It was a beautiful day in Trie City. The sun was shining. The birds were chirping. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. I was wearing a white button-up with skinny jeans. It was a perfect first day in the city.

“Are you sure you have everything, Carly?” my mom asked.

“I hope so, considering I’ve already had it delivered to the room,” I responded. I only had a duffle bag, and a suitcase left. Everything else had been taken ahead of time by the supers that had volunteered to help the new kids. Upperclassmen were expected to haul their own stuff to their rooms. I was glad I wasn’t. Just because I was a super didn’t mean I had super strength or endurance or anything.

“We double-checked last night, honey,” my dad said to my mom. “She’s got everything. I’m going to be shocked if she can even fit everything she brought in her room. We might have to come back and take some stuff home.”

“I don’t think so,” my mom said smugly. “Our little girl has one of those special rooms without a roommate.”

My mom was so proud of the fact that I had gotten into Super University on a scholarship. We would never have been able to afford this place without it. It was by far the most expensive university in the country. But for some reason, out of the tens of thousands of applicants, they had chosen me as one of only two scholarship recipients. I held that it had something to do with my essay on the miscategorization of villains by society. The Dean of Admissions had once been a villain. I knew what I was doing.

“Alright, sweetheart, it’s time for you to go,” my mom said as she wrapped me in a hug. My dad embraced us both and wrapped his arms around us. “Be safe and call us at least once a week. We’ll see you on parents’ weekend. I love you.”

My dad ruffled my blue hair, what little of it there was. I had just gotten a fresh haircut, so my pixie-cut hair was quite short. It didn’t stop him from messing it up, though.

“I love you, kiddo,” he said as he gave me one last hug. I was going to miss him more than my mom. I’d miss them both, but she always worked. He was the one that always took me to and picked me up from school, helped me with homework, and overall was just there more. And now I was going to have to do all of the things he did on my own. I was going to have to do my own laundry. Ugh.

“I love you all too, mom and dad,” I said as I squeezed them both tighter. I could do this. This was going to be easy. Just fit in with a bunch of supers who I had totally interacted with on a regular basis. A bunch of super-rich, probably spoiled, supers.

I waved to my parents one last time as I started down the stone walkway through the entrance gates. On each side of me was a thick forest. Other freshmen were walking the pathway, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that there were people in the woods. That was a silly notion, though. Who would hang out in the forest? I stopped and pulled out my map to get my bearings.

Okay, I was in the middle of Victory Forest. The forest circled the entire campus and was pretty thick. The university itself was the size of a city. It was intimidating, to say the least, but I was excited. Now, if I kept going on this path, I would eventually pass South Hall. Directly to the left of that was Scenario City, the city used for scenario drills. To the north of Scenario City was what I was looking for: West Hall. It was the hall specifically designated for freshmen. And my room was going to be on the tip-top, with the other top students.

It was weird to think that I was a top student at a super university, let alone the Super University. Apparently, I had impressed enough with my essay, grades, and power demonstration. I almost wondered if I was an administrative mistake sometimes. I wasn’t impressive enough to be in the top eight. But I wasn’t going to question it. If they were going to roll out the red carpet for me, I was going to walk it.

I put my map away as I got my bearings. I would walk over to Scenario City, walk the boundary, and then head north to West Hall. Easy enough. I continue down the path until I see a sign for Scenario City. I saw the conical South Hall up the road a bit. It was solid glass all the way around and worked up to a point. The rooms were on the inside of the cone. It was slightly saddening that I wouldn’t have a window in my room, but the view from the common area would make up for it. I turn left off the main path and head down the new road. The roads are stone walkways like one would expect in a park. They’re just big enough to fit a car down. I wondered how often they were driven down. The campus was large enough for people to drive around.

I eventually made it to Scenario City. It was a large grouping of skyscrapers and other corporate buildings. I was pretty sure there was a parking garage in there, too, that I’d seen on one of the welcome brochures. I couldn’t see it from the edge, though. The city was a square that was five blocks by five blocks. It was big enough to run any kind of scenario drills for classes but not so large that it was unmanageable. Still, it was the size of some smaller colleges by itself. The sheer scale of this campus was awe-inspiring.

I walked the perimeter of the miniature city until I reached a road leading out of the northern part of the city. I follow that road north. According to my map, it should take me directly to West Hall. To my left, Victory Forest was creeping back toward the road. It still felt eerie. As if maybe the trees had eyes and were whispering to themselves. Talking about me. I didn’t much care for the forest. Luckily, it was just a barrier to the outside world. There weren’t any classes or any activities that required going into the forest. At least none that I had ever heard of.

