4 4: Nefertiti Theatre

"Made it." I said softly as I stood in front of the steps of the theatre. It took me a while to get here, since I didn't want to stick around and wait for the shuttle to come and pick everyone else from the gate for obvious reasons.

I ended up walking all five miles to the promenade only to have the shuttle pass me twice while I was walking. Luckily I made it just in time to catch the next shuttle to the theatre, made me wish caught the one to the promenade, the massive four steed pulled carriage had enough room to sit over a hundred people to sit comfortably.

The ride to the theatre took almost thirty minutes and gave me plenty of time to take in the sights and get at feel of the lay of the land. I quickly came to realize that Andromeda Collage was huge, a literal city within a city. In that short thirty minutes the shuttle passes two dormitories, at least five libraries, two lecture halls, and what looked like a recreation of the Parthenon. That didn't even count the shops and restaurants we passed also. Even now the I could see that I haven't even seen a third of the collage grounds.

'Geez I hope all my classes are in the same general area or else I'm going to be late or lost all the time.' I thought. Starting up the stairs I saw a few people ahead of me, a small group of three girls. One looked back and saw me climbing up the stairs behind them and made a face lie she'd smelt spur tuna then quickly got her friends attention. As they walked the trio kept looked back and whispering amongst themselves.

Sadly believe it or not I was used to that sort of behavior. As annoying as it was to have people blatantly talk or make fun of you to your face it/ was preferable to getting jumped. And after my fight with DeCharles I wasn't looking for another scrap anytime soon.

When I reached the top of the steps I saw a line in front of the door. A man in a staff uniform was stopping student as they walked up to him. I stood in line directly behind those girls who each made faces bur kept quiet. It only took a few short minute before the staff member got to me.

"ID ca…oh, interviews for the new janitor position are being in the staff office. You'll want to head there." He said in a dismissive tone.

"I'm a student." I gritted out the pulled my ID card and handed it to him. He looked genuinely surprised when I handed him the card but quickly masked it and activated my card.

"I see…Chase Kingston…ooooh a scholarship student…" He didn't even try to hid the contempt in his voice. He read the rest of my card silently. "Hmph! You're seating area is in the gallery. Head inside and take the main stairs case to the second floor find any box that's open." He explained then flung the card at me. It bounced off my nose then fell to the ground.

"Ow! Son of a bitch!" I exclaimed, switching from universal standing to English. The staff member looked/puzzled for a moment like he was trying to decipher what I had said but in a flash lost interest. He didn't even show any remorse for hitting me.

"Asshole!" I snapped in English, then swiped my card off the ground and walked inside the theatre.

The moment I walked inside the reason for my earlier anger was quickly forgotten. Based on the way the outside of the theatre looked; which was similar to a ancient Egyptian temple, completely made put of limestone and painted intricately; I was expecting the inside to look similarly. Boy was I wrong.

The floors and walls were covered in a really expensive looking black marble that had a nebula sort of pattern in the stone. It was obvious that great care was taken in selecting each slab as the pattern flowed from one panel to the next. Lines of gold grout between each slab of marble contrasted the darkness of the stone and giving a royal look to the room. But all this was secondary to the massive marble statue of Nefertiti that sat in the back of the room where the stair to the second floor curved around her. Her hands outstretched to the ceiling which was a pure deep blue marble and decorated in jewels and judging by the looks of the rest of the room they weren't fake!

'Damn I could probably by half the town back home with just one of those gems…' I thought as I started up at the ceiling. 'Shit orientation!'

I rushed to the staircase and made my way up the stairs taking two at a time. The entire time I felt like Nefertiti's statue was staring at me, it was like her eyes were following me wherever I went.

At the top of the stairs I saw a hallway filled with doors. I walked to the first one and opened it. It lead me to a sort of private box overlooking the rest of the theatre. The box itself had three seats, and each one of them taken by two guys and a girl.

"Can I…help you?" One of the guys asked, pausing to look me up and down.

"Just looking for a seat, sorry to bug you." I said.

"Well the seating for the mediocre splicers doomed to be security guards is down there." The girl said flourishing her finger as she pointed to the theatre seating below.

