Downwards Spiral

Tales of the Lounge: A Girl And A Dirtbag

The Lounge was part of the school dormitory. It was a room on the dorm's first floor, right beside the laundry room, the farthest room to the right. It had a window facing the main campus and a fireplace adjacent to it. There were three couches surrounding a coffee table that faced a wall-mounted television set opposite of the fireplace. In one corner was a public PC, used by very few students. There was a vending machine beside the PC, but it rarely accepted any kind of paper bill, even those that are new and in good condition.

One of those who frequently used the public PC was a purple-haired student whose name was too long for anyone to remember correctly. He was better known by the nickname Nepiwee or Nepi. He always sat at the PC, typing for hours without end without an actual goal. He stays there most of the time, sometimes even sleeping there. And this is basically the reason why his reputation isn't the best in the town. On a night during spring break, the lounge A/C unit was on full-blast. The temperature that could have been twenty-six degrees was only sixteen degrees. Nepiwee was sitting on the couch with a hot pocket in his mouth, freshly prepared from the Lounge's microwave. A normal night for him, since nobody really bothered to enter the Lounge knowing that the purple-haired boy made his residence there.

Just as he finished the snack, a person entered the room and walked to the computer. Nepiwee noticed this and turned around to look at the person. "You're the first person to come here in two months." He immediately said to the person. The person sat up in surprise. "I didn't know there would be anyone else in this room." She said as she turned around to look at the boy with shoulder-length purple hair. "You startled me." She put a hand on her chest, as if to feel her rapidly beating heart.

"I'd take to it that you haven't heard the rumors." Nepiwee stood up. "I'm Neptunica Ingrid Wester Solaria." He held out his hand. "You are?" The person shook his hand nervously. He could see that she had chest-length orange hair and squinty red eyes, there were glasses in front of her eyes and she had a bit of freckles that were visible under the slightly pink tone that had crept up her cheek. "Uh, Andrene Latrea." The person said.

"Transfer student?" Nepiwee asked her. She nodded and he sighed. "Knock yourself out with that PC." He walked back to the couch. The girl was a pure and innocent transfer student, soon to be corrupted by the world of rumor and gossip. Nepiwee grabbed a water bottle from the floor and drank half of it in one gulp. Looking back at Andrene, who was busy searching for something on the internet, Nepiwee cleared his throat.

"Don't believe everything that you hear in this school."