Chapter 4: Aesthetic Halsey

As the train left the platform, they started losing sight of the city, the views from the window becoming much more blended in with the natural landscape.

"We have arrived at Halsey Station. Remember to gather all of your belongings," announced a voice through the speaker.

Zenon and I followed the signs to exit the station, arriving at the entrance. It was a wonderful sight, the station was covered in white marble, and it had a modern look to it. 

It was quite a big place, considering that it was built just for students.

"Woah, I hadn't imagined the place would be this huge," I said.

Zenon looked like he had a spark in his eyes. "Honestly, I did think it would be impressive, since students from all over the country arrive here, but this place is astounding." 

"There's less people than at our hometown's station, but there's still a lot of students here! Hey, these should all be first-years, why not talk to them?" I suggested.

"I'd rather go check out our dorms, feel free to make friends here, though," decided Zenon.

After that, we parted ways and I turned around. There was a girl waving at me. She had a serious look on her face, but she didn't seem problematic.

"Good morning!" she said loudly.

"Hello?" I was dumbfounded and didn't really know what to say.

"You're a first-year like me, right? My name is Hannah. It's a pleasure to meet you." she said, looking in my eyes.

"Oh, yes, I'm a first-year too. I'm William, nice to meet ya, are you looking to make friends?"

She seemed relieved, as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. "Yup. I'd like to make the most of my high school life, so I thought I'd meet other students as soon as I arrived at Halsey."

"Ahh, that's great! I was thinking the same thing."

I'd say I was pretty lucky to have met Hannah as soon as Zenon and I parted ways.

"Also, who was that guy who you were just with?" she asked, with a dubious look on her face.

"Oh! That's Zenon. We're best friends."

As soon as I said that, I thought of having Hannah and Zenon meet. I was already helping him make friends!

"Don't you think it's weird to call someone you just met your best friend?" her words felt like arrows piercing through my skin.

"Huh? Oh, Zenon and I have known each other for a few years. We went to the same middle school, and now we both got into this high school." I explained thoroughly.

My explanation didn't seem to have an effect on her. "Is that so? Why did you two decide to split up then?"

I felt like I was being interrogated to death. "Uh, well, you see, I don't think that being friends means we gotta stay together at all moments. Plus, Zenon isn't the kind of person who likes crowds that much."

"I mean, that's true, but I don't really get it. Anyway, wanna go check out the city? I've been pretty excited to check it out myself." She didn't seem convinced, but decided to ultimately leave the topic.

"Sure, I wanted to see for myself the different establishments the institution offers" 

Personally, I would've rather stayed some more time meeting new friends at the station, but I was looking forward to going to Azalea Coffee with Hannah.

The town itself was pretty small, so we didn't get lost on our way there. The street was wide enough for a car to pass comfortably, but there weren't any, and students used the road to walk.

The buildings were mostly 2 or 3 floors tall, except the student dorms and the school buildings, which stood out.

A particularly nice building, full of flowers and bushes caught my eye.

"That must be it!" shouted Hannah, we were looking at the same building.

I was pretty impressed, and there were a lot of students inside, too.

"Well, let's grab a bite then," I was curious to meet other people.

After we entered the coffee shop, we took a look around. I wasn't able to see any available seats.

Hannah seemed slightly worried. "Oh, what are we going to do? It seems it's full."

"Are you two first-years?" said a voice behind us. After I turned around I saw a really handsome, dark-skinned boy.

He seemed to be really stylish with his clothes, and had a piercing in his left ear.

"Yes, we're indeed new. Who are you?" Hannah seemed upset. Was she uncomfortable with being called a first-year?

"Oh, I knew because of your clothes. They're definitely not sold at any of the shops here." He explained. "My name's Rob, I'm a second-year student."

"Nice to meet you! I'm William, and I'm looking to make new friends." I said, excited about meeting a second-year student.

"I'm Hannah, let's be friends!" she said. It looked like she wasn't upset anymore, which I found slightly strange.

"Wanna grab a seat? There's probably room upstairs." he said, with a kind expression.

We climbed the stairs and sat on the table next to the window. The sights were inspiring, you could see the street and the other buildings from a high point.

Rob was enjoying his strawberry milk when he said "Hey, have you guys done the check-in for your rooms?"

Hannah seemed troubled about something. "Oh, we had to check-in?"

Rob smiled. "Well, it's not really a check-in, but have you guys gone to your room yet and received your phones?"

"Oh, no we haven't. We actually came here straight from the station. We really wanted to visit Azalea Coffee, is there a time limit to do that?" I asked.

Rob looked up, as if trying to remember something. "Hmm, no, I don't think there's a time limit, but you should probably do that."

"Hey William, we should go check out our room after we finish eating. Let's add each other!". Hannah seemed pretty excited.

"By the way, here's my contact information. Feel free to add me to your contacts, I'll try to help if you need to know anything." said Rob, handing me a piece of paper with numbers on it.

We finished our meal and headed to the apartments. Apparently, there was a 7-floor building for every year. Since Hannah and I were both first-years, we would be living in the same building.

Once we entered the building, Hannah looked around in awe. "Wow, this place looks like a modern, luxury hotel!"

It was true, there was a lot of open space in the lobby, and there was a lot of black and white with soft, blue lighting everywhere.

I looked around for a bit and saw what looked to be a help desk. "I think that's where we can get our room keys?"

There was a young woman doing some paperwork. Hannah and I walked up to the desk.

"Good morning, is this the place we're supposed to get our keys from?" I asked.

The woman looked up and said "Good morning! Yes, you're in the right place. Let me explain how this works."

"In this school, you'll use your mobile phones for a lot of things. You'll see they come with a few apps preinstalled."

"You can access your student ID and some data, like your classmates and booked activities from the Halsey App"

"This city also doesn't have any physical keys, so you'll use your phone as a keycard to open the door to your rooms."

After that, she asked for our names and handed us a phone each. They were thin smartphones with a matte white back.

"The phone will ask you to register a fingerprint. You can use that as your password, but you can optionally add a password to your device."

"Also, we're currently on the base floor. There are seven other floors. William, you live in room 705, and Hannah, you're in room 726, both on the 7th floor."

"Oh, that means we'll be living on the same floor!" said Hannah happily.

"That's fun, we can go to school together! Oh, I wonder what room Zenon lives in… Excuse me miss, could you tell me what room Zenon King lives in? He's a first-year student too." I had just remembered about my friend!

The woman considered something for a moment. "We don't usually tell students where someone lives, but it looks like you don't have any evil motives, so I'll tell you."

She typed something on her keyboard. "Oh, he seems to live on the same floor as you two, in room 701!"

I was relieved, we didn't agree to meet anywhere and don't have each other's phone numbers yet, so I was slightly worried I wasn't going to see him in a while.

Hannah looked at me for a second, but then looked at her phone.

"We should exchange contact information." she said.

After that, we added each other's contacts and took the elevator to the seventh floor. Hannah went back to her room, but I stopped on the door to room 701.

I knocked on the door, but nobody seemed to answer.

"Hello? Zenon? It's me, William."

There were two buttons next to the door, one of them had a bell on it.

"DING!" I pressed it and a sound came from inside the room, but there seemed to be no reaction.

I supposed he was out, so I just went to my room instead, deciding I'd come by later.