"Thanks." I said sarcastically then turned back around and closed the door. "Assholes!"

I tried door after door making my way down the hallway and finding each of the boxes they lead too were filled up as the first. The people in the boxes were just as stuck up and rude too. One guy even laughed in my face when I said I was told to find a box and insinuated that I looked too uncultured to belong up here. I called him a dick, and quickly walked out.

I soon found myself at the last door at the end of the hallway. I groaned as I reached for the doorknob. I hoped that this box was empty and I wouldn't have to deal with any pompous assholes.

I opened the door and was met with the happy sight of a empty chair in the corner of the box next to the railing. I started to feel relieved until I noticed that the box wasn't completely empty. The two other seats were taken up by two girls. Both had a shocked look on their faces to see me.

"Hey is that seat taken?" I asked as sweetly as I could muster.

"Why?" One girl snapped, eyeing my suspiciously. She seemed to be the shorter of the two girls. I couldn't help but notice her piercing green eyes, especially since she had a circular crystal under her right eye just below her cheekbone that looked like a third eye.

"Because I need somewhere to sit and every other box is full!' I snapped back. She eyed me incredulously.

"That seat isn't taken." Her friend quickly replied. She then smiled and motioned to thd seat. "Please have a seat."

"Your...I mean Lady Jane!" The first girl protested.

"Iris he said every other box is full, there is nowhere to sit." Jane said to her friend.

"He can sit in the floor seating! They haven't even filled up ten percent of the seats!" Iris exclaimed pointing to the seats below. "I mean does he really look like he belongs up here, look at his clothes! They're filthy!"

I frowned and looked down at myself. After my fight with Damon I made sure to dust myself off as I walked to the promenade. My clothes might be a little wrinkled but they were not filthy.

"You know how tight security is, he wouldn't have been able to walk up the stairs if he wasn't meant to be here." Jane said.

"You know what I don't care. Keep the seat Tri-clops I'll go find somewhere to sit downstairs."

"Tri-clops!" Iris snapped and jumped out of her seat. "How dare you! Do you have any idea who I am?!"

"No I don't and honestly I don't care! After dealing with that ignorant Frenchman at the gate, all the staff here treating me like I'm the help, those stuck up assholes in the other boxes, and now you Tri-clops I have had it up to here with the disrespect!" I waved my hand over my head as I snapped back at Iris.

Iris's eyes turned murderous as she hear me say Tri-clops for the second time. A vein started to throb on her forehead and her crystal started to glow dimly. However as angry as she was her friend was just as amused. She tried to hold in her snickers when she heard me call Iris Tri-clops the first time but hearing it the second time broke her.

"Tri-clops!" She cackled then doubled over laughing. Iris head snapped over to Jane so fast I'm surprised it didn't snap off.

"Lady Jane!" she exclaimed.

"I'm sorry! I haven't heard anyone called you that in years! Not since Iduna!"

"it's not funny when my sister says it and it's not funny when this…this…street urchin says it either!" Iris snapped.

"STREET URCHIN!" I roared. "Listen here you stuck up bitch!"

"No you listen you insufferable ass!"

"SIIIIIIIILENCE!" A voice boomed. It rolled like thunder over the entire theatre and echoed so loudly in my ears I swore I would go deaf from it. Jane, Iris, me and the rest of the theatre covered their ears. When the rumbling subsided I could still hear a sharp droning noise. Once that subsided I looked over the edge if the box and saw a tall man with shoulder length graying hair in a burgundy suit staring angrily up at our box.

"I don't know what is going on up there but it will stop immediately so I can get this orientation under way or everyone involved will be expelled. Now sit down and shut up!" He commanded.

Iris and I quickly say down. I didn't know who that man was but if he had the authority to expel me then I wasn't going to get anymore on his bad side.

I snuck a sideways glances at Iris and saw that she was doing the same. We both curled our lips up at each other looked away with a huff. I know it was childish but back home there is one thing that you never call someone and that is street urchin.

Seeing that everyone in our box was seated and under control again the man smiled and turned to address the rest of the theatre.

"Freshman of Andromeda Collage I am Califax Baxter, the dean here at this prestigious collage. And I am here to welcome you to purge day."