And they were lucky. Nothing major happened on their way to the dorm rooms. Rhonda stood before the door to what would be her home for the next few years, room 666. Of course. Sadly her and Sofia were not lucky enough to be assigned to the same room. Though they were next-door neighbors, her being in room 665, so at least they were sharing a bathroom.
Sofia gave her a final smile and encouraging words before entering her own dorm room, “Don't worry, everything will be alright.” Rhonda took a deep breath. On their way to the dorms they came up with a provisional plan to avoid getting into trouble. Each would just try their best to befriend their two roommates, so as a group of six other people were less likely to approach them. She hadn't looked up the names of her roommates yet, figuring it’d only lead to her being biased.
The room seemed to be fairly standard, desks and dressers for three people as well as a bunk bed and a single bed. In the middle stood a single girl. She had her back to Rhonda, but what she could make out was short dark hair under an oversized and overly-decorated witch hat and that without aforementioned hat she was nearly a full head smaller. Also a cape.
Still, Rhonda tried to be polite, “Excuse me, my name's Rhonda and you're probably my new room–”
“Hm hm hm! What foolish mortal dares to enter my cave?”
Did she figure me out already?! “I, eh, already told you my name, it's Rhonda. What is yours?”
The girl turned around with an overly dramatic flourish. Is she wearing an eyepatch? Aside from that detail she looked like she was still developing in the body department.
“You are brave enough to not have run away from me. You have passed my test and are hereby worthy enough to hear my name, fellow witch. Throughout my life I have been known by many callings, but the one I am most commonly known as is Lichellia Drakensdottir. Muwahahaha!”
Oh, she's one of those types… I can still salvage this. Luckily over the years she had already gotten some skill in how to deal with… more dramatic people. “Good, Lichellia, can I call you Lichi?” The girl nodded, dramatically. “We're gonna be roommates for the next few years, so how about we start out by telling each other a bit about ourselves? Maybe we can even become friends. I can start. So, as you can see I’m a latina, eh..., I’m from a small suburban town in the US and… my best friend Sofia is in the room next door and I’m sure you two will get along great.” As I said, some skill.
“Don't think I didn't notice your feeble attempts at extracting my closest secrets, Rhonda of the latins. But you might be right in that joining forces with others of like mind will increase my chances of survival in this foul place and if telling my epic is part of that ritual, then I will indulge you. Many aeons ago there was a massive war in the world of demons. The hero of one side was a powerful lich, the other's a mighty dragon. But when their eyes met on the battlefield, they felt a connection in their souls, love at first sight. Sadly their bond was strictly forbidden and seeing no other way out, they both deserted and escaped into the human realm. They gave up a large part of their powers to take on mortal shells knowing it was worth it to finally be united with their destined wife. And I am the spawn of this unholy bond between two demonic females!”
“Oh, that's… nice.”
“Good to see my family’s tale is to your delight. In interest of our shared coexistence I hope that you don't mind me already having claimed the vantage position as my new nest.” She pointed at the top bunk where her suitcase was already sitting.
“No problem, I prefer sleeping close to the ground anyways.” Another adventure she would really like to forget. “To a great time as roommates.” She held out her hand.
“Likewise.” Lichi grabbed it and gave a firm handshake while giving another loud laugh.
While Lichi climbed back up to continue unpacking, Rhonda took a look at the two remaining beds. She decided to be a good roommate and leave the single bed to the other, still absent, girl. She couldn't help but smile as she stuck her head between her clothes. She was 80% sure she had just made a new friend. Everything seemed to go great for Rhonda, at that pace Abigail could do nothing to them.
Rhonda heard the clicking of the door lock. She heard Lichi jumping down and assumed her roommate positioned herself the same way she did when Rhonda entered. Deciding to let Lichi have her moment she continued with her unpacking and planned to introduce herself afterwards.
“Sorry I’m so late. Some pen pusher made a mistake and I had to spend the last 30 minutes running back and forth to find out which room I’m in,” a frighteningly familiar voice said.
Rhonda’s blood ran cold. This couldn't be true. She deeply regretted now not looking up her roommates, as well as not taking the single bed. Maybe if she kept her head in the suitcase, this nightmare would just pass on. No, she’d just have to rip this bandaid off and expose this still fresh flesh wound to hydrochloric acid. She turned around and met eyes with none other than her best friend’s archrival, Abigail.
