Chapter Text
-+- PART ONE: FALL-+-
Nickel runs his comb through his hair then sighs. He’s not going to be anymore ready for Junior year. He heads downstairs, right into the arms of his mom Penny.
“Nickel! Oh, I hope you have such a great year.”
Dime, his father, hands him some pancakes. “Good job getting into Inanimate High. Call us everyday and come back for Christmas alright?”
Nickel stuffs his mouth with pancake and nods to his dad. He smiles, pancake stuck in his teeth. “Of course dad!”
Penny lines up his two suitcases, placing his backpack on top. Then she takes his empty plate. “Love you so much. When’s Baseball coming? Oh, you should bring him back for Christmas too!”
Nickel swallows the two whole pancakes he’s stuffed in his mouth and checks his phone. “Uhh, he said five minutes two minutes ago soo three more?”
“Ahh, he’s so sweet.” Nickel rolls his eyes. Penny’s loved Baseball ever since Nickel brought him home for Christmas last year. Baseball didn’t want to go to his own house, because his parents were toxic and probably going to berate him the whole time he was home.
Nickel kisses his mom. “I think Basey’s here. I’m gonna go now.” That wasn’t exactly true, but he was so hyped.
He drags his suitcases outside, and luckily for him, Baseball pulls up.
“Hey Nick! Suits is already waiting in the back.”
Suitcase rolls down her window and smiles at him, with a small wave.
Nickel chuckles and walks to the trunk, opening it and stacking his two suitcases on top of Suitcase’s one. Baseball had two giant suitcases that took up half of the trunk, so Suitcase had another suitcase and like 3 bags in the backseat with her. Nickel shuts the trunk, walking to the front.
“’Sup Suitcase! It’s so cool you got into I.H.!”
“And this year too,” Baseball adds. “They’ve changed the dorms!”
“They have?” Suitcase asks.
“Yep! Each dorm holds six people instead of two now.”
Suitcase frowns. “When will we know who’s in ours?”
“When we get to school and get our schedules we can see.” Baseball smiles at her through the rearview mirror.
Suitcase shudders a little. “School. Sounds kind of weird in relation to Inanimate High now.”
Nickel turns on the radio. “Welp, let’s just chill. We have like three more hours of our drive.”
“Oh yeah, by the way,” Baseball says, “this car is new. So this year you don’t get to borrow it.”
Nickel immeadiately shoots up in his seat. “WHAT?! I would’ve brought my own car then!”
“It’s fine Nick. Almost everywhere we go is in walking distance.”
“But what if I need to go to the hospital?”
“Why would you need to go to the hospital?”
“The SCISSOR incident?”
“What’s the scissor incident?” Asks Suitcase
“The scissor incident is when Nickel somehow accidentally stabbed himself in the eye with a pair of kitchen scissors. While trying to make ramen.”
“I’M SORRY OKAY IT WAS AN ACCIDENT.”
They all burst out in laughter.
The rest of the ride is just all of them talking, and after three hours (it felt like a lot less though), Baseball pulls into the parking lot, and parks a little away from the entrance to the school.
Nickel gets out of the car, stretching his legs. He looks up at the school. Two buildings, one with the dorms and one with the actual school. the dorms have five floors, the bottom being the check-in floor with the random necessities they need. The second floor is for the freshman, the third for the sophomore, the fourth for the juniors - his floor - and the top for the seniors.
The school has three floors, but it’s much wider. From a front view, it’s in front of the dorms, and it’s painted with a bunch of murals around it. The dorms are too, but they have smaller ones, unlike the big tiger on the front of the school.
Nickel grabs his bag from the front seat and removes his two suitcases from on top of Suitcase’s suitcase (wow say that ten time fast), and waits for his friends. He clutches the suitcases tightly, ready to jump around in excitement, but no. He needs to seem nonchalant.
Once Baseball is holding his two suitcases (and balancing some of Suitcase’s bags), they walk to the dorms.
“Hello!” Toilet, the official Student Assistant, smiled at them. “Welcome back Baseball and Nickel! Oh, you must be new! Hello!”
Suitcase looks flustered. “Oh- uh- hi! I’m Suitcase!”
“Hello Suitcase!” Toilet grabs the Junior bin, and files through all of the papers. He grabs three thin folders, and gives each of them their own. “I think you guys are in the same dorm! Have fun!”
Nickel opens his folder, three papers falling out. One was his class schedule, one was a map, and one was his personal information. After comparing, they figured that Toilet was right, and they were all in dorm 3B.
They got into the elevator, as Suitcase analyzed the map.
“Is this where my science class is?” Suitcase asks, showing both her class schedule and the map.
“Yep. Oh, you have Mr. MePad! He’s a great teacher.”
Suitcase just nods, and the elevator opens.
Nickel fumbles with the door, but opens it. Baseball always has trouble opening the doors because he’s so tall, but Nickel’s barely 5 feet.
The dorm had a small living room with a kitchen attached. Near the back there were three rooms, each with two places to write names. Nickel figures there will be two people in a room, and he immediately grabs Baseball’s hand.
“Baseball. We’re rooming.”
Before Baseball can respond, a door opens. Out comes a girl with dark skin and choppy black hair. She’s wearing a long Nirvana shirt that covers her shorts, and she looks comfortable.
“Hey! I’m Microphone, but please, call me Mic.”
“Nickel. This is Baseball and Suitcase.”
Mic frowns and looks at her paper. “Okay, cool. We’re just missing Knife and Balloon.”
“Balloon?!” Nickel can’t help himself. “I- Baseball, Balloon?”
“Uh, excuse me?” They turn around and see Balloon standing there, eyebrows raised.
“Eugh. Balloon. Of COURSE we’re in the same dorm.”
Suitcase interrupts. “Uh, who is this?”
“I’m Balloon! Hi! I was in Nickel and Baseball’s high school… and I was kind of a jerk. But I’m different! These two know that.”
“Hi!”
“Let’s go Baseball.” Nickel starts walking to another room.
“Suitcase!” Mic calls. “Bunk with me. Only two girls, y’know. And I checked. This is the only one without a urinal.”
Suitcase glances at Baseball and Nickel. “Try to be nice to Balloon. He seems like he’s trying.”
With that she walks over to Mic, pushing her suitcases into the room.
Baseball glances at Nickel. “I’ll bring our bags to that room,” he points to a random room. Nickel nods.
As he’s about to follow, the door opens.
“Hi..?” Asks Knife as he walks him. Being the nonchalant king he is, he has a big backpack and two duffel bags. No suitcases.
“Hi.” Nickel says. Knife was one of the ones who was there freshman year too.
“How are the bunkings working?”
“Uhh, it seems we all have this common room and we each split into pairs into the three rooms.”
“Who else is in our rooms?”
“It should be on your papers. It’s Baseball, Balloon, Suitcase, and Mic. Suitcase and Mic are in that room, and Base and I have that one. You're with Balloon in there.”
Knife gives him a look that he can’t decipher then nods, walking over to his room.
Nickel walks back to his own room. The first day had its ups, and its downs. This year could be good. Or bad.