Coed Witchery 101 - Chapter 5

I woke up to a sound like glass falling to the floor after a window shatters. Sort of a weird tinkling sound. I still felt cold. In fact… I felt really cold. I looked down, and saw that there was a fine sheet of ice across my blankets. I sat up, and more of the ice cracked and fell to the floor. I looked down, and there was a puddle of water on the floor next to the bed. I wanted to get down out of bed, but there was even ice on the top rung of the ladder at the head of the bed, which I used to get up to the top bunk.
The weirdest thing is, as I sat up, I realized that the room wasn’t cold at all. The air in the room felt sweltering to me. And the ice was melting very quickly to soak my blankets and make more of a mess on the floor.
“Ummm… Allie?” I said, wondering how I was going to get down.
“Mmm… huh?” she mumbled, obviously still asleep.
“Hey… could you turn on the light? I… can’t get out of bed right now.”
“Wha? Um… ok?” She stepped out of bed. “Aah! Why is the floor all wet?”
“That’s one of the reasons I can’t get out of bed.”
She turned on the light. “How in the world did all that freezing cold water get in here? Is there a pipe leak or something? Is that… ice?!”
“Yeah. It’s melting really fast though. I have no idea how there could be ice in the room when it’s so super hot in here.”
“You think it’s hot? I think it’s pretty chilly… Come on, I’ll help you down.” She reached up to grab my hand. But she yelped and pulled back. “Emma, your hand is so cold!” She reached back up and helped me down. “We’re gonna have to call maintenance or something. I don’t know how it’s possible that ice formed on your bed, but it’s gotta be a maintenance problem… right?” She looked at me expectantly.
“Of course. That’s the only explanation,” I muttered.
We called down to the desk, and the girl there said that they really couldn’t send anyone tonight, could we clean up the mess and wait until tomorrow night? I was a little upset that they couldn’t do something, but it WAS three thirty in the morning. I pulled my blankets off the bed. Strangely, the sheets were completely fine, although a bit cool. We dried the floor with the blankets since they were already soaked, then went back to bed. It was warm enough in the room to not need a blanket anyway. I fell quickly back asleep, wondering what kind of maintenance anomaly could possibly cause this weirdness.
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The next morning, maintenance came and went, saying there was nothing wrong that they could see. Very strange, but the incident was quickly forgotten, at least by me. I could tell that Allie wasn’t gonna give up on an explanation that easily, as she kept checking the ductwork after the maintenance people left. “There’s gotta be something that caused that…” she’d murmur to herself. I let her go, planning out my class schedule and doing other things normal college kids do when they move in. Normal. Totally normal.
That day, I called up Stacey for our shopping trip. We took one of the school shuttles to Super Target and bought a bunch of stuff that we needed. It was a fun trip, and it was good to know that there was a supermarket close that I could go to if I needed it. We got back and Stacey asked if I wanted to hang out at her dorm later, and I said sure.
Stacey and I hung out for most of the evening, and she introduced me to a few of her friends from Broadwater, none of whom I can really remember in detail. Her room was sort of a suite, with a two-person bedroom similar to mine, but instead of just a sink in their room they had a bathroom that was shared with the room next door, so that four girls had a bathroom of their own. That’s nice and all, but I figured I’d be ok with the communal bathrooms, especially with the hot tub available. They did have a much nicer lounge, with an HDTV and Blu-ray player, which Stacey informed me had been donated by her father. Hmm… must be nice, I thought to myself.
The next few days flew by in a blur. There were all kinds of activities planned for us freshmen, including a small concert featuring some local bands. I checked it out, but nothing struck me as amazing. There were also some workshops on how to study and keep sane, which I of course blew off. I can handle myself, thank you very much.
Before I knew it, the upperclassmen had arrived on campus. Suddenly the place seemed a lot more crowded. The arrival of the older students also meant that we only had a few days left until school started. The activities planned for the Saturday and Sunday before the first day of school on Monday were much more broad… free movies out on the quad, ice cream socials put on by sororities, even a beginners’ chess tournament sponsored by the chess club. I stayed away from all of that, even when Stacey tried to convince me to check out Alpha Delta Omega with her. I just couldn’t imagine joining a sorority, not even if my life depended on it. Hopefully Stacey wouldn’t turn into a caddy, bitchy…
Anyway, Sunday night we had another floor meeting. This time, the upperclassmen were there, of course, so where the chairs had been half full before, there weren’t enough for everyone now. There looked to be a total of about fifty girls on our floor, which is a lot to share four bathrooms. Thankfully we didn’t have to go through stupid name games this time, so the meeting only lasted about a half hour, and then we were free to go worry about what the first day of classes might bring.
