. There aren't any. She taps the camera and snaps a picture of her boxes and other stuff laying haphazardly in one corner of the room.
"Oh. My. God"
She turns, startled by sudden exclamation, and found herself rather wishing she's only seeing things. This has got to be a joke.
Standing on the doorway is a pretty girl dressed in some black halter crop top and a neon green mini skirt, showing off flawless porcelain skin. Mikan feels a mixture of horror and respect upon seeing the girl not toppling over her own feet on her five inch heels, maneuvering the death contraption as if she's worn the pair since she came out of her mother's womb. She has her Prada round ornate sunglasses sitting on the top of her head and Mikan can faintly see a pair of dangling earrings hidden behind her shoulder length permed hair dyed in a weird shade of dark green. It reminded her of seaweeds.
Her delicate nose scrunches in distaste as she sashays into the room like some kind of a runway model, surveying the area with a pinched expression on her pretty face. Mikan wonders in fascination how long it takes for her to have her make up done every day. It seems like a lot of work.
The girl turns and finally notices her presence. Mikan wanted to offer her a friendly smile but deflated and opted to gaze at her indifferently instead after being subjected to the sour look that still adorned her completely made up face. She feels awkward, wishing she had her earphones so she wouldn't have to deal with high maintenance princess bubblegum. The girl takes out her phone, perfectly manicured fingernails tapping on the screen too loudly Mikan fears it might crack.
"Mommy, it's horrible!" the girl shrieks into her device. "You don't understand! My roommate is a hippie!"
There are at least four men, who are obviously hired, bringing in a few boxes and several green metallic luggage. Mikan steps aside, ignoring the hysterical girl and decided she wants nothing to do with her. She called her a hippie as if being one is a crime. She snorts. She can see her father trying to make his way into the room in between the passing men, two bottles of water in hand.
"Where's mom?" she asks once her father is near enough to hear.
He shrugs and hands her a bottle. "She's having a bit of a reunion with her closest senior whom she spotted long the way. Heard her son will be starting here too."
"Oh," Mikan says absentmindedly, almost forgetting the fact that her mother is an alumna of this prestigious institution. "that's cool I guess."
"Roommate?" she hears her father ask after a while, tilting his head to where the sophisticated chick stood, still screaming bloody murder into her phone. Mikan feels slightly sorry for the person on the other line. Really, she should know how painful it is to be the receiving end of ear deafening shrills.
The brunette sighs, exasperated, and her dad laughs a booming sound, pulling her to his side. "Oh, sweetheart." he says, kissing her temple. "You'll live."
Mikan doubts she will.