"Well, this isn't awkward at all," Woohyun muttered as the upperclassmen stared in shock at them and Kaili, who had barged into their room, dumped the contents of the suitcase she held into her brother's bunk bed, and started organizing all of her own stuff into her suitcase. 

Sungjong and Woohyun were still standing awkwardly in the middle of the room. It looked much like theirs, only larger with three pairs of bunk beds. Hip-hop music was playing from the laptop of the man who had opened to door for them earlier. One of the bunk beds seemed unclaimed, and Sungyeol gestured over to it and offered them a chance to sit down. 

"Sorry, we didn't actually mean for her to - um - nevermind," Sungyeol said as the two of them sat down on the bed. 

Kaili snickered slightly at the roomful of awkwardness. "Really, you guys shouldn't say cocky things like that if you don't expect to follow through," she tutted as she finished packing up her stuff. "Anyways, since you all seem awfully hopeless at this socializing thing, I'm going to invite some of my roommates over. It'll be a party."

Three minutes later, Sungjong was relieved to find that the room had grown considerably more crowded, as Kaili and her three roommates were scattered around the floor. The time came for introductions, and Sungjong did his best to pay attention to everybody's names - besides the two siblings that he found quite impossible to forget.

The man who had originally opened the door for them was named Hoya, and his bunkmate, a man around Woohyun's height with spiked up, ash brown hair, a sharp jawline, and very intense-looking eyebrows, was named Dongwoo. The two of them seemed to be pretty close. Very close. Sungjong took note that he should probably avoid either of them if any of the romantic endeavors Woohyun wished for would arise from this encounter.

On the bed above them was a man named Sunggyu, who had very small eyes and a thick layer of bangs that covered his eyebrows. He was much thinner than both Hoya and Dongwoo, and Sungjong guessed he didn't work out too often. He seemed to enjoy talking a lot, which Sungjong didn't particularly mind. In fact, most of the conversation was dominated by him, Woohyun, and one of Kaili's roommates (and an occasional cackle from Dongwoo).

The roommate Sungjong was referring to was named Emily, who had very light blonde, curly hair that fell around her waist. She was quite petite, with a thin frame and a baby face that made her look much too young to be going to college. Sungjong had to admit that he admired her enthusiasm for almost everything Woohyun and Sunggyu were talking about, no matter how nonsensical it was. 

"Really? That's so interesting! I wonder if octopods can feel pain..." she was currently saying. Having very little to contribute to a conversation about cephalopods and having already been in one too many arguments about how to refer to more than one octopus, Sungjong was happy to tune out again.

In the bunk above Sungyeol's was Myungsoo, a very quiet man with hair very similar to Sunggyu's, though it looked very different on him due to his rounder face. He was wearing all black and contributed nothing more than the occasional smile to the conversation, at which point Sungjong noticed that he had very adorable dimples. 

Kaili's other two roommates included Cara, a hispanic woman with a slight accent that seemed to had started holding a side conversation about rappers with Hoya and Dongwoo, and Rei, a very quiet and petite Asian girl who had an incredibly high and soft voice on the occasion that she actually spoke. 

"Wait, whoa, is that a tattoo?" Dongwoo asked, pointing to a design on Cara's inner forearm. It was very geometric, consisting of tessellated triangles, the largest of which was filled with a vibrant gradient.

Cara nodded. "I got it after I graduated high school. I'm a weapons engineering major, actually, so I can be kind of a geometry nerd and I really like geometric designs like these." 

Sungjong couldn't help but raise his eyebrows. Weapons engineering was probably one of the hardest majors that the school offered. He made a note to himself to ask for her help in the case that he ever needed some tutoring. 

"Damnn! That's so hardcore," Hoya said, his eyes widening as he stared at her forearm. Sungjong smiled slightly. He had thought Hoya was pretty hardcore himself, but he supposed that was why they said not to judge a book by their cover. 

"If you were to get a tattoo, what would you want it to be?" Sungjong asked, not really referring to anyone in particular. The room was shrouded in silence as everyone considered the question.

"Maybe something musical," Hoya said. Sungjong nodded, not particularly surprised, considering that he seemed to be the room's DJ. 

Dongwoo piped up next, "Something to remind me about my friends and family. Maybe just a really minimalist and small heart or something. I don't think I could get a tattoo though, it sounds painful."

"It's not too bad. Well - in hindsight, at least, it doesn't seem too bad anymore."

"Maybe the two masks for drama," Sunggyu said.

