Page 5

Haven

Julie stops by in the morning with a flat, rectangular device she calls a tablet, a new phone similar to hers, and some other random things. She brings me breakfast, too, before rushing out the door and promising to teach me how to use the tablet later that day. I’m a little sad she can’t stay, but I would imagine this is a pretty busy time for her, considering she’s the director of admissions.

Just as I’m finishing my breakfast, the door opens, and a thin girl with light skin and dark green hair walks in. I find myself staring at her, unsure if I can trust what I’m seeing.

“Oh, hi!” The girl beams when she notices me. “I’m Athelia. I’m so glad you were able to make it here in time. When you didn’t show up yesterday, I was worried.”

“I ran into some… obstacles,” I say carefully.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you. Um, what’s your name?”

“Hea—” I clear my throat. “Haven. My name is Haven.”

“Oh, that’s really pretty,” she says softly.

“Thank you.”

Athelia gestures to her things. “I… I took this side of the room, as long as that’s okay with you? If you’d prefer it, I can move all my shit.”

My eyes widen involuntarily. Colton swore quite a bit last night, and it caught me off guard then, too. But hearing a woman swear? At Cornerstone, it’s forbidden, but the men still do it when they’re angry. But not the women— never the women.

Another thing to adjust to, I suppose.

“I don’t mind this side,” I say.

“All right. Well, then—”

“Can I ask you a question?” I blurt.

Athelia gives me an amused look. “Sure.”

“Your… your hair. Were you born with it like that?”

Her expression quickly morphs into a frown. “Like what?”

“Green.”

A shocked laugh leaves Athelia’s lips before she claps a hand over her mouth. “I’m sorry, that was mean. No, my hair is naturally brown. I dye it green.”

“Oh. I didn’t realize you could do that.”

Giving me a concerned stare, Athelia lowers herself onto the edge of her bed. “You’ve never seen someone with colored hair before?”

“No, never. I grew up…” Oh, what was the word Julie used? “I grew up very sheltered.”

“Huh. Well, all right.” Her eyes rove over my side of the room. “Are you still moving in? I can help you bring the rest of your stuff up.”

“No, this is all I have.”

“This is it?” Her eyes widen. “You don’t even have textbooks!”

“They’re all on here.” I hold up my tablet. “Although I can’t figure out how to work it.”

“Oh, I can help you.” Standing, she moves closer to me. “Can I sit on your bed?”

“Sure.”

Taking the tablet from my hands, Athelia inspects the buttons on the sides. With her this close, I get a subtle whiff of honeysuckles, and it soothes something inside me. The scent reminds me of summer and Ruth and playing hide and seek on Cornerstone’s grounds.

“Here—this one on the top is the power button. You have to hold it down to turn it on.” She does so, and the screen comes to life a few seconds later. “There we go. It’ll take a minute to fully wake up.”

Unbidden, a giggle falls from my lips. “Wake up?”

“Yeah.” She laughs, too. “I guess it’s a little silly to say that about tech, huh? Oh—here we go! So this is your home screen. It looks like you’ve already got the typical apps installed. Photos, notes, browser, some games, all that jazz.”

Most of those words go over my head, but I nod anyway. “And where would the textbooks be?”

“My best guess is they’re in this one.” She taps on a little square on the screen that has a picture of an open book on it, and the entire screen changes.

“Whoa, hold on,” I say, panicked. “What happened?”

“I opened the app,” she explains. “That’s what’s supposed to happen.”

“Oh,” I mumble.

“See?” She gestures to all the new things on the screen. “Each one of these rectangles is one of your textbooks. The titles are on the cover but then also below them.”

“Got it. So I just… poke the cover?”

She smiles. “I think tap is probably a better word for it, but yeah.”

I tap one of the books, and the cover expands until it fills the whole screen. After that, Athelia walks me through how to turn pages, adjust text sizes, and even change what font the words are. It’s all overwhelming, but I think I can at least remember how to open the textbooks.

It takes me a couple tries to remember which button shuts off the screen, but once I’ve got it, I turn to face Athelia. “Thank you. I—”

“Are you Amish?” she blurts. Immediately, her cheeks turn red. “I’m sorry, that was rude of me.”

I’m not sure why it’s rude, so I shrug. “I’m not Amish, no. But I was raised in a similar way. It’s… too much to get into today.”

“Got it. Sorry, I’ve just never met someone who’s never seen a tablet before.”

“Yesterday was the first day I saw a phone that wasn’t attached to a wall,” I say, and when her jaw drops, I let out a loud laugh. “And it was also the first day I ever had quick food.”

Tilting her head, Athelia asks, “Quick food?”

Oh, shoot. I don’t think that was quite what Julie called it. What was the word she used?

“Um. Fast food?”

Athelia’s eyes light up. “Oh! Wait, you’d never had it before?”

With another grin, I shake my head. “Never. I almost choked from the bubbles in my drink. The French fries were really good, though.”

“Damn,” she mutters. “Have you ever had ice cream?”

“Never heard of it.”

“Holy shit! Seriously?! Girl, you have no idea what you’ve been missing out on. We should get some later today.”

Mixing cream and ice together doesn’t sound particularly appetizing, but I smile and nod anyway. Maybe it’s not as bad as I think it will be.

“But right now, do you want to spend some time exploring campus?” Athelia asks. “I want to familiarize myself with the buildings so I don’t get lost trying to find my classes.”

“Oh, that’s a good idea.”

We both stand, and my heart feels light with hope. Not only does Athelia seem to know all the things I don’t, but she’s willing to teach me, too. Just like Colton, she seems surprised by my upbringing but not judgmental about it. I was so afraid I wouldn’t fit in here, and maybe I don’t, but I think I can with people like her and Colton by my side.