For a moment I debated taking a shower, but the pumps in the bath looked so foreign to me. Figuring them out would take more time then I had. So I settled on just changing into the uniform I was provided.
This time I actually looked like a student who belonged here. Or at least I resembled one.
The uniform felt strange, it fit way too well.
The sleeves ended exactly at my wrists.
The collar rested against my neck without pinching.
The trousers moved so easily around my legs that for a moment I panicked thinking I had left my dorm forgetting to wear pants.
Thankfully I hadn't.
Mr. Webster had complained through almost the entire process of giving them to me, but his work was difficult to criticize.
The uniform was technically perfect.
Still, it felt bizarre compared to the uniform I had woken up in.
It was dirty and stained, sitting on the highest shelf in my wardrobe now.
The stitching wasn't nearly as clean, and the academy emblem looked like someone had tried to copy it by hand.
It should have felt worse than what I was wearing.
Instead, when I was wearing it, there had been something comforting about it that I could only tell now that I had something to compare it with.
It had felt like a hug I could wear.
This one felt like I wasn't wearing anything at all.
I looked down at the small metal tag pinned above my chest.
Xu XiaoXing.
Changing the clothes beneath it did absolutely nothing to make the name feel more like mine.
It still felt like it belonged to someone walking a few steps behind me.
Someone I could never turn around fast enough to see.
I reached into my bag, pulled out and unfolded my schedule.
My first class was Natural Philosophy.
And apparently it was on almost the exact opposite side of the academy.
Of course it was…
Students hurried past in both directions.
Books beneath their arms.
Bags hanging over their shoulders.
Some walked alone.
Others moved in groups, talking and laughing as though they'd known each other forever.
Every single one of them seemed to know exactly where they were going.
I was still figuring it out.
The schedule had a hall name.
A room number.
Several other things that probably would've been very useful if I knew what any part of this building was called.
At least I knew where Dorm 107 was now, so that was something.
I had also learned where the roof was. Maybe not as useful but it might be nice to go visit there again.
The outer corridor seemed to wrap around most of the academy.
If I followed it long enough, eventually I had to reach the eastern lecture wing.
Hopefully.
I joined the flow of students and started walking when suddenly I spotted her.
June.
I recognized her from behind almost immediately.
Her silk black hair fell nearly straight down her back, swaying hypnotically.
The students passing around her seemed to blur as her movement came into focus.
Although movement wasn't quite the right word.
She barely seemed to move.
Obviously she was walking.
But everyone around her looked like they were doing a lot more work.
They were twisting around one another with jerky stops and abrupt changes in direction.
No sense of distance, bumping into one another.
Some hurried so quickly they looked like they were constantly recovering from almost falling over.
June walked gracefully.
Every step quietly landed exactly where it needed to.
Like watching a bird glide.
Maybe it was doing something to keep itself afloat.
But from my eyes, she was effortlessly floating high above.
My heart stumbled, then ran faster to make up for the lost beats.
I couldn't help but walk slower as my heart stole my speed. It felt like too much to walk and look at her at the same time
My mind comes up with any excuse.
That's right, Mrs. Daniels.
She had asked me to give June a message if I saw her.
That's why I was looking at her.
That was why I needed to walk over there.
That was an actual reason.
A legitimate one.
There was no other reason.
I quickened my pace.
“Hey.”
Nothing.
June kept walking.
Of course she did, my throat felt constricted. I could barely hear myself.
I cleared my throat.
“June!”
That time it worked a little too well.
My voice carried halfway down the corridor.
Several students not named June also looked over.
Great…
June stopped, but not in the surprised startled way as the other students.
She elegantly came to a stop.
For a second she remained facing away from me.
Then her eyes moved toward me from the side.
Her gaze was sharp, intense, and yet she was still and calm.
Her gaze made me slow down.
There was something deeply unsettling, yet alluring, about how she looked at me.
She barely moved, and the little movement she used was elegant and serene.
And yet, it felt like if I took one more step, I would willingly enter a life altering exchange.
One that would end my life.
But only after blessing me with a unique thrill, one I couldn't get anywhere else.
An altercation that if I chose to avoid, would doom me to a long life of regret.
I wanted to cross that line, my body begged to cross over.
However, preservation stopped us both a few feet away.
She looked at my face, then my nametag.
Everyone stared at the name, I was used to that by now.
Usually it was followed by the same confused look.
Like staring hard enough might eventually make it make sense.
June's reaction was different.
I couldn't tell what it was though, her expression barely changed.
Maybe she had the same question as everyone else, but just reacted differently.
Maybe she was offended? Or just didn't like the name I was wearing.
Her eyes returned to mine.
And my ability to speak left as soon as they did.
She was beautiful.
Really beautiful.
Fuck.
Her face was calm to the point of being just shy of severe.
Her eyes had the look of a warrior that's encountered the edge between life and death enough times to no longer be affected by the trivialities of this mundane world.
But they lacked that emptiness, there was a universe breathing behind those eyes.
She looked at me like she was trying to play a game of chess with pieces on a board that existed only in the imagination.
And I couldn't even visualize the board let alone play.
Then my brain panicked just enough to feed me the excuse of why I had yelled her name across a hallway.
Why I was now standing in front of her silently staring at her face.
