Alma mater

Aya shifted the strap on her shoulder and looked up at the huge building. Really, huge. Sadly, the size of the building didn't match up to the size of the rooms, and her dorm mate already had so much junk spread over both beds that she was afraid to put her duffle down. The girl couldn't have been here much longer than Aya, after all, the dorm's opened today. "Hello?" she called out.

"What? Hey, just put it on the floor there..." a girl called, waving an arm from the bathroom.

"You've got more coming?!" Aya couldn't help but ask, shocked.

"Oh..." the girl, well, woman really, stuck her head out of the bathroom. She was gorgeous, in a flashy kind of way. "Hey, kid, look. I don't tell you how to live alright, so keep your skinny little ass out of my business."

Riiiight. Aya shifted her duffle a bit more securely and started clearing clothes and such off one of the beds. "Sure, whatever. I'm Aya. This is my dorm room. Keep your things off my bed and we'll get along just fine."

"Wait, oh you're shitting me. I am not rooming with some little brat." she came out of the bathroom now, six feet if she was an inch and ever inch the made-up model. Damn, a fashion student.

"Sorry sweetie." Aya smiled and tossed a few boxes after the clothes. "You are. I have to be in bed by ten, so don't try staying up all hours okay?" What? Aya didn't like the girl okay? Her father was dead three months, the boys were a city away, and Aya just wasn't in the mood to play nice.

"What the hell are you doing?" the model almost-screeched, picking boxes off the clothes pile as if they'd crush something delicate. "Look here girl, let's get one thing straight right now. you're not going to touch my clothes. You're not going to touch my things. You don't like that you can just get the fuck out now."

Aya arched an eyebrow and sat on her bed. "And you'll keep your belongings in your own section. Clothes in the dresser or closet, your dresser and your closet I mean. If you 'forget' I'll pitch everything I find in the nearest donation bin."

"Well, you're a cocky little bitch." the model stalked forward, looming over the seated fifteen year old. "You think I won't hit some kid? I will. You touch my things your head will ring for days, got me?"

"Hmmmm." well, the important people in her life already knew she was a violent little thing. It wouldn't have surprised them in the least to see her leg snap out to kick Ms. Model in the shins. Heels, well, heels snapped when the person wearing them was unbalanced. It certainly stopped the looming. Looming bothered Aya. "Oh, and the language. You shouldn't swear around kids Miss. It gives us the wrong idea."

The Dean of housing wasn't happy to have Aya sitting in his office a little later. The model was off having her arm set. Day one and she was seeing the principal. Well. At least she hadn't changed much? "No sir, she threatened me sir." Aya explained. "When I made her break her heels she went for something in her bag. I didn't feel like getting stabbed or worse. I overreacted, I should have just pinned her. I'm sorry."

"Yes, yes, we found a weapon. That is against the school rules, you are not going to be expelled. We are going to have some difficulty in housing you now though..."

Aya nodded "Yeah, I'll get my own place, don't worry. I am probation though right?" she should be, assault on the first day and the cops at the dorms...

"Yes, probation. No more fighting." the dean sighed and closed the file on his desk.

"Yes sir." she nodded and stood, waiting to be dismissed.

"Go. Ms. Myers will be kept overnight, you can rest in the dorms tonight. I'll help you look for housing in the morning."

"Sir I'll find lodging myself." Aya smiled then and left.

So.

Phone calls.

"Boys, you want to go apartment shopping....now? I'll need cosigners. No one rents to fifteen year olds..."

And sometimes...

The shop and house where Pierce and Momma lived was home. Had been since she drifted into their lives at age fifteen. Yep, that was home. This place? The silo? It was...

...peace.

It was a quiet place where nothing bad could get to her. Safe. Secret. A place where she could heal up and hide until she felt like facing the world again. And? It was really comfortable right here on the concrete just inside the door.

Yep.

She ended up here...more often than she ever told Momma about. Usually she didn't remember getting herself here either, but she never ran for home when she was out of it. Just...here.

"One more to stupid mistakes..." she sighed, drawing a bloody finger down the wall in a tally mark. There was a whole line of them at her current eye level, just by the door. She liked to think each one would be the last. Damn things. "Going to get...to bed now." she informed the wall.

Yes, she talked to herself when she was hurt. It was...incredibly embarrassing. Fever must cook her brains or something. Yep. Fever. Everyone got fevers when they were hurt. She'd sleep for a few days, eat, and be right as rain. A few days late getting in from circuit, but the skins from what she took over the cliff with her would be explanation enough.