Chapter 5: Zenon’s New Friend

After splitting up with William, I decided to head straight to the apartment building and check out the room I'd be spending these three years in.

After getting my phone and going to my room's door, I noticed there were two buttons next to the door. There was a bell button, but the other button had a "call" icon on it.

When I entered the room, I felt a cozy but fresh lemon smell in the air. There was also a pair of white slippers, so I put those on.

I decided to check out my room. It was actually more of an apartment, there was a bedroom with a small bathroom and a small kitchen connected to a living room.

It seemed like a great room with the essentials for a student, even some basic furniture like tables and chairs. But I seemed to need to buy some kitchenware.

I laid down on my bed and checked out a few of the apps that came with the school phone. Apparently, you could ask for anything furniture related to be delivered to your room.

I checked my balance and noticed I had 100,000 Halsey Coins. I decided to buy some plates, silverware, as well as some cooking utensils: some bowls, a whisk, some cooking spoons and a spatula. I also got a coffee machine, but the cheapest one.

The total came to be about 15,000 Halsey Coins, so I decided to pay immediately since it was stuff that was absolutely necessary.

To my surprise, the delivery was free and it said things would be in my room tomorrow. It also said I didn't need to be home at that time, which was great.

I checked a few other apps, one that seemed to be interesting was "Halsey App".

The part that was supposed to show information about your classes was completely empty. I assumed that it was just too early for us to see that information, so I didn't think much about it.

I also saw that there was a variety of sports and activities you can book, and to my surprise a lot of them were free.

Then, I remembered that we were only allowed to bring one set of clothes to the city, so I'd probably need to go to the store to buy some. 

I thought about buying some groceries too, since I wanted some for that day without needing to wait for shipping.

I took out the welcome leaflet, which contained a few interesting shops. One of them was Belle Boutique, so I thought I'd check it out.

I put on my shoes and walked to the location. There were students that looked like they were on holiday, chatting happily as they walked somewhere.

I noticed that I came to the location I was looking for. There was a cream and soft pink striped shop with a large sign that said "Belle Boutique" in fancy letters.

I walked in and looked around the place. There seemed to be a lot of different clothing styles. I was thinking about heading to the hoodies section, when I felt someone bumped into me.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I was looking at the clothes in the app on my phone!" said a short girl. She was wearing white jeans and an oversized pink hoodie.

"Don't worry about it." I said.

After that, I went through the store and bought a few clothes I could combine to make decent outfits. I bought a few t-shirts, two jeans, a denim shirt and some hoodies.

At this point, I already had a few basic items I could probably wear, but I decided to look around to see what kind of clothing I could find.

I noticed there was a staircase in the corner of the shop, and decided to head upstairs.

I was really surprised to find a school section. Apparently, at this school it was mandatory to wear a uniform in your classes, but you could wear a wide range of clothes, from hoodies to suit jackets.

All of the allowed clothing had purple and white colours and were branded with the Halsey Academy logo.

"Oh, I was wondering if you were a first-year like me!" said a familiar voice next to me.

It was the girl that bumped into me downstairs. She had a basket with a few clothes in it.

Now, I'm not great at interacting with people, especially those who I've never spoken to.

Despite that, I felt that since it was a new beginning for my social life, I could put in a little effort; be more outgoing and try to make new friends.

"Yes I am! Are you interested in being friends?" I asked, with the kindest smile I could pull off.

She looked genuinely happy to hear those words come from my mouth. "Of course, that'd be great! I'm Sophie. You're actually the first friend I made here, I don't know anyone else yet."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Zenon." I said.

We paid for the clothes we bought and exited the building. I ended up picking up a purple hoodie with the academy symbol on it and white pants from the school section.

We exchanged contact information and decided to walk together to the dorms, since we lived in the same building anyway.

"You know, I was thinking it's kind of strange how little information we know about the academy itself", said Sophie.

"That's true, there's some information about the city and that there are a lot of clubs, but realistically, I don't know how anything works", I agreed with what she said.

My new friend looked thoughtful. "I've been looking at a few of the apps on my phone, but there's a lot of sections that are empty." 

That was true, the phone came with a lot of preinstalled apps, but most of them were quite empty. You couldn't see what class you were in or anything like that.

"Hey, do you think we may end up in the same class?" It looked like she was excited if that'd be the case"

"I'd say it's likely! I'm not sure how many classes there are though."

Sophie seemed to be thinking about something. "Well, in the worst case scenario, we can always see each other after class, right?"

That was true. Life at school wasn't going to be just classes; you could spend time with friends while studying, in clubs or just hanging out.

"About that, would you like to study together? I'm not sure how hard this school will be, but I suppose it'd be beneficial to make a study group." I proposed.

We entered the dorms we would be living in from now on.

"Are you the studious type?" asked Sophie.

"Not at all, but I'd like to get into studying for once." I answered.

The elevator's doors opened and we got inside, I pressed the "7" button, while Sophie pressed the "3" button.

"Well, that's good! It's nice meeting you, I'll message you!" she said, with a gentle smile.

I entered my room and lied down on the bed. I looked at the ceiling, imagining all kinds of stuff I'd do this year. 

My phone, which was on the table buzzed. I had assumed it was a message from Sophie, but it was a notification that seemed like an announcement.