The Multi-V Library

The buses arrived at their destinations; a group of six large hotels called the Starman Hotel Village greeted the students. The hotels seemed to reach into the clouds!

Hotel villages cropped up wherever there were Multi-V libraries. They were nothing more than large hotels meant to house large numbers of people. They were part of the lifeblood of Austin.

This is because there were often lots of people coming to Austin throughout the year to visit the Multi-V Library.

This was especially true during the first three months of the school year as a constant stream of schools from all over Texas came to bring their students for their first Synch.

The hotel industry both loved this time of year and hated it. They loved the money but hated having to constantly deal with insane teenagers.

The students were able to pick their roommates before the trip. There were two people per room. Jesse and Jay stayed in one room. Next door Danny and Rusty were roommates.

Before getting off the bus, they were told they had two hours to unpack, shower, and eat. At 12:00 pm they would load up the buses and go to the Multi-V library.

Right now, Jay and Jesse were unpacking their suitcases. For Jay, that meant taking his suitcase and unzipping it before tossing it in the small closet.

Why go through the trouble of putting everything in the drawers or hanging things up? They were only staying one night.

Jess had a different opinion. He took out his clothes; three pairs of jeans, five shirts; four belts; in the closet. Then he placed five pairs of sneakers under the hanging clothes next to Jay's bag.

He placed three different hats above the hanging clothes. Then, he placed his underwear, socks, and t-shirts in a drawer.

On top of the dresser, there were three different colognes, deodorant, body spray, lotion, gum, and he took a bottle of mouthwash to the bathroom.

"Hey man, why don't you call your girl so we can meet up for lunch," Jesse said.

"First, she's not my girl, we're just friends, and second, I was just about to call her. You take a shower first, you're going to take forever anyway," Jay knew the score with his friend

"You know I gotta flex, man!" Jesse said.

"No cap," Jay said with a laugh. Jesse had been teaching him some slang words. He never really talked in slang so it usually came off as awkward.

Jesse claimed there was hope regarding slang, but as far as teaching him how to bounce, there was no hope. Jesse took some clothes and a large toiletry bag that had who knew what in it as well as some shampoo and body wash into the bathroom to take a shower.

Taking out his phone, he called Alejandra. "Hello?" She said.

"Hey, it's me, Jay."

"Yeah, I know, what's up," she said.

He was a little stunned because she didn't seem as excited to hear from him as he hoped. He decided to ignore it and push forward.

"Hey, me and my friends were going to grab some lunch after we got ready, you want to come along?" He asked.

"Just me?" She asked.

"No, ask some of your girls if they want to come too," he said.

"Yeah, let me see," she said as she took the phone away from her mouth. He could hear her talking to some other girls asking if they want to get some lunch with Jay and his friends.

He could hear varying degrees of responses ranging from no, who's he, too is that the guy you were hanging out with?

He could hear Alejandra unleash what sounded like a machine-gun barrage of Spanish to her friends. He didn't know what she was saying. He never took Spanish, opting for German. He thought it would help him with researching for his first Synch.

"Sure, when do you want to leave?" she asked.

"How about thirty...no, make that forty-five minutes. Jesse's trying to make himself look pretty and that takes a lot of work," he laughed.

Alejandra laughed too.

A little over forty-minutes later, Jay, his three friends, and Alejandra and three of her friends met up at a Burger Place.

Jay and Alejandra greeted each other as their friends checked each other out and assessed the opposite parties. They all went inside and ordered.

They found a bunch of single tables and moved them together. At first, things were awkward but Jesse was good at easing tensions and connecting with girls. He was a first-rate flirt. Pretty soon, everyone was giggling and laughing

When it was about fifteen minutes until they had to be on the bus; they left the restaurant and got on together. They carried on the flirting and talking all the way to the Multi-V library.

Their buses arrived at about 12:30 pm. As soon as they stepped off the busses, everyone stopped talking. They had seen the Multi-V Libary in videos and pictures on the internet for years. They grew up knowing what the place looked like. Seeing it in person? That was a completely different experience.

The nephrite Jade structure with large clear glass windows and the strange alien design looked mystical.

"I'm finally here, it's finally my turn!" Jay said breathlessly to himself. Alejandra was standing behind him and smiled.

"Yeah, choose well, I can help you if you like."

Jay was really appreciative and turned around to thank her. "I appreciate it, but I have already made my plans he laughed excitedly.

"Care to share?" She was curious about what he had chosen.

"Ha-ha, it's a secret!"

"You don't trust me," she pouted.

"It's not about trust, it's about shocking people!" She could see the excited gleam in Jay's eyes as he spoke about his upcoming first synching.

"Don't get too cocky, I've heard a lot of people say that and wind up ruining their futures. You have to take this very seriously. Don't overestimate your abilities.

Jay really appreciated her concern for him, but he had planned this for so many years. He put a lot of thought into it and carefully researched every aspect before choosing what he felt was the most clever choice with the greatest future benefits.

"I won't be reckless, I've been researching this for years. I know what's at stake," he said very seriously. Alejandra was taken back a little. She liked his confidence, but also how seriously he took the matter. She had a good feeling about his boy.

"Alright, everybody, form up in lines, and let's head in one at a time!" One of the teachers shouted.

"I can't wait!" Jay thought to himself as he followed his classmates inside.