A Magical Bond | 5

Foxbury Institute at last. For the next four years, Sione would have the distinct privilege of calling this place home, something he'd only dreamed of being able to say for his entire high school career. It felt surreal to finally be there for real, not just as a scrawny, clueless 15-year-old with a day pass making supervised trips to the robotics lab. Of course, technically,  he'd been around all summer, settling into his surroundings and memorizing the lay of the land, but today was finally his first day as a bona fide Foxbury student. The campus itself  was a marvel of postmodern, minimalist design, flanked by a majestic field of windmills that kept its many labs humming with clean energy. It had produced several of today's greatest minds in science and technology and surely counted among its current student body many geniuses of tomorrow. Sione wasn't narcissistic enough to believe he would be one of them, but he was content simply to be in the presence of future greatness.

His bubble was slightly burst when he saw the state of the idiosyncratic sculpture that served as the bold centerpiece of Foxbury's campus. Somehow, before the fall trimester had even officially begun, those pesky liberal arts nerds at Britechester had managed to blanket the statue with the ugliest works of knitting he'd ever laid eyes on. How much time must they have wasted on such a silly prank? They'd put real effort into those hideous blankets! Of course, when your grade was based solely on fluff like bad poetry and even worse improv, you probably found yourself with a lot of free time to devote to even more pointless bullshit, Sione thought, only semi-jokingly, chuckling to himself as he pulled the blankets down one by one.

Unfortunately, he found himself so caught up in restoring the sculpture to its former glory that he completely lost track of time. All of a sudden, he was already five minutes late to his first class. "Goddamn it," he whispered sharply to himself as he sprinted for his building, which, of course, was all the way on the opposite side of campus. This wasn't the way to leave a strong first impression with his professor and fellow classmates!

Aesthetically, the University of Britechester's campus was the complete opposite of Foxbury's in almost every way. Having been founded nearly 200 years ago, the school had taken great pains to maintain as much of its original neoclassical design leanings as possible. This suited its more humanities-minded student body, who largely preferred dark, quiet corners in creaky old buildings over the brightly-lit linoleum squeak of state-of-the-art labs. The college's low-key, comfy vibe certainly resonated with Cassie more than Foxbury's fast-paced, industrious atmosphere. She was cautiously optimistic about becoming a full-fledged member of the fine arts department, where self-expression seemed to be prioritized above all.

Despite getting an early start on her readings, however, she already felt like she was falling behind. She figured her painting classes would be a breeze, but she was nervous about her archaeology elective. The articles they'd been assigned for the first week already felt way over her head. Now that she was supposedly in charge of her own education, she didn't quite understand the point of taking non-art classes. They were supposed to help her become "well-rounded," but, to Cassie, that just seemed like code for cramming a bunch of useless information into her head that she would probably never use again.

She was so busy descending into an unnecessary anxiety spiral over a class she hadn't even attended yet that she ended up being late, too. It was a good thing she'd put in so many tireless hours of swimming and bicycling in Sulani over the summer. Who had decided it was a good idea for campus to be this sprawling? College wasn't supposed to require so much running!

Despite his first day tardiness, Sione soon settled into an easy, low-stress routine. Most of what he was learning in his entry-level engineering classes was stuff he already knew forward, backward, and upside down, and his elective was a throwaway course on video games. Most mornings, he even had enough time to enjoy freshly-brewed coffee and a hot-off-the-skillet omelet before heading to campus.

Cassie was having a harder time nailing down her schedule. Almost every night, she was up so late studying and painting that she inevitably overslept her alarm the next morning, meaning she was stuck grabbing lukewarm coffee and a stale pastry to go and hastily stuffing her face in the back of a lecture hall. How Sione had time for his leisurely homemade breakfasts was entirely beyond her.

That he had room in his life for romance, too, was even more absurd. Amanda was over at the house so often she practically lived there. Her constant presence irritated Cassie, especially when she found Amanda dozing off in front of the TV or digging around for leftovers in their fridge when Sione wasn't even around. Cassie felt guilty sometimes for disliking her on principle alone. Amanda wasn't a bad person. In fact, she was entirely pleasant and often even helped tidy up without prompting. But the simple fact that Sione was attracted to her and not Cassie made her mere existence unbearable.

Amanda and Sione spent so many hours glued to the sofa, engaged in grueling video game matches that seemed to go on interminably, that she didn't understand how they were passing their classes at all. Every time she snarkily commented on his obvious addiction, Sione claimed that he was technically doing homework for his gaming strategies course. And he mocks Britechester for having too many easy-A filler classes, she thought incredulously.

She couldn't help bursting out in silent laughter when Sione and Amanda started vigorously making out in front of her for the hundredth time. It's like I'm stuck in a terrible soap opera, she realized. I have to get out of here. Maybe the real reason she could never get caught up on her classes was because it had become impossible for her to focus as long as she was in that house.

