Before leaving, she made sure her lucky bracelet her brother had given her was still on her wrist. It was a simple string bracelet with a single letter "A". He had made it for her in kindergarten and couldn't spell her name.
Azalea left her room and wandered around the campus following the map to her first class.
Class didn't start for another hour, and she was starving.
Her stomach was trembling and making noises so loud everyone could hear. The people next to her in passing kept giving her the side eye, and she just kept her head down, pulling her down to cover her face.
'I'll just go get a sandwich and come back, I have plenty of time.'
Azalea left the white marble floored hallway outside the classroom for the cafeteria. Her shoes were making soft padding sounds on the floor as she all but ran out of the area. She took out her student card from her wallet in her bag, to pay for a small meal. Anything to get her stomach to stop talking. It was starting to hurt, and she was beginning to feel lightheaded.
Walking up to the closet counter to purchase food, it didn't matter the type or who.
"Can I get a sandwich please?"
The cashier looked at Azalea, blinked and spoke in a sarcastic manner, "What type?"
"I uhh…uh…I'll get the most popular please."
"How will you be paying cash, card, or shard?"
Azalea was on the verge of punching the man, he was deliberately being annoying because he obviously did not want to be here.
"Card."
"That will be 4 bronze, your order will be ready in five minutes. Your number is 12."
She went to sit down and calm her nerves while her food was being made. 4 bronze…If she makes 1 silver a week working as a janitor for the college, she would make 5 silver a month. In the long run she would have 500 bronze for food and everyday necessities. It would not be enough to cover her brother's treatment.
Ever so grateful to the kindness of the school counselors for helping her get a job, but of course it was a job nobody wanted.
After school today I'll go to the Hunter's Association and see if there are any jobs available. The association is mainly for hunters but jobs looking for new hires will include jobs for civilians. 'It doesn't matter how dangerous it is, I just need a job.'
"I have an order for 12."
Azalea looked up at the annoying man and moved to get her food.
It was a very basic egg and cheese bagel.
She looked down at the beagle, at least it was toasted off of the burnt edges.
She grabbed the beagle, took a bite, chewed and swallowed as fast as she could, then held the beagle in her mouth and ran back to the classroom.
Her anxiety was getting to her and she controlled her chewing to not look panicked. It was just the first day, and she would have five more classes in the afternoon.
Not knowing what to do after taking her last bite, she shoved her hands in her pockets and focused on her breathing. She stood there until the instructor arrived, thinking of her plans to get another job.
The instructor stood tall with peppered hair, and a monocle over his left eye.
He strode over to the podium and set up his briefcase as students filled in.
Azalea chose a seat toward the front row but not all the way forward. The second row was fine enough, no sense in being memorable.
She took out one of the notebooks from backpack and a mechanical pencil ready to start the course.
The instructor looked up at the clock, "3..2..1..and time everyone is now late if they are not already in this room. I expect you to be adults and will treat you all as such, be on time and follow the rules I dictate."
Her eyebrow twitched, what a strict instructor first thing in the morning.
"You will call me Instructor Retch, and I am responsible for teaching the orientation courses for this group for the first month, and if you are in the basic language course I will also be your instructor."
Some students throughout the group let out groans, not looking forward to the future classes.
Azalea was thrilled as she was in the Art history, Intro to Mathematics, Biology, Ethics, and Painting classes.
He might be her instructor but not for another trimester or two.
She twirled the pencil in her hand as Instructor Retch, droned on for a while about the expectations and rules he would expect for the next month. The rules when all put together were: be on time, go to your classes on time, do your work, pay for your classes, study, and take notes. They were pretty self explanatory, he didn't need to go and make a speech to the whole class, but the instructor did regardless.
Azalea glanced at her empty note book and doodles in the top left corner, to not waste space she could be using for notes.
This class was supposed to be a study hall after the first month, why they needed an introduction course was beyond her. Participation was not required after the first month, so she would use that time wisely.
Instructor Retch continued on talking about the history of the campus, and pulled a map up of the school from the projector and started to point out places on the map.
He looked at his watch after a quiet beep went off, appearing to be a reminder that class was ending.
"Please leave accordingly and move on to your next classes. Your assignment due tomorrow is to go to one of the places pointed out to you all on the map, take a photo of yourself there."
That was it the first class was done for the day.