Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ A Shot at Normalcy: University Life? ❯ The Entrance Examination ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: - I do not own Gundam Wing or any of the other anime series. I write this purely for my amusement and for the entertainment of others. I earn just about $0 every time some one reads this. ^_^

Chapter 3: The Entrance Examination

July 16th

Heero wanted to see the University campus. He still hadn't decided if he wanted to live on campus or rent an apartment off campus. He had arrived a day earlier to get a feel of the place.

The University campus was pretty big and so was the university building. As a matter of fact, there were about seven big buildings. The University Building was the biggest. Big would be an understatement; the building was a monster. He figured the rest of the buildings would be living quarters or something of the sort. They could not be faculty buildings because the brochure said the main building housed all the faculties. And by the size of it, it was very much possible.

The whole place had the air of some ancient castle, though it was pretty pleasant. The grounds were humungous and were covered with lush grass. It was amazing how well preserved this place was even though it was just a few miles out of town. After walking around the grounds and looking around, he decided it would be better to get a place on campus. He wondered what the conditions for living on campus were.

________________________________________________________________ < p>

July 17th

Heero entered the building at 8.30 am. The lady at the front desk directed him to a wall practically papered with printed lists. He was a bit surprised at the number of lists posted on that single wall. He wondered if they were all the names of people writing the entrance examination. He looked at the first one, it was not the list that he needed. After browsing through most of them his eyes finally landed on the list that had the names of people writing the entrance examination and the required info. i.e. room number, number of exams, theory or practicals, time, etc…He knew that his name would be at the end of the list, the end of the 2nd list to be precise, since the names were in alphabetical order. But he couldn't resist going through the entire just. While he was reading, he spotted the name 'Barton, Trowa'. His mouth stretched into a slight smirk. He was reading further down when he also spotted the name 'Maxwell, Duo'.

"Surprise, surprise…What do we have here? Two Gundam pilots, No! Three Gundam pilots at the same place, same time? Interesting!" He said to himself his smirk stretching itself into an almost smile.

He was now reading the second list when he got another pleasant surprise. It was the name 'Winner, Quatre Raberba'. It had been a long time since he had seen any of them. He was trained to be independent, but he couldn't help missing his friends. It was the first time that he had actually made friends with anyone.

"Well, well, well…now that makes four of us at the…."

"Hey! Look who's here!"

That voice. It was unmistakable. It had to be Duo Maxwell.

Heero's smile had now developed into a full-fledged grin. He slowly turned back.

"Duo!"

And there he was, with his long braid dressed in black, looking at him with his blue eyes and his trademarked grin. He hadn't changed. He had that same carefree air about him. But he had grown quite a bit in the last two years.

"Who else? Nice to see that you remember me, dude. It's been a while since we met. You here to write the Test or whatever it is?"

The grin vanished abruptly and was replaced with the regular scowl. He resumed his analysis of the list.

He joined Heero at the wall papered with lists and bent down to find his name on the list that Heero was looking at. He saw Trowa's name on the list.

"Looks like we have another Gundam pilot joining us," Duo said while still looking at the list.

"We have two," was the reply from Heero.

"So we have Quatre, too, I see," He still was not looking up from the list.

Meanwhile, Heero found his name on the list. He had to give the mechanics theory first and had to go to room no. 1311. He picked up a book on the desk that was supposed to have maps. Room# 1250 to 1450 were situated in the Right Wing. Room# 1311 was in the right wing, on the fourth storey.

"I have to go to room 1311. What about you?" Duo asked still looking at the lists.

Heero was spared the trouble of answering.

"Let's go. You are writing in the same room as mine." He was still looking at those printed sheets of paper. "As a matter of fact, all the people that are writing their mechanics theory are supposed to be in that room. Trowa will be joining us if he is not already there."

He finally looked up and they started of towards the right wing. They were almost at the end of the corridor, when Duo stopped in mid stride.

"Oh Hell! I was supposed to wait for Hilde at the Front Desk!"

He turned around as abruptly as he had stopped leaving Heero where he was. Fortunately for him, he did not have to go far. He saw Hilde starting down the corridor.