I continued down the road until I saw it. West Hall. It was much larger than South Hall was, which made sense. The freshman class was the largest of the four classes. Every year kids would fail out of the school. It was estimated that about five hundred people started each year as a freshman. It would be down to less than a hundred by the time I was a senior. It was honestly a small class size considering the size of the campus. There were typically only about a thousand students at any given time. I supposed supers needed a little more area than regular students. Large fields to practice in were sprinkled around the campus, not to mention the state-of-the-art training facilities on campus. There were three if I remembered correctly.

The building itself was beautiful. It was a large glass cone with a metal frame holding things together. The bottom floor housed the most students, with each floor above it getting smaller and housing fewer students. The building was designed such that exactly eight students were on the top floor. The top eight. The entire class was ranked, but the top eight got special privileges. The best rooms with no roommates were one of those privileges. I was ranked number seven. I didn’t know any of the other students or what their rankings were, but hopefully, the rest of the top eight weren’t insufferable. Supers often were.

“Woah…” a voice came from behind me. It scared the shit out of me, and I’m sure the person noticed because I almost jumped out of my skin. It was a boy who was short with black hair down past his ears. It was swept back and slick. He was completely clean-shaven, almost as if he didn’t grow facial hair, with eyes that were dark as pitch. He had a crooked nose and, despite his black eyes, had a friendly expression on his face. He wore all black and looked all around depressing.

“Holy shit, you scared me,” I said with a start.

“Sorry about that,” he said with a smile. “Thought you heard me come up. I admit I’m a little quiet sometimes. Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m a little jumpy from all the excitement, probably. And the weird trees over there. Does the forest feel off to you, or is it just me?”

“I haven’t noticed anything too concerning about it. Though, I haven’t paid much attention. I’ve been focused on finding the dorm. You a freshman, too?”

“Yep! Been roaming the campus looking for West Hall. Hi, I’m Carly.” I extended my hand to the young man. “Rank seven,” I said with a tinge of pride.

“Nice to meet you!” He met my hand and shook it weakly. “I’m Liro. Rank Eight.”

“Oh, you must be the other scholarship student! What a coincidence. Are you as nervous about this as I am? I didn’t really grow up around supers. This is my first time being surrounded by them.”

“Yeah, I didn’t either. I think I’ve only actually met maybe ten other supers in my life. At least supers that were out about their powers. There have probably been some closeted ones from school. Nervous would be a good word for it. I’m worried that our floormates are going to be mega douchebags.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. He had a point. And I was worried about the exact same thing. It was one thing to have to worry about upperclassmen, but my own floormates weren’t likely to change for the next four years. Once the top eight was locked, it rarely changed. And if I fell out of the top eight, I would be kicked out of the school. Scholarships were exclusively for top-ranked students. I had to stay in the top eight. I didn’t have a choice.

“Yeah, I’m a little concerned about it. I’m sure they’ll be fine, though. Maybe we’ll get lucky, and they’re mostly villains.”

“Why would we want villains?” Liro asked with a confused look.

“Villains stand for something. They’re passionate and have morals. Heroes just work for the top bidder, which is usually the government. The League of Justice is just a puppet organization at this point. Mr. Perfect is a dick who gets away with murder because he’s technically doing it legally. Whole thing’s a sham.”

“So you’re a villain, then?” he asked.

“I don’t have anything I feel strongly enough about to be a villain. But if I had to pick a side, it’s the side I’d err on. I’d rather be a directionless villain than a government lackey hero.”

“Huh. Interesting.”

“What about you? Hero or villain?”

“Student. I want to focus on graduating before I go about picking a side. I might be one of those supers that just stays to myself,” he mused. “Don’t tell my counselor that. They’d kick me out.”

“I don’t think they’d kick you out necessarily. It definitely wouldn’t look good, though. A student on a scholarship is unwilling to pick a side. Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me. I won’t tell our floormates that you called them douchebags, either.” I looked at him, and he nodded. “Shall we go in, then?” 

He nodded again, and I began walking toward the large building. The entrance was to our right, so we had to circle around it before coming to two large glass double doors. As we walked in, the building was bustling. Students were out and greeting one another, with some dipping into common rooms in larger groups. I was eager to get to know everyone, but I was more excited to see my room. I walked between the groups, picking my suitcase up instead of rolling it until we made it to the elevator. Someone else had already pressed the button to call it, so we waited. When it dinged, we huddled in with the group of other students that were waiting. I leaned forward and pressed the top button.

