The girl once again threw her a cool look. “Hi.”
“Looks like we are both in the Eagles team.”
The other girl didn’t seem to care or be thrilled about that fact. “I guess so.”
The girl just grabbed the house jacket and left. Ava saw that she was leaving the event hall.
Ava felt disappointed. But just when she thought she wouldn’t make many friends on her first day, she saw two girls, one of whom she had already met inside the main hall waving at her.
“Hi, Ava.”
Ava smiled at the friendly face. “Hi, Namrata.”
“Call me Nami,” the other girl said with a smile. “And this is my cousin Ramya.”
“Are you allocated to the Eagles team too?” Ava asked.
Nami shook her head. “No. I’m on the Panthers team, and Ramya is on the Vipers.”
As soon as the team Vipers was mentioned, Ava’s heart raced. She was tempted to turn and see if the student president was still there. But she didn’t dare to. Instead, she focused on making new friendships.
“Are you both first year students?” she asked the two girls.
Nami nodded. “Yes, we are both in the first year. I’m into Architecture and Ramya is pursuing her Business degree. Ramya has been here, but I transferred to Simha midyear. How about you?”
Ava smiled. “This is my first year at Simha, but not my first year of college. I did my first year at Harvard Medical School.”
“Oh wow! That’s awesome.”
Ava smiled. “Thank you.”
They kept chatting when the students were called for lunch hosted by various house teams. Ava waved goodbye to Nami and Ramya before joining her house team.
Ava met and conversed lightly with a few more Eagle team members, including the house captain. But strangely, most of the students had left the event by mid afternoon.
Thinking everyone was tired after their trip from home, Ava returned to her housing unit.
As soon as she stepped into her assigned apartment, Nitya greeted her excitedly. However, Ava was taken aback when she saw Nitya and another girl. They two were dressed as though they were about to step out to a dance club.
“Ava! I was waiting for you and didn’t know how to reach you! Anyway, you are right on time to get going.”
Ava had just received her cell phone at the welcome event.
“Go where?” she asked.
Nitya looked excited. “I hope you aren’t too tired after your journey.”
Ava smiled. “I’m not tired. But is there another event?”
Nitya let out a chuckle. “Yes, there is another event. The one that you’ll enjoy.”
A tall, pretty and super thin girl interrupted Nitya. “I don’t think we should take just about anyone to the party, Nitya.”
“Ava is our roommate, Pooja. I’m sure the hosts won’t mind.”
The girl Pooja fell quiet with a frown.
Ava smiled, realizing Pooja was her other roommate. “Nice to meet you, Pooja. I didn’t get a chance to meet you earlier this morning.”