"Hey babe, you won't believe who I met!" Duo's voice drifted down the corridor to meet Heero's ears.

"Who?"

He kissed her in the usual fashion and replied with a grin.

"Mr. Grump King himself." He turned around and flashed Heero his grin and gave him a thumbs up.

Hilde looked at him and waved.

"We are writing our first 'Entrance Examination' in the same room. Mechanics. Theory," he informed her.

"First? You never told me you applied for more than one subject," she chided him.

He laughed nervously. "Heh, heh… you see, I applied for mechanics and computer programming. The programming is only practicals. It's in the afternoon."

She still looked a bit angry, "So are you leaving now?"

"I guess I'd better leave, before the perfect soldier pulls out his gun and shoots me down for keeping him waiting for so long. I will meet you for lunch outside,'k?"

He was about to leave when she said something that Heero couldn't quite make out. He winked at her and set off towards Heero.

Watching the exchange between Duo and Hilde had stirred something within him. He found himself thinking of Relena. He had saved her quite a few times; he wasn't sure what he felt for her though. She was now the vice-foreign minister. She had grown into a fine young woman. She was strong. She had always been. His scowl darkened thinking about her. But this was because he was confused about his own feelings for the Vice Foreign Minister. He was to kill her, but he never could. As a matter of fact he had saved her life when he wasn't supposed to.

Duo reached the place where Heero was waiting for him. The started of towards their Exam room. Duo, as usual, was busy talking, either to Heero or to himself. But to Heero, Duo's voice was lost among the other numerous voices, just another noise in the background.

"As silent as ever! Helloooo? You listening to me?" Duo was now practically yelling at him.

Duo's Voice jarred Heero back to reality. He looked up at Duo and said in his usual voice. "Yeah! I am listening."

"So buddy what was it that I just said?" Duo asked with a mock scowl.

"Forget it, we are here," said Heero pointing towards the classroom door.

Inside the classroom, they had another surprise waiting for them. Trowa Barton was sitting in one of the middle rows in his usual outfit, usual when he was not dressed as a clown that is.

"So we meet again!" he said with a smile, his intense green eyes boring into them. "It is a small world after all."

Apparently they were the last people to enter the classroom. The examination started about five minutes later. It was pretty easy. Heero had no trouble at all and neither did Duo or Trowa. Duo was beginning to whistle in the middle of the examination when the supervisor and a few other students glared at him. It took him a while to realise what was going on and why people were glaring at him.

"Whoops! Sorry! I guess I shouldn't be whistling." He laughed nervously and resumed his writing.

Heero who was watching Duo smiled to himself. Trowa gave a small shake of his head, smirked and resumed his writing.

_______________________________________________________________ _

Meanwhile,

"Oh my God! I must be late; the examination must have already started."

You guessed it. It was Quatre. His private shuttle had encountered difficulties before they took off. His departure was delayed. He was worried that he would be late. As a matter of fact he was late. It was 9.45 am. He hurried to the front desk. The lady there directed him to the same wall to which she had directed so many this morning.

"I Think I should put up a notice board saying that list is up on that wall, right over my head," she muttered to herself.

Quatre mumbled his thanks and apologies and hurried over to 'the wall'.

He found his name pretty quickly. He had the sense to look under 'W'. Since he was late, he did not bother going through the entire list, the way the other two Gundam pilots had. He was annoyed and relieved at the same time.

"I don't have to write any exam until 11.00 am. Why didn't they inform me about it? Moreover, I don't even have to give an entrance exam to get into the faculty for empaths."

He was reading and muttering to himself at the same time.

"Hey! Why do I have to write a psychology entrance exam? I didn't even apply for psychology. And we have business at 1.00 pm and then all I have to do is wait for the results."

He smiled to himself and went over to the front desk.

"I'm sorry to bother you again, but could you please explain me something?"

The lady looked up at him; she appeared to be pretty annoyed. It must be tiring to entertain a thousand and one questions everyday.

He smiled at her and asked her why he had to write a psychology entrance test and why was there no test for empaths.

