I wake in a strange room.

Solid morning light shimmers against the light gray ceiling. I had forgotten to draw the certains closed last night.

I?

This is my room, isn't it?

"My room..."

This the third room this year that I'm supposed to call 'mine.'

Various things around here remind me that indeed, it's me who is supposed to be the one living here.

My bags on the floor, my new school books on the desk.

My numerous medications on the night table.

I stare at the bottles for a moment, deliberating, until I open a bottle, shake out a pill and pop out a tablet from a foil sheet.

I down them with a chaser of water without thinking about the chemistry.

My uniforms are in the closet.

I slink out from under the sheets and stretch my back before anything I must have a shower and brush my teeth.

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Once I  brushed my teeth, got out the shower and dried myself, I put on the school uniform. It felt like dressing in someone else's clothes, but! I had my hat, which I placed on my head to cover my raven long hair that stuck out.

The artificial smell of generic detergent invades my nose, but the feeling of fresh cloth against my back is a good one, a natural one.

It feels like a school uniform, as it should. It's not much different from what I used to wear before.

That goes for other things too. So farm this place seems more or less like a normal school.

"Except for the people...." I shrugged, well I'm one of them people.

I didn't see a lot of kids hanging around after classes yesterday, so maybe there are clubs. If so, I wonder if I should join one.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All through class, the question remains on my mind, so I decide to ask Bia....May about it when we split into groups.

After all, Bi-May did say if I had anything I wanted to know, I should ask her.

I approached the two.

Bianca does some hand gestures to me.

"I don't understand" I sweatdropped.

She crosses her arms and shifts her gaze slowly to May, who looks more preoccupied with trying to grind the eraser of her pencil down so that the top is perfectly and evenly flat.

She again did some hand gestures.

"Ahaha~! Sorry, sorry, Bianca~! Is there something you wanted from me?" May brightly said, with her hands on her hips.

"Oh~....I see! Hm.... That's a good question, Bianca" May scratched her nose.

My first thought is that means she doesn't know, which is worrying. Maybe I'm being too negative. Well, anyway, May, please don't prove me right.

Bianca did some different hand gestures.

"Oh, that's right! Everyone is encouraged to join a club. A lot of people do so because there isn't really anything else to do. There are also school events, like the festival coming up in a few days. Almost every student in the school tends to help out with it, doing whatever." May told me what Bianca said.

"So~! You actually transferred in at a busy time!....Maybe you can help out, too~!" She winked.

"Sure" I scratched my nose.

"What's the festival about?" I asked.

They both face palmed.

"It doesn't matter" She laughed.

Awkward silence got the better of us.

"We are in the middle of class, and should start working." I adjusted my hat.

"That's right, Ashie~!" May shouted.

"Not so loud" 

"Sorry~!" She chuckled.

Our conversation was interrupted by the girl who I noticed on the first day, the girl with honey blonde hair. She stood up in the middle of class and walked out.

Professor Sycamore didn't even acknowledge it, I guess you can walk out of class whenever you feel like it?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The rest of the class passes uneventfully. The girl with the honey blonde long hair never  came back.

Before I have the time to put anymore thought into where she could've gone, the teacher informs us that it's time to stop working.

Bianca looks more than a little annoyed that we all only just barely managed to finish all our work on time. I'm just glad we finished it at all; it's not a contest or anything.

Bianca turned to May and did some hand gestures.

"Yes it is, Ashieeee~!" She almost screamed.

"Impossible." I said in shock.

"Really?" May laughed.

"Really."

I've noticed this before, but it's kind of funny how May is always moving her hands and signing not only everything she says, but what anyone else is saying at any given time.

Obviously, it must be so Bianca can understand it. Her eyes dart back and forth between May's hands and me.

I don't know who I'm supposed to be looking at. I'm talking to May, but that might be wrong; maybe I should face Bianca. I'm used to looking the direction of the speaker.

"It's not a contest, because contests are competitions over a prize. If there's no prize on the line, it's not really a contest." 

Bianca's eyes flash dangerously with a competitive glare. She stares at me, as if surprised that I'm challenging her. I think maybe this a contest to her,

I never noticed before how green her eyes are; it's truly an alluring gaze.

May looked like she was about to say something but the bell rang.

