As I made my way toward the guys' dorms, I caught something glittering from the corner of my eye. Kneeling down, I could see it was a jewel of some sort fastened on a dainty chain. A few more steps and I would have crushed it. I gently picked it up, inspecting it. The gem was a brilliant sapphire the size of an almond. A very big almond. There's no way someone would just leave such a precious necklace in the grass. Something told me it belonged to that girl just now and had somehow fallen off when we collided. I stood and slipped the necklace into my pocket. I'd give it back to her the next time I saw her –and I was determined to see her again.

But first thing was first and I needed to find my dorm and my room.

I made it to the guys' dorms. The buildings all had symbols similar to the ones at the girls', but all I was concerned with was finding mine, the one that looked like a "y". It wasn't too hard to spot; a great big capitol "Y" with a dash through the stem. "'Y' as in Yin," I said to myself. "Easy enough."

The door creaked as I opened and closed it. Inside the dorm, vibrant, spherical lamps hung from the walls and the incredibly high ceiling. I walked a few paces into the risen foyer where a giant spiral staircase stood in the middle, branching off to different doors in the wall that I assumed where the rooms. The first floor had four doors labeled with odd markings. One had a stick with four lines through it accompanied with an oval that also had a line through it. The others had the same second symbol, the oval with the stroke, but on the first one, they had fewer dashes; three, two, one. I remembered the girl's words about knowing the rooms by the number of horizontal lines. So I figured the first room was five, four lines plus another, making the others four, three, and two. I guessed there was no "room one", as the first room was this foyer.

Alnar had said I should take room four, so I went to the door. Finding it unlocked, I pushed it open and was met with a shirt to the face.

"Get out!" A voice snarled. "No one said you could come in!"

I threw the shirt to the floor and got a good look at whoever was usurping my alleged room. He wasn't a very handsome looking guy, with greasy brown hair down to his shoulders tied back in a bandana. A few tattoos peeked from his clothes, which were dull and dank in colour and style. His features were gnarled in what seemed to be a permanent scowl. He sat on the bed like it was a throne and he threw a sock at me. "I said, get out."

I chose my words carefully. I wasn't about to start a fight and get kicked out my first day at this place. I hadn't even started classes. "Is this room four?"

"No," the guy sneered. "It's room thirteen."

"What the hell?" I grumbled to myself before remembering where I was. "Oh, sorry, man. I thought this was my new room. Dumb symbols on the door screwed me up."

"Stupid, aren't they?" he scoffed. "Whoever built this school really had a sick mind."

"Why can't they just use regular letters and numbers?" I asked, annoyed.

The guy shrugged. "It's part of some old language. The principal likes it too much to have it changed."

"Seems illogical to me."

"Tell me about it. You're not the first guy to get lost around here," he tossed me a can of cola from his bedside table. "Sorry about yelling at you before. I don't like trespassers."

"No big deal. Thanks for the pop."

"My name's Kid Cole. You new?"

"Yeah. I'm Adam."

"Well, Adam, what brings you to a pocketful of sunshine like RaDos?"

I smirked at his sarcasm and shrugged nonchalantly in response to his question. "My other schools didn't like me much."

"Kicked out, huh? I can relate. I've been through six schools the past six years, all for skipping classes."

"So what are you doing here, in your room?"

Kid Cole smirked haughtily. "Skipping classes."

A smirk of my own settled as I sipped the cola. "I bet all the girls here love the bad boy."

"You know it."

I set my backpack on Cole's messy floor and leaned against the wall. My teenage brain brought to mind the most important topic to men. "Speaking of girls, how's the pickings?"

"Slim," Cole frowned distastefully. "The only good ones are either taken or guarded."

I quirk an eyebrow. "Guarded?"

He sat up a bit, preparing what I guessed was a legend, or something similar. "There's this girl here –a goddess. She's the most popular girl in school. Straight 'A's, student council president, head cheerleader, the works. She's so brilliant, she's been nicknamed 'the Wizard of Yan'."

"Yan?"

"Her dorm. Anyhow she's the top of every guys' 'To Do List', if you know what I mean, but no one can even get close to her because of him."

"Who's 'him'?"

"Her best friend, a.k.a. watchdog. He's around her nearly twenty-four, seven and never lets any guy besides their childhood friends near her. He's the captain of the football team and its star quarterback, but he's got enough respect in the school to not have to physically threaten anyone away. Just one glare gets them to back off. It's incredible… and sickening."

"I'm guessing you don't like him much."

"We have a history," Cole grumbled.

"So what's this girl's name?"

"Melosa, but her friends all call her Mel. You'll be lucky if you can breathe the same air as her."

My thoughts went back to the silver-haired girl from before, making this 'goddess' Cole was talking about seem to pale by comparison. "I'm not sure that I want to. She sounds a bit pretentious to me."

Cole shook his head. "That's the kicker. She's got everything a girl could want: beauty, intelligence, skills, popularity –and she doesn't let any of it go to her head. She's the nicest person on campus. Even the girls can't bring themselves to be jealous or mean to her; she's just too sweet."

"Yeah, well I'll believe it when I see it." I finish the cola and chuck the can in a nearby garbage can. "Thanks again for the drink. I've got to get going before my old man comes to drag me to class. It was nice meeting you."

"Back at ya. You're an okay guy, Adam. Maybe we can hang out some time."

I smile. "Maybe."

AN: For those who don't know about the "Sigil Alphabet" (where the numbers come from), just google "Di-Gata alphabet". Should come up.