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I took one hesitant step forward. It was the first time I stood on campus as a member of the freshman class of Westmore University of the Performing Arts.

Not ten seconds later, a burly jock-type in a letterman jacket promptly barreled into me and knocked me to the ground.

Lovely.

I faintly registered soft, stifled laughter, before a hand was extended in my direction. Brushing the offering aside, I rose and brushed dirt and freshly mown grass off of my color-block DKNY dress. A rich, greenish-brown stain was already beginning to form on the expensive pink material. Fantastic. I haven’t even officially been a freshman for ten minutes and I’ve already made a mess of myself. Belatedly, I thought about flipping the boy off. He was too far away for it to matter.

“Need some help with that?” I jumped, having forgotten that I was not alone. The boy that had cruelly mocked my misery with badly timed laughter had already gathered up my things and held them out to me, whilst pointing at the stain on my dress.

Taking my bag back, I slung the straps over my shoulders and adjusted them so that a repeat incident could not occur again. And then, I asked, “Is it really that noticeable?”

“Nah.” He waved it off. “It’s about as noticeable as a bull in a china shop.” I could feel my face burning scarlet, and it only caused him to laugh. “C’mon, let’s get some seltzer water on that.”

He grabbed me by the wrist and started to lead me toward Building G. If I remembered correctly from orientation, that was the campus gym. It was also about as far away from my first period classroom as possible. “Won’t we be late for first period?”

He didn’t seem to be to terribly bothered by the notion. Instead, he asked, “What do you have?”

It took me a minute to envision my schedule, but once I did, I said, “Pit Orchestra.”

His blue eyes lit up. “Really? Cool, we’ve got the same first period.” And then, “Don’t worry ‘bout being late. Miss Kaye’s cool. And she’s real sweet to the newbie’s.”

My cheeks burned bright red again, and this time, his laughter made his body vibrate. I could feel the soft tingle of it in his fingertips as they tightened slightly around my wrist. It was a pleasant sensation… it almost tickled. And soon, it had me laughing as well. Soon enough, we were both practically breathless from laughter and fell silent; the only sound the soft squelch of our shoes against the soft, malleable earth. I could smell the heaviness in the air from the previous rain.

When we reached the building, it was almost entirely dark. With classes running from six-thirty in the morning straight through noon, it made sense that nobody would bother with the gym until after lunch. He unlocked the door and held it open for me, and I stepped inside and slowly shuffled down a mostly-dark hallway. It wasn’t until I was about halfway down the hall that the lights slowly flickered on and I was able to locate the laundry room.

“Welcome to the Westmore Campus Gym!” He boomed in a loud, stentorian voice. The sound reverberated in the abandoned hallway and seemed all that much louder. “On your right, you will see the fitness center, where our athletes train. On the left, you will see the laundry room…”

His hand settled on the small of my back as he led me inside, flipping on the lights as he went.

“If you would kindly take a seat on one of these washing machines here…” he patted the white metal three times, and I hopped on top of the lid with ease. “We can get started.”

He grabbed some bottles from a shelf beside my head and, taking what looked to be a tiny custard cup, he began to mix the liquids together. Now, it was my turn to talk. “I never asked your name.”