At Last

3: Saturday, Out On The Town

"Joel?"

I glance up from my phone. I wasn't paying much attention to the conversation, more focused on the clicker game I downloaded on my ride to campus.

It's morning, too, which sucks— a Saturday morning, before classes start, and freshmen college students have free roam of the land after the Friday-night activities were finished, even though some of it didn't extend into the early hours of the morning.

Maybe we all stayed up until two just talking about stuff. I mostly just listened, but there's never been people I've been able to exist around and just exist peacefully, before this. It was nice.

"Yeah, sorry?" I flip my phone over so I'm not distracted again by the cat - clicker game.

"I suggested we go get our bus passes so we can go explore downtown!" Julia says loudly, her eyes sparkling. "I've never been able to explore Winter Creek that much outside of campus, and since we can ride the buses for free, there's no better day like today!"

"Don't feel too pressured to come," Caitlin adds, finishing the rest of her chocolate milk. We've all finished our brunch servings by then, but we're still sitting together and hanging out.

"I won't be going," Uriel says. "I'm gonna meet up with some other people I know from my old school. A lot of us ended up coming here, actually." Ze laughs.

I've been to downtown Winter Creek a few times after applying to Verity College, when we could make the drive up on a weekday. It's technically a city, but it relies on the roots of its past, with brick buildings lining quaint roads, some of them even keeping the original cobblestone.

I shrug. "Sure," I say. It's not like I have anything else to do— visiting the city might be a good distraction from...

Well, okay. I can't lie about it. My mind keeps drifting back to the thing I saw the last night. The mysterious voice, the reflective eyes. I wasn't the only person who say it— people are saying there might be a loose husk around, but the Patrons would know and would've taken care of it, right?

Either that or the woods around Verity are just haunted.

Which... Well, with a city as old as Winter Creek, I'm not surprised.

We gather our dirty plates to return to the washers, and break away from Uriel as ze goes to meet up with high school friends.

"I'm surprised Uriel knows people from zir old school here." Gage comments, watching before turning back to our group. "I don't know anyone here."

"You're from out-of-state, Gage." Caitlin deadpans.

"Well, yeah, but..." Gage sputters. "...Still. A few of my high school friends are in this area, just not at Verity."

"I know some people," Julia adds in. "Not, like, 'friends', but I know them and their names. My school had us do a little luncheon with people all going to the same school on the day we announce it to everyone."

"Mine did that, too." Gage replies. "I sat alone."

"Rip, dude."

"Eh, I joined my girlfriend's table after too long." They shrug. "What about you, Joel?"

They're trying to include me in the conversation, which is nice. I shake my head. "I... I don't know anyone here other than you guys." I didn't purposely apply to this school to get away from everyone, but it is one of the furthest from where I live.

In the end it came down to school atmosphere and money, of course, and Verity liked to give out a good amount of grants to students who need it.