My first class the next morning would start at 8:30 am, so I set my alarm for 6:30 to make sure I had plenty of time to get ready. I didn’t know how crowded the shower area would be. I lay in bed for a long time, wondering what would happen tomorrow. I hope I don’t screw this up. I really don’t want to have to go home with my tail between my legs. I drifted off to sleep, hoping above all that I had enough pencils and paper for the next day.
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I was glad I set my alarm early. The shower area was packed, with a short line of three girls waiting for showers when I got out there. I waited patiently for my turn, and when it came I was really glad for the partitions between the showers… some of these girls were not so good looking, and I caught one girl staring with a sly smile on her face as I was unwrapping from my robe. She was cute and all, but I’d never found any girl attractive enough to actually consider hopping the fence for her.
I took a quick shower, since I knew other girls were waiting, then toweled off and went back to my room in my robe. Allie had gotten up while I was gone, and was looking through her closet for something to wear. I’d learned early on that she wasn’t the type to shower every morning. Her habits so far had been to bathe every two days or so, and always at night. For the first day of classes, you’d think she’d shower, I thought, but I of course didn’t say anything to her. Who am I to judge?
My first class of the day was Biology 100. I had to walk across campus to the Life Sciences building for it, so I left at around 8:10 to make sure I had plenty of time to find it. I passed a few guys smoking and joking outside of Randall, and one of them said “Hi,” and smiled at me. I gave him a quick smile and mumbled a greeting, then kept walking. Now was not the time to strike up a conversation with a random guy. Besides, I don’t like the taste of a smoker’s mouth. Rand had been the exception to the rule, since he smoked only cloves and so always tasted more like cigars than cigarettes…
It took me about six minutes to walk across campus using the path through the middle, which was lined with trees and full of other students going the same direction. I reached the academic buildings and looked at a little campus map I had brought with me. The Life Sciences building seemed to be a few buildings to my right, so I walked past Arts and Humanities and Social Sciences to get there. The outside of Life Sciences was drab, a simple building with simple brick walls. From what I could tell, this building was not very new, but didn’t look as old as Arts and Humanities did. The place had a musty smell to it, like it hadn’t been given a good cleaning in years. There were elevators, though I didn’t have to use them since my class was in the auditorium on the first floor, room 106.
I walked in and found that it was stadium-style seating, with room for about 100 students. I sat toward the middle of a section of seats and waited for a few minutes, listening to an acoustic playlist on my mp3 player. About ten minutes later the professor walked in, pulling a cart full of notes and what looked like a DNA model. I had taken Advanced Placement Biology in high school, but only scored a 3 on the test, so I had a good amount of knowledge on the subject, but hadn’t gotten the college credit.
The professor’s last name was Docker, and she looked as if she’d been teaching intro Biology for about twenty years too many. Once she started speaking, though, I found her to be easy to listen to, and she had a good way of explaining everything. The first class was mostly Dr. Docker telling us about the syllabus and giving a broad overview of the subjects we would be covering. An hour later we all filed out of the room. I hadn’t learned anything new, but I felt like I would enjoy the class.
The rest of the morning was much the same, as I went to Philosophy 101, then Chemistry 101. The only class I was at all worried about so far was Chem, as the professor had seemed hard and formal, and spoke of pop quizzes. There were reading assignments for each class, which I planned to get started on that night. I may not look like the typical nerdy kid, but I have always taken my school work seriously.
I went to get lunch at noon, at the student center in the middle of the academic buildings. It felt like a mall food court, and I ended up with some chicken pasta which wasn’t bad but wasn’t great either. Oh, well, what can you expect on a student meal plan? I sat by myself at a small table and ate, taking my time since I didn’t have another class until 1:30.
As I was chowing down, I noticed Stacey walking toward me, and flagged her down. She was walking with a few girls from ADO, and they kept walking over to a larger table a ways away. “Hey!” Stacey said as she sat down across from me. “How was your first day of classes so far?”
“Oh, just about what I expected. Chem might be a bitch, but the others seem fine. I’m looking forward to the seminar I’ve got this afternoon. It’s on the portrayal of scientists in the media. Should be cool.”
“Yeah, that sounds really fun. I’ve only had one class so far, Art History 101 this morning. A joke, really, for anyone who’s studied Art History before, but that’s how it works. Hey, would you want to join me over at the ADO table?” She looked at me with an almost pleading look in her eyes. I knew she wanted me to get along with her possible future “sisters”.
“Umm… yeah I guess I can do that. They’re not gonna steal my soul?”
“Haha no they’re pretty cool. Very laid-back. Give them a chance.”
“Alright, just because we’re shopping buddies though.”
I walked over with her and sat at the large table next to her. There were maybe twelve other girls there, a few wearing letters and a few others that I assumed were prospective members, like Stacey. “Hey guys,” she announced, “this is Emma. Emma, this is…” and she rattled off the names of every girl at the table. None of them stuck, except for one girl who I remembered was also on our floor, named Brenda, who was sitting directly across from me.