“Abigail?”
“Rhonda?”
They just stood there while both brains slowly arrived at the same horrifying conclusion.
“AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!”
“AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!”
“What’re you doing here? Me? This is my dorm room!”
“What’re you doing here? Me? This is my dorm room!”
“Your dorm room? Please don't tell me… And stop copying me!”
“Your dorm room? Please don't tell me… And stop copying me!”
While this continued the third person in the room, Lichi, got increasingly annoyed at being ignored. She had prepared such a good speech and now had to throw it away and ad-lip instead. “So it seems the witches bound to me are already quite acquainted with each other,” she spoke up.
“Acquainted? Ha, as if. We're mortal enemies. Stop it!”
“Acquainted? Ha, as if. We're mortal enemies. Stop it!”
“I can sense the blood boiling between you two–” (Abigail: “Oh really?”) “–but Rhonda of the latins allow me to make a pure first impression before any of you tries to cloud my judgement.” She struck a pose. “My name is Lichellia Drakensdottir, a powerful witch with the power of a lich and the blood of a dragon! Muwahahaha”
“Do you wanna tell her that latina is not the female form of latin?” Abigail muttered to Rhonda, who only replied with another muttered “Stop it!”.
With a groan Abigail pulled out her phone and after only a few clicks said, “Your real name’s Emma Smith, 15 years, from a village in England. Oh? You actually skipped a grade? Call me surprised. And of course that stupid eyepatch is not necessary.”
“Hey, that’s unfair,” Lichi/Emma shouted. “Do you see me going around ruining other people's introductions?”
“I just wanted to skip the boring stuff,” Abigail answered.
By now Emma had completely dropped her act. “Grr. That's it! You're on my list! Prepare to be cursed!” Entirely on instinct Rhonda found herself holding Lichi/Emma back from attacking Abigail. She had done it way too often with Sofia already (though the opposite was true as well).
Suddenly the still unlocked door was thrown open and Sofia, followed by two unknown girls, entered. “Rhonda? I heard a scream. Sorry, I would’ve come sooner but I got tangled up in some wires–” That's when she noticed Abigail and, to her credit, made the necessary connections much faster. “AAAAAAAHHHHH!”
“Please stop screaming, Sofia, and can someone close the door before others come in as well.” Everyone did as Rhonda said.
After everyone calmed down Rhonda, Sophia and Abigail took the center. They quickly came to the conclusion that their agreement from earlier was still in full effect and decided to just try to peacefully coexist while going out of each other's way and keeping each other's secrets. With that cleared, Abigail excused herself from the others (Sofia responded to that with some choice german words.) and started unpacking on the single bed without even asking if it was still free. Said others decided to use the chance to introduce each other. As it turned out, Sofia did already manage to become friends with her roommates.
The first one was a japanese girl named Usami Amai, who actually bowed while introducing herself. Her long black hair was covering half her face and she seemed rather shy, barely engaging in their conversations. Though she turned out to really love animals and became engaged once the topic shifted to them.
The other was May Hudson. She seemed to be the exact opposite of the japanese as she eagerly shook Rhonda’s hand (rather whole arm) and excitedly talked about how she planned to combine the aspects of both science and magic to create something new. Rhonda’s eyes first fell on the goggles around her neck, then the impressive bust right below them. Even without being a witch Rhonda was also attracted to girls (which may or may not have played a role in choosing this school). Immediately she corrected course and focused instead on May’s unevenly shoulder-length blond hair that turned black at its tips.
“Oh that, technically I didn't do anything with it. A few weeks ago a failed experiment just burned part of them off,” she answered slightly too cheerily for Rhonda's taste.
While Lichi/Emma (she had to clear that up later) excitedly introduced herself to their neighbors, Rhonda couldn't help but sweep her eyes over the room. Sofia and her roommates followed her with attention and wait… did she just see a tail under Usami’s skirt. Probably just imagined it. Abigail simply rolled her eyes, having to experience Lichellia’s spiel after all, and then focused on unpacking again. Rhonda hoped beyond hope that even with Abigail as roommate the next year will pass somewhat uneventfully. They all just had to keep their agreement. That couldn't be too hard, right?