I felt a glare from one of the girls on the elevator. She had red hair. And I mean red. She pressed the button for the floor under mine. She must’ve been one of the students that had barely missed out on the top rating. I felt a pang of guilt knowing that I may have been the reason she didn’t make the top eight, but I shifted my gaze back to the front and tried to ignore her. As we went up and the doors opened, more and more students filtered out. Soon it was just me, Liro, and the girl with red hair.

“I’m Johanna,” she said, breaking the silence. “You two must be the scholarship kids.”

“What gave you that impression?” I asked. She was right, but it’s not like we had labels on our foreheads.

“I know the other six. The Alpha twins and I went to the same high school here in Trie City. I’ve always dreamed of being on the top floor at Super University. I made rank nine.”

Oof. I did knock her out of the top eight. Poor girl. She probably had a great mastery over her superpower, too. Now I felt bad. I couldn’t let her see that, though. I had heard how cutthroat this place was. I wasn’t about to let her see me sweat.

“That’s something to be proud of, though. Rank nine out of nearly five hundred.”

“Yeah. Real proud. My parents are unironically ecstatic, honestly. I should be. As you said, rank nine out of five hundred and fourteen. I was so close, though. So fucking close. If it wasn’t for those fucking Alpha twins, I would be in.”

Well, that was good news, at least. She blamed the Alpha twins more than she blamed me, whoever they were. I hadn’t learned much about the school’s rankings. I knew my ranking, and that was about it. Everything else, I was going in blind. I preferred it that way. It was easier to feign confidence when I didn’t know the overwhelming odds I was against. The bell dinged, and the elevator door opened.

“This is my stop. Sorry for seeming so standoffish,” she turned to face me and smiled. She had glaringly green eyes, like my own, and she seemed genuinely sorry. “I’m normally not a bitch. I’m just… angsty, is all. Welcome to Super University, you two. I’ll see you around.”

Maybe everyone was going to be like her. Angry on the surface but good underneath. I had to hope. The doors closed, and Liro let out a huge sigh.

“That was almost ugly,” he said as he stared at the floor.

“But it wasn’t!” I said positively. “And now we’re just dealing with other top students. So no more jealousy! If anything, we’re the ones who should be jealous. We’re the bottom ranks.”

The elevator shifted as it stopped on the top floor and came to a halt. The doors opened, and I was greeted with one hell of a view. I stepped off and looked out. I could see Scenario City to the south of us. I looked a little to the side of that and saw South Hall. I walked the floor and saw all of the campus stretched out below us. In the distance were the class buildings. There was a training facility just a few hundred yards away. A decent walk away was a large domed building. I was pretty sure that was the dining hall. The campus was a beautiful sight. So much greener than I expected. I had expected it to be like a giant cityscape. There were plenty of fields, and there were even students down relaxing on the various fields, some under the odd tree and some playing frisbee. This was my new home for the next four years. And it didn’t look too bad.

“I think we’re over here,” I heard Liro say from behind me. I turned to see him not even slightly distracted by the view. He had already walked over to the door that had an eight on it. Mine was next to him with a golden seven emblazoned on it.

“Oh, right. I was just… yeah.” I adjusted my duffle on my shoulder and walked over to my door. There was a sheet of paper nestled above the door handle. I grabbed it and read it under my breath.

“Welcome to Super University, Carly Rae. This will be your home for the next nine months. Your keys are inside on your desk. You have two of them. Give one to someone you trust in case you lose yours. May we suggest one of your floormates, Alysan Holmes? Either way, your security is up to you, and we do not tolerate students using their powers to force themselves into their rooms. If you lose your key and your spare is not available, please go to the first floor and find security or the resident assistant. Yours is Guy Smith. He’s in room 00 on the first floor. Any questions about dorm life? He’s the Guy to ask. Enjoy your stay here at Super University.”

“Hey Liro… who’d they suggest you give your key to?”

“Skip Tuner… whoever that is. I’m guessing he’s one of the guys on this floor.”

“Huh. Yeah, I got Alysan Holmes… you wouldn’t happen to know her, would you?”

“I do!” a melodic voice rang in a British accent from my side. “And it’s Ally. Nice to meet you. You must be Carly. And that makes you Liro,” she added, pointing at Liro. “I wasn’t sure if you were going to be a boy or a girl, mate. I like your name. It’s unique.”

