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I hated new places.

Granted, the weather was rather nice and the breeze carried a distinct smell of a nearby cherry tree, but I didn’t know where much else was.

At least the cherry tree smelled nice.

I swung my cane back and forth in front of me and I could sense everyone parting away from it like I was parting the Red Sea or something. While I’m pretty great, I’m pretty sure I can’t do that.
I could practically feel their stares, their curiosity and pity for me. The new girl, the blind girl.

They told me it was a small campus, not more than 2,500 students and you could walk from one end to the other in less than ten minutes, so I deducted that everyone knew just about everyone, and if they didn’t know them they’ve at least seen them before. They knew I was new, but that was okay. I don’t need their pity.

Based on the shuffling around and the calls of orientation leaders, I figured most of the crowd around me were freshman. I was no stranger to college, but it was my first year here so I knew where I was going about as much as the freshman in the crowd.

I almost felt bad for the upperclassmen because they had to avoid the freshies in this crowd that was still parting before me like I was some new version of their god.

I guess it was harder for me to get around because I was blind, but I wasn’t helpless. One of the orientation leaders had shown me around this morning and I was just orienting myself with the campus at this point. I knew exactly where my dorm, a single in the more expensive residence halls, was in comparison to the dining commons and the coffee shop, I was just looking for the library and the class buildings at this point. I knew where they were, I was just timing how long it would take me to get there. My phone was pretty fancy and would say aloud the time if I hit a button or asked it to frankly, and it was also keeping track of the time it was taking me. Not that I needed it to, my internal clock was pretty good at keeping track of how long I’ve been walking.

The only downside to having a room in the residence hall with the absurdly high tuition rate that my mother was generously paying for because she was a famous prosecutor and had the money was that it was pretty far from everything else.

I was re-going over the checklist of what I had to do when someone tapped me on the shoulder rather harshly. I turned around and tapped my cane against the person’s ankle as he said, “You’re in the middle of the fucking walkway, can you move aside? We’ve got a friend in a wheelchair we’re trying to get through.”

His voice was familiar, but it was hard to place from where. Probably high school, it was a common college to go to in this area and I probably met him there. He also sounded irritated, along with not giving a single shit about the fact that I was blind and idly tapping my can against his ankle.

So while rolling my eyes behind the trademark Pyrope glasses, I obnoxiously stepped to the side with a wide grin on my face, “Well aren’t you friendly!”

He didn’t say anything for a moment before practically growling, “I’m glaring at you.”

“I kinda figured. I’m blind not stupid,” I laughed.

His sigh was irritable at the very least, “Look, I’m just trying to get my friend to registration, he hasn’t checked in yet…”

“It’s alright Karkat, she did move…” a more nervous voice spoke up from behind him.

Karkat? Didn’t I know a Karkat?

A memory prodded to the surface and I immediately shoved it into a corner in the far, dark recesses of my mind and told it to stay.

Instead of thinking about that, I leaned forward on my cane toward Karkat, “The nervous one is right shouty, I did move. Now is there anything else I can help you with before you waste any more of my time?”

Another voice, this time female, started laughing, “I like this one! She isn’t completely full of shit or doesn’t tries to use their disability to get pity!”

“Do you include yourself in those categories Vriska?” Karkat snapped.

If she had a disability of some sort, I was curious as to what it was. I listened carefully to see if I could hear anything that would give it away. I heard faint clicks as she moved, but I wasn’t sure what those clicks were.

“Of course not Karkat, what kind of bitch do you take me for?” she snickered.

“A huge one!”

I cackled at their bickering. It was pretty amusing, “Calm down shouty, and if I’m correct, I can call you shorty too!”

“How in the actual fuck would you know how tall I am if you can’t see?” he barked.

“Don’t have a rage aneurysm there Karkles, I have my ways of telling these things!” I grinned widely, showing off all my perfectly straight teeth. Gotta love two years of braces right?

“Shut the fuck up you bat!” he yelled.

Both Vriska and myself burst out laughing. “That’s a new one!” I snorted, still doubled over laughing.

“Come oooooooon Karkat, let’s go. I think Taaaaaaaavros is getting uncomfortable with your shouting,” Vriska drawled after she finished laughing.

“Since when did you give a shit about how comfortable Tavros is?” Karkat spoke through gritted teeth. Poor kid was going to have a heart attack by the time he was 21.

“I don’t, but we’re going to miss registration if we stand here aaaaaaaall day.”

The wheelchair bound kid was silent, but his unease was permeable in the air. I shrugged and grinned again, “I’m going in the same direction, I think I might just tag along with you guys.”

