Events of Arrival

Episode 5: The Way In

See you Wednesday!

Hyun, lead administrator.

Parrisol lowered the paper and stared at Calder, who looked even less composed than she had been when she was tearing down the halls and screaming at the top of her lungs. She looked kinda misty around the eyes, a disbelieving smile frozen on her face and she shook her head minutely and whispered something that might've been 'I can't believe it' over and over.

Parrisol broke out in her own smile and set her glasses down on the table, letting Calder believe she was blind enough to not see the blonde wiping at her eyes.

"You did it," Parrisol said.

"Yeah, Calder croaked. "I can only imagine how pissed off Nola is right now, seeing as he got benched." The girls descended into breathless, uncertain laughter.

"Right?" They jumped and looked to the doorway only to find Jade there, an indiscernible smirk on her face.

"Eavesdropper," Calder accused, brushing hair from her face and trying to make it look like she hadn't actually been wiping away tears.

Jade rolled her eyes. "Any problems with the ceremony size?"

She just got a head shake as a response.

"Okay, good. Word of advice, though? I've seen your wardrobe, and you don't own anything in the right dress code. Aim for smart casual or business casual."

Calder stared blankly. "What the fuck does that mean?" She demanded.

"It means you have to buy a grand total of one new outfit."

"I can help with that," Parrisol volunteered. "Or if you called Fay, I bet she'd have a bunch of advice. Didn't she just start an office job?"

"Who's Fay?" Jade asked.

Calder ignored Jade and chose to answer Parrisol. "Yeah, she did. And yeah, she probably would. I need to call her anyway." She grabbed her letter of acceptance and made to stalk out the door. She paused next to Jade, seemingly trying to form a sentence.

"Thanks for ratting out Nola," she said.

And then she was gone.

***

Fay's phone rang for about two-thirds of its cycle before she begrudgingly tore herself away from her work to answer it. "Hello?" she asked, annoyed beyond reason that her momentum had been ruined.

"Hi, Fay. It's Calder."

Fay blinked. She wasn't ever going to get over that habit of not checking numbers, was she?

"Hi, Calder. What's up? Is something wrong?"

The sound of a very sharp inhale was heard over the line, followed by a break of silence and a very short sentence.

"I got in."
Fay's jaw dropped. "You're in?"

"I'm in!" The girlish squeal of delight that followed could easily be imagined with Calder jumping around the room like a maniac, especially after she kept talking and her voice didn't sound so close to the phone.

"Come kiss. My. Ass, Nola! Your bitching got you what you deserved! I fucking got accepted to HYUN'S DOJO! YEAAAAHHHH!"

"Please tell me you're in a very soundproof room," Fay giggled through her hand. "I bet all of Aegis Town can hear you."

"Guess what? I don't give a fuck! I worked and ran for fourteen years to get here. Aegis Town can handle me being a little loud."

"So how'd induction go?" Fay asked, leaning back in her chair.