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The rattling clamor of her alarm clock woke Elliot early the next morning. Groaning, she rolled over, smacking it until it stopped making that awful racket. She sat up and stretched, her mouth open wide in a yawn. With a little hesitance, she flung her blanket off, shivering in the cold morning air. She patted her unruly hair, which was sticking in all directions with its corkscrew curls. She peered at Evie, unable to see if she was awake or not, but murmured a quick "Good morning" just to be safe.

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Evie had woken up a few minutes before the alarm clock and had decided that it would be easier to just lay there rather than getting up. She flipped sides to look over at Elliot and uttered a slurred "Morning", clutching her pillow with one arm and rubbing her eyes with the other. The bed seemed to sink a bit more than usual as if it were calling to her and, in all honesty, Evie didn't have the will to wake up.
So she lay there and kept her eyes open. She didn't remember waking up being so hard, and the cold temperatures didn't seem to help. She huffed and told herself that it was just one more day until the week was over. Evie climbed down the ladder quickly and stretched her back in an inward arc until it cracked.

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Elliot grinned at Evie. "Nice one," she said, rubbing one of her eyes. "Do you think we have time for breakfast, or--" Elliot was cut off as the bell tolled eight, and she flinched. "Crap!" She yelped. "My first class is in, like, twenty minutes!" Thanking the gods that she had decided to dress in her school uniform the previous night, she practically kicked the door down. About to barrel down the corridor, she paused, her hand lingering on the door frame. "When are your classes? All of mine are early, from now until twelve. Only my engineering is late, at five." She pulls a wry smile. "I know, great planning, am I right?" She let a heartbeat pass between them, giving her roomie to process all the things she had breathlessly blurted out. "What about you?"

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"Starts at ten ends at three. Now go!" Evie said, shooing Elliot away encouragingly. "I don't want you to miss your classes!" She was smiling a bit and watched the door until Elliot left, making sure that her roommate didn't linger around for too long. The teachers got insane about sixteen-plus students being late and they both knew it.
Evie paused and took a moment to stare around the room before doing anything. She contemplated going back to sleep, but she knew that she'd never wake up if she did, so she went and opened the window instead. The breezes flowed in immediately and she could almost feel Ara waking up, to which she only smiled and walked outside of their dorm to get the newspaper, a skip in her step.
She read the headline, spotted the word 'Elemental', and immediately threw it in the trashcan on the other side of the room. Evie could hardly tolerate the way that the papers spoke about Elementals, and it wasn't worth leaving it around for Elliot to see. She liked Elliot and she didn't want their friendship to be ruined by their opinions. Evie huffed and went to go gather her clothes so that she could shower instead.

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Elliot sprinted down the hallways, realizing too late that all of her books were still in her dorm. "Whatever," she muttered to herself, shoving past a first-year, who was clutching his head while groaning. "Last month or so of school, no way any teacher is going to use the text."
How wrong she was.
First class, the teacher was mad enough at her being late, but she was practically purple with rage when she noticed that she forgot her history book. It was truly the worst day to forget her book because the professor handed out a twenty-page long packet on all that they had learned that year, to be completed by the end of next week. As her classmates zipped through the first four or five pages, Elliot sat around, tapping her pencil against her temple, since the teacher didn't allow her to leave.
Her other class was across from campus, so she couldn't go back to her dorm to grab her books. The mathematics professor seemed a little more sympathetic, only giving Elliot a disappointed sigh instead of a furious showdown. At least she was able to keep up with the class without her textbook.
Ironically, the third and final class before she had a five-hour break, the only that she might be able to manage to grab her books, she didn't even need books for. It was an easygoing elective course, if you could even call it that. The group was a tight-knit family of fellow mechanics, though everyone was miles ahead of Elliot. The class was Steampunkian-Combat Observation. Basically, they watch a bunch of the Combat majors fight with no weaponry, and then analyze them, figuring out ways that steampunk contraptions could have tilted the balance. Elliot's favorite class, easily.
When the class let out, at the final strike of the ten o'clock bell, Elliot stretched, cracking her fingernails and back simultaneously. Throughout the entire shameful day, she hadn't had a moment to pause. But now, with the handful of her classmates chatting with one another as they made their way to their next destination, she did.
And strangely, she thought of Evie.

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Evie had managed to squeeze in some studying before her first class, which she was moderately happy about. It wasn't, of course, enough to satisfy her--especially with all that she missed in favor of Elliot--but it was something and she knew that she could get by without it (hopefully).
She arrived to class five minutes before it started and received only a stern glance from her famously strict teacher, whose eyes she refused to meet. The woman was certainly a certified and effective teacher, but her light eyes radiated anything but kindness. She often wore her graying hair in a tight bun and Evie couldn't help but realize how much it seemed to line up with her strict personality.
She made sure to pay even more attention during the hour-long history lecture, just to be safe.
The clock seemed to slow down, and when the class was over she didn't seem to have the energy to be excited about her next class (which was named something unbearably long and complicated; even the teachers preferred to shorten it to just "Guns").
But luck was with Evie, and the rest of the day was a breeze. She could say that she had enjoyed her classes, but she was much more focused on returning to the serenity of her dorm room and almost rushed across campus to get there.

