The weather on this day seemed symbolic of what I could only describe as the first day of the rest of my life, from the sunny sky and me in a ruby red outfit underneath my mother's sapphire blue wool pea-coat and Space Ruby in the coat's pocket, to my godfather by my side adjusting his no-rim-glasses to make sure what he was seeing was really there and my godmother by my other side just staring in shock.
Here we were… the Spectrum Academy and on freshman orientation day, this campus was split into three divisions.
But which side was the high-school division? Which side was the college division where I would major in literature and English and minor in mythology and sociology? And which side was the grad-school division? I am sure I'd get a map sometime today for reasons that were already stated.
This place is bigger than what you have deduced, isn't it? Space Ruby asked me.
"Wow." Kat's breath caught in her throat, she turned to her equally surprised husband.
"Kind of pointless to ask 'what' and say 'it's just a school', huh, Ladies?" Tommy asked, not getting an answer from either of us, I took a few steps ahead of my godparents. "Heh, I thought so."
"So this is the Puzzle academy." Kat mused.
"Exactly where I plan to be until I graduate from grad school." I said, meaning it.
As we walked through the trail, I looked to my left and saw two boys roughhousing on the grass, I looked to my right and saw a girl braiding another girl's hair on a picnic table. "Is this what public schooled kids do when they don't have homework?" I'm not gonna lie, it's obvious to me that it was a strange question, but homeschooled me was curious.
"I suspect so?" Tommy answered sounding unsure of my question while his wife just laughed.
I heard a feminine voice shout, "heads up." Stopping me in my tracks, I watched the platinum blonde girl in pink run past me, run up a wall to do a backflip and land on her feet.
"Cool." I whispered.
"Showoff." Kat whisper-scoffed.
"Ni-sh-one, P-henny." a young man dressed in green quickly hobbled over to the girl.
"Thank you, Caius." Penny curtsied, her voice carrying a southern drawl. "It took me all summer to nail that move."
"All new students and faculty to the dean's office, please." a woman's voice spoke from the speakers.
I couldn't help, but look at my surroundings, could you help it if you were me? I'm finally here, no longer would this wildflower be taken for a weed. "Here goes nothing." I heard Uncle Tommy sigh and felt him gently grabbing me by the upper-arm.
"We haven't even been inside yet and Marissa already likes it here." Auntie Kat said, I was still ogling my surroundings while my godfather had a painless grip on my arm allowing him to guide me inside.
Speaking of Inside…
The hallways had clouds painted on sky-blue walls and the floors had tiles that were colored a cheesy shade of gold.
"Oh, Heavenly." Tommy said, hopefully he was right, it sure looked like heaven, but did it act like it? It wouldn't matter, I needed the societal appeal.
"I'm just going to sit down." I said, when my eyes caught a nearby bench.
"I'll sit with her." Kat said.
Tommy just smiled, shrugged and watched me and Kat sit down ever so daintily.
"So, Marissa..." Kat started to say, but was interrupted buy a sound.
"Hey." I heard a broad masculine middle-eastern voice, it was like ASMR.
"Hi." I sighed looking up from where I was siting…
… What I saw practically took my breath away.
The same silky jetblack hair even though the purple streak had disappeared, those exact dark rimmed Heterochromic hazel eyes that reminded me of my late grandpa, the same exact barely-there tan in skin and the almost exact same chiseled… everything (he seemed to have gained more muscle-mass than last we met).
But what attire was that he was clad in now? It was all black, which meant he must've been some kind of alternative archetype, but which one?
He wore a studded belt, was he punk? He did wear a graphic t-shirt, but it didn't put the 'Graphic' in 'Graphic-tee' so… nah.
Was he goth? Need the dark-rimmed eyes be mentioned again? But no religious symbol that was bleeding nor was he ghost pale so… nope.
Was he emo? His collar-length hair was in his eyes, but combination of his physique and aforementioned fashion choices made him look like a bodybuilder who frequents Hot Topic so… debatable?