She was pretty. Prettier than I would have cared to admit to anyone else. She wore a pink tank top and a white mini-skirt. She had brown hair with blonde highlights and gorgeous hazel eyes. Her hair sat in loose curls down to her shoulders. She had sharp features on her face, but her expression was kind. She was thin with toned arms and legs. I hoped all supers weren’t this attractive. I was going to be in trouble.

“Thanks…” he said as he opened his door. “It’s nice to meet you, too. Have you met Skip Tuner yet?”

“Skip? Yeah, he’s my neighbor. He’s in room three. Is that your suggested key mate?”

“Yeah. I’ll go introduce myself when I get my keys, I guess.”

“Don’t take it too hard when he doesn’t talk much. He kind of seems like that, and his reputation has him down as a bit of a loner. Seems nice enough, though.”

“Right…” Liro said. “Well, I’m going to check my room out. It was nice meeting you, Ally. See you around.”

“So, does that make you rank two or rank four?” I asked Ally as she walked closer.

“Oh, I’m rank four. Those nasty Alpha twins are the top two. Then Skip is right behind them. Then it’s me, Bella, and Chris rounding out the middle. And then you and Liro.”

“Oh, is everyone already here?” I stood on my tiptoes to try and look behind her.

“Nah, I saw them online. I noticed you weren’t in the Elysium chat. Are you not a registered super?”

“I am! Just recently registered. When I applied here, actually. I haven’t gotten an Elysium account setup just yet.”

Elysium was the social network for supers only. You had to be a government-registered super to even be allowed to make an account. I didn’t know any supers, so I hadn’t bothered to make an Elysium account. If I had known there was a group chat for the top eight, I sure as shit would have made one, though.

“Oh, no worries, mate. I’m the only one that bloody talks in there, anyways. You haven’t missed much. And Liro’s not in it, either. That does mean you don’t know what they look like, though. Trust me, you’ll know the Alpha twins when you see them. Skip is low-key hot as fuck. Bella’s hot as fuck, too, but it’s high-key. You’ll understand when you see her. And then, of course, we have you now. We might be the best-looking top eight in the school. It’s too bad that Chris pulls down the average.” 

I couldn’t tell if I was blushing or not, but I did feel my face flush a little. This girl liked to talk. And as shallow as it was, I liked to hear her talk. Her accent was sexy. 

“Well, thanks, I think. I’ll set up my Elysium account, and you can add me to stuff. It was nice meeting you, Ally. I’m going to check out my room.”

“Oh, brilliant. We can be texting buddies. It’ll be nice to have someone else talk in that god-awful chat. Oh, one more thing. Here’s my key.” She held her key out to me. I grabbed it. “Thanks, mate. Don’t lose it! I’ll get your key the next time we chat. Let me know if you need anything! My door’s always open. Especially since you have the key!” She laughed a little too hard at her corny joke as she turned and walked away. I liked her. Probably a little too much, but there was something about the way that skirt fit her. Goddamn.

I switched my focus back to my room and pushed through the door. The inside was beautiful but simple. There was a modern white desk setup in the back left corner with a lamp on it. I noticed my two keys there as well. I stepped toward the desk and dropped my duffle bag and suitcase with the stack of bins and bags that were already there.

I looked to the right and found a gorgeous dark oak four-poster bed. It had to at least be a king-size. That was egregious. I loved it. I walked over to it, turned around, and fell backward. I hit it hard and then sank into the mattress. Ugh. That was nice. I looked up to see a mural painted on my ceiling. It was a beautiful skyline with a full moon over it. I recognized it as the skyline of Trie City. Probably the most famous skyline in the world.

I rolled over and saw two doors in the other corners. I chose the close door and walked up to it. I opened it to find an amazing walk-in closet. I wasn’t going to even be able to fill this up. I needed more clothes! This thing was the size of my bedroom at my house. It was as big as the actual room. I stepped out, shaking my head in disbelief. What was behind the other door, then? I walked over and opened the door.

Behind the door was the most beautiful bathroom I had ever seen. The floor was dark stone tile. There was a dark oak vanity with a black granite countertop. The sink had a waterfall faucet made of what looked like solid bronze. There was a step-in shower with a half-wall. The floor of the shower was the same stone tile, but the walls were a beautiful white marble. It had a rain shower head and looked heavenly. There was also a large soaking tub off in the corner. The toilet was in a little closet off of the main room.

This place was nice. I was going to like it here. As I made the decision to shower, I heard a knock at my door.

“Carly, love! We’re going to be late to orientation.”