[high-five!]

Anyway I can totally let you get to sleep.

miiight be for the best.

i'll see you later, though, right?

Definitely.

As soon as he lets go of the effort to stay awake, he drops off to sleep.

Zzzz.

Aww.

Edie follows soon after.

The next day in his first biology class, a girl sits down beside him.

"Hi!" she says brightly. "Hard to believe we're really here, huh?"

...okay, that's new. Usually the guy in the leather jacket with the horns is not the favorite for first-day small talk, far as he knows.

He nods, though.

"It's a trip. Waking up in a dorm was weird."

"Being away from home is sure an experience."

He shrugs.

"You get used to it."

He's trying his best not to be suspicious of her motives here.

"I'm going to miss my parents. But I had, you know, kind of a sheltered upbringing. I'm looking forward to seeing more of what the rest of the world's like."

He laughs.

"Well, there's this."

He sort of...gestures to himself.

"The world isn't so bad, though."

"I've heard that things are pretty bad for mutants, some places."

"...yeah. For sure."

Ok, this probably isn't a trap, then.

"Here's hoping this isn't one of them, right?"

"Definitely."

He's decided this girl is chill.

"I'm a fan of the enthusiasm."

Ok, uh, conversation topics...

"Where'd you come up here from?"

"Downstate New York."

"Way better than Rhode Island."

"Why, what's Rhode Island like?"

"Boring on, like, every conceivable level."

He considers.

"...except for pizza strips. Why does nobody else have pizza strips?"

"What are pizza strips?"

"Basically just 'strips of pizza with no cheese'. They're really gross from a lot of places but the good ones are great."

"Huh. What's the value in taking the cheese off?"

He shrugs.

"Who knows? Pizza strips are pizza strips. They are an age-old mystery."

"Fair. Perhaps one day I'll travel to Rhode Island and find out for myself."

"Or everybody else will realize that cold, cheeseless pizza was what was in their heart all along. Whichever."