Single post in Sleight of Heart -- [COMPLETED]

She flashes a wide grin with her glossed lips before sitting straight again and continuing to listen the rest of the introductions. I’m not sure if this is how first impressions can lead to friendships, but I suddenly realize that I need to be very careful how I respond to these new faces. I’m not here to make friends, and some of these people will not warm up to the fact that I’m an emhuman. The rest of the room introduce themselves, and a couple random conversations pop up among smaller groups. I’m not part of them. Darryl is. Shockingly, it’s with a group of females. I roll my eyes, and I think it happens more out of reflex than actual purpose. But I use the lull to excuse myself from the lobby and sneak away upstairs. Our room is 263, on the second floor, but that’s not my destination. When Darryl and I were moving our stuff in earlier, we had noticed some workers on the roof. We’d passed them coming down when we brought up his futon, but it had made me wonder if residents were allowed up there. I decide to venture first and ask permission later. I scale the dingy, yellow stairwell two steps at a time until I reach the roof access door just past the fourth floor. Taking the doorknob in hand, I inhale and make a sharp twist. The knob easily gives and the door swings open, letting in a cool breeze I gratefully inhale. Stepping out onto the roof, I carefully let the door close slowly behind me. No need alerting anyone to my presence just yet. A quick glance, and I can easily spot the area the workers were attending to. But even if I were blind, my nose would’ve led me right to it. Whatever they used to patch up the area was incredibly loud and three steps shy of foul. Heading in the opposite direction of that unpleasant odor, I gaze out at the campus. Several other buildings are taller than McFadden. Some of them look like dorms, judging from the size of their parking lots, but others have way too many windows to be dorms. They’re a little fancier as well. I don’t know the names of any of them. What I want to do is grab the map from the freshman pack we received during orientation and see if I can find the buildings my classes are in first. My original plan included doing that with Darryl, but I feel all kinds of doubts poking into that. Plan B: a solo trek that hopefully doesn’t end with me terribly lost on the other side of the campus. Wait. What am I saying? I know how to read a freakin’ map. I do it all the time when I navigate road trips with Pops. Plus, all the map reading on various videogames oughta count for something. I just have to go find my map in the room and get to hoofin’ it. I spin to head back inside and my heart leaps up into my throat while I let out a partially controlled yelp. A manly yelp, to be clear, but I don’t think Ms. Marilyn agrees as she fights hard to keep apparent giggles trapped inside. “Sorry,” she manages between snickers. “I just couldn’t help myself.” “How did you even sneak up here like that?” I quickly ask, silently trying to will my heartbeat down to its normal pace. “I didn’t hear a thing.” Still with an amused grin on her face, she shakes her head disappointingly. “That’s no good for someone devoted to fighting crime, now isn’t it?” “Ha ha,” I respond dryly, but she seriously shouldn’t have been able to sneak up on me that fast without a sound. Not me. “So… why’d you come up here?” Ms. Marilyn asks the question, but her gaze drifts off to the rest of the campus. “And please, don’t say ‘to be alone’ because that is not what today is all about.”