She tried Laurel Library instead, seeking out an empty, quiet corner in which to set up her work station. The stately and blessedly distraction-free calm of the environment instantly soothed her and finally cut the chaos in her brain.

Maybe becoming more involved in campus activities would also help her shake Sione from her mind. After all, she could hardly keep up her one-sided pining forever. Obviously, nothing was ever going to happen between them, and at this point, after everything, why should she even want it to? The most natural fit seemed like the Art Society, who hosted frequent painting sessions on the banks of the river that cut through campus.

But Cassie soon found that most of the club's members were single-mindedly focused on figure painting, one of her least favorite forms, entirely ignoring the gorgeous, inspiring natural scenery that surrounded them. "So... do you guys ever do anything more abstract or surreal?" Cassie ventured uncertainly as they started packing up their easels. "Figure painting just feels so... literal. There's not much room for improvisation."

The club members chuckled amongst themselves, like they were sharing an inside joke. "Anybody can put a few scribbles or smears on a canvas and call it abstract, you know?" one of them told her in an overly teacherly tone. "Figure painting requires precision and sharply-attuned observation skills! It's actually one of the most difficult forms to master. Not just anyone can do it."

Cassie shrugged indifferently. "No, I just think it's boring." She was fairly certain she wouldn't be back for another session.

Next, she tried the soccer team, where it at least seemed like she wouldn't have to worry about getting caught up in pretentious arguments about the most sophisticated way to play the game. As long as you were passing the ball and scoring goals, you were golden. She appreciated the no-nonsense attitudes of her teammates and the opportunity to entirely clear her mind of academics while she was out on the field.

For weeks, she nearly managed to avoid running into Sione or Amanda altogether, but the night after her first big game, they cornered her in the kitchen with no obvious escape route in sight. "Hey, sports star, long time no see!" Amanda exclaimed, clearly oblivious to the fact that Cassie had been purposely ignoring them. Cassie almost felt bad for her.

"That looks like one nasty wrist sprain," Sione said, nodding at the bandage secured tightly around Cassie's forearm. "So, what, are you a jock now or something?" He emphasized the word like it was the most ridiculous thing he'd ever heard. Cassie made a clumsy excuse about how she was falling asleep on her feet and just had to get to bed before she passed out. She couldn't handle another second of inane, faux-friendly conversation.

In truth, Cassie was exhausted. But that just meant she was having the real university experience, didn't it? Could she even call herself a college student if she wasn't lucky to get four full hours of sleep a night? That's what she would keep telling herself, anyway, because it felt less terrifying than admitting the truth: that she was miserable more often than not and and beginning to feel more and more like she was losing sight of what really mattered, of all the things about her that made her truly herself.

Sione barely slept either those last few weeks of the trimester, but subsisting on nothing but coffee seemed to be working in his favor. He was rarely home by the time Cassie went to bed and had often already left when she got up in the morning but never appeared anything less than fully energized on the rare occasions their paths did cross. During the day, he was in the lab as much as humanly possible, working tirelessly with his classmates on their final engineering project and then with the Bot Savants on their entry into the college's utili-bot contest.

At night, he often joined his fellow computer science majors at Pepper's Pub for drinks and fries. As a history major, Amanda was bogged down in writing papers and speed-reading weeks of backlogged material at the last minute. Hanging around at the bar until last call easily filled the social gap in his life that her temporary absence had created. He couldn't help it, could he, if he just happened to find himself surrounded by other beautiful women as an unintended side effect, women who always happened to be down for a friendly beer pong competition in the more secluded upstairs lounge?

Before he knew it, he would be half a dozen rounds deep, a little bit tipsy, and more than a little flirty. In those moments, he was often too pumped up with liquid confidence and adrenaline to remember he still had a girlfriend, even if he wasn't seeing as much of her lately. But it was fine, he told himself, as long as he never let things go too far.

For example, as long as he only used his status as the reigning beer pong champion to buy pretty girls shots, laugh at their drunken jokes, and steal discreet glances in their direction, that didn't properly count as cheating, right?

As finals week approached, so, too, did the biggest soccer game of the trimester: University of Britechester versus their arch nemesis, the one and only Foxbury Institute. There were banners and flags plastered on the walls of every building and strung across the sidewalks. The team would be playing to a packed crowd, and the pressure to win was higher than ever.

On the Foxbury campus, Sione and his friends were pre-gaming with Larry the Lobster himself, the school's infamous mascot. If he was being honest, Sione didn't much care one way or another about sports, but it was easy to get swept up in the school spirit along with everyone else, especially when it involved some of his newfound favorite pastimes: beer pong and keg stands.

"Guys, I've got the greatest idea!" one of his fellow Bot Savants, Ellen, exclaimed after they'd drained the keg of every last drop and were all feeling even more spontaneous and loose than usual. "Tonight is totally the perfect time to get back at Britechester for yarn-bombing our statue at the beginning of the trimester! Everyone will be distracted by the game, including campus security. We'll get away with it easy!"