She looked exasperated and finally turned to face him. He could sense that she was not too glad to be disturbed from whatever she was busy doing. He felt kind of bad for annoying her. She informed him that if he took psychology, it would help him in his training to harness his emphatic abilities and that this test was just to evaluate how many of aspects of psychology he was familiar with. It would not count against him. He would be admitted to the emphatic faculty anyway.

He thanked her and decided to take a tour of the grounds.

He went outside and stood in front of the main entrance. The building was huge. It was a monster. He was in such a hurry a few minutes back, he had not taken time to marvel at the size of the building. Now that he looked at it, he realised how big it was and how beautiful. It reminded him of the paintings of the ancient gothic castles in his father's study in their mansion on the L4 Colony.

Somehow, he found himself thinking of his pilot friends again. Something at the back of his mind was telling him that he would be meeting his friends soon. But he was too enthralled by the beauty of the place to pay much attention to his other thoughts.

He walked around the grounds for a while. He found the place absolutely beautiful. While walking about, he had already made up his mind to live in a rented apartment near the university or if possible on the University campus itself. He wondered if the other buildings were living quarters. He turned back to go towards the main building to ask the lady at the front desk about living on campus, but then decided against it. He didn't want to bother her again and moreover, he could ask about it later, when his admission was confirmed. He decided to walk around till 10.45 am. Fifteen minutes should be enough for him to get to the appropriate room. It was 10.30 am now.

________________________________________________________________

At 10.30 am the Entrance exam for Mechanics ended and Duo jumped out of his seat and started towards the door. He met his two friends at the door.

"So guys, how was the "Examination"? He asked, making quotation marks when he said the word 'Examination'.

"Fine," Heero answered, his face showing no change.

"The answers are always easy if you know what you are doing." Typical Trowa.

"How did you do?" Heero asked Duo.

"Piece of cake Bud!"

Heero and Trowa looked at each other and smirked. That was Duo for you.

"Do you have anything else? Or was this the only exam?" Trowa asked both Duo and Heero.

As usual, it was Duo who answered first.

"We have a Computer programming exam at 11.00 am and then we have practicals at one in the afternoon."

"We?" Trowa inquired.

"It seems Duo and I have chosen the same subjects. So I guess we have our exams together."

"What about you Trowa?" It was Duo who asked this question.

"I have to give another test for psychology and then I meet up with you guys again for the practicals."

"So we have another twenty minutes before the next exam," said Heero glancing at his watch.

Duo immediately cast his friends a pleading glance when his stomach rumbled signalling Duo that it was time he paid attention to it.

"Can we go and get something to eat first? Boy am I hungry!"

"I thought you were to meet Hilde for lunch?" Heero asked his friend.

"So you and Hilde finally started going out?" Trowa asked.

"Well, yeah. And yeah, I have to meet her for lunch. You guys coming?"

"No, I guess we will leave you love birds alone. I take it you have some things to discuss," Heero said, a grin suddenly lighting his features.

Duo laughed nervously,"Well, thanks guys. See you later. And now for some food."

Duo turned back towards the cafeteria, while Heero and Trowa walked ahead, towards the main stairway, where they would have to part for the time being.

________________________________________________________________

Both were, by nature, non talkative individuals and were walking silently, both thinking their own thoughts. It was Trowa who broke his silence first.

"What have you been doing since we last met?"

"Job hunting. Trying to lead a normal life," Heero answered gruffly.

Trowa smirked. Heero was still the same old Heero.

"Why the University?" Trowa asked again.

"Apparently the people, who will employ me, need to see qualifications," Heero informed him. But Trowa sensed that there was more to the matter than just that.

"Just that?" Trowa asked. His voice clearly conveying his disbelief.

Heero was not used to being asked such questions.

"Hn?" was the reply.

"Just that?" Trowa asked again.

Heero just shrugged and answered again.

"And to try and live like a normal person, not like a soldier."

Trowa smiled satisfactorily.

"But what about you? Why do you want to join University," Heero asked. His tone suggested that he wanted a fair exchange - information for information.

