Rising Shards

Everyone’s wristbands started to light up. I held mine to my ear to hear it over all the other ones going off. Mine displayed a pleasant white background with text welcoming me to the school.

“Zeta...Fal...Ueueur,” The pleasant voice coming from the wristband said.

It got the first name right at least.

“Next task: Advisor and roommate meet and greet. Please confirm awareness of task.”

“Uh-huh.” I said.

“Awareness of task confirmed. Please report to. Room 2.6.1.5.2.22222222222—”

“Uhhh…” I said as my wristband’s screen turned blue. Did it just die on me? Were my powers about to go berserk already?

I power walked out of the aisle and the nearest teacher spotted my panic. I held up my wristband, feeling like I was a five year old trying to figure out how to zip up snow pants.

“Just give it a second,” the teacher said. “The power blocking part isn’t tied to the OS, which is good because the OS is glitchy and sucks.”

I nodded but I didn’t really get it. My band turned back on.

“Zeta Faleur. Please report to the Pink Room. Room 2.6.1.5.2.2222222.”

The audio was being glitchy again, but the waypoint projector was still working, and I was able to find the room. There was a binging noise as I walked in and my band blinked.

“Zeta Faleur of Room 324,” the wristband said. “Please sit here and await further instructions.”

The room was just about four rows of chairs, split up in threes. My wristband led me to my set of three chairs. I tried to prep myself for meeting roommates, something I very much was not ready for. If I sat in the middle seat, I ran the risk of not liking a roommate, or not liking either of my roommates and having to sit between both of them. The right seat was close to the center of the room, which could mean talking to even more people who weren’t even my roommates. The left seat gave me the most advantages to avoid talking to people. Wall seats were ideal for that, and then I could lean against it if I got tired or something.

“Incorrect seat,” the wristband said as soon as I sat down. “Zeta Faleur of Room 324 has been assigned this seat.”

It, of course, highlighted the middle seat. “Please take it to avoid confusing the seats of ROOMMATE and ROOMMATE.”

“Don’t you mean my roommates will be confused, not the seats?” I asked.

I thought I had made a great joke, but the system didn’t respond. It made me think my joke wasn’t so great.

So far, I was alone in the room which was kinda creepy. I could hear the clock ticking every second.

Finally, a girl walked in. She had short hair and the confidence of a movie star. She was led to the row right behind me. I reflexively shot my hand out like a dweeb because Stella had really made sure I always shook new people’s hands. “You can learn a textbook’s worth about a person by how they shake your hand when you first meet.” Stella said that a lot.

“Ovie Chirhart,” She said to me, barely touching my hand with the daintiest handshake in history. “And yes, before you ask, that is of the Chirhart family.”

“Wow,” I said. I wasn’t going to ask as I had no idea what Chirhart family she was talking about. I hoped I could nod my way through this.

Ovie didn’t bother to ask my name. I was kinda glad she wasn’t my roommate. She was already in her uniform, and it made me suddenly spike in worry that I’d horrendously messed up already by not putting mine on. I was probably already on thin ice with the scholarship I had. Time seemed to move even slower until more students filed in. They mostly seemed to be the same kind of Cani I was, with just the fangs being the visual sign of their Cani-ness. They weren’t all in their uniforms at least so I wasn’t a total failure already.

A girl in a yellow sundress walked towards me with a bright smile on her face. She had straight brown hair that had an orange flower pinned in it.

“Hi! Are you Zeta or Kalei?” the girl asked me.

“Uh, Zeta,” I said. “I like the flower in your hair!”

“Don’t leave home without one!” She said, patting it gently. “Oh, I’m Oka by the way!”

She held her hand out. I was grateful someone else had handshake etiquette training. I shook it quickly, not wanting her to notice how shaky and sweaty my palms were from the uniform worrying. She had a teal gemstone on her necklace, and a cloth on her wrist in a matching color.

“I’m Zeta,” I said. “I…don’t even know where to start.”

“Well, we could start with your hopes, dreams, how and when you got your fangs,” Oka said. “Did they tell you you’d have any other Cani stuff? I just have the fangs, but who knows with being a Cani right? There’s a curveball every week! Oh, and here!”

Oka held a flower out to me. Identical to the one in her hair, it was mostly orange, with dots of bright yellow around the petals.

“Thank you,” I said. “It’s really pretty.”

“It’s called a sun kissed gem. It’s for good luck!” Oka said.

I stared at it for probably an awkward amount of time. I finally looked back to Oka and saw her conjuring flowers out of the palm of her hands in a gentle green glow like it was nothing.

“Is that your Cani gift? You can control it? Already?” I asked.

“Yep!” Oka said proudly. “I’ve had my fangs since I was like a baby, so I’ve had a lot of time to practice. The big awakening thing happened so young I don’t even remember it.”

My worry about roommates was half wrong at least. I liked Oka already, her personality felt bright and bubbly. Another girl stood in front of us.

“Hey, are you guys Oka Ohri and Zeta…Falloooor?” The girl said, reading our names off her wristband that I apparently wasn't lucky enough to get a functioning one that actually said names right.

I sat there with a doofy smile on my face while the girl took her place by us and brushed her frizzy hair out of her face.

“Yep, that’s us!” Oka said. “I’m Oka, and this is Zeta!” Oka said, giving Kalei one of the flowers she’d made.

“Sweet,” She said. “I’m Kalei Koridia.”

“I’m Zeta,” I said. “Oka already said that but…yeah, I’m Zeta Faleur.”

I blushed at my inability to say a decent sentence while Kalei leaned back in her chair.

“Remember your training,” Stella’s voice rang in my head. “A textbook’s worth in just a handshake, Zeta…” I held my hand out. Kalei was looking around the room though, so I awkwardly tried to turn it into a wave at someone across the room to save face in front of Oka. A girl in the direct line of my wave looked confused and terrified that I was waving, which made me confused and terrified. Burning red and defeated, I turned quickly and wanted to just give up existence for the day. Oka and Kalei didn’t seem to notice or care, though.