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“So why haven't either of you guys joined a group,” Stacy asked Nick and Joram, walking alongside them with Tomma, Anika, and Earlen ambling a little behind. As they were making their way across the newly mown grass between the Student Center and the Kyla area, he briefly saw Stacy playing with a strange box at the end of a crude, string necklace. To Joram she looked like a blur of spicy allurement that made it difficult for him to even breathe, so he looked down at the ground as he walked alongside her and Nick, trying to calm his racing pulse.
“We're starting our own group,” Nick said proudly.
Joram looked at him as if he was crazy, but Nick's eyes were fuzzy on Stacy, walking very close to her. Joram had never seen him like this before. He was usually the one being ruthlessly pursued by bands of women, but instead he looked like a hunk of fine steel caught in a powerful magnetic field.
“Oh?” Stacy answered, sounding impressed. Joram thought Nick might fly away.
“You're not in a group,” Anika said sharply to Tomma behind them.
“No,” was all Tomma said, looking piqued. Joram knew she still valued Anika and Earlen, her longtime friends from her home town, but didn't want anything to do with either of the campus groups.
“Everybody's in a group,” Earlen giggled beside them.
“Except Tomma,” Anika charged.
“And Joram,” Tomma said, looking for support. Joram, however, was saved by happenstance.
“There they are,” Anika said, pointing. Her nose stuck out from her face like some kind of targeted projectile. Anika and Earlen went running in the direction Anika and pointed, and Stacy suddenly broke off from Nick to go with Anika and Earlen.
“Wait!” Nick bellowed.
“Where are you going?” Tomma called after them.
“We have something to do,” Anika called back callously. Stacy, Anika, and Earlen continued across the fragrant grass towards the Kyla patio area and had left the other three behind. Flowers were in wide bloom in patches strategically planted in various places, all newly planted since the campus had been landscaped again from the devastation that had been wrought the previous spring. The picture was one of incredible beauty.
“We're going to hunt guys,” Earlen laughed as they were already halfway across the grass.
“Wait for us,” Tomma called back, but they didn't wait. “I'm going to run after them,” she told Nick.
“I'm going with,” Nick echoed, leaving Joram standing in the middle of the grassy area as he watched all his friends zooming away.
“This way!” Anika commanded from the distance. “Over here!”
Joram slowly followed the five figures as they joined three others at a stone table out on the Kyla patio. The three girls got there first and appeared heartily invited by the three guys to join them. When Nick and Tomma arrived, however, they didn't seem as well received, reduced to standing around outside the table. Joram strolled in their direction, seeing the three guys paired with Stacy, Anika and Earlen around the table, Nick and Tomma left out in the cold. As he got closer, he quickly recognized the shapes of Bill Manias, Dustin Rajongo, and Jeff Gruppe of the Pipes.
“Get out of here, yeh big lug,” Dustin yelled red-faced at Nick. Joram had never heard anyone speak to Nick like that before, much less his friend Dustin.
“Don't you have something to do?” Anika said sharply to Tomma, while Earlen laughed in cruel agreement.
When Joram walked passed the stone table, he vaguely saw all three girls playing with their crude necklaces, and all three guys paying very close attention. Then his eyes caught Nick hugging and consoling a crying Tomma a short distance outside the Kyla patio. They certainly weren't fighting anymore.
Narration by Howard Douglas; based on discussions with Tomma Torstig.
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