In The Orbit (Part I)

16. Azalea

 The ship lands and all the engines turn off. Then I am the first one to stand up. Everyone else gets up and we file out. It takes a minute for my eyes to adjust to the light. It is extremely bright.

"Move along peeps," barks Kunley. "Don't use up all the oxygen in the port. Your luggage guys need it."

We walk down the hall, each with one piece of luggage. There is a little waiting room at the end of the hall. I stand by the wall, near Strom.

"I suppose a few of you know who your roommates are, but let's go through it again," announces Kela. "And we have to wait for Hammond to talk to the headmaster of the school."

Wait, school? This is a school?

The familiar feeling of dread that I associate with the word is just starting to sink in, and the girl named Karma comes striding towards me. I get a bit scared, but try not to show it. She engulfs me in a hug and I squeak.

She lets go and looks me up and down. She brushes something off of my shoulder and says, "You're my roommate."

I look at her, confused. "Is that why you hugged me?"

"No," she says and doesn't clarify.

Kela finishes pairing us up as Hammond comes back. The two Montana boys are together and Strom and Fifi are together. Hammond has three luggage carts. We shove our luggage on and they zoom off.

Hammond hands out little slips of paper. They have our room numbers and stuff about the room on them. Karma and I are room 214. We follow the luggage cart onto the elevator and I read the paper. It has some general information about monthly room cleanings. I keep reading and gasp.

"What?" Karma asks, peeking over my shoulder.

The elevators open and I say, "We get a hot tub."

Karma shrieks and hugs me again. The elevator doors start to close, and I shove the luggage cart out. It speeds down the hall and stops at a door.

I step out of the elevator and Karma follows. We go to our room, and the door is locked with a password. Karma takes the paper and turns it over.

Put in the following to code to set your password. LL*$HHH

Karma enters the code and turns to me. "What should our password be?"

I shrug.

"Something that we will both remember..." she murmurs. "Ummkay, what was the first thing about me you noticed?"

That is easy. Her height. Karma is so tall. I tell her that and then she types in; height/fadedpantsbutt.

"Ummm, what?!"

"I can almost see through the butt of your pants. And you were turned around when I first saw you so... Anyway, nobody's gonna guess that password."

"True," I reply, and we go into the room.

It isn't huge, but it isn't tiny either. When you walk in, there are a couple of hooks on the right and the door to the bathroom on the left. That is like a teeny hallway, and then it opens up into the room. On the wall on this side of the room is a shelf and in the corner there is a closet with two doors. Karma is already pulling our suitcases off of the cart and shoving them in the closet. The bed is on the adjacent wall. It is a double bed, and not a real big one. I sigh. I hate sharing a bed, and I hate sharing blankets, and I like room to sleep. On the opposite wall from the bed, there is a big screen mounted on the wall. There are also two desks and a laptop on each one. There is a little area in the corner with a window, two seats, a tiny plate-sized table, and a mini fridge. In the opposite corner is the hot tub.

I take off my shoes and shirt and flop onto the bed. I look out of the window and I can see Earth, covered by clouds.

"I call window side of the bed!" Karma yells from the closet. "Also, do you mind if I unpack your stuff?"

"Go ahead. But not the yellow duffel bag, please." I decide to test her and see if she invades my privacy. I also don't need her going through my underwear.

I bury my face in the covers as my thoughts swirl through my head. I am not afraid of Karma, just a little intimidated. I don't want to sleep in the same bed as her. It is hard for me to handle stuff like that. I didn't realize that it would be weird to wear pajama pants, I just thought they would be comfortable for the flight. Also, there is something about the Fifi girl that seems fake. I hate fake people. And her holey shirt comment was not appreciated. I should have known I would be stuck with a bunch of rich kids. But back in Chicago nobody cared about how we looked because nobody could afford stuff to make them care. My school was one of those schools with graffiti in the halls and security guards at the entrances and has to go on lockdown at least once a month. Screw you Fifi from L.A. (there is no way she lives downtown, though.)

Karma comes out of the closet in a swimsuit.

"Let's get in the hot tub!"

I shake my head. "We have dinner in ten minutes. Let's do it afterwards."

She frowns but nods.

"Can you show me where you put all of my stuff?" I ask her.

"Yup," she answers, and we go in the closet. She points everything out, and I open up my yellow duffel bag and finish unpacking. Karma changes right next to me. It is a small closet, and I don't know why she feels the need to change in here with me. It is very awkward for me and I am glad it is dark so I couldn't accidentally-on-purpose see her.

We go down to dinner together after that. In the elevator, we meet Strom and Fifi. When we get down to the cafeteria level, we see Harold and Khan. We all silently walk into the cafeteria together. It is a big room with high ceilings to make it seem like there are windows. The lighting is actually quite natural looking even though it isn't.

People start to notice us. They are all kids, all middle-high school age. They all look pretty normal, wearing the typical trendy clothes. A lot of them stare. I feel self-conscious and wished I had thought to change my pants. Goose bumps pop up on my arms and wished I had put my long shirt back on.

Fifi smiles at a few people. Strom and Harold look almost as uncomfortable as I feel. Karma looks mean and I have no idea where Khan went.

Kunley and Kela walk up.

"Alright let's show y'all the drill," shouts Kunley over the cafeteria noise.

"KHAN!" yells Kela. I follow her gaze to where Khan is is talking to some girl with a very low-cut shirt. Harold rolls his eyes next to me as Khan comes running over.

"Just can't keep the girls away, can I?" Khan says, winking at Fifi. She grins right back at him and this time I roll my eyes.

Kela leads us to the line. We grab our food and it smells delicious. Eyes follow us to the one empty table with a pink RESERVED sign on it.

We all sit down and eat. Harold sits across from me and he picks at his food. After a couple minutes of awkward sitting around, he runs off.