Life Designed (Life Plan Series Book 1), Eliza Taye [great novels .TXT] 📗

on her house shoes, Opal walked to the bathroom and appraised herself in the mirror. She had officially become an adult now. She was a Declarer. Her future and fate would be of her own choosing. With a smile, she started getting ready for the day. Since it was the first day for several students, she would have orientation and then be able to choose her classes for the semester. She wondered how many other Declarers would be in her degree field.

After getting ready for the day, Opal left her room to find the hallways empty except for the occasional student. Checking the time, she saw it was only 6am. Smiling, she realized college would be a lot like the way it was at home, mostly silent and scarce of people in the mornings.

Down the hall, a bulletin board filled to the brim with flyers caught Opal’s attention. She strolled over and examined it, reading for anything interesting. Several clubs were advertising for new members. A volunteer organization was looking for students to join them on the weekends. A notice from the dormitory management explained that the entire place would have their fire alarms tested on Fourth Moon.

Finally, she found one applicable to her: Declarer Class Orientation. It stipulated that all Declarer students were to meet in Trenton Hall at 9am for college orientation. Orientation would consist of a basic rundown of academy rules, a tour of the campus, and then at the end, students would be allowed to sign-up for classes.

Although they offered a tour of the campus, Opal figured she had plenty of time before 9am. First, she’d walk around the dormitory grounds and then head out to explore the buildings surrounding it.

On the dormitory ground floor, Opal discovered a large cafeteria with excellent smells of food wafting toward her nose. Attracted to the tantalizing aroma, she followed it and found a few other students scattered amongst the various tables enjoying their breakfast. As Opal walked to the front of the cafeteria where the food was being served, she admired the variety.

“Hello, choose whatever you’d like to eat and you can pay for it at the end of the line,” explained a chipper old woman with silver hair streaked with white. Her kind smile created endless lines of wrinkles upon her warm face.

“Thank you,” replied Opal, taking a closer look at the assortment of food before her.

Choosing several items that looked appealing to her, an apple, nuts, yogurt, and some juice to drink along with a slice of soven, Opal paid for the food and then found a place to sit alone.

As she chewed her food, Opal thought of the classes she knew she’d want to enroll in. Introduction to Law being the one she’d be most excited to take and then maybe a class on public speaking. It wouldn’t hurt to get a head start on getting used to speaking in front of a lot of people.

“Hey, are you new here? I’m Chloë.” A girl plopped her tray down beside Opal’s and sat down.

“Hi, yes, I am new here. My name is Opal.”

“Nice to meet you, Opal. What’s your major?”

“Public Law…or at least it will be once I sign up for everything today.” Opal gave Chloë a meek smile. “What about you?”

“Ah, so you’re a Declarer. I’m in International Law. Just made it through my Declarer year, now I can be referred to as a regular old Decided.” Chloë smoothed back a strand of her tawny hair that had come loose from her tight ponytail.

“How do you like it here?” wondered Opal.

“Oh, this place is great! I love going to academy here. I’ve learned so much. The faculty is really nice and I have to say we have one of the best dormitories. They’ve wrapped everything a student can need into one building. We have our own cafeteria, a boutique clothing and essentials store around the corner, and even our own gym.”

“Woah, that’s amazing.”

“I know, isn’t it?” Chloë took a swig of milk. “Most students would kill to be in this dormitory. The waitlist is insane. You’re lucky you were assigned here.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“Are you the only person from your Choosing Class going to this academy?”

A pang twisted Opal’s heart as she realized she hadn’t thought of Garrett yet this morning. How could she have been such a terrible friend? “No, I’m not the only one from my Choosing Class going to this academy, but I am the only one in the School of Law.”

“Ah, makes sense. Not everyone would want to be a lawyer. Lots of studying and hard work.”

Opal nodded. “Yes, that’s very true.”

“So you’ll have orientation later this morning, I presume.” Chloë put the last of her breakfast into her mouth after speaking.

“Yes, they’re going to give us a tour of the campus and then allow us to sign-up for classes.” Opal poured the nuts into her yogurt. “Do you remember how long the tour is?”

Chloë thought for a bit. “Not too long, maybe about four hours. This is a pretty large campus compared to the other two collegiate academies in the city. But you’ll want to make sure you sign up for classes as soon as you can. The lower level law classes fill up quickly. You don’t want to end up taking extra classes one or two semesters just to finish on time.”

“Thanks, I’ll remember that.”

Chloë piled her empty containers together on her tray and stood. “Well, nice meeting you, Opal. I’m sure I’ll see you around. Have a good rest of your day.”

“Yeah, you too.” Opal waved to Chloë in farewell, then resumed eating her food.

After finishing eating and throwing away her empty containers into the recycling bin, Opal left the dormitory and strolled down the pathway. The school was starting to wake up. Students jogged down the pathways, some