Karkat began to say something in response, probably to object, but Tavros spoke up first, something I didn’t expect, “I’m sure we could, uh, always use a new friend. Right Karkat?”

He grumbled something that even I couldn’t understand, and I heard Vriska shrug with the telltale clinks of metal along with the clicks that I finally realized were metal on metal.
Prosthetics then?

Karkat started walking forward and Tavros started to wheel himself forward while I fell back to walk next to Vriska and poke at her left arm. It was definitely metal.

“Can I help you whatever your name is?” she spoke irritably, but I really didn’t care.

“Terezi. Also, prosthetic arm eh?” I smiled. “You’re fucked up like I am!”

“Yeah well, at least I don’t flaunt it!”

“It’s really hard to hide the fact that I’m blind Vriska, but I’m pretty sure it’s pretty hard to hide a robotic arm also,” I laughed.

“It is, but at least I don’t go around showing it off!”

I cackled. These guys were going to be a fun bunch to be around.

Beep beep beep beep!

The smells and sounds of my dream faded into the incessant beeping of my alarm, signalling that it was time for me to get my ass out of bed and get ready to go to class.

I slammed my hand onto my phone, which was sitting on the bedside table charging, and turned off my alarm. I relied on my phone a lot for a blind girl, mostly my alarms though.

I laid there for a few moments, trying to wake up. I could remember bits of my dream, but not a lot.
In my dreams I was still blind, but I could smell and taste colors. It was really odd, but I came to accept it when I was much younger.

I know in this dream that I had last night I could definitely hear Vriska’s voice, and the shouty boy Karkat’s.

In the dream, the girl had blue eyes, black hair, and a black shirt with a distinctive cerulean blue symbol on it that I couldn’t make out. Just because I could smell the color didn’t mean that I knew what it was. She also had a grey jacket and a metal arm. I could smell the light colored ceramics in the inner workings as well.

The boy had hair that smelled whiter than snow, and had cherry red eyes. When I was younger, I used to love the colors red and teal, and in my dreams I just adore the taste of cherry red.
He was also wearing a long-sleeved black turtleneck with a grey symbol on the front.
I sat up, rubbing my head. These dreams had no significance, I don’t know why I continued to think about it. At least he wasn’t in it.

Of course, thinking about him brought back memories of the feeling of each blow he would land on me. Resisting was futile, but that didn’t stop me from trying. Every word he spoke was an insult, and while I love a good debate, he left no room for discussion. I could try, but again it was futile.
I sighed, shoved the covers aside, and swung my legs over the side to stand up. I transferred here not just because the pre-law program was better, but because I needed to get away from him. Going to a different city was the best course of action I could see.

I got up and walked over to grab my things for a shower, relief settling into my chest when I remembered that I didn’t have to worry about him anymore. He was gone, and I didn’t have to worry about him finding me.

I brushed my teeth and took a shower, taking extra time in the shower to relax from the unpleasant memories from this morning. Some people have asked me how I can take care of myself without the ability to see, and I’ve had to explain time and time again that I’ve been blind since I was eight years old, and I’m now almost twenty. I’m used to not being able to see.

I asked my phone, which I had named Pyralsprite, the time and it told me that it was it was 7:45AM, I had fifteen minutes to get to class if I wanted to be on time. Of course I did want to be on time, punctuality is important.

I took the elevator down, not really wanting to walk down the stairs this early in the morning with an absurdly heavy backpack, and walked outside. It was nice out again today, but it smelled like rain was on the way.

I walked to the other side of campus, not really rushing or anything. I was in no hurry, I had plenty of time to get there.

I walked into the classroom that my Criminal Law class was taking place. I was glad that my credits transferred without much of an issue, so I was in this class with the rest of the sophomores.
“Tereeeeeeeezi!” I heard Vriska call out from the other side of the room from where I walked in.
“Vriska?” I asked curiously. She didn’t seem to be the type that would take something like Criminal Law. In fact, I got the vibe that she’d be taking anything but.

“Come here, sit with me,” she laughed. “I don’t know any of the other dumbasses in this class.”
I nodded slowly and walked over, my cane clicking as it connected with the desks to tell me that they were there. I sat next to her, having known where she was by the sound of her voice. I dropped my backpack on the ground next to me with a thud. That thing had to weigh at least twenty pounds.

“Why do you look like a trainwreck this morning?” Vriska asked, curiosity evident.

“Why do you care?”

“I don’t, I’m just curious,” she said. At least she was straightforward about it.

“Well it’s none of your concern Serket.”

“Come oooooooon Terezi! I wanna know!” she whined.

“Too bad,” I stated with a tone of finality.

She sighed and the professor started class. I clicked on my recorder and listened to him talk.

Something told me that this year was going to be interesting.