I silently sat there, staring at the young man wide eyed and struggling to take deep breaths.
"Are you alright?" He asked with concern.
I was alright until he showed up. I thought, something didn't seem right to me then, and it sure wasn't feeling right now… my chest felt like it was in a vice grip, my heart was rapidly beating, I felt short of breath, my head spun and if I was next to a mirror, I'd see a ghost-pale complexion, I'm sure of that.
"Oh, she's just come from being locked in a tower for eighteen years." Kat joked. "You should have seen how long her hair was when the police found her."
"Thanks auntie Kat, for sarcastically explaining my lack of social skills." I blushed. "Of which an autism diagnosed student here wouldn't understand." I thought she knew better than that.
The body building emo sat down next to me giving me a concerned head to toe look, most likely to make sure nothing was wrong, I whimpered with worry and inched away, for some reason, it was enough to earn a sympathetic chuckle from Kat.
"I'm Katherine Oliver." Kat said. "And this is my goddaughter, Marissa, she'll be a new student here, she's on the spectrum." Way to throw me under the bus Auntie Kat.
"I'm Silas." he smiled, he's even more handsome when he does that. "I'm on the spectrum as well."
Say something to him. Space Ruby demanded.
"Hello." I struggled to say.
"Haven't we met before?" Silas asked, earning a soft, but panicked gasp from me . "If we have, it's good to see you again." A sigh of relief escaped my chapped as heck lips.
What paranormal YA novel is this not? Space Ruby laughed.
"See you around?" Silas asked as he stood to his feet. "I'm late for class, n-not to be rude…"
rude? Seriously? Would it be rude if I swooned and he had to revive me?
Me and Kat watched him walk away, not sure if she noticed a slight limp in one of his legs, but I did, it made him more attractive somehow.
Gosh, I thought I'd faint before he'd leave. I thought.
"As I was saying, Are you sure you can handle it without anyone?" Kat asked.
"Oh gosh, I hope so." I answered, feeling my chest loosen up, my heart rate slowing to the 80 BPM ballpark and hopefully color returning to my face. "I mean no disrespect to who we just talked to, but woman to woman, I don't feel so well when he's present."
"Oh, what's wrong with him?" Kat asked, her eyebrows knitting together with concern.
"It's more like 'what's wrong with me', for some reason, my body just wants to suffer a heart attack when he's around." I explained. "I thought I'd have to try to faint the opposite direction from him, I feel fine now that he's gone, but I'm a little freaked out about the next time we meet."
But then something dawned on Kat, i'm not sure what, but the look on her face indicated to me that it was something. "Is that so?" A smirk slowly being plastered onto her face.
"Is what so?" We heard Tommy ask before turning our heads and seeing him, I wanted to put his mind at ease and tell him it was nothing, Auntie Katherine on the other hand... "What's going on? Maris, are you okay?" Kat tapped Tommy on the shoulder and whispered something into his ear, his eyes grew wide and he turned to look at me, he chuckled at me. "Maris, did Toru ever tell you what being attracted to someone feels like?" He asked, was he serious?
"Well… he did once say that he felt like he was running a fever, and he had mild vertigo and nausea whenever he was around me, I think I was 15 when he said it." I answered, not sure how I could be so stupid, but I am only human… Well… tame human.
He understood how touchy such a subject was for me, which was probably why he changed the subject. "Anyways, I just talked to the dean/principal, I'm afraid without an IEP, freshman orientation day is more like a week." He said, with a nervous chuckle, rubbing the scruff of his neck.
He knows me, he knows what I've been through because of my parents, I'll jump through all the hoops I need to just to gain societal appeal and with it, respect.
"Figures, just keeps getting better huh, Maris?" Kat asked, I know why this wouldn't be as convenient, but when all was said and done, I'd be a clover taken for a dandelion if it wasn't worth it, I would have more mental pain inflicted on me for the decisions my parents made, what was one entire week of freshman orientation in the face of my past?