Dear Journal-

Maybe- just maybe- I've been treating this situation wrong.

So far, Corona City is amazing- and I haven't even gone exploring yet!- and Corona High itself is nice. I've only met... Let's see. Probably six or seven people. So far I've only met six or seven people, but they all seem okay.

But where there is light, there is always darkness.

I just hope that the darkness isn't my roommates...

Welp, here goes nothing.

-Varian

Varian easily found his dorm room and was pretty shocked to find that the door was already wide open. He stepped inside.

The room was comfortable- in a non-smothering way, which was a bonus- yet practical- There was three of every piece of furniture: three beds, three chairs, three desks, three armchairs, so on and so forth.

Already, there were two other guys in the room, both sitting and unpacking. One had reddish-orange hair, similar to the girl from earlier, and grey eyes. The other had olive-colored skin, a curly mop of black hair, and dark brown eyes.

The redhead was the first to notice Varian standing in the doorway.

"Hey, man! You must be the newbie... V- Veritas?"

The other boy burst out laughing. "I don't think that's his name, Craig. It's... Variant, I think?"

"Close enough," Varian said, "Varian. It's like 'variant,' but there's no 'T' at the end."

The redhead- Craig- stuck his tongue out at the other guy.

"What was that for? I actually got close to his name!"

"Yeah, close. Close but no cigar."

"So... Your name's Craig," Varian said, pointing, "and your name is..."

"Jonah," Craig said, shoving Jonah's shoulder, "but I'm the only one you really need to know."

Jonah stuck his tongue out at Craig before addressing Varian again. "Welcome to J323! You can choose your bed, if you want. We don't really have preferences."

Varian just nodded. It might take some time for him to get used to this- two roommates who seemed to be friends, yet bickered and had a mischievous streak, two roommates who, for the moment, seemed to accept him- but he sensed that they would give him all the time he needed, and help him to adjust to his new life.

As the girl from before had said, his packs were already there, at the base of the bed closest to the window.

"I- I'll take this bed, I suppose," he muttered, already opening his bedroll, "since my stuff's right next to it already."

"Now, let's see what embarrassing stuff my older sister put in my luggage," Craig announced as Jonah went to shut the door, "what do you think?"

"My money's on one of those signs for our doors- you know, like, 'Craig, Jonah, and Varian's Room' and all that."

Varian stared at the two as if they had both sprouted another head. As Craig dug into his pack, Jonah hurried to explain.

"Craig's big sister, Clara, always packs stuff for him. She finds a way to sneak in a few... Well, a few things that are normal for girls but not guys. Stuff that seriously kills our mojo."

"Last year, she sent us unicorn Pillow Pets," Craig butted in, "and paintings of views. And... Well, you get the gist, don't you?"

Varian gulped back. If it weren't for the fact that he might actually have to face the accidental wrath of Craig's sister, it would be pretty humorous. But now, he was nervous.

"Oh, but we did get those soft throw blankets," Jonah quickly interjected, "so... It's not all bad, really."

"So... How old is she? Like, what grade is she in?"

Craig turned red and continued to work on unpacking.

"Kind of a touchy subject for him, man," Jonah whispered to Varian.

Varian knew touchy subjects.

Heck, his whole life was one big touchy subject.

"I understand," he said, "I'm sorry."

Craig seemed to lighten up a little bit.

"C'mon, what'd she pack this time?" Jonah asked impatiently, "footie pajamas? A bulletin board? Loofahs?"

Varian chuckled a little before joining in. "Don't tell me she sent us Twinkle Toes."

"Loofahs woul actually be nice," Craig murmured absent-mindedly, "year two, and room J323 is still loofah-less..."

"Diaries?" Jonah continued, "ooh! How about friendship bracelets?"

Varian had to rescind all of his previous thoughts and ideas about having to take some time to warm up to anyone. Already, he enjoyed his roommates- everything about them, as far as he knew, was great.

"I guess I win, since neither of you called nameplates for beds," Craig announced, pulling out three nameplates.

"How- how does she know about me?" Varian asked uncertainly, eyeing the one with his name on it.

"Clara often works by helping out newbies like you," Jonah explained, "she's also in charge of room assignments and making sure luggage is taken care of... She's the one who put you in here, so of course she knew about you. In fact, you've probably met her already."

"Wait... Jade green eyes, freckles, waist-length hair same color as yours?" Varian asked Craig.

Craig just nodded before continuing unpacking. "Aside from the hair, we're nothing alike, though. Not in looks. Not in personality."

Jonah nodded confirmation. "Example: Craig and I are tight. Clara... She probably doesn't trust me as far as she could throw me."

Varian chuckled, also continuing to lay out his things across his new bed. "So... It's your second year here?"

"Yeah. Of course, we've lived here all of our lives- Corona City, not Corona High- so... We had no choice but to attend last year and this, you know?"

"Oh, you so had a choice, Craig," Jonah said, "what with-"

For a moment, Varian saw pain flicker across Craig's face. But then that moment ended, and the pain was replaced with fiery anger.

"Shut up or get out," Craig hissed, "make your choice right now."

Jonah clamped his mouth shut, making the motion of locking his lips and throwing away the invisible key. (Varian, being who he was, made some mental calculations and was surprised to find that the invisible key, against all odds, was going at the proper projectile and trajectory to actually make it into the trash can had it been real, of course.)

"I- I'm sorry if this brings up a touchy subject or something," Varian started another question, "but... If you guys live here in Corona City, why-"

"Why do we stay here?" Craig finished, "that's a good question. There are multiple answers. You'll find most of them on page 96 of the orientation packet. Right, Jonah? Page 96?"

Jonah nodded.

"Yeah, page 96," Craig confirmed.

Later, when they were all done unpacking and settling in, Craig handed out the nameplates.

All three of them had their names (obviously) written in nice, neat cursive across a blue expanse. There were stars on Varian's, while Jonah's had fish (Varian assumed this was in reference to the story of Jonah and the whale) and Craig's had simple shapes and the letters "K.I.S.S." (which would be explained later).

At first, the idea of having nameplates on their beds seemed kind of dorky- like, 'hey, there's my bed!'- but it kind of seemed to grow on Varian.

"I mean, it's not like somebody's gonna come in and steal our beds," he said, "but... It's kind of nice, you know?"

Jonah agreed, but Craig was busy concentrating on his nameplate.

"What's with the shapes and letters?" Varian asked.

"Keep It Simple, Stupid," Jonah said.

"Excuse me?!"

"The letters. K.I.S.S. Keep It Simple, Stupid," Jonah explained, "and the simple shapes? Craig... He tends to make things way more complicated than they should be. So... Clara's trying to remind him not to do that."

"Why does he do that in the first place?"

Craig looked up at the both of them, scowling. "We'll tell you later. After you've proven yourself to us."

"How do I prove myself to you?"

"Why should we tell you? You'll only do it just to prove yourself. We'll let you know when and if you do it, though."

Varian just nodded, but he felt much more confused than he should've been.