Woohyun blinked. "You do drama? I do drama."

Sunggyu nodded, his eyes lighting up slightly. "I'm directing a play on campus this semester. You should get involved! Do you act? Sing? It's a musical." 

Woohyun nodded. "Both. I'll be sure to audition." 

"Great! We're going to be doing Rent. You've heard of it?"

Woohyun nodded.

"WAIT I LOVE THAT MUSICAL," Rei and Kaili said at the same time. Sungjong was slightly taken aback by the outburst, especially from Rei. Sunggyu assured the two of them that they could free free to audition as well, but it seemed that the tattoo conversation was just about over. Before the theatre conversation could get very far, though, an announcement came over the PA system to warn that there would be fifteen minutes until dinner.

"Oh, crap!" Kaili said, jumping up and grabbing the stuff she had acquired. "Gotta go get ready, see you guys later!"

"Get ready?" Sungjong asked. 

"The first dinner of orientation is kind of a banquet, so you're expected to dress nicely. I hope you brought a suit with you," Sunggyu explained. Sungjong had brought a suit, though he certainly hadn't expected to be using it so soon. Still, he was more than ready to show of his sense of fashion.

Everyone in the room dispersed to go get ready for the banquet, Sungjong and Woohyun returning to their rooms. Sungjong dug through his luggage to find his suit, perfectly folded, at the bottom. He put on a light blue dress shirt and fastened a black tie with small, white diamonds onto it. He then pulled a tight, black, v-necked sweater over top of the shirt and his dark gray blazer on top. He buttoned the first of two buttons, letting the lower one hang open, and matched the top with gray, cropped pants and black dress shoes.

Woohyun had gone with a warmer look, featuring a pale pink dress shirt, a burgundy blazer and matching pants, and pink-brown dress shoes that were just tall enough to conceal his insoles. He opted to keep his blazer ed and to go tieless for the occasion. 

Sungjong grinned at him, "Man, remember when you had no sense of fashion whatsoever? I did wonders on you."

"Whatever. Let's go, I'm hungry."

Sungjong's stomach growled at the thought of food, and he realized that he had pretty much lost his sense of time now that they were traveling through space. The two of them exited into the busy hallway, where all of the other students were rushing to get to the dining hall first. 

The tables in the dining hall sat exactly ten, but the other nine members of the group the two of them were with earlier were quick to grab a chair so that Sungjong and Woohyun would fit. The first course of the meal, soup, was already on the lazy susan, and Sungjong poured a bowl for himself and Woohyun. 

Of course, Sungjong couldn't help but steal some judging glances at the outfits of the people around him. Fortunately, he didn't have to do too much judging because all of them were pretty impeccably dressed. 

Sunggyu was sitting next to Woohyun in a pale blue suit, paired with a white dress shirt, rose quartz pink tie, and white shoes. He had also decide to wear white glasses that were very clearly only there for fashion purposes. It was a more daring look, which Sungjong supposed was suitable for a director. It was hard to be a successful artist without taking risks, after all. 

Next to Sunggyu came Hoya and Dongwoo. Hoya was wearing a more sporty suit, featuring an ed black blazer with a bit of sheen, a graphic v-necked t-shirt underneath, gray cropped dress pants, and white Jordans. Dongwoo's outfit was, perhaps, the most adventurous out of all of theirs, featuring gray suit overalls that somehow looked both fashionable and formal and a gray dress shirt with a floral pattern. It all came topped off with a snapback and black dress shoes. 

The girls came after that, starting with Emily. She wore a dark red dress that resembled a trench coat, with the top and bottom two buttons undone. There were two pockets over her chest and two normal pockets for her hands to rest in, and various golden buttons as decoration in reasonable places. Two thin chokers of the same golden color rested at the base of her neck and light tan gladiator sandals sealed her look. She had put on some light makeup, the only really noticeable part of it being her blush.

Rei's outfit was considerable more simple and less flashy, consisting of a billowy white off-the-shoulders blouse with some ruffly details along the collar and the sleeves. She wore a black suspender skirt with a few extra bands above the skirt's waistline and white tennis shoes. She had opted for no makeup at all, citing her complete lack of abilities to try and put anything on in the fifteen minutes they had before dinner.

Next to Rei was Cara, whose outfit had much more urban flair. She wore a bright yellow two-piece consisting of a halter crop top and a high waisted pencil skirt that reached just past her knees. A black leather jacket pulled over top and black pumps gave her look even more edge. She had put her wavy, highlighted hair up into a ponytail, with a small sequined black bow resting towards the right side of her head. She had given herself a smokey-eye makeup look, which matched her outfit perfectly.

