By the time the bus finally stopped, I felt like a white sheet, unsure if I could even get up without falling over and hurling. I sat there for a few moments while everyone got out and filtered out, and then I got up, putting my hands on the back of the seats as I forced myself forward, finally getting to the exit and jumping off the steps as if I wasn't tempted to kiss the ground and beg for someone to carry me inside. I stopped and took in a deep breath, feeling a little bit better now that I wasn't floating above the ground. Dally wrapped her arms around my shoulders, which was actually pretty comical, since she was so much shorter than I.

“Are you okay, Pants? You're looking a little green.” Dally's voice was full of concern, but I didn't respond to her question, raising my eyebrow questioningly. “Pants? The 't’ is silent, Dally… well, mostly silent, but… not that prominent.” Dally just laughed at me and stuck her tongue out.

“Well excuse you, your best friend needs to have a better nickname for you, Syke is what everyone calls you, I'm just trying out other nicknames. Hey, I hope we get bunked together, Pan.” Laughing, Dally slapped my butt and skipped up to the doors of the large building in front of us, running at the rotating doors and pushing on one, entering quickly and then fumbling, falling with the door and getting a little stuck in the rotary. I laughed as I watched her, but my laughter stopped as I looked up at the giant fortress that had parts defying Arthen’s gravity. The bottom was wide and made out of shimmering white bricks, the floor above it covered with windows. Some of the floors were just made of clear glass, not easily visible from the ground, and then there was the gravity defying triangle at the top, it was the white bricks and twisted metals making it look elegant and daunting. That's when Nathan spoke, while most of us were admiring the tower.

“Of course, they had to make it the tallest Club building, since our star is the sky. You're all going to need maps integrated into those fancy new Patches you guys got before you got separated into Clubs. Your maps will be integrated in the lobby by Aster, our amazing receptionist. You'll get them in the order that I called our names, so Carter Slinnel, you're up first.” We were all led inside and brought up to the front desk while I filled Dally in on what she missed while she was playing around with the door. I stepped into my place in the line, waiting while my new friends got their maps. Once it was my turn, I stepped up to the desk and smiled at Aster, she was gorgeous, light brown hair pulled back into a braided bun, brown eyes shining as she smiled back at me, she had a pretty face, high cheekbones, full lips, a slightly too small nose, and a small chin. I leaned over the desk like Carter had done, feeling my eyes glaze as she pressed a small chip against my temple where the new Patch was. Information flowed across my eyes and then stopped as she took the chip away, smiling again at me and waving me to the side. I let out a breath, blinked a few times, and walked over to where my new friends were standing, taking the chance and wrapping my arms around Dally's neck from behind.

“Best friends, huh? Don't I get a choice on that?” I was mostly teasing, and grinned to show that, not wanting to upset her. She didn't seem too upset when she replied, though, laughing and shaking her head.

“No! You don't get to make any choices, you're stuck with me now! If you have a problem with that, then…. Get rid of it!” Carter laughed at Dally's response and grabbed me by the waist, pulling me away from Dally to be by his side, pretending to be all snotty.

“Dally, darling, obviously she likes me better, I'm her new best friend…!” He was only teasing, but I was pretty surprised when he grabbed me, I relaxed and laughed with him, though. This was a lot of fun, it had been a while since I'd had this much fun with a group of people. That's when Sam stepped forward and cupped my chin in his hand, gently taking me away from Carter's grip and turning my head so everyone could see my surprised look while he spoke.

“Clearly, she's way out of anyone's league, do you see this face? Gorgeous. Too gorgeous for the likes of you people. Not even Brigade’s leader is worthy of this!” I just about had a heart attack, but I maintained my composure, snorting and twisting out of Sam's grip, flicking my dull brown hair over my shoulder, striking a pose and puckering my lips, going for a comical look.

“Ooh, yes, too out of your simple leagues, I guess I'll just have to love myself, no couplings for me! Oh no, I'm far too be-yu-ti-fuhl!” I fluttered my eyelashes and twined my fingers together, teasing the backs of my hands up under my chin as I did so. I only lasted a few seconds before I burst into laughter with the rest of them, sure, I wasn't ugly, I knew that, but there was no way my unruly, dull, blah hair and face could compete with Dally's perfect face.

  A woman walked up to our group, passing out little slips of paper with letters and numbers on them. The paper I was handed had 'S13’ printed on it, which made me pause, I had no idea what these numbers meant, and I looked at Dally in confusion.

“Room numbers. What's yours, Sy?” She looked at my piece of paper, showing me her that said 'S12’. Seeing my paper, she pouted.

“We're not roomed together, side by side, but not together…What did you guys get?” She gestured to everyone else, raising her eyebrow. Carter got room R157, Trey was assigned to room R200, Matelyn got L08, and Sam looked at me and hesitated before showing his paper, which had the same letter and numbers as mine did. I snorted and rolled my eyes slightly, of course I had to get one of the rooms with opposite genders. Sam seemed pretty flustered when he spoke.

“I can't believe they're really making us room with girls… or boys… there's a law against two people of opposite genders sharing a room unless they're hitched and stuck with each other. Come on, I'm not married to Sy, they're blatantly breaking the law…”

I think it's to mess with our heads… I hope if I get stuck in a room with a boy, that he's at least hot. I feel bad for you, Bestie, you have to share a room with… that.” Dally laughed, teasing Sam, who was, in all actuality, very easy on the eyes. I then turned to Matelyn.

“Hey, your room’s on a whole different floor, why did they put you so far away, Matelyn?” The blue-haired girl’s voice was quiet and a little rough, not like what you would expect from her.

“Oh, um, I think I might be the recruit who's rooming with an older recruit, one who's been here a few years…” Matelyn smiled faintly at me and slipped her piece of paper into the neck of her uniform, the only place to store things that weren't our new licenses. I just nodded slightly and smiled back, she was a sweet girl, I liked her well enough. Trey suddenly reached out and touched my unruly hair, frowning slightly.

“Don't you have someone to do your hair, Pantxike? It was fine at the ceremony, but now it's a complete mess, and you haven't even done anything.” I blushed at that, embarrassed. I had done my best with my hair, it had been beautiful when I left my house, but by the time I got to the ceremony, it was less than amazing.

“Uh, yeah… It was great when I left this morning, but my hair is tough to do up, since it slips out of its updo rather easily. I'll have to do something with this mess, I've been thinking about cutting it and dying it, I just don't know what to do with it yet.” I ran my fingers through my hair, sticking out my bottom lip slightly as I thought about it. I shrugged and moved on from it.

“Oh well, let's go find our rooms, at least I already know my roommate! I want to see where I'm going to be living from now on.”