It was Orientation week, finally. May had been walking around for at least an hour in the sun, dazed by all the people and all the buildings. This was the first day of her new adult life, her first day as a university student. After so many excruciatingly boring years in high school, she could finally pursue her actual interests- art and history. Everyone said that university was amazing, so much better than High School. May believed them. The older students looked like real adults, like they actually had their lives figured out. She passed a stall advertising 'Anime club', where a group of girls with brightly colored hair were talking excitedly and giving out candy to people passing by. May already had an armful of bags filled with literature about different classes, different clubs and organizations. She was particularly interested in the painting club, although perhaps a little put off by the members- who were much more trendy and sophisticated than her. They stood around smoking and laughing, and just looked so effortlessly cool. May looked down at her own clothes and knew she could never pull that off, and desperately wished she'd put more effort into picking out her outfit that morning. The jeans seemed simultaneously too tight and too loose, the converse shoes looked childish, and her t-shirt had a picture of Finn from adventure time on it.
'For god's sake May, can't you at least pretend to be grown up?' May thought to herself, pulling at her shirt. She kept walking through the crowd, her cheeks burning, hoping there was somewhere quiet she could go to pull herself together.
A hand tapped her shoulder, and she spun around with a fright.
"Hey, do you know what time it is?" A man asked her, a smirk on his face. May stuttered and fumbled for her phone in her pocket. What was the time anyway? Around lunch time?
"Haha, I was just going to say it must be adventure time!" he said quickly, and May gaped at him, confused. What was he talking about? Had she missed some joke?
"Because of your shirt!" The man followed up, obviously sensing her confusion. May looked down at her shirt and blushed red, of course, how stupid of her. Her school friends had always made fun of her for being slow to get jokes, she desperately wished she could just act normal and cool like them. She wished she could say something back, something witty and easy, then he would laugh and ask her on a date. Yeah right.
"Oh... I..." May stuttered instead, silently cursing herself. The man looked a few years older than her, perhaps, although everyone looked older than her here. He was tall, slim, with dark hair that curled around his ears. His eyes were dark too, and crinkled with laughter.
"Sorry, it was a bad joke. I'm awful at pick-up lines," May's heart raced and he continued, "Are you new here? I'm in my third year, but I come to Orientation for all the free stuff." He held up the bags he was carrying, probably filled with free food and printed stress balls.
May giggled and help up her matching bags, "Yeah I'm just starting this year... this is a pretty good way to start the year! Although I think I've already got lost at least three times," she said, motioning to the crowds around her.
"Oh yeah don't worry, it happens to everyone. Do you want me to show you the sites? I'm Nick, by the way."
