"No, come on now...please? Just – stay upright whilst I turn you on and – ugh! Why can't the batteries ever stay in?!"
The tiny blonde girl was alone in her dorm, fiddling with her camera and trying to get it to remain both upright and in one piece. So far, no luck.
"Right," she muttered, tongue caught between her teeth in concentration. "If you just – no!" she shouted as the batteries clattered to the floor again. A girl with slightly wild red curls poked her head round the door.
"Need a hand?" she asked. Laura craned her neck round to look at Perry, unwilling to move her hands in case she dropped her camera.
"No – no, thanks, Perry. I'm all good in here. Just...trying to set up my webcam, but I think I've got it now."
"You sure?" Perry asked, peering further into the room.
"Yeah, I'm sure. Thanks for asking, though," Laura smiled over her shoulder, and Perry offered a smile in return before retreating, closing the door behind her. Turning back towards the camera, Laura let her head drop with a sigh. "Right, one more try..." she muttered, before her head shot up.
Abandoning the camera to let it thud onto the desk, Laura burrowed into one of her as-yet-unpacked suitcases and began dragging clothes about in search of –
"Aha!" she crowed in triumph as she held up the roll of Sellotape like a trophy. Scrambling over to the desk, she picked up her stubborn camera and bound shut the little plastic square that was supposed to hold the batteries in. Then she set about mounting it on the desk and hooking it up to her laptop.
"Aaaaanndd...Done!"
Laura sat back, admiring her webcam newly set up on her desk in her dorm.
"Lau-raaaa?" her roommate Betty burst into the room, eyes bright and blonde hair swinging wildly. "What're you doing?"
"Betty!" Laura spun in her chair, smiling. "I'm, uh, doing a journalism project. Just setting up to get started tonight. How'd you do?" she asked, remembering the grade her friend had been going to receive.
"62%," Betty grinned, bouncing down on her bed. "Not bad, I'd say. Gentlewoman's C."
"That's awesome!" Laura forced herself to grin, knowing that Betty's love for partying was probably the main reason why her roommate hadn't got a higher mark. As much as she loved Betty, she wished that the blonde girl would take a little more time to think about her schoolwork every once in a while.
"You do know what that means though, don't you?" Betty chirped, bouncing off her bed and dashing to the wardrobe. "It means we should celebrate!"
"Betty..." Laura started, but she was cut off.
"No-no. Come on. We're going to have a little fun, you and me," she beamed. When Laura still looked reluctant she rolled her eyes. "Come on, Laura. It's six pm. On a Friday. If you don't get out of here soon you're going to get stuck to that chair like glue."
Laura sighed, smiling.
"Alright. What harm can it do?"
Betty squealed, seizing Laura's wrist and dragging her over to the wardrobe to start getting the pair of them dressed for their evening out. It took a while for Betty to find something suitable from the tame collection of clothes Laura's dad had allowed her, but eventually the pair of them were dressed up and on their way out, Betty practically dragging her roommate by the hand as Laura became increasingly nervous as they neared the party.
"Come on, Laura, it'll be fine," she shouted over the music. "It's like you said: what harm can it do?"
Three hours later and Laura was feeling slightly less nervous. The food was good and, though she knew better than to try the punch, everything seemed to be going smoothly: people were dancing and talking a laughing; the Alchemy Club hadn't mutated anything yet, although you were never quite sure what they had been doing; and Betty was having the time of her life for the fifth night in a row.
Sitting on the sidelines to avoid getting trampled, Laura was starting to feel glad that she'd accompanied her roommate to the party. College was, in its most basic form, an experience. She should have a bit of fun; step outside her comfort zone once in a while. The Summer Society and the Zeta-Omega rivalries were burning brightly, but despite the natural friction between the groups no fighting had broken out yet.
No-one had inexplicably mutated from consuming the refreshments being served by people who were suspected members of the Alchemy Club.
No-one had been shot, or stabbed, or assaulted, or – well, anything, really. It seemed for all the world like a normal party full of young people doing stupid, fun things.
Then the sky split open and people started screaming.