Meet your new normal

This was such a weird place. Penny had already seen the sorts of creatures that kept her awake as a child. Honestly, the only reason she had been able to sleep was because she had always been told “They aren't real.” Apparently—they were real. Not only were they real, they were mostly gathered on this island where she was now going to school. Obviously, she was weird. People didn't just jump in and out of novels...but she wasn't that kind of weird. Did she even really belong here? There were a few people wandering about that looked human to her. Maybe there were others like her...just kinda weird humans. A girl could only hope. Otherwise this was going to be the most terrifying, isolating rest of her life.



That was what this amounted to wasn't it? Sure, she might be able to reintegrate into the normal world one day, but did she want to? Did she want to go back to where she was a freak who had to hide what she could do? Maybe here she could develop her talent...broaden it. There had to be all sorts of amazing books in a place like this too! Even with the creatures lurking about—okay, they weren't lurking, they were setting up their dorms just like she was-- this school was going to be an exciting place to explore.



After passing through the gates, Penny made her way with the high school looking crowd to the high school dorms. She checked her paperwork and wound her way up the stairs to her dorm. Turning the key, she entered the spacious room. “Wow.” she breathed. The place was much larger than she expected. It appeared to have a couple of rooms and a shared living area. There was even a little kitchen area! Not that she had the money to go buying ingredients, but she wasn't a bad cook if the ingredients were around. Most of her food would be provided by the food vouchers provided by the school. Penny just hoped that the food was good—and didn't turn her into a monster of some sort.



She pulled her bags into the dorm and closed the door behind her. That was all she had taken with her—a few bags. She saw some students carrying tons of boxes into the buildings but she simply didn't have that much to bring with her. In one bag there was her bedding, clothes, toiletries, and school supplies. It was essentially a large, overstuffed backpack. Her second bag—a duffle bag that probably weighed close to Penny's own weight-- was filled with all of the books that the girl could stuff into it. That one was dragging on the ground as the small framed student struggled to bring it along. It was worth it. The books were important. The last bag was...well, it was a little messenger bag that was going to be used as a book bag during school. The big backpack simply didn't make sense unless she needed to carry her comforter everywhere.



There didn't appear to be anything identifying which room belonged to which person. Setting down her bags, she took a moment to peek into both rooms. Really they were pretty close to identical but she chose the one farthest from the bathroom so she could enjoy relative silence while studying. Showers tended to make noise and who knew if her dorm mate would sing in the shower? It was time to get started unpacking. The book jumper grabbed her big bags and tugged them into her room before closing the door behind her and starting to set up her bed. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad...