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Conform and be Cast Out
Chapter 1: The Table Under the Stairs
The sun was just starting to rise, bathing the Center for the Artistically Gifted in warm light. Technically, "center" was just a fancy name for a regular college with weird staff. The campus was spread across a steep hill. A parking structure lay at the highest point, overlooking two buildings connected by a bridge on the roof. At the lowest part of the hill lay grassy plateau, mainly used for outdoor exhibitions and cutting classes. The dorms were about half a mile away, though still in sight. To anyone else, the Center would have seemed inviting, maybe even friendly. But to nineteen-year-old Kanna Imaizumi, this place was terrifying. It posed as a threat. Artistically gifted? Kanna wasn't artistically gifted! This place would be full of strange people with multicolored hair, torn clothing, and loud mouths! With her pastel clothes, pale features, and quite demeanor, she was anything but!
"I hate this," she mumbled on the verge of tears. "I can't do what Kagura can!" Kagura was the elder Imaizumi. She had graduated from the Center last year and then moved to America to pursue a career in… Something loud, no doubt.
"And she'll probably be good at it, too," Kanna thought spitefully.
Kagura was the kind of person that belonged here. She was a free spirit, a child at heart, MacGyver in drag. And what was Kanna? An underachieving conformist.
The pale girl checked her watch, which showed 8:30. Something wasn't quite right about that. As a fellow student passed by, Kanna tapped his shoulder and enquired as to the starting time of school.
He scratched his head and replied, "It's around ten after eight. Why?"
Kanna bit her lip to keep from swearing, a habit she found gross. Class had begun over twenty minutes ago! First day at a new college and she was already in deep sh- er, soup. Seeing her reaction, the young man put a hand on her shoulder and attempted to reassure her. "It's okay, the professors really don't care what time you-"
"No! You don't understand! I have to go!" shouted Kanna as she ran into one of the buildings. Had she been completely honest with herself, she would have realized that she was the one that didn't understand. All throughout high school, the only thing she ever achieved was being on time. Now, in college, it wasn't even lunch and that record was gone like a bat out of hell. After a minute of wildly racing through the halls, she stopped as a startling fact hit her like a brick wall.
"I don't know my schedule. I don't think I even have my schedule!" she gasped. Just to be sure, however, she checked in her pocket. The search was useless; the only things inside were two fake flowers, some sticks of chewing gum, and the small mirror she always kept with her.
Forlornly, the young woman sat down between two rows of lockers and popped one of the sticks of gum into her mouth. It was flavored mint with just a touch of mold. She sat in silence for a while, chewing and occasionally sniffling back tears. In minutes, Kanna's mind began to drain out. Vision became blurry. The sound of the air conditioning faded away. It wasn't sleep, not really. More like temporary loss of the five senses. Well, four; taste still remained, the molding gum ensured that.
Shadows began to close around Kanna. At first she assumed one of the light bulbs screwed into the ceiling had burnt out. But the shadows were moving.
"A-ha!" Kanna said under her breath, "It's obviously some sort of karma-controlling deity that has come to kick my ass for being late!" These sorts of things only make sense when you are under the influence of hallucinogens… Or a combination of tired and stressed.
However, one thing that didn't make sense was what the shadows said.
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"Hello? Anybody home or whatever?" someone asked. He shook his arms back and forth in an attempt to get a few very clingy pieces of lint off his sweater as he awaited an answer.
The small person in the corner looked up, brushed a few strands of lily-white hair out of her face, and very intelligibly slurred, "Waryuwuhyuwangwaymleeeeese?"
The three people surrounding her looked at each other, wondering if it was some sort of undiscovered European language she was garbling.
"It's Greek. I'm telling you, it's Greek," brayed a girl with braces and long black hair. The other two members of the group, both male, rolled their eyes. The tallest one ran his fingers through his short ponytail and shook his head.
"Rin, you stupid, it's the girl I told you about earlier. The one I saw this morning."
"Oooh. The White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland? W—Hey! Don't call me a stupid!"
He stared at her, wondering how anyone could be so utterly strange. This short verbal exchange seemed to have taken the pale girl in the corner out of her stupor, for she stood up and brushed some dust off her skirt. Hesitantly, she held out her hand and introduced herself. "I'm Kanna. Kanna Imaizumi. You're the person I saw earlier."
"Yea, Kohaku Tsukamoto's the name. I'm a sophomore," he responded as he attempted to control the faint blush overtaking his freckles. He wore a large tee shirt bearing the words "Stupid people always read my shirt!" Kanna withdrew her hand, wondering why she hadn't noticed this earlier in the morning.
Both realized they were staring at the other at the same moment and looked away. A split second later, the other girl body-slammed Kohaku, completely knocking him off balance and shoving him into the fragile Kanna.
"What the hell, Rin?"
She shrugged and pulled out a hair scrunchie. "You didn't introduce me, Kohaku," she explained as she put her hair into a side ponytail. "That hurts, man."
The embarrassed young man untangled his limbs from Kanna's and sighed, "Fine. This is Rin Fukushimi. If you can get her to either take Ritalin or shut up, I will give you twice your weight in gold."
Kanna chuckled as the person in the large sweater stepped forward. "I'm Sota Higurashi. I'm here on a music scholarship. How about you?"
"It's good to know I'm not the only one whose parents can't afford a loan. I'm here on an interior design scholarship, technically. But the real reason is because my older sister went here and the family wants to make it a tradition." She sighed with relief, glad to have gotten that off her chest.
Instead of mumbled sympathies or some other expected response, Kanna's new comrades all looked at each other and said, "Interior design, eh?" In perfect unison, like they were a cult.
"Listen, Kanna… We know of a club you might like. Come on, we'll show you the headquarters."
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The "club headquarters" turned out to be two couches and a coffee table wedged in a small corner under a stairway. Near some vending machines. And a whole lot more prepositional phrases. The three motioned for the naïve newcomer to take a seat.
"So, what's this club about, anyways?" enquired Kanna nervously. "And who else is in it?"
Once again, Rin Sota, and Kohaku all glanced at each other like she'd just caught on to an inside joke.
"We'd introduce you, but you already know us," Kohaku chuckled.
"What?"
"This is the 'We Would Have Rather Gone To a Community College Than Go Here Just Because Our Siblings Did' club. My older sister also went here, same with Sota. And Rin's brother did, too." The end of Kohaku's sentence sounded more like a question than a statement. Kanna found out why as soon as the rambunctious girl scowled, "Guardian. He's my guardian! I think." Rin turned to her and explained that she had been adopted at a young age. She never really bothered to figure out what to call her caretaker if they were only fifteen years apart.
"Anyway," Rin continued (because 'anyway' is the best word to use if you need to switch topics but want to keep talking), "I have more news, Kanna: We're roommates. I saw your name next to mine in registration."
Kanna's eyes widened. Roommates? With this wild child? Just being near her was draining! That piece of information sent her brain into overload. She blew stray locks of hair out of her face and buried her in her hands, desperately needing a nap. Meanwhile, the bantering from the trio resumed.
"Jesus, Rin! Good news? You're a slob! Look at her, you killed her!" Sota frantically blustered, waving his hands about.
"I like to think she needs a break from all the joy of today."
"I like to think she needs a break from I you ."
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First chapter el complete-o in two days. But I haven't been in school; so don't expect me to always type as fast. I'll try to respond to all of you because I'm cool like that. -preen- Anyway, I can't respond to your reviews unless you actually review… Go ahead, you know you want to… Even if it sucked… Let me know what you thought and where it should go from here, because I'm too spastic to plan more than four paragraphs ahead. salutes Shuuu out! -falls over dead/comatose-