[IC] Time By Time

[Irina]

The morning of Arcadia Bay appeared to be more like an evening sunset than a bright, sunny day. A young girl on a small transportation bus with an oxygen tank sitting beside her was staring out the window, her fingers twirling about with the ends of her cannula. On the bus, were other passengers akin to Maddie's condition. The bus driver was a Hispanic woman, Alma, who is good friends with Maddie's mother since they cook on their free time for the Red Cross of Arcadia Bay.

"Are you nervous, Maddie?" she called out to her, lowering the volume of the FM radio.

Maddie met her gaze at the mirror with a sheepish smile. "Absolutely. I'm not sure if I should be happy or terrified."

"You'll do wonderful and you'll make a bunch of friends, you're a smart girl, mija. Don't overthink it," she added.

The bus slowed down at the entrance until it was parked. Alma exited the bus, helping Maddie with her balance and equipment. Maddie was met with more nerves when students stared as Alma helped her walk down the steps of the bus and onto the pavement.

Alma helped her adjust the messenger bag across her body and proceeded to embrace her carefully as she wished her luck.

Maddie stood by the main school building and watched as Alma and the others on the bus drive away, waving her hand with a sigh.

[Nallore]

Laura woke up to the sound of her alarm, her hazel-green eyes slowly opened as the warm early morning sunlight started to shine through the windows of her Blackwell's dorm room. She let out a rather loud yawn and stretched, she went towards her mirror by the sink and looked at herself through the mirror, her bright red hair was a complete mess. She could have just stayed at her home with her mother but she wanted to at least try feel what its like to live in a dorm room.

Laura went to grab a towel as well as her clothes and her phone for the day as she walked out of her dorm, already she could hear the giggles coming from Maria and a few of her friends who were picking on a girl in the hall. Laura hated her so much and picked on the other students even started spreading rumors of herself to other students. "Well good morning Delinquent." Maria said with a laugh, Laura simply glared at Maria and flipped her off as she walked past towards the showers.

As Laura walked into the showers she looked around and was relived that no one else was in the room, Laura walked into the closest shower stall and closed the curtains behind her. Laura took her phone out and searched through her music until she found a song she liked In The Clear - Foo Fighters started to fill the room. Laura spent the next few minutes washing herself before finally getting changed and left the shower room.

When Laura started to head to her room again to put her clothes away she saw her friend Sarah standing outside of her door leaning up against the wall. "So I was asked to show a new student around, did you want to come with?" Sarah asked, Laura unlocked her dorm and just tossed her clothes onto the be before turning to look at her best friend. "Sure why not." Sarah smiled as she grabbed her saddle bag that had all of her school supplies and books in it. "Awesome lets go!" Sarah said with a bright smile as she headed out of the dorms and followed her towards the front of the school.

When Laura and Sarah were there they watched as the bus dropped off a girl and then they both approached her Sarah smiled and waved towards Maddie. "You must be Maddison its nice to meet you. I'm Sarah, and the redhead over here is Laura we can show you around if you like." Laura smiled and noticed the oxygen tank that she carried with her. "Would you like me to carry anything for you?" Laura asked.

[Irina]

Maddie was delighted (and relieved) to see the student who would be assigned to give her the grand tour of the campus. She looked to be pretty laid-back and that was good since she imagined it to be an uppity, old woman.

"It's nice to meet you too, Sarah, and you could just call me 'Maddie', if you want. Everyone else does," she beamed as she shook her hand and glanced over at her friend, Lauren, who'd be tagging along. "It's nice to meet you too," she extended her skinny hand at her. "By the way, I love your hair. If my mom saw me dye it a different color like purple, she'd be out for years. I think maybe I'll try highlighting it one day," she chuckled. "Oh, and thank you for helping me out too. It's always a hassle walking around for long periods of time carrying the Thing around which is what I call this baby," she lightly kicked her tank.

As they proceeded to enter the main entrance building, the three girls were met by the presence or Mr. Mayweather, the principal of Blackwell Academy. To Maddie, he was kind of a celebrity since she'd been trying to keep up with the school through the internet school newspaper and forums.

"Good morning, girls! I see our newest student has arrived to Blackwell. Krueger, Kroeger?" he scratched his temple.

"Krueger," Maddie smiled.

"Right," he shook her hand. "It's glad to finally have you here and if you need anything, please stop by the office any time. We have many services for you whenever you need it. If you're not staying with us on campus and transportation is difficult to get, we have services for that as well as students assigned to help you out as well. I apologize in advance if this is a forward request for you. The least I'd want you to feel is cumbersome."

"N-No, not at all," she insisted. "I'll definitely be needing it. I'd really like to talk to someone about staying in the dorms though."

"I think these two, lovely ladies can show you around the dormitories and if you like what you see, refer back to me. Have a good first day, girls," he smiled and excused himself to approach school security, Nick Harper, who was talking with the secretary and librarian.

Maddie blushed when Nick caught her staring at him.

[Nallore]

Lauren smiled and shook Maddie's hand and ran a hand through her unnaturally red hair and blushed slightly. "Thanks, my mom was originally pretty pissed off at me when I changed my hair color for the first time but now shes gotten used to it." Lauren said with a smile, and gently took Maddie's school bag so that it would be less cumbersome for her. Lauren walked alongside Maddie as they headed into Blackwell she looked towards Principle Mayweather and smiled towards him.

She remained fairly quiet as Maddie and Mayweather talked amongst themselves, she was surprised when Maddie said she was interested in getting a dorm room. "Don't worry Mr. Weather we will show Maddie here around and then show her to the dorms and see what they are like after the tour." Lauren said purposely calling him Weather just to joke around, the joke didn't really seem to phase him one bit. Sarah punched Lauren's shoulder and rolled her eyes towards her friend, Lauren stuck her tongue towards her friend in a joking way.

"Right lets continue the tour." Sarah said motioning for Maddie to follow her Lauren walked alongside Maddie noticing that she was looking towards Nick Harper. "That's Nick Harper, hes the head of security here at Blackwell and known a lot for being a real jackass towards other students, just avoid him or just be on his good side." Lauren said softly.

Sarah spent the next few minutes showing Maddie around the school, showing where the cafeteria was the gym as well as the school pool and then showed her the courtyard and then finally headed over towards the Dormitories. "So here are the dorms, the left half of the building is mainly the girl's side and the right side are the boys." Sarah said as she opened the door a few students were still in their rooms having a few minutes before classes and led her towards her dorm and Lauren's. "These two rooms are ours so if you do decide to live on campus you can knock on either of our rooms if you need anything from us at all." Lauren said as she opened her door to show what it looked like, which was rather small, filled with various posters a computer on the desk and several books and a guitar and an amp in the corner of the room.