Brenda had strikingly dark eyes, dark brown hair with highlights, and a pretty nice body. She was wearing her ADO letters, but they looked like they had been sewn by hand, giving her a more free-spirit look than the other girls around the table. I also noticed the hint of a tattoo peeking out from under her shirt above her right breast. All-in-all, a very nice looking girl.
The girls all said their greetings to me, with none of the judgemental looks that I was expecting. They went back to the conversation they had been having, about a social they were planning with one of the frats. Brenda asked me what my major was, and I of course answered “Undecided, but something in the sciences.”
She smiled and told me she was in her third year of Biochemistry, and was loving it. “If you’re considering it, I’d be glad to show you some of the stuff I’m working on, and help you out with your freshman Chem class. That is always the tough one for everyone.”
“That would be awesome! Thank you so much, Brenda!” I meant it. She seemed like a great potential source of information about the school and the program. We talked for a while longer, then it was almost time to get to class. I exchanged numbers with Brenda and said goodbye.
Stacey had a class starting at the same time, so we walked together out of the student center and turned left, toward the Arts and Humanities building, where both of our classes would be. The A&H building seemed to be the oldest academic building on campus, with pillars out front and gargoyles on the roof. It seemed out of place in the midst of the other buildings, which each looked like they couldn’t have been more than forty years old. The hallways were wide, the echoes loud, and it creeped me out. I went up to the second floor to my classroom.
The seminar class was really interesting. The professor, Dr. Holden, told us that he was a Chemist by trade but that he’s always had an interest in television and movies, and the way that scientists are either portrayed as insane villains or unlikely heroes in much of pop culture. He was a small, round man, with a slight limp when he walked, as if he might have a prosthetic knee. The top of his head was bald, surrounded by a ring of pure white hair, carefully trimmed and well-managed. His pug nose held up his tiny glasses, and below that was a thin white mustache. His eyes always seemed to be hiding a secret, and his cheeks were always rosy from the exertion of his teaching style. That first day, he wore nicely tailored dress slacks, contrasted horribly by a dress shirt that looked like it was from the early seventies; all purples and greens in an erratic design. He wore green suspenders and no tie.
I liked Dr. Holden, he seemed like the type of teacher I always hoped to have for any class in high school… full of jokes that were actually funny but not afraid to tell us when he wants us to work hard. The grade for the class would be determined almost exclusively by a pair of long essays, one at midterm and one as our final. He said that he’d give us more details about those later.
For the rest of the period, he showed us clips of scientists in various forms; Professor Fink from The Simpsons, Dr. Frankenstein from the old black and white movie, Dr. Manil from Mutants, and many others. All in all, it was an amazing start to what I expected to be an amazing class.
After walking out of the A&H building, as I was on my way back to Randall, I noticed the creepy guy from the dining hall before. He was sitting on a bench in front of the library, and he was staring at me again. The same dark, ominous stare he had given me before. My heart froze over again, and I quickly looked away. When I dared to take a quick look back, he was walking into the library. Alright, that’s it. I need to see what this guy’s deal is, I thought, and started walking toward the library.
I went inside, through the small security area, and looked around. The first floor was mostly filled with computer labs and little computer stations where you could look up the card catalog. I looked toward the other end of the room, past all of the computer labs, and saw the back of the guy’s jacket going down a stairwell marked “Journals M-Z”. I kept following him, wondering what he might be looking at journals for this early in the year.
When I got to the bottom of the stairs, I saw that the room was nothing but shelves of journals. This must have been a part of a storage basement that they had turned into usable space. It was shadowy and dusty down there, like no one had messed with these journals for years. I started going down the main aisle, looking for the weird guy. I spotted the back of his head over the top of a shelf ahead, and quickly hid.
I waited for him to go a bit farther, then turned back into the main aisle. Unexpectedly, he was standing in the aisle, staring right at me. Taking a second to really look at him, I noticed a bunch of silver rings on his fingers, and a celtic-looking symbol on a necklace he wore. His eyes were solid black again. This time they stayed that way.
“I’ve known you were there all along. You can’t hide from me.”
My blood turned to ice, and I turned to run.
“Stop.” There was something strange in his voice that forced me to stop. I turned around. “I don’t want to hurt you. I want to induct you.”
“Induct me… into what?” I asked, shakily.
“Just a little club. A club for people like you, who have strange gifts. I’m sure you’ve noticed things happening recently, right? Fires start where they shouldn’t, things might fly across the room randomly. Am I right?”
I slowly nodded. Weird things HAD been happening lately.
“These things are all the signs of our kind.”
My knees were jelly. I wanted to run, but my feet wouldn’t listen. “Our kind? What… kind?”
“Witches. Warlocks. Magic users have had many names over the years. That’s what you are. The name we like to use, though, is Elementalists.”