The next morning arrived too fast and far too quietly. No alarms rang. No phones buzzed. Honestly? What a relief. It had been ages since I'd woken up without that cursed ringtone drilling into my brain. Peaceful wakeup calls scarce in hostel life. I stretched, blinked the sleep out of my eyes and sat up, only to spot Libra crouched over the little emergency snack stash we'd hidden behind the dresser. The sight of her hoarding chips and biscuits made me raise an eyebrow.
"What's going on? You skipping canteen breakfast or something?" I asked, yawning mid-sentence. Libra didn't even pause. "Canteen's on hold. They put up a notice early morning. Said they'll distribute packaged food sometime today. Until then, it's either this or starvation."
I blinked. "So we're officially living off stashed junk food now?"
She tossed me a granola bar. "Survival mode, Arien. Better get with the program."
"Perfect," I said, taking it.
First things first. I climbed down from the bed and headed to the washroom for my morning routine. As I stood brushing my teeth, Tavira wandered in, still half-asleep, and stopped at the sink beside mine.
"You heading to the ground or the college today?" she mumbled, rubbing her eyes. I rinsed my mouth and raised an eyebrow. "You two are going?"
"Definitely," Tavira grinned, looking more alive now. I smirked. "Then of course, count me in."
Now let's fast forward to when we came to the college rooftop again just before noon.
The rooftop wasn't exactly our first choice. The seats near the ground were long gone by the time we arrived. But the sun was kind, the breeze even kinder, and the view, well, it gave you perspective, if nothing else.
I leaned against the railing, letting the wind cool the back of my neck. Beside me, Tavira and Favian were at it again, their banter weaving through complaints, jokes, and half-hearted jabs. Honestly, if anyone needed a reason why both of them were still single, this was it. They only ever made time for banter.
Speaking of that...
"Tavi," I asked, turning to her with a curious squint, "how did you know Favi was going to come?"
She blinked, then smirked.
"Oh please," she said, flipping her hair. "You think my twin's gonna miss out on dramatic chaos and rooftop gossip? Please."
Favian squinted at her. "Are you talking about yourself? I only came because I was worried you'd show up and start trouble for Arien."
Tavira gasped. "Excuse me? trouble follows me. I don't start it."
"Wow," I said, raising an eyebrow. "You're self-aware. That's new."
Favian snorted. "Mark this day. History's being made."
"Can you guys seriously stop this?" Libra groaned from behind us.
"What? You and your boyfriend need some quiet time?" Tavira teased, wiggling her eyebrows.
"Yeah right, like we'd get any with you here," Miran Diare, Libra's boyfriend, interjected dryly.
That's when Siara arrived, quietly as ever, with a half-eaten biscuit in one hand and a notebook in the other. Her hair was still damp from a rushed shower. She glanced around and muttered, "Nice to know you still have time to pick on each other."
"Good morning to you too, Siara," I said, sliding over a bit to make room.
"Don't mind her," Tavira said with a mock whisper. "She's still hung up on the death of her babies."
"Don't jinx it. They just went into comatose state," Siara replied, sitting down cross-legged. "Also, isn't anyone trying to prepare for the new world? Or is that just me?"
"Don't do this," Favian groaned. "It's too early for a whole new set of theories after we just dumped the old ones."
"You'll thank me when you're drowning in unknown phenomena and I already have a contingency plan to counter them." Siara waved her hand like she was handling a sword, except her weapon of choice was her pen.
"Wow," Tavira said. "That escalated beautifully."
Before Siara could reply, a bottle landed dead in the center of the circle we were sitting in. We turned to see two figures standing against the glare of the sun, side by side.
Kael Duskborne was easy to spot — tall, lanky, hoodie hanging off one shoulder. He took one look at us and grinned. "And here I thought the roof would be peaceful. Should've known you lot would colonise it."
Favian raised a hand lazily. "We don't own the place. We just emotionally dominate every space we enter."
Kael laughed and nudged the guy beside him. "See? I told you they'd be up here."
Eron Valehart trailed just behind — neater, sharper, and already sipping water from another bottle. "Next time you drag me out here, remind me to bring noise cancelling headphones."
Tavira perked up. "Good morning to you too, Mr Councilman. Nice of you to join the chaos."
"I came for the view," Eron said coolly, "and the hope that you haven't set something on fire yet."
"Also," Kael added, scanning the group with mock seriousness, "I see someone is really hung up on studies this early in the day."
Tavira pointed at Siara. "She's the theorist of our apocalypse survival phase. She even named her notebook Plan B: Survival for Dumb People Who Didn't Listen."
Eron raised an eyebrow. "And what's Plan A?"
Siara opened her mouth, but before she could respond, Miran beat her to it.
He shrugged and said smugly, "Start picking your brains back up."
That actually got a laugh out of all of us.
That's just how we are. If survival depended on brain cells, we'd be doomed.
Functionally dysfunctional and weirdly proud of it.