The following week was honestly one of the best ones in my life. Fred and I went to the lectures together and sat together. Every lunch break I had someone to sit with and eat with. It was really nice and not something I had ever had before.

When I went to secondary and primary school, I wasn’t really popular. I didn’t have friends. I had ones here and there, but mostly I just hung out with myself. And when I got older, I’d hang out at clubs and pick up a guy to hang out with for a while. It never amounted to anything because who’s really looking for a boyfriend at a club? But I was disconnected from any sort of community.

Not anymore though. This group had known each other for years, and they accepted me in like I had been there for years too. Fred and Creek had even gone to kindergarten together. Abel had moved here when he was twenty-two, so they adopted him first. Especially Creek’s mum taken a big liking to him. Banshees were apparently super friendly to all supernaturals, and Creek had told her about me and invited me over for some BBQ.

Coming here had been the best decision ever.

“My girlfriend insisted you all come over tonight,” Fred said at lunch, popping a grape in her mouth. “She feels a little left out since we all started uni and she’s working.”
“I’ll come,” I said.

She gave me a quick nod and looked to Abel and Creek.

“Sure,” Abel muttered, scrolling through his phone.

“Yeah, I can come too,” Creek said.

“Awesome. Be there at six.”

 ***

I had no idea if we were supposed to dress up, so I wore a nice red and black flannel that someone had once told me was nice. Couldn’t remember who. And I tried to get my hair under control too, but it hadn’t really worked that well. I usually kept it short but had decided to get the sides of my head cut shorter, which honestly just resulted in my hair now looking like a bush on top of my head. A very curly bush. At least I had dropped the crazy hair colours because green would only make it look worse. Its natural brown made it at least look okay.

I was obsessing over dumb shit because I was meeting new people. I really wanted Fred’s girlfriend to like me. I wanted them all to like me so bad.

I knocked on the door and who opened the door could only be described as a real-life Viking. The sides of her head were shaved like mine, but she had long blonde hair spilling down her shoulders. And she was tall. Very tall. And muscular. She smiled widely and put her hands on her waist.

“You must be Gael.” She held her hand out and I grabbed it, getting a very firm shake from her. “I’m Cal, Fred’s girlfriend.”

“I’m Gael,” I said before I could stop myself.

She chuckled and stepped aside, letting me into the small house. It looked a lot like mine. Small, made of wood, but theirs was blue whereas mine was yellow. Even had the small porch and everything.

But they had a garage attached to the house. Must’ve been where they had the workshop.

“We’re out back in the yard. You want a beer?” Cal asked as we walked through their living room and kitchen to the backdoor, leading to a beautiful yard behind the house.

“I’d love one.” 

She handed me one from a green fridge and showed me outside. Abel, Creek and Fred were already sitting in the garden, in a pretty nice garden furniture set. A tree loomed over them, offering some comforting shade in the otherwise very hot sun. Fairy lights hung from the tree branches, alongside some bells and windchimes. The whole yard had this awesome sound.

“Hey Gael!” Abel almost exclaimed and shot to his feet.

I tried smoothing my hair down a bit and waved. “Hey, sorry I’m late.”

“You’re not. Just on time,” he hurried to say and moved over on the wooden bench, offering me a seat next to him. I almost couldn’t wait to sit down. Like I didn’t even hesitate for a second.

“Did you have trouble finding it?” Fred asked, lounging in a chair.

“No, not at all. It was easy. Only takes like ten minutes to walk over here from mine.”

“Where do you live?” Cal asked and sat down in the empty chair next to Fred.

“On Maple Street.”

“Oh, that cute little yellow house? That didn’t stay on the market for long,” Cal noted and took a sip of her beer. “Didn’t expect it to, either. It’s really nice for a student or a young couple.”

“Cal did some work on the house for the previous owners,” Fred chimed in. “That metal banister? She made it.”

I widened my eyes a bit. The banister was one of the things I loved the most about the whole house. It was intricate flowers made in metal swirling up towards the second floor right next to the wooden steps. It was an outstanding detail that didn’t really fit into the house, but at the same time it fit perfectly, elevating the whole room downstairs.

“You’re an artist,” I said with almost childish awe in my voice. And probably on my face too.

“Nah, the real artist is Fred,” Cal said and smiled a little goofily at her girlfriend, grabbing her hand and placing a kiss on her knuckles. “She actually designed it. Drew it out for me.”

“You’re both amazing artists and you’re both pretty,” Abel said a little sarcastically. “Believe me if we don’t stop them now, they’ll just keep going on and on about who’s the bigger artist.”

I snorted and leaned back against the backrest. There were soft pillows on both the seat and the backrest, making the bench more like a sofa than a bench.

Everything I had seen so far looked really nice. I wanted to have nice things like this. Maybe I could ask them to help me pick something out, so my house didn’t look as bare.

“How’re your classes going?” Cal asked and turned her blue eyes back on me.

“So far, so good. We’re going through a lot of introductions to the different facilities right now. They’re really nice. I think I’m gonna almost move into my studio.”

“Our studio,” Fred said and winked at me.

I smiled and nodded. Our studio. We had already brought in nice things for it. Or Fred had. She had basically planted a whole forest in there. I loved it though. I honestly loved everything about my new life.