11. Check-in
1456 Words
We pile in quickly and no one has a chance to sit before the last person gets her body in the door. The bus driver does not care. He slams the door shut and takes off squealing the tires.
It's mass chaos. People are falling over each other and into seats. Bags and electronics are flying everywhere. The driver takes a turn and I fall directly onto a woman in a seat. I'm trying to get off her and apologize, but it's very difficult when the world is moving around you.
I get off her enough that she wiggles out from under me. She still has hold of me though, and the bus turns the other way. My ass falls in the seat and she lands right on top of me. I help her sit in the seat beside me. I take a deep breath glad that we finally managed to sit correctly. My shirt lost a button and her dress is all twisted.
She's fixing it and I hear, "JESUS HAROLD, SLOW THE f**k DOWN.. I LOST MY SHOE!" from somewhere in the back.
The girl I fell on yelled out, "f**k YOUR SHOE!!! I ALMOST LOST MY VIRGINITY!"
I guess the driver is tired of the complaining. He comes over the speakers, "In a hurry. Sit down." He then turns on some heavy metal very loudly.
The road is very curvy and he's driving quite insane. After a couple minutes most people's asses seem to land on a seat. Except Clark and Victor. Those 2 decide to see who can stand the longest in the walkway. It turns into quite a competition. Victor falls 3 times and bust his eyebrow open once. So he's covered in dirt and has a bit of blood on his shirt. Clark only falls twice, so he is declared the winner.
I watch out the window as the school gets closer. There are 2 towers, one on each side. They are huge. Maybe 20 stories each. But between the towers it's like a mountaintop resort. It looks nothing like a school.
The driver comes over the speakers again as he slams on the breaks and comes to a sudden stop, "We're here. Get your s**t and get out. Hurry up, need to pick up others."
All our items are everywhere and people are grabbing stuff and getting off the bus.
I hear someone ask, "Did anyone find my shoe?"
"Yeah, I got it." A random guy holds up a shoe.
"That's not it!"
"That one's mine! Thank you." A girl takes it and puts it on her foot.
I hear one of the guys behind me say, "Thanks for the ride Harold, always good music with you." With that, the bus drives off squealing tires again.
Someone else says, "Okay, I got 2 bags and a shoe. None of this is mine. Who has a black bag with red on it?"
We're all standing there sorting out our stuff. I assume it's one of the teachers that comes up to our group. "Welcome back. You all look so..." she pauses, "well" she takes a second look at us. "You made it." With that she shrugs her shoulders.
We all look at ourselves and laugh a bit. We really look rough. Someone says, "Yep we made it."
The teacher nods, "If your here for the first time, follow me. Everyone else, you know where you're going already. Just go there."
Victor, Clark, and I walk up to her with 1 of the girls. Not surprising it is the girl who was upset leaving the airport.
"Hi. I'm Alden."
"Clark."
"Victor."
"Jenny."
"Nice to meet you 4, I'm Emberlynna. I'll be your nutrition teacher this year. But for now, I'm going to help you check in, show you where the first year students' meetings will be held for the next couple of days, where to find food, and where your rooms are. Follow me."
As we start to follow her, I can't help but notice how massive this place is. The entrance building is front and center. It's 2 stories tall with a bat statue on the top of it. There is a five-story rectangular building behind it, connected to it. And two 20-story towers, one on each side of the five-story section. The place is also impeccably landscaped. It really is nice and the fact that it's in a valley surrounded by mountains really adds to the beauty of it.
Walking in the entry building, there's a long desk on the left with 2 people standing behind it. One of them is doing something on a computer. To the right there is a sitting area with 2 couches. The couches are black and gold.
Victor, Clark, and I sit down on the couches and let Jenny check in first. I'm trying to listen to the questions they are asking her, but to many people are coming in. They are walking through the entry building right into the main building. There's no wall so we can see right into the hallway of the school. Most people seem to know where they're going. So, I sit back and watch.
An older man with grey hair comes in and smiles at Emberlynna, "You look beautiful today."
"Thank you professor" she blushes. "I have our 3 surprise students here."
"Oh good, I'm glad you 3 made it. That was a very short notice. I imagine your week was quite eventful." The older man smiles at us and chuckles.
The 3 of us start laughing at the same time. "Yea quite eventful." Clark manages to get out.
"ALDEN." the front desk lady yells over all the noise.
I excused myself from the group. "Hi, I'm Alden."
"Hi, Alden, I need to make copies of all of your information. Can I please see your passport and any other state or country issued documents?"
As I hand her all of my information, she turns the computer screen around, "Please check over all of this information and make sure everything we have on the screen is correct. I'll be right back. I need to make copies of all these."
She's back after a couple minutes, "Is everything right?"
"Yes, it was all correct."
"Great!" She hands me all my stuff back and another card with a lanyard hooked to it. "I'm not going to overload you with information right now. I need you to know that this card will control everything on campus for you. It's your room key, it's how you shop and eat, and it will get you in your class rooms. It really controls everything for you here, right down to getting towels out of the towel box by the pool. If it is ever misplaced, we need to know right away so, we can get it cancelled and issue you a new one."
"Okay, I will keep it safe."
"Great, so your room number is E151. Most of the room numbers here begin with W, E, or M. They mean west tower, east tower, and main. The apartments are all in the west and east towers, and classes are mostly, but not always in the main building. The 15 is the floor your room is on and 1 is the apartment number on that floor. So your room is in the East tower, 15th floor, with a 1 on the door. E-15-1."
"That's easy enough to remember." I barely get out before she starts talking again.
"Now my computer is telling me you have 2 roommates that have not yet checked in. You also have items shipped through V Movers that are not here yet. The items are scheduled to be here tomorrow. So, for tonight your room is stocked with the basic items and tomorrow they will be removed when your personal items arrive. Here is a map and a copy of tomorrow's schedule. Tomorrow you have basic orientation and a tour. It takes 3 to 4 hours and will have a lunch break in the middle. You should report to M-1-3 by 10AM tomorrow."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome. Have a wonderful night."
As I turn to leave she yells, "Victor!"
Emberlynna comes over, "You are welcome to go check out your room and make sure the key card works. We will be meeting back in this room in 30 minutes. Which tower are you in?"
"East."
"So you will go in that direction, at the first hallway turn right. There will be elevators at the end of the hall for the tower. There are also signs for the east tower if you get turned around."
"Thank you." I grab my bag off the couch and follow a group of people coming in.
- Writer