Finally, there was Kaili, who had opted for a suit instead of the classic dress. She wore a white blazer with black lapels, buttons, and pocket borders, no shirt on underneath. Her pants were white as well, cut just above her black and white shoes. Sharp eyeliner, bright red lipstick, and her hair tied in a high, tight bun pulled her look together. 

With that, all that was left was Sungyeol and Myungsoo. Sungyeol had gone for some brighter colors, with a royal blue suit, one button done, a lighter blue dress shirt, and a bright red tie and shoes. The only thing in the room as colorful as his outfit was the prankster's grin on his face as he balanced a wonton on his spoon and aimed for one of his friends. 

Myungsoo's attire contrasted with Sungyeol sharply, with simple but classic black suit, gray dress shirt with black buttons, and black bow tie. Looking at him for too long almost made Sungjong want to fall asleep, but he had to admit that he looked good - it was hard to find someone with an appreciation for the classics nowadays. He had whisked a bit of hair gel on his head to spike up his hair, revealing the chiseled cheekbones and sharp eyebrows that had been hidden beneath them. 

Sungjong couldn't help but noticed that some people were staring at their table. He wasn't surprised - it only took a quick glance around the room for anyone to identify them as the best-dressed group of people there. At the very least, Cara's bright yellow dress and Sungyeol's blue suit easily grabbed attention. 

"This is the best time to scope out the field," Kaili said, catching Sungjong looking around the room, "At the very least, you know everyone here is human, so you don't have to worry about finding shark s or scorpion es from the people here." She grinned and winked at Sungjong. 

"I - I wasn't - "

She let out a hearty laugh, "Oh, I'm just kidding. I haven't actually encountered anything like that."

"She says that like she has a lot of game, but she totally doesn't," Sungyeol said, grinning cheesily. He earned himself a playful punch from Kaili, who probably sat next to him for that very reason.

Before Kaili could shoot an equally scathing comeback, an African American woman with natural black hair fluffed out in every direction and a pair of glasses perched on her nose stepped up to the microphone and all chatter instantly stopped. "Good afternoon, students."

"Good afternoon," a chorus came in response. The sophomores were the loudest at first, and the freshmen raised their voices by the end of the phrase when they realized that not replying wasn't the cool thing to do here.

She pushed up her glasses at the edge, clearing . "Impressive. That was a good response. I'm glad our new class this year is just as sharp as the last. Now."

"I know you upperclassmen have sat through this speech already, but you'll just have to bear with it again. All of you have come from Earth with much more privilege than you will ever have across the galaxy. Any of you with any sort of race, gender, uality, or whatever prejudices you may have towards other humans will have to put those beliefs behind you. There are no lines between white and black, between gay and straight. Here, you are nothing but humans." 

"They will tell you that you do not belong here. They will look away from you and sneer at your race. They will make jokes about how humans are not as athletic, not as intelligent, not as hardworking. About how we have strange societal hierarchies and mating rituals. How we are less evolved than all of the other species out there in the world. How the only reason you got into this school is because you are underprivileged and the University is trying to become more inclusive of other species. We all know this is untrue - you belong here just as much as anybody else. You, not affirmative action, earned your spot."

"If you want to be accepted here, you will have to work twice as hard as everyone else for the same amount. I'm sure some of you are already used to that. For those who aren't, I hope you're ready to work like you've never worked before."

"Now that the grim news is over, it's time for the boring stuff. There should be assistants passing out information booklets on the University here right now. There is a map of the school and the surrounding areas. Please note that there are certain dangerous and restricted areas noted on the map. I'm sure the upperclassmen will let you know of the stories that surround certain areas. In fact, let's make it a game - whoever learns of the stories about each of the restricted areas first will receive some sort of prize that I will concoct some sort of prize for you. It will probably be candy or something."

"Well, kids, that pretty much sums it up. There are other rules, but they pretty much sum up to be along the lines of 'be civil and not dumb,' so, with that - Welcome to the Interstellar Academy!"

Hello there!

This chapter is pretty long - mostly because I got carried away with fashion heheh. I went easy on it this time too - y'all should have seen my nanowrimo @__@

Just here to say don't be expecting my chapters to be this long usually, okay?? I mean I'll try my best but y'know. It's only winter break for a month, after all (And I'm taking winter classes, too :<)