Trowa stole a sidelong glance at Heero and answered.

"The circus is shutting down."

"Just that?" Heero asked, exactly mimicking Trowa.

Trowa smiled at him.

"Mostly that and also I was tired of the circus. Kept reminding me of the war." He knew that there was another reason, but he did not feel like telling anybody about it.

Heero sensed the note of finality in Trowa's voice and decided not to pursue the subject. He did not feel like talking anyway.

They finally reached the main stairway and after a slight exchange of words, Heero started to go down the stairs to go to the computer lab on the second storey, while Trowa started to climb up, to the fifth storey. Neither of them felt like taking the elevator.

______________________________________________________________ __

Heero did not know what he was going to do after reaching the Computer lab. May be just wait for Duo to show up or if the computer lab was open, he would do some "programming" of his own. He was not worried about getting into the University. He could always alter the results in his favour. He had done that before.

As a matter of fact, the Computer lab was open and he was allowed to go in and use one of the machines. The machines were not the latest, but were functional. He sat down in front of one of the computers and started the machine. He was busy going through all the files and networks. It was no trouble at all. They hardly had any security. And the number of backdoors was simply too many. He could easily hack into this system. If the best people here could do nothing to fix it, he was sure that the programming exam would be a piece of cake. He and Duo would have no trouble at all in acing the test. He smiled inwardly at this and continued with his favourite pastime.

"So I see you have already started your tinkering."

Yep, that's right. It was Duo again, standing right behind Heero. Duo always managed to sneak up on almost anyone without making a noise. Once again he had come up behind Heero without making a sound. Heero continued with his 'tinkering' and said, "The exam should be starting in 5 minutes."

"Yep, you are right. Here come the others. Not many people I see." Duo was now watching the people who entered the room soon after him. Not more than nine people altogether, including them.

"The exam is going to be a piece of cake, don't worry," Heero said to him, shutting down his computer before the supervisor entered the room.

"Who's worried, we can always make things turn in our favour," Duo had turned to

Heero and his eyes held a mischievous grin.

Heero thought, 'are you thinking what I am thinking?' with a small smirk. He received a nod as an answer and the both burst out laughing.

Almost all the people including the supervisor, who was explaining certain rules and regulations about using the computers, glared at the pair.

Their laughing ceased, but the two were still smiling. Duo noticed that a genuine smile totally changed Heero's expression. His face literally lit up.

"So I see you are human after all. You can laugh too," said Duo after he had stopped laughing.

"Hn."

This was nothing new to Heero. Duo had called him a machine on more than one occasion.

They both turned their attention to the supervisor, who was now telling them about the questions that they had to answer, or rather the programs that they had to create and languages that they had to decode.

After a while, they got their own individual set of 'questions' and they started their computers and began their task.

Heero was done his list in about half an hour and so was Duo.

Heero murmured, "Mission Accomplished." And received a whispered reply from Duo.

"Roger that Buddy."

They both looked at each other and smiled.

Duo was beginning to whistle again when he received another glare from the supervisor.

"Whoops! Sorry again."

He then busied himself with his long hair, while Heero just closed his eyes and sat there in complete silence.

_______________________________________________________________ _

Trowa walked up the flight of stairs and was making his way towards the Examination room, when he heard a familiar voice behind him.

"Trowa? Is that you?"

Trowa smiled and turned around to face the person who had questioned him.

"Yes Quatre, it is me."

"It's so nice to see you again. I wanted to meet you guys so badly. Guess I won't be meeting the others but I am so glad to see you." He was genuinely happy. He really wanted to meet his friends.

"It's nice to see you too, Quatre. And don't worry you will be meetings the others soon." Trowa was happy to see his friend too.

"You mean others are here too?"

"Everyone except for Wufei."

"So you are here to write the exam for psychology?"

"Yes."

"I did not apply for psychology, but they put me in automatically when I applied for the emphatic faculty."

"So is this the only exam that you have?" Trowa asked.

"No, I have to give one for business at one." He sounded a bit dejected. "Amber said it would be better if I got a degree in business, it would help me gain people's trust back home."