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As the door to their shared dorm, Elliot looked up from her notebook to lock gazes with Evie. A small smile brushed on her face, and she shoved her notebook under her covers. Classes had ended a little over four hours ago. After her final class, she went out for some lunch in the campus's cafe, and then returned to her dorm to doodle ideas in her journal.
She swung her legs over the edge of her rickety bed, tilting her face up to Evie. "Hey," she said casually. "I have a class in, I think, two more hours now. You wanna go grab a bite somewhere wit me? I'm starving!"

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Evie perked up at the sound of Elliot's voice--after all, she still wasn't used to having a talkative roommate--and her surprised expression faded into a pleasant smile. "Yeah, I could eat. Have anything in mind?" She asked, now reminded that all of the leftovers from her previous dorm room had been trashed during the move. Evie didn't eat outside of campus much but she figured it'd be a nice change (and an opportunity to get to know Elliot better). She fished her wallet out of her bag and pocketed it before setting her bag to the side.

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Elliot gave a nod, grabbing a light coat that was hanging off her bedpost. She slipped her arms through, and said, "There's this great icecream shop just across campus. I know it's not exactly seafood or grill, but, my good god, their icecream is good." In a few steps, she was by the door, inches from Evie. "You ready? Have anything to grab?"

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"I don't think I've been," Evie said, her interest seeping into her tone. It was at that moment that she realized she was about to have ice cream for a meal and began to briefly question her life choices before deciding that it was perfectly acceptable (even though the weather said otherwise) because she was almost an adult and she was going to make the most of it. Also because strawberry ice cream is amazing, she thought to herself, confidently stepping into the hallway.

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Elliot led Evie down the hallway, keeping up a steady stream of conversation. She yammered on, complaining about her history teacher, declaring her love for her math teacher, and deciding that Combat Study was the only class she actually enjoyed. She barely let Evie get a word in, jumping from topic to topic. Once they reached the ground floor of the dorm, Elliot held the door open for Evie. She finally realized that her new friend might want to say something. She said in a rush of breath, "So, anything interesting in your day?" before stepping out into the brisk air.

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Evie had been listening intently--she enjoyed Elliot's energetic rambling--and took a moment before responding to reflect on her day. "Not too much, really. Although I swear Thoreau has it out for me... or everyone. Probably everyone. Gosh, have you ever been stared down by her? It's like being face-to-face with death."

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Elliot laughed, throwing her head back. "Oh, God, it is, isn't it?" She said. "I don't have her as a teacher--I have Yelise instead--but she's so scary! The way she puts up her hair so severely..." Elliot shivered dramatically. "I wonder if she does it on purpose, because it seems so coincidental that she looks exactly like her personality." She smiles, shaking her head. "Yeah, I'm really glad I don't have her, but Yelise... yeah, she doesn't like me either."

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Evie nodded sympathetically, "Yeah, I've seen Yelise around. She looks intimidating. I've heard lots of people complain about her playing favorites. And most of the favorites only being the smartest or something like that." She said most of this without thinking twice and realized, after she had said it, she might've been mixing Yelise up with another teacher. She always did, even after being at the academy for so long (and, sadly, her memory wasn't much better with peers).
"I think," she added briefly, just in case. Evie switched her focus to her surroundings and realized they were nearing the gates. She twirled her ID in her hands, scanning the groups of people loitering about.

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Elliot dipped her head. “Yeah, she’s the one. She just adores Cynthia Malady.” Elliot paused, glancing at Evie. “You know her? Tall, blonde, thin? She’s also indisputably a genius.” She sighed shortly, flicking her eyes to the ground. “So Yelise loves her. Not me, though. I can’t really blame her though--I do forget my book one out of every three clases.” She laughed, a little awkwardly, and glanced at her surroundings. “Oh!” She said excitedly. “I didn’t realize that we’re so close! We’ll probably get there in the next couple of minutes.

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"Oh, yeah, I can understand her liking Cynthia," Evie replied, stopping herself there. The last thing she wanted was to get in trouble for running her mouth (which she had a terrible habit of doing). She stayed close to Elliot, knowing better than to trust her terrible street habits--especially out of campus. She quite frequently lost herself in her own thoughts on the streets (and then almost got hit by a swarm of bikes).
"Is that it?" She pointed at a nearby parlor.

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Elliot nodded. "Yep! Good ol' Georgie's."
She trotted up to the store's door and opened it wide, welcoming the cool gush of air that breezed past her face. A few students were milling about, but most didn't know of Georgie's Icecream and Italian Ice, which Elliot liked. She enjoyed hanging out here on Sundays, while eating a Sunday, either doing homework or doodling.
She stood to the side, waving over Evie. "C'mon! Let's go get some icecream!"

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Evie followed a tad bit awkwardly, her eyes scanning through the small flocks of students on every other area of the street. The parlor seemed to be ignored by the students, with a majority of them loitering about the café or that one fancy bakery Evie didn't remember the name of. She had, admittedly, never noticed Georgie's--her eyes had always glossed over it--but was pleasantly surprised by the interior design. It was fresh but homely (and a little bit cold, which she enjoyed).
Evie took a peek at the arrangement of flavors, her eyes brightening like a young child. "What would you recommend?" She asked Elliot, still skimming the menu.

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