Embracing Change (Nervously)

      She had grown up on an farm north of Meridell with five sisters and several acres of cackleberries. Elevenna had only seen other pet species on a small number of occasions. Yet, here she was, surrounded by lupes, nimmos, poogles, buzzes... you name it. They were all here, mingling flawlessly. The entire building was filled with talking and laughing.

      "Hi! Are you Elevenna?" The question came so suddenly that Elevenna just about jumped out of her feathers. She twisted about quickly to stare nervously at a pretty, island Yurble. The Yurble blinked curiously. "Sorry, I didn't mean to spook you."

      "I... um, it's fine." Elevenna replied, shifting her weight back and forth between her feet. "How do you know my name?"

      The Yurble gave her a long look. "Um. You're kind of the only pink Pteri in here?" The Yurble held up her right paw, which held a clipboard. "I've got a list of all of the incoming freshmen. You're one of my residents."

     Freshmen. That was a word that Elevenna needed to get used to. Elevenna had not gone to a traditional neopet high school, where the youngest grade had that specific name. Instead, her parents had home schooled her sisters and her.

      "I'm Aral." The Yurble held out her left paw, her beaded bracelets clicking together as she did so. After a moment of hesitation, Elevenna reached out and shook the Aral's paw.

      "Uh, nice to met you," the Pteri replied. Aral gave her a large smile before releasing her hand and glancing down at her clipboard.

      "Looks like you are in room C230. That's in the south tower on the second floor. Do you need any help finding it?" Elevenna shook her head a bit too vigorously. She was honestly quiet a bit excited to find her room and get a break from the crowd. Aral reached into her pocket and pulled a ring with keys. After flipping through a few, the Yurble selected one and pulled it off. "Here." Aral handed the key over.

      "Thanks."

      "Of course! Just to let you know, I'll be holding a wing meeting at the end of the week with some important information. In the mean time, make sure any extension cords have circuit breakers. Also, candles are not allowed. And..." Aral began a small spiel about what items were allowed or not, which Elevenna admittedly tuned out of. She had barely brought any items anyways; all that she had was what she could fit in two large, ratty suitcases.

      When Aral finished, Elevenna bid her farewell and began to make her way through the crowd. It was downright unusual (and pretty unpleasant) to be knocked into while walking. Unfortunately, with this many pets passing through the lobby and hallways, it was sort of unavoidable.

      However, the crowd thinned out as Elevenna reached the second floor of the south tower. There were still pets in the hallway of C200, but she had plenty of room to go around them. As she walked, she read the numbers on the door. C224... C226... C228... Her room was right before the hallway turned. A large oak door greeted her.

      Strangely enough, there were two pieces of paper cut in the shape of Brightvale fruit that were taped to her door. One read her name, and the other read 'Kittsa.' Kittsa? That was an interesting name. More than that, it was the name of her new roommate. Elevenna forced herself to breathe deeply.

      The key Aral gave her fit perfectly into the knob, and she pushed the door open.

      The first thing she noticed was the rock posters that fully covered the wall opposite of the door. The second thing she noticed was the neopet who had put those posters up. Kittsa was a tall Moehog, her mane pulled back into a short ponytail. However, her most striking feature was easily her bright red eyes; they contrasted strongly with her pale gray, ghostly fur.

      Part of Elevenna wanted to turn around and simply leave. All these strangers were absolutely daunting to start out - was she really prepared to live with one? And a ghost, on top of that! Elevenna had to remind herself that it was just a paint color, and that Kittsa was (probably) not actually dead.

      It was Kittsa that broke the silence. "Well, hello there!" Her voice was high pitched and feminine, which contrasted with the baggy t-shirt and ripped jeans that Kittsa wore. "You must be Elevenna!"

      "Um. Yes. Hi," Elevenna replied, as she nervously tugged at the collar of her sweater. Her eyes darted over to the wall, where the black and red posts bearing vicious sounding band names were posted. Kittsa followed her gaze.

      "Oh, I hope you don't mind – I took the liberty of starting to decorate."

      Elevenna didn't quite know what to say. "It's, um... fine?" Kittsa grinned and nodded, before going back to pulling things out of one of the many boxes that littered the floor of the room. Elevenna began to ease her way into the room, towards the bed that didn't have anything on it.

      My bed, she thought, as she reached it. It was a plain blue mattress, nothing special... but it was kind of special. This was her slice of space, her new home. Despite all the nerves at the entire crazy process, Elevenna felt happy. She loved her parents and would miss them, but this... this was a step towards being an adult. This was the next step in her life.

      "So, where are you from?" Kittsa's voice interrupted Elevenna's thoughts.

      "Meridell," Elevenna replied automatically. Kittsa stopped unpacking for a moment to stare at her curiously.

      "Huh. I wouldn't have guessed it," the Moehog said. Who would guess that a pink Pteri would be from a small farm north of Meridell, after all? Elevenna smiled nervously.

      "My mother's favorite color was pink... so that's what my sisters and I were painted." Speaking of her sisters, she would miss them too. At least, she would miss the two younger than her that still lived at home. Her three older sisters had already left the nest, attending universities elsewhere on the globe.

      "Oh, that's cool." A large grin grew over Kittsa's mug before she cheerfully said, "Guess where I'm from."

      There was a long moment where Elevenna stared at the ghost pet. "Um. The Haunted Woods?"

      "Bullseye!" the Moehog shouted, before laughing heartily. Even Elevenna couldn't help but smile a little. "I think you and I are going to get along just fine." Kittsa commented pleasantly.

      Elevenna hesitated. She had never shared a room with another neopet, nor had she ever had a Moehog friend. She definitely had never listened to rock music or wore ripped jeans. She and Kittsa seemed very different – while Elevenna was nervous about the whole college thing, Kittsa didn't seemed bothered in the least. Yet... there was something charming about how confident Kittsa was. Maybe it'll be interesting to get to know someone so different.

      "... yeah. I think so too." The bed squeaked as Elevenna placed one of her suitcases on top of it and then unzipped it.

      "I totally wanna go to all the cool events around campus this week. We should so go together," Kittsa proposed, as she climbed up on a chair to hang another rock band poster. Elevenna blinked in surprise, before nodding.

      "Okay." And just like that, she had a friend to explore campus with. An unexpected friend, yes, but... a friend. The edges of Elevenna's beak turned upwards.

      Maybe it was too soon to conclude, but Elevenna found herself thinking that, maybe, college might not be so hard. Well, she would have to get used seeing band posters rather than wall, but that was a compromise she was okay with. It was only the first day of the next chapter of her life, but already it was turning out good. Surprising and new, but good.

The End