"So your emphatic abilities are troubling you again."

"Yes, that's why I decided to come to university in the first place. I needed help with this."

They entered the class and took their seats. The exam started soon after the supervisor entered.

The exam was pretty easy for Trowa. There was question regarding amnesia. He smiled, he had sufferred from it. The rest of the questions were pretty easy too. His last minute revision had helped him quite a bit.

The questions were not that easy for Quatre but he managed to answer most of them. Even though his first exam was not as easy as he would have liked it to be, he was still very happy. The thought of meeting his friends again and seeing them again after almost 2 years made him look forward to the end of the examination.

___________________________________________________________ _____

Duo and Heero were sitting in the Computer lab waiting for their stupid exam to finish. As soon as the supervisor signalled the end of the exam, Heero and Duo picked up their disks and handed it to the supervisor with their personal bio.

After they were done, both of them started off towards the exit.

"Next mission: To meet Trowa and go finish of the Practicals," Duo said.

"Mission accepted."

Together they climbed the two flights of stairs to the fourth storey where they would meet Trowa.

________________________________________________________________

Their psychology exam was soon over and after handing in the papers, Quatre rushed over to meet Trowa. Trowa was waiting for Quatre for at the door.

"So where are you meeting the others?" Quatre asked eagerly.

"Down on the Fourth storey. We have our practicals together."

"Oh Good! Then I can meet them before my business exam."

"Where is it?"

"Down on the third storey. I was planning on taking the elevator, but since you are walking, I'll walk too."

Trowa and Quatre reached the fourth storey before Duo and Heero.

Duo and Heero found Trowa and Quatre waiting for them.

"Hey Quatre man! Nice to see you."

"Nice to see you too Duo," He said with a smile and then turned to Heero. "And you too Heero."

"Hn." But Heero was smiling all the same.

"We still have half an hour before tackling the next mission, so why don't we go get a bite to eat."

"Mission?" Quatre asked with a confused look on his face.

"You already stuffed yourself." Heero was talking to Duo.

"Oh nothing! Apparently Duo is calling the exam a mission." Trowa informed Quatre.

"But I am hungry. All the typing has made me hungry." Duo was replying to Heero.

"Oh! Heh, heh." Quatre was beginning to giggle and Trowa was smiling.

"Hey what are you two smiling about?" Heero and Duo asked in unison.

"Nothing, Lets go." Trowa replied with a smile still on his face. "I am hungry too."

That made Heero realise something, 'Come to think of it, I haven't had anything to eat either,' he thought. And as a response, his stomach growled. "OK, let's go."

________________________________________________________________

All four of them headed towards the Cafeteria. They were just about to find a seat and sit down when Hilde caught up with Duo. She had Dorothy alongside her.

"Hey Duo! You wanted to know who encouraged me to do this, right?" She asked catching up to him and his three friends.

"So this is your friend, Dorothy!" said Duo in disbelief.

"Miss Dorothy!" Quatre whispered to himself.

"What was that?" Trowa asked him.

"Oh! Nothing, nothing." Quatre blushed slightly.

Heero who was watching Quatre smiled to himself.

In the meantime, Duo and Hilde were talking about something. Heero and Trowa decided to go and get something to eat. Quatre followed soon after and Duo started off after them after he was done talking with Hilde.

They all came back with their plates and settled down to eat. It is needless to say that Duo's plate was piled the highest.

Before he started eating, he turned to Dorothy and asked, "What made you convince Hilde to join University?" and he started stuffing himself.

Dorothy looked at him for a while and then replied mischievously.

"Anything to make your life a bit worse Duo!"

"Thns…youhepedme…distim." Duo answered his mouth still filled with food.

"What's he trying to say?" She looked around the table hoping somebody would enlighten her on what Duo just said. Everybody just shrugged their shoulders.

Duo swallowed with a loud gulp and said, "I was thanking you Dorothy, because now I do want to get into University."

"Damn!" she said with a grin.

"Duo you should not speak while eating." Quatre really did not like Duo's table manners.

