Rainy held her dinner in front of her by means of one of those large plastic trays that are given to students in schools across the country. The short, gray mouse looked around for an empty seat in the crowded cafeteria, although few seemed vacant. Quietly she slipped around the tables, trying not to meet the gaze of any of the students around her. They all seemed nice enough, most talking among themselves with the occasional laugh heard, but she didn’t know any of them and that made her nervous. In fact, she didn’t know any fellow students on campus. She had been in school for four days and had yet to mingle with any of her peers. Her room was a single, so she shared it with no roommate. Rainy’s routine so far had involved going to class, then returning to her room to study. The only time she came out was to eat meals and go for her afternoon walks. It was not that she was unsocial, but coming from a small town to a city university was quite a change and her innate shyness did not help matters.
Finally Rainy saw an unoccupied table in the back of the room. She sat down and regarded her lunch, wondering if she should have some of her garden salad or potato soup first. A moment later a piece of lettuce was speared by her fork, her choice made.
For several minutes she ate quietly, when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Rainy swallowed what was in her mouth and then turned to see a female Dalmatian smiling at her. “Excuse me.” She said. “Could you please let us use your salt? My friend Ecco here used all of it.” She then nodded to an embarrassed looking doe who sat at her table. “Well I can’t help it if I am a deer.” She said defensively, her comment bringing a few chuckles from the students at her table. Rainy smiled but did not let her self laugh, worried she would embarrass her any more. She then handed the Dalmatian the saltshaker and turned back to the salad without another word. Before she could take a bite, the Dalmatian spoke again.
“Hey, would you like to join us? We have an empty seat” She asked, making the mouse turn back. “N…No thank you. I am alright.” Her words were very unsteady and she realized that they were the first words she had spoken to another since registering for her classes.
“Are you sure?” The Dalmatian asked, pressing a little. “You seem a bit lonely, and they do say that lunch is the most social of all the daily meals.”
Rainy considered her words for several seconds and gathered enough courage to nod. “That’s true.” She picked up her tray and joined the girls at the table, sitting down in the free seat. The Dalmatian moved her seat over a little, giving her a bit more room. She then reached her lightly spotted hand to the mouse. “I am Amy, and that’s Lauren, Natalie, Kara and Ecco.” Rainy nodded to the turtle, giraffe, bear and deer in turn, noting their names and trying to save them to memory. “I am Rainy. It’s nice to meet you all.”
“Forgive me for saying so, but that is an unusual name.” Natalie said, arching her long neck down a little. The mouse nodded, agreeing with her assessment. “Well yes, but so is Ecco.” She looked over, hoping she did not offend the doe with her sudden statement. Ecco answered without missing a beat though. “It’s just a nickname. My full name is Eccoman Sayaruchi Domanai. They just call me Ecco because Lauren here would take an hour to say my whole name.” The entire table chuckled while the turtle stuck her tongue out at Ecco. “Yeah yeah. Slow turtle jokes are sooo original.” Lauren said, trying to look hurt, yet finally giving in and giggling along with the others.
Amy spoke after the laughter finally quieted a bit. “So what is your major Rainy?” The mouse perked her ears at that. “Computer programming. I was originally going to be a network administrator, but decided to get the basics first and specialize later.” Kara brightened visually and reached out to shake Rainy’s hand over the table. Rainy shook it, a little baffled.
Natalie explained the bear’s reaction. “Kara is a computer person too. I think you just made her day. We are sure she would just sit in her room all day and type if we let her.” Kara huffed and rolled her eyes at her friend.
“So Kara, what field are you in?” Rainy asked, genuinely interested. The bear looked to Amy, and the Dalmatian nodded, understanding something that Rainy could not catch. She turns her long muzzle and looked at the mouse.
“Kara cannot speak Rainy. She hurt her throat in a tree climbing accident when she was a child.” Kara nodded and shrugged nonchalantly. She then gave Rainy a smile, which helped ease her tension. “Then again.” Amy continued. “Maybe she can talk, but we don’t give her a chance to speak with all our yammering.” That caused a few more chuckles among the group, and Rainy took this moment to change the subject, not sure how to continue with the current one.
“What majors are the rest of you?” She asked. Amy spoke before the others could, and Rainy had the distinct impression she was the unofficial leader of the group. “Ecco and I are in nursing, and that is actually how we met. Natalie is a business major, and Lauren is going to be a beautician.” The last comment caught Rainy off guard and she couldn’t help but arch an eyebrow and look at Lauren with her smooth, green, and bald turtle head. The entire table suddenly erupted into hysterical laughter, and even Kara could be seen laughing silently.
Rainy realized she fell for Amy’s joke and laughed along. “Well I could be one if I wanted to. Instead of scissors I would use a towel and wax.” Lauren said as she rubbed her smooth head with her hand. The laughing continued and Rainy found herself quite comfortable among the girls. Just then Kara knocked on the tabletop several times, getting the attention of everyone around her. She then pointed to her watch.
“Awww jeez! It’s almost one thirty girls. We have to go.” Ecco said, standing up with her tray in her hands. Rainy watched as all of the girls stood up. “What happens at one thirty?” She asked, still seated. Amy once again spoke up, as if the question was addressed to her alone. “That’s when our meeting is for the homecoming committee. Today is the first session and we have to come up with a theme, colors, ideas for activities, etc.”
Rainy nodded and smiled brightly. “Well it was nice meeting you all. I hope I see you again around here.” The five girls looked among each other, genuinely confused. The mouse looked at them all. ‘What is it?”
Natalie smiled and reaches down, taking Rainy’s hand in her own and urged her to her feet. “You’re coming with us.” The mouse blinked and opened her mouth to protest, but Amy patted her shoulder, quieting her.
“You’re part of our group now Rainy. Whether you like it or not, you got five new friends. And friends do things together, like work on homecoming committee. Now come on or we’ll be late.” Rainy didn’t even have time to smile to her new friends, before she was ushered out the cafeteria door and into the daylight.
By, Bombur
