Counter-Clockwise

1-

[A/N: Hey guys, gals, and rainbow pals! This is my first time publishing an original story, so needless to say I'm pretty excited about it! Feel free to give me feedback, and ask questions about anything that confuses you. Platonically love y'all! 💛💛💛💛💛 

~Casey]

She was falling. 

Time meant nothing- it slipped right from between her fingers like sand, and there was always more. It was both constantly in motion and frozen. 

Colors whirled around her as she fell, flashes of people and places she didn't recognize. A rainbow flitted right past her face merrily, while a dark shadow did a backflip. 

Voices echoed everywhere- singing, laughing, talking, yelling, and sobbing with utmost despair. 

It all grew louder, more intense until she was curled up in a ball, trying to block it all out. 

"What's wrong with you?" A voice with a prominent southern accent asked. "Wait, crap, that didn't come out right, dagnabbit. I meant- are you alright?" 

Catalina bolted upright, gasping for air and glancing around herself wildly. The person who'd spoken tried to console her, rubbing her back with calm, steady strokes. She looked up into their eyes to answer them, but immediately felt like the ground had been ripped out from underneath her feet. 

She'd never seen eyes like that before- she could tell they were mostly blue, but they had ribbons and flecks of green hues so strong that they seemed to flicker back and forth between the colors, depending on how they caught the light. They were full of concern, and made her feel safe, the last remnants of her- dream? vision? slipping away for good. She couldn't be in danger with them, she felt.

"Heyo, earth to... I don't know your name," the owner of the eyes said. 

She was about to reply when a deeper voice with the same accent came from behind them. "Asher, please tell me you didn't break a person." Catalina looked to see a tall man wearing jeans, cowboy boots, a pale blue t-shirt, and a rainbow scarf. He had dark skin and brown eyes, and somewhat curly hair that hung a bit below his ears. He obviously spent a lot of time working out, due to the considerable muscle on his exposed arms. 

"Oh, shut it, John. I found her like this, swear it on my left boot!" Asher exclaimed, drawing Catalina's gaze back to them- and this time she managed to look past their eyes. 

They had freckles sprinkled liberally across their nose, cheeks, and arms. Most of the freckles were light, and wouldn't have been easily noticeable- except for the fact that there seemed to be thousands of them. Their hair was curly, and brownish at the roots. However, the rest of it was dyed in every color of the rainbow. It was cut just a bit below their jaw- not quite shoulder length, but not quite chin length either. Even with them kneeling, Catalina could tell that they wouldn't be very tall when they stood up. Like John, they wore jeans and boots. However, for their top they wore a tie dye sweatshirt with the sleeves pulled past their hands- and she couldn't blame them for that. It was a brisk day. 

"...this tree, I think," Asher finished, and Catalina realized that they'd been talking. What was that about a tree? She looked up and saw a huge oak tree looming over them. 

Oh. That tree. 

"Hello? Earth to still-dunno-your-name!" Asher said light heartedly. "You fell out of this tree, right?" 

Catalina nodded as it came back to her. She'd climbed up the tree to reach a hair tie she'd accidentally slung up there, and was surprised to see that it was still clenched tightly in her fist. She slowly stood up, wincing when her legs cried out in protest. John offered her a hand, which she took gratefully. Asher stood as well, brushing the dust off their jeans. 

Catalina cleared her throat. "Er... sorry about that. I'm Catalina. Am I right in assuming that your names are Asher and John?" 

John nodded. "Yup! Are you a student here too?" 

"Yeah," she replied. "I'm a Freshman." 

"Me too!" Piped up Asher. "I'm so excited to finally get out of Texas and focus on theatre! Not to menti- er, sorry. I get... excited sometimes, and my mouth starts running and doesn't want to stop," they said, finishing sheepishly. Their face flushed, and they offered a smile, which Ember returned. 

John, clearly used to Asher's excitable nature, continued calmly. "I'm a sophomore. Do you need any help with anything? I was just about to show Asher where the dorms are, and help them find their room." 

Catalina let out a small breath she hadn't been aware she was holding. The whole 'dorm' thing was honestly quite stressful to her- for the next four years (excluding holidays), she'd be living with one or two total strangers. She had tried to set her bar pretty low- but if they were messy, she didn't know how she'd cope. 

"Yes, please. That'd be great," she said. They set off, John walking confidently, Catalina and Asher trailing behind him. Asher was several inches shorter than the other two, but tried to make up for it by skipping. However, all that accomplished was making their curls bounce wildly. John shared random facts about the places they passed- like the coffee shop, where he once stood on a table and sang 'The Song That Doesn't End' for a solid half hour just to impress a barista. Apparently it worked, too- despite how annoying it must've been, John proudly boasted that he got his number. 

Asher started singing the song under their breath when he brought it up, and was still doing so when they reached the dorms. One guy called out to John in an awful and over-exaggerated impersonation of his accent, saying, "Those them boots 'er geettin' a lil bit dusty there, Peaches!" 

John cheerfully replied with "And your rear's gettin' jealous of all the crap comin' out of your mouth, Queens!" 

To Catalina's surprise, both of them laughed and grinned at the other before continuing about their days. She guessed it must've been an inside joke- and an odd one. Asher continued singing softly as they went down the hallway, though they were a bit out of breath by then. They had a good voice- well, when they weren't out of breath. 

The trio stopped at a drinking fountain to let Asher soothe their their throat, and John ran the ends of his scarf between his fingers. "So, what are y'all's dorm numbers?" 

Asher reached into their pocket, saying that they had it written down on a piece of paper. They pulled out a surprising assortment of things before they found it, though- three black rings, a small frog plushie, a washcloth, a plastic squid, and five pens. 

While they searched for the paper, John had turned to Catalina. "Do you know your room number?" He asked, and was promptly smacked in the back of the head by the plastic squid. He grabbed it, exclaiming "MINE NOW!"

Catalina suppressed a snicker and nodded. "It's 564." 

John started to speak again, but was cut off by Asher. "AH-HA! Found it!" They exclaimed, holding the paper to the sky. "It says I'm in... I can't read that. John, help?" 

John took the paper and squinted at it. "For squid's sake, Asher. What did you spill on it?" 

Asher shuffled their feet. "Nutella." 

John sighed and carefully scraped away the Nutella with his thumbnail. "It says..." he whistled in surprise. "Well, I'll be." 

Asher bounced rocked back and forth on their heels. "C'mon, John!" Then they snickered and said, "I rhymed." 

John looked first at Catalina, then back at Asher. "Room number 564." 

Catalina and Asher blinked at him in surprise, and then each turned to stare at their roommate.