The Starling Vigilante [Watty's 2015 Award Winner]

Chapter 2

The alarm ordering me to awaken, I crawled out of bed tired and rather confused, my head started pounding and my throat felt coarse. Just what I needed when trying to get my bearings around a university. I took a shower, shoved a T-shirt and jeans on, and headed out of the room for breakfast, tying my dark hair up in a ponytail but keeping my fringe loose. I didn't really care that much about what I looked like, especially due to my strange sense of fatigue, even though I knew I needed to give a good first impression of myself.

Knocking on Harper's door, I felt it swing open, it's owner not present. She must have already started exploring the university, I thought, sighing. As I walked down the corridor, a guy waved to me, his attire as laid back as mine. I smiled, wanting to make a good impression of myself on the first day. He seemed nothing to worry about, his smile matching mine.

'Hi there,' he said, his green eyes shining in the early light. 'I'm Ethan.'

'Hi,' I said, trying to seem as alert and nice as possible. 'I'm Aria, nice to meet you.'

'What a lovely name to fit a lovely lady,' he said charmingly. Obviously trying to impress me. Although he looked alright, I started to feel uneasy around him. His eyes looked deceptive in contrast with his smile. But, first impressions, right? I couldn't just judge someone upon how they looked or seemed.

Smiling along with his act, I tried to seem unnerved.

'Erm, have you seen another girl around here?' I asked, wanting to be with someone I knew already. And plus, she'd probably found places for us to go by now if she had already been up for a while. 'Red hair, blue eyes, American accent?'

'No sorry,' he replied, shaking his head but his eyes still fixed on me. Making me uncomfortable. 'But you can hang out with us for now until she comes back.'

I saw another guy in the room and Ethan seemed more relaxed and natural now. If there was more than one person, then I'd have more people to talk to and get to know. Plus, I was starting to feel sick and I needed to sit down somewhere.

'Ok,' I replied calmly and walked into the room.

The room was rather messy and things laid untidily on the floor, contents spilling out of suitcases and pizza boxes scattered around. Empty beer cans and vodka bottles stood on various shelves and table tops. It looked like a party had been going on last night.

'So,' I said awkwardly. 'What are you... studying here?'

'Astrophysics,' one of the guys said. He was a fairly tall guy, about 6.3 feet (judging from my calculations that he was about 5 inches taller than me) and wore the classy jumper and shirt combination. His hair was golden brown, styled in short curls, and his smile was much more genuine than Ethan's.

'Me too!' I exclaimed, maybe a little too excitedly, because he jumped slightly, making me blush. 'Sorry, what was your name?...'

'Isaac,' he said, smiling. He seemed cute.

'Engineering,' Ethan suddenly said, making me jump this time. I could sense his want of belonging, looking at me and Isaac constantly.

Suddenly, my vision started going blurry

'Is it alright if I just lay down here?' I yawned, seeing stars and feeling faint. The guys must have been getting bad signals if their guest was trying to go to sleep. They could assume I was bored or lazy, and that's the impression they would have of me for the rest of their university life. And if my day carried on like this, I could put a lot of people in the position of Isaac and Ethan's situation now.

But I didn't make it to the bed, or hear Ethan's reply.