"Hell, yeah!" Sione agreed, letting his allegiance to Foxbury overwrite his common sense. "But what's going to be our means of sabotage? It's got to be something we can get our hands on right away!"

"I have a friend who has a work-study job in custodial services," another Bot Savant, Ashlynn, piped up. "I bet I can get him to loan us the key to the supply closet. It is for a good cause, after all."

So, armed with an entire week's supply of toilet paper, they headed stealthily to Britechester's campus, picking up a few more accomplices along the way who were just as eager as they were to reclaim Foxbury's pride. As Ellen predicted, Britechester was eerily quiet and empty, everyone having packed themselves into the stadium like sardines to catch a glimpse of the game. They would never have a better opportunity to pull off such an epic prank with no witnesses to point the finger at any one of them individually.

"Come on! Let's seize the moment while it lasts!" Sione grabbed a couple rolls and began unraveling them then flinging them toward the statue, where they caught and unspooled themselves the rest of the way, wrapping it up in white ribbons of two-ply. "Why isn't anyone else helping?" he asked as the rest of his classmates stood around watching him do all the work.

"I hardly want to be the one who gets caught in the crime red-handed if anyone sees us!" Ellen cried dramatically.

"But it was your idea!"

"Exactly. I did my part. Now it's your turn!" She nodded her head emphatically, as if hoping he'd be convinced of her sound logic. But it just seemed to Sione that she was chickening out at the last minute. All of them were!

Once all the toilet paper rolls had finally been emptied, the Britechester statue resembled a lumpy and sad-looking mummy. Everyone raised their fists in the air and let out loud whoops of excitement, all of a sudden no longer concerned about drawing attention. "We did it!" Ashlynn shouted to a round of applause from the others.

"You mean I did it," Sione corrected her, unwilling to let the scaredy-cats he called his friends take credit for what he'd accomplished on his own. Ellen was already making a beeline off campus, and the rest soon followed suit. Oh, well, he thought, taking a few final seconds to admire his handiwork. I did it for justice, not acclaim. Then he bolted, too.

The next day, the defaced statue was the talk of campus. Those Foxbury eggheads were so immature and, possibly even worse, lacked any sense of creativity whatsoever. Toilet paper, really? That was the best form of sabotage they could come up with? No wonder they felt so threatened by the mere presence of Britechester! Cassie listened to the gossip and witnessed the restoration of the statue with only mild interest. She didn't quite understand the phenomenon of so many students at both institutions turning the school they attended into their entire personality. Didn't they have more important things to get riled up about? Surely, they realized there was an entire world beyond their two campuses where their petty rivalry didn't matter at all.

"Tell me the truth," Cassie said to Sione when she came back from classes in the afternoon to find him looking as though he'd just rolled out of bed after sleeping off another wild night out. "You didn't have anything to do with toilet papering our statue last night, did you?"

Sione surprised even himself with the intensity of his reaction to her innocent, half-joking question. "Why would you even think that?" he exclaimed too defensively. All of a sudden, the tension that had existed between them for months bubbled up to the surface. He couldn't admit she was right and that, already, he felt embarrassed for taking the lead in last night's shenanigans, so instead he deflected. "God, all you ever do anymore is judge me! I can't do anything right in your eyes!"

"You can't blame me for judging you based on the sort of person you've become recently, which is a completely different person than you were six months ago, which was a completely different person than you were a couple years ago! You're so insecure, Sione! You're too caught up in what you think other people want from you, and you have no idea who you really are. But you can't admit that to yourself, so you take it out on me like I have no right to be angry at what a bad friend you've been. I'm tired of being your scapegoat!"

Cassie hadn't meant for years' worth of pent-up frustration to explode out of her all at once, especially on the basis of something so inconsequential. But once she got started, she couldn't hold herself back from finally boiling all the way over. Getting the truth out in the open was beyond overdue, even if it damaged their relationship irreparably. She'd rather never talk to him again than talk to him like this. Sione seemed shell-shocked, gaping at her with his mouth hanging open in awe. She walked away from the table, leaving him to sit in silent contemplation of her blunt assessment.

After their big confrontation, they avoided each other even harder, both of them switching into finals week cram mode to avoid having to talk about their feelings. Cassie pulled an all-nighter to put the finishing touches on one last oral presentation.

Meanwhile, Sione had a term paper to write for his video game course, which it turned out wasn't only about playing and in fact had an entire required reading list he'd been conveniently avoiding, and so now he found himself ingesting an entire trimester's worth of information and hastily regurgitating it simultaneously and at warp speed. Somehow, though, they both came out with passing grades in the end. They'd just barely managed to survive their first trimester. Now, how many more were left to go?