Orientation Invite

"Ah, boys," Elizabeth chuckled, waltzing back into the dorm room carrying boxes. "and their over-zealous use of Old Spice in the vain hope of masking the fact that they haven't bathed in four days. Makes me miss my little brother." She navigated the colossal mess that was Kira's clothes and made her way to a corner, dropping the boxes onto the floor.1

I wonder if this girl is a diabetic? Beth