They both quickly got up and grabbed their bags, they quickly dashed out the door.

I quickly grabbed mine and caught up to them, I would've let them go if I hadn't almost forgotten that I was supposed to have lunch with them.

Bianca did some hand signs to May.

"Where do you want to eat?" May smiled.

"Well.....there's only one place you can eat, which is the cafeteria?" I folded my arms.

"Hahaha~! That's so plain... Okay~! Let's go!" May laughed.

Plain? How?

At my old school, I liked to eat outside, near the back of the building. It was a good spot, but I didn't find it until near the end of my freshman year.

I wonder if there's a similar place to eat here, from what May said there is.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After we eat lunch, the two tried convincing me to join the school council, I declined, but they weren't taking no for an answer, in fact, Bianca challenged me to a paper football, when someone challenges me to something, I always accept.

Halfway into the game, while I try to ponder how to defend against Bianca's assault from two fronts, she breaks my concentration by drumming her fingers on the table to get my attention.

Bianca does some hand movements to May.

"Ashie, Bianca wants you to know that you're taking too long to make a move." She held one finger up.

"Give up?" She teased.

"No! I don't give up until it's over!" I fist pumped.

"Bianca admires your fighting spirit and would like you to join the Student council~!"  She smiled.

"Hahahaha~!" May laughed.

"You're so competitive, Bianca" I smiled at her.

She seems to take this as a compliment.

"I would expect the Student Council president to be a little more...magnanimous." I chuckled

"Mag...Mag...Nan Nan...I..Mous...Wha?!" May looked confused.

She doesn't seem to know what the word means which causes me to laugh.

We return to the game.

Bianca does some hand gestures to May.

"She says you have no chance if you keep playing like this, you're urm reckless" May laughed.

Hm, I should attack aggressively!

She is either really mocking me, or trying to trick me.

I have nothing to lose, though, so I might as well try something different.

Maybe if I spread out my forces and try to control more territories, I can recoup the advantage!

Bianca seems to focus on conquering whole nations, so maybe I can sacrifice my hold on continents to gain more small countries.

It's worth a shot!

A few turns later, I end up losing the game anyway.

Bianca adjusts her glasses victoriously and always herself to tentatively pump a fist in the air in celebration.

Bianca moves in closer to me, changing her victorious expression to a serious one,

"She says, would you like to join the Student Council?" May tells me what Bianca is saying.

She really doesn't waste any time, does she? But...

It's only my second day of school, so I'm hesitant about committing to something so early.

I haven't even taken a look at any other clubs yet.

I still need more time to think about it before I decide for sure.

"Maybe. I'll get back to you on it." I smiled

"Okay, Ashie~! But, I hope you're not saying that so we don't feel bad." May puts her hands on her hips.

"No, really." I smiled again.

"Anyway, I have to go. I wanted to go to the library. It's not closed yet, is it?" I asked May.

"It should be, unless the librarian is absent," May smiled.

Bianca did some hand movements to May.

"She says it's on the second floor; can't miss it. Do you want us to show you where it is?" May asked.

"No thanks, it's okay. See you tomorrow" I waved at the two, leaving the room.

One flight of stairs up and I run into problems.

The second floor hallway is a carbon copy of the third floor one.

Wide, of course; and plain, like only hallways can be.

The problem is that the library's  whereabouts are not as easily determined as one would think.

After I turn around the corner, an unmarked door draws my attention because it's not closed.

It's not open either though, just barely ajar so that I can see it's open and nothing else.

It would make sense for the library door to be invitingly open, and while this one is not quite that, it's good enough.

At the very least it means that someone is inside and I can ask for directions, no matter how embarrassing that is.

I gingerly push on the center of the door with my fingertips, every muscle in my arm ready to pull back at a moment's notice.

The feeling of being an outsider to this school can't be shaken from my mind, so much so that I instinctively fear doing something wrong by entering.

The door slowly creaks as if groaning from a deep sleep, though is much easier to open that I'd anticipated.

Leaning over and poking my head ever further inside to gain sight of the room as fast as possible, the meek 'Hello...?' on my lips is quickly snatched away.

Thanks for reading! Sorry about this chapter being so short, it's 3:20am here and I'm super tired; goodnight everyone <3