Duo who was stuffing himself again, looked up and with his mouth still full started speaking.

Quatre was getting ready to tell Duo again not to talk with his mouth full when Heero spoke up. "Don't bother. He isn't going to change"

Quatre sat back down with a sigh.

When everyone was done, Quatre glanced at his watch.

"Guys…We better get going, or we'll be late."

"Ok."

"Ok"

"Ok."

"Hn."

"Fine."

This time they decided to take the elevator. Dorothy, Quatre and Hilde got off on the third storey, while the other three proceeded to the fourth storey.

________________________________________________________________

It so happened that Dorothy and Hilde were writing the Examination in the same room as Quatre. This exam was pretty easy for Quatre. He knew everything, it was imprinted in his memory and he did like strategy and planning. 'If only the people back home would learn to trust my decisions,' he thought to himself.

Overall, this exam was pretty easy and he was eager to meet his friends again. So he was eager for the exam to be over. And he had to ask about living on campus, too.

'I wonder if the others are planning on living on campus as well,' he thought.

_______________________________________________________________ _

The other three were busy with their mechanics practicals and Duo was thoroughly enjoying it. The others were finding the exam easy enough. Repairing and maintaining their own Gundams had taught them how to deal with machines.

"No problem guy, I am getting into this class, no sweat," Duo was speaking to himself and continued whistling.

Heero and Trowa looked at Duo and then at each other and smiled. Both of them continued with their work. They were done pretty soon. Duo finished first. Heero and Trowa finished soon after.

When their work was assessed, the left the room and were heading towards the stairs.

"How about a little race guys?" Duo asked turning to Heero and Trowa. He was grinning.

"Let's go." Heero said. He was beginning to smile to.

"You're on." Trowa was getting ready to start.

And they started all at once. It was a bit difficult to run down the stairs with people on them, but these guys managed to find their way down the stairs anyways. They were down on the third storey when, Duo felt a sharp tug on his braid and was jerked back. He crashed down.

"Hey! Ooww! Watch it." He yelled, trying to get up and look at the culprit.

Meanwhile, Trowa and Heero stopped midway and turned around to see what was going on. Both of them started laughing at the sigh that they beheld.

"Where are you going in such a hurry, Duo Maxwell?" There she was. Hilde. Standing behind Duo with his braid in her arm.

Duo was still ticked off. "You did not have to pull my braid for that. You almost scalped me. And we were having a race and thanks to you I am going to lose," He said pointing at the stairs. He saw Hilde's expression. She was staring at something. He turned around to look at where he was pointing and there they were. The two Gundam pilots, Heero and Trowa, both supporting each other and laughing like crazy.

"Hey what are you two laughing about? What's so funny about it?" Duo asked, turning a bit red.

The two laughing bakas climbed the stairs up to where the two love birds were standing.

"That was hilarious…Former Gundam pilot… master of stealth…attacked from behind…by his girl friend!" Trowa managed to gasp out between laughs.

"And by the way…She still has your braid," Heero, who was the first to recover, said with a grin.

"Oh! Sorry!" Hilde let go of Duo's braid, as though it stung her and blushed a bright pink.

Duo was feeling highly uncomfortable .He was looking for a way to change the subject.

"Where's Quatre? Where's Dorothy?"

"Oh they are coming. I came on ahead to catch you," Hilde put in helpfully.

At this Duo glared at Hilde and Trowa and Heero started laughing again. All of a sudden, Hilde started laughing too.

"Duo don't try to glare at me, I know you don't mean it. It doesn't suit you. And anyways you can't glare properly," she said.

This ticked off Duo even further and he also put on a frown. And this, in turn, caused the other three to hoot even louder with laughter.

"Did we miss anything?" Quatre asked coming up behind the Four. He was smiling and Dorothy was behind him and she was smiling too.

"No, Nothing. Let's go. I just managed to entertain these three without even trying to," Duo answered Quatre and started off to go downstairs.

Hilde started after him and caught up with him in no time at all. She tried to cheer him up.

"Ok! I am sorry. C'mon, smile now."