I force my mouth to make words.
“Mrs. Daniels asked me to tell you something.”
She didn't respond, she didn't move. No nod or sign she understood or even heard me.
I waited.
So did she.
Maybe not waiting.
I had no idea what she was doing.
“Lynne's mother.”
Still no response from her.
Then I remembered, she didn't call Lynne Lynne.
What did she call her again yesterday? Daniella told me…
Toriya! That's right.
“Toriya.”
There seemed to be some change in her expression when I said that name. I'll take that as recognition.
“Toriya's mother. Mrs. Daniels.”
June continued looking at me.
I suddenly became painfully aware of my hands.
I thought about putting them in my pockets. But I didn't know if this uniform even had pockets or not. So I settled for doing nothing with them.
“Mrs. Daniels wanted me to tell you she wants to see you.”
There, message delivered.
I should leave now…
But my legs won't work, I can't move.
June's gaze kept me locked in place.
It couldn't have been more than a couple seconds. But it felt like time had slowed down between us.
The whole academy kept moving around us, but they were just a blurred fade around her.
The sounds of shoes against stone, murmurs of people talking, sounds of laughter, door flying open and closing.
All of it mixed until it downed out into nothing.
June stood still
I started wondering if maybe she didn't speak English very well.
But she was talking to Lynne perfectly yesterday.
Maybe she just didn't talk much, the strong stoic type.
I had met her twice now and technically she had said zero words to me.
The evidence was compelling.
“That's... all Mrs.Daniels told me.”
Still nothing from her end.
I smiled awkwardly.
June's eyes dropped toward the nametag again.
This time I was certain she did.
Then she looked back at my face.
I hated how nervous her gaze made me. Yet I didn't want them to leave the abode they carved out in mine.
She gaze carried a hint of something, maybe suspicion?
Like she did not trust me.
I guess that's fair.
I barely trusted me.
For a moment time slows between us.
Neither of us speak.
And just like that, June silently turned away and started walking again.
I stood there and watched her go.
Her steps were lithe and elegant just as before.
As if control and balance were always her servants.
Her black stockings rose above her knees beneath the edge of her skirt.
Her legs were slender, but there was a graceful strength there.
Like they were made to dance, yet forced to fight.
My eyes followed the mesmerizing movement of her steps.
The delicate shape of the legs that took them.
The way her skirt and hair swayed along with them.
Her hips and the way–
Oh.
Fuck.
How long have I been standing here just staring at her ass.
I immediately looked at the floor.
My face felt hot.
Damn.
I had spoken maybe three complete sentences to this girl.
And I can't help but be a creep around her.
I rubbed the back of my neck.
Don't look up
I want to look up so bad, one more peek.
Don't do it.
I stared very intently at the stone floor.
Wow, such a nice floor…it's very old, historic even.
Extremely interesting floor…
10/10 flooring, simply excellent.
I waited until I was reasonably certain June had disappeared into the crowd.
Then I looked up.
She was gone.
I was immediately filled with disappointment.
But also relief.
She hadn't said a single word to me.
Maybe she didn't like me?
The world around me seemed to return back to normal and I was pulled out of my thoughts.
I unfolded my schedule.
Right I'm supposed to go to class.
Natural Philosophy.
I looked down the corridor.
June had gone through the archway to my right.
Most of the students carrying books were heading the same direction.
I briefly considered following them.
Then I remembered climbing a tower with hot coffee and a heavy bag full of shit.
No, if I learned anything here, guessing is dangerous.
I stopped a girl passing nearby.
“Excuse me.”
She slowed.
“Do you know where the Natural Philosophy lecture hall is?”
She pointed toward the same archway June had taken.
“Through there. Second floor. Look for the armillary sphere above the door.”
“The what?”
She was already walking away.
I watched her rejoin her friends.
Armillary sphere? I feel like I know that word, but no image comes to mind.
I followed her directions.
Through the archway and up to the second floor.
This part of the academy was much more crowded than the residence halls.
Students stood outside classrooms.
Some were sitting along the walls.
Others leaned over books together.
A boy rushed past me carrying what looked like an entire stack of maps and nearly tripped while turning the corner.
Then I saw a room with a large brass structure that hung from the ceiling.
Several metal rings surrounded a smaller sphere in the center.
Each ring slowly turned around a different axis.
Apparently I did know what an armillary sphere was.
I don't know how I did, but there wasn't any other sphere-like structure that was as prominent.
I stopped to look at it again.
Yup, that's an armillary sphere.
I don't know how I know, but I'll add it to the list of shit I just know for some reason.
I looked at the door the armillary sphere was house in.
A polished plaque read:
NATURAL PHILOSOPHY
That looks correct
I checked the time on my schedule.
Wow I'm barely on time, but barely on time isn't late.
That felt like a major accomplishment.
Students were already filing through the door.
I folded the schedule and slipped it away in my shirt pocket.
My fingers brushed my nametag and I could feel the letters Xu XiaoXing carved onto them
For a moment June's face returned to my mind.
Not just how beautiful she looked, but the way she reacted to my nametag.
I mean I guess it's a normal reaction, why would some brown boy have this name?
I looked through the open classroom door.
Whatever.
I had finally found my first class.
I stepped inside.