Rising Shards

Dr. Diast swatted Kalei with rolled up papers. Some students giggled as they walked past the two, who were standing by one of the lounge areas during club day.

“Ow! What’s that for?” Kalei asked.

“Because you found me in this big crowd just to tell me you’re giving up on the club event,” Diast said. “Pointlessly resigning yourself to a three-day rule fate for the entire rest of the semester.”

“Eh.” Kalei said. “They told me beam chasers doesn’t count, so I give up.”

“There’s still like an hour,” Diast said. “Can you just try a little? Did you get any stamps at least?”

“Kinda,” Kalei said, picking her teeth. “I grabbed an application from one of them.”

“This is a job application for Treesburger,” Diast said. "You put ‘high quality beef’ on the qualifications section."

“Yeah, and?”

“Are you that into the freaking sandwiches the robot makes?”

“Yes.”

“Where did you even find this?”

Kalei shrugged and Dr. Diast sighed.

“Any other clubs you checked out that you might like?

“I watched play practice.”

“Do you want to join the theater club then?”

“Not really,” Kalei said. “Wait, are you trying to say I watched play practice for nothing?”

“I don’t know! You’re the one in charge of joining a club or not.” Diast said. “I feel a headache coming on. Can I say anything to convince you to try and join a club before this is over?”

“Mmm,” Kalei thought to herself. “Probably not.”

“Alright,” Diast said. “I’m going to go do a stress reliever run or something or just stress eat, please just consider trying to pick a club because the three-day rule will be a pain for both of us.”

Diast marched away and Kalei sighed. 

"I believe I told her I was giving up," Kalei said to herself. "How am I supposed to find a club when I’ve already given up?" She sat down and just people watched for a bit.

A girl with long orange hair and headphones on passed by. Her music was blasting loud enough that Kalei could hear the hard rock she had on. The girl stopped when she saw Kalei.

“Oh! Hey,” she said, taking her headphones off. “It’s you.”

“…uh, hi?” Kalei said. “Do I know you or something? Crap, do we have class together?”

“Maybe, I dunno,” the girl sat down next to Kalei. “I watched you practice beam chasers.”

“Oh, yeah?” Kalei said. “Thank you, I’m…not used to anyone saying that randomly like this.”

The girl laughed. “I’m Nikki, you must think I’m weird.”

“Nah, I’m flattered you noticed, really,” Kalei said, surprised that her voice faltered a little. It felt like her heartbeat was rising all of a sudden. “I’m Kalei.”

“I think you’re pretty incredible, Kalei.”

Nikki grabbed Kalei’s shoulder and leaned in close to her ear.

“Uh,” Kalei said.

“If you ever want to give me a one-on-one lesson, just let me know.” Nikki whispered, winking at Kalei and then getting up. Kalei felt a shiver down her spine from Nikki’s breath on the side of her face. “Later, dude.”

Nikki put her headphones back on and started blasting her rock again and left.

“Whuh…” Kalei said after Nikki walked away. Her heart was full on pounding now. But that doesn’t…make sense…why would…

“What the hell just happened?” Kalei said to no one in particular.

“What?” A girl nearby said. It was Kyre Krista, the girl who had a like tub of hair gel on her at all times that she glopped onto her short hair.

“I wasn’t…I wasn’t talking to you.” Kalei said.

“Then who were you talking to?” Kyre said.

“Just…shut up, please.” Kalei said.

“That’s not very nice.” Kyre said.

Kalei got up and her head felt squeezy.

Oh my god what the hell seriously just happened?

She was screwed on the club thing, that she could handle. She’d just have to do the stupid three-day thing. But she couldn’t deal with the sudden feeling that wormed its way into her heart to make it beat so hard. To make her legs suddenly feel weak. It didn’t make sense.

At least she could see SAND-ROBO make a Treesburger quality sandwich and/or burger, that might help.

On the way there, she stopped in her tracks. Nikki was walking with that girl who was always drinking coffee. They walked up to…Zeta? Who had a group around her that looked like a club? That Nikki was joining? Kalei stood close enough to listen and turned around so none of them noticed her. And because looking at Nikki made her feel really floaty.

“Hey,” Nikki said. “Latte told me you’re starting a blank club.”

“What’s a blank club?”

“You know, like a nothing club so people who don’t want a club have something to join.”

“Oh yeah! Join us!” Zeta said.

“Holy crap, that’s eight! Maia, eight!”

“We actually did it…”

Kalei made her decision immediately; whatever club Nikki was in, even if it was some super weird idea Zeta had, she had to join.