He did not speak to her but continued walking ahead. Why did she have to embarrass him in front of his friends? They were now out of the building. Duo walking ahead, sulking almost, and Hilde following him with her endless chatter. The others caught up with the twosome someway out of the building. Heero and Trowa appeared to have sobered up.

"Sorry about that pal. It's just that we don't see you sulking like this everyday, it just tickled my funny bone," Trowa said to Duo trying to walk alongside him.

"Hn," Duo said.

"Hey Duo! Stop sulking man!" This was Heero.

Duo suddenly turned around, it was unlikely for Heero to speak that way, and he wanted to make sure that it was Heero who spoke the words. He stopped abruptly. Hilde and Trowa who were walking beside Duo stopped after a while. They turned around to face Duo. And to their surprise, he was grinning from ear to ear. The two looked at each other and shrugged. Heero's did the one eyebrow thing, questioning with his eyes. Quatre was clearly confused and Dorothy was looking at Duo. All three of them received shrugs from Hilde and Trowa as an answer.

Apparently, everyone was confused. Everyone except for Duo, that is. Quatre decided to change the subject.

"Do you people plan on living on campus?" He asked.

This brought everyone back to reality. Even Duo.

"Hell, I never thought about it," was his response.

"That is Duo Maxwell for you," Hilde muttered under her breath. She did not want to anger Duo again.

"Yes, I am planning to. I have to ask them about the boarding facilities and boarding fees," Heero said.

"I might live on campus if it is cheaper than renting the apartment," Trowa said.

"I want to live on campus. It is so beautiful." Quatre said this while looking around him and sighed.

"You have enough money to buy your own house 'round here," Duo told him.

"Yes, I know, but I want to live like the rest of the people. I am tired of this special treatment I get while I am home. I would like to live independently."

"OK! Let's go and ask the lady at the front desk about the boarding at Peacecraft University," Heero suggested.

They all agreed on that. They turned to go back to the building. The lady there gave them a few brochures and told them that if they needed any extra information, they should go directly to the housing/boarding department. And where was that? One of the buildings #3. And where do you collect the forms for the boarding? Building #3. And where did you pay your fees? Building #3. Quatre thanked her for her help and they left the building.

Heero remembered reading the brochure before. Of course, he had one of these back home. He used it as a tea coaster.

"Hey! Look what it says. The boarding fees are less than half the rent, if you were to rent an apartment outside of campus. Cool!" Duo was ecstatic. He was definitely going to live on campus, if it saved him that much money.

"It also says that the boarding facilities are like the ones at boarding school and that you are allotted a particular room. And that you may have to share the room with another person. Hmmmm. We'd better go and get this clarified." Quatre informed Duo and the others.

The others agreed to it and all of them started off towards Building #3.

The person there informed them that building #3 and 5 were used for boarding. These buildings were pretty big. And that if you wanted to live on campus, you would have to live in either one of the two buildings. You would live there for the entire time that you attended university and that each student was assigned a room. You might have to share your room if it was a two bedroom apartment. Apartment? Yes, apartment. You would have your own room, a sitting room and a kitchen as well. Did you have a choice of your partner? No, they did not have enough money to do all that. You take what you get or leave it. They thanked the man for his help and each of them collected a boarding form anyways and left.

They said their good byes and wished each other luck so that they would get into the University. Heero looked at Duo and Duo winked back at him. Both were smiling. Everyone except for Trowa had a shuttle to catch. And if you are wondering if they would notify Trowa via e-mail, the answer is: they would notify everyone about their results via e-mail. It was much easier that way.

"Then why the letters the first time?" Trowa had asked.

"Because not everyone had to give the entrance exam." The lady had answered.

Duo had whistled a low whistle and said, "Weird. Really weird."

Yes, it was a bit weird. Everything around here.

________________________________________________________________ < p>On the flight back home, Heero was thinking about the boarding conditions at Peacecraft University. He was thinking about the pros and cons of living there. He was busy thinking about it even when he reached his apartment.

Finally, he decided it would be better to live on Campus. He did not have a lot of money anyways and this sounded like a very economical option.

