Neon ran around the track, passing her best friend Jett as she passed the finish line.
"no fair." Jett huffed. "You got a head start!" Neon only laughed at the pouting Korean.
"yeah yeah you always say that." Neon chuckled, patting her back. They began walking back to their changing room as three others walked out onto the field. This wasn't uncommon as a lot of students did this to stretch their legs around campus and get fresh air. But what caught neon's attention was one of the people. Neon didn't recognise her.
"Hoy Jett, who's that girl?" She asked, squinting to get a better view of the woman. The white-haired woman looked in the direction Neon was looking.
"she's a new kid from... I can't remember actually. Spoke to her earlier. Gives weird vibes." She replied with a shrug. The two other people she was with here cypher and Omen, two students Neon knew a very little amount which slightly annoyed her. She tried to be friends with everyone. She decided to talk to the new girl later and her and Jett went to the changing rooms with their usual laughter and banter.
Neon's day went on as usual, hanging out with her group which consisted of Jett, Raze, Phoenex, Yoru and Killjoy but that new student kept nagging at the back of her mind. She tried to look out for her but she didn't see her once. She shrugged it off. Maybe they had different schedules. It went on like this for almost a week. Neon began to question if she existed or if she hallucinated it. That was until today. Neon was walking home when she spotted the woman. She was squatted down in an ally, doing who knows what. "This is my chance!" Whispered Neon excitedly. She walked over with a grin into the dark ally. Then a wave of nerves hit her. What if this wasn't the new girl? She'd only seen her from afar. Her confidence faded quickly as she approached the woman.
"Um excuse me." She greeted awkwardly. the woman turned around with a slight jump. "Are you the new girl at Valorant Uni?" She asked then internally facepalmed. She literally had a valorant lanyard on.
"Yes that's me." She replied. Neon studied her features. She had ombre hair that went black to white, a strange mark across her nose, a nose and snake bite piercing and two different coloured eyes. They stood out to neon. One was a deep blue while the other was a gentle brown. "The name's Fade." She said, holding a hand out. Neon grinned and shook it.
"neon." She introduced. Fade nodded and turned back around. Neon peeked over her shoulder to see her stroking a cat. "Aww its so cute!" Neon cooed, squatting next to fade and reaching a hand out to the cat. It looked at her questioningly, as if analysing if she was a threat. After deciding she wasn't, it pushed its head into her hand, letting out a soft meow. Its black fur felt almost like silk.
"She is. Reminds me of the ones back home." Fade replied stroking the cat's fur softly.
"Where did you live?" Neon asked then immediately regretted it, realising how weird it sounded. "Not like in a creepy way! Like as in where are you from i worded that weird sorry!" She said hurriedly. Fade simply gave a soft chuckle in reply.
"I'm from turkey. There were a bunch of stray cats that roamed around." She explained.
"That sounds nice." Neon replied. They had a bit more of a chat before neon finally got up. "Well I've got to go home. It was nice meeting you fade." neon bid her farewell and headed home. She couldn't seem to get the sight of fade out of her head. the way her lips curled up into a smile, the way her eyes focused on Neon when she spoke, the softness of her voice, the slight glint of light of her nose ring. It was all quite endearing to Neon.
The next day, neon went into one of her lessons and was shocked to see Fade sat in a corner alone, nursing a flask and looking exhausted. She looked like her and sleep had an argument that night that she had lost. After thinking for a second, she walked over to the Turk and pulled out the seat. "This seat taken?" She asked with a smile.
"No." She replied, her voice sounding quite rough and dry. Neon sat down. "You alright? You look like you had a rough night."
"I'm alright, just not a morning person." She grumbled with a yawn. Neon chuckled as Fade took a swig from the flask.
"Fair enough. So what's your next lesson?"
"free period." Fade replied. Their conversation was cut off there as the professor came in.
Neon looked over at fade halfway through the lesson and was shocked to see the woman passed out on top of her open notebook, pen by her hand. Neon frowned slightly. She must have been tired. Neon focused her attention back on the professor and continued taking her notes. Once the lesson was over, she left the room, leaving fade asleep on the desk. She quickly rushed to the printer and printed her notes out and returned to the still asleep fade. "Fade." She whispered, shaking the woman's shoulder. She wasn't waking up. She tried again, making her voice louder. Nothing. She resorted to yelling the woman's name. She shot awake.
"I'm up! I'm up shit!" Fade yelped, rubbing her eyes.
"sorry! You wouldn't wake up. You fell asleep mid lesson." Neon explained and placed the printed notes in front of her. "So I printed my notes for you. You looked like you could do with the extra rest." Fade gave a sleepy smile.
"Thanks that was really sweet of you neon." At this, the woman's heart swelled and she felt the heat rise up her neck.
"Oh yeah, I was thinking! I heard of this new cat cafe opening today! Do you uhh wanna go with me?" Neon offered. Fade grinned
"It's a date Aşkım." She scribbled on a scrap of paper in her notebook and slid it to neon. "text me what time and the address yeah?" She winked and rise from her seat, cracking her back before grabbing her bag and notebook and leaving. Neon just sat there in shock.
"There you are Neon! Why are you in here alone?" Jett asked. She didn't reply. She was still in shock.
"hello! Earth to neon!" Raze yelled, waving her hand in neon's face. Neon looked at her friends excitedly.
"I have a date with a pretty woman." She mumbled. "I GOT HER NUMBER!" She yelled excitedly. All her friends rushed to congratulate her. Unknown to her, fade was stood outside the classroom.
"So Fade, you gave her your number finally?" Omen asked. Fade nodded.
"So no more going out on walks to watch her run?" Cypher asked. fade gave a small laugh.
"perhaps not." She smiled and walked off to the canteen with her friends.