He thought, 'It would be better if I did not have to live with anybody at all or if my room mate is someone I know, but then again it would make no difference to me if anyway if somebody was living with me."

True, he was not a social person. If the other person wanted to socialise, it would be the other person's problem. Not his. He was going to fill out the form online and submit it. With his decision finalised, he went to look for something to eat in his refrigerator. There was nothing much in there. A sandwich would have to do for now.

'Note to self: Stock up more food. Refrigerator is almost empty.'

After he had eaten his dinner, which was not a lot to begin with, he went and sat down in front of his laptop. He had forms to fill.

________________________________________________________________ < p>Duo was thinking about the boarding conditions too. The rate for boarding was half of what he would spend if he rented an apartment. He did not have a lot of money in the first place, only whatever he earned by working part time for Howard. But what if he ended up living with a weirdo? And what if he wanted to stay back in his room and skip university? But then again, he could find other ways and means to bunk classes.

After a long time he decided, he was going to apply for boarding house on the University campus, no matter what the consequences. He did not have money to waste and if he could save some, it would really help him in the future. He decided that he would fill out their boarding form online. It would be easier for him. And most probably for the University people too.

"I wonder why they have to have these forms printed out when people can easily fill them out online. Oh well! I guess I am getting into a weird university for weirdoes."

_____________________________________________________________ ___

Trowa had now returned to the circus. There was no doubt in his mind that he was going to stay at the boarding house. It was convenient in every way possible and he was not going to worry about who his room mate would be. He did not care. That's right he simply did not care. He was used to living with strangers. It would make no difference to him. Currently the only thing on his mind was the circus performance. Not that it really mattered, but that's what he was paid for.

"Trowa, you left us again. Without even telling me where you went." It was Catherine. "So where have you been Trowa?"

"I had gone to the University and I am back and there's lots of time for our first performance. So don't worry."

"Who's worried? I just had to deliver a message from the old man: He wants to see you, right now."

"Ok."

"How did you find the University?"

"Fine."

"How was the examination?"

"Whaa…How did you know?" Trowa was genuinely surprised.

"You shouldn't leave your things lying around, you know."

Trowa smiled. He never could really hide anything from her. It was amazing in itself that she did not know anything about his Gundam in the beginning. Or maybe she did. Who knows?

"It was fine. It was easy. I think I can get in."

"Good."

"I thought you did not want me to leave?" He was surprised for the second time that afternoon.

"I did not, but I'll always support you. Don't you worry about that," she said with a smile.

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it. Now leave, the man paying you is waiting or else he will start off about how you are late every time."

"That's not true."

"I know."

________________________________________________________________

Quatre would have to talk out the matter of boarding school with his sister. He was sure she could understand. She would handle the rest for him. No matter what, he was going to stay at boarding school. And that was final. He had gone against his family's wishes once; he could do the same again. He settled down and made himself comfortable in his own shuttle and thought about his day. It had been a very good day for him.

He dozed off.

When he reached his mansion, he went to his elder sister immediately. And he pretty much knew what her response would be. And sure enough there were no surprises.

"No!"

"But Amber!"

"I said, No! What do you think I am going to tell the others?"

"You don't have to tell anybody anything right now. You have almost a month to come up with something. And I promise if I find the place uncomfortable, I will buy a place for myself immediately."

"Rashid is going to be mighty pissed off."

"So you will do it?" He gave her his innocent look and with his bright blue eyes and blonde hair and his sweet smile, it was not much of a problem.

"I'll try," she said with a sigh.

Mission Accomplished.

__________________________________________________________ ______

NOTE: And that's all for chapter 3. Nothing too spectacular, but it's a start. As promised, this chapter is a bit longer. Longer than the first two I mean ^_^. Oh! I am really enjoying writing this fic. I might be able to come up with the next chapter or two before school starts and then the updates might not be that frequent. But thanks for reading anyways (even if you did not review^_^-). And for those who will read this in the future… Please REVIEW. I need help with my writing. If you do not review, u will keep coming across the same mistakes again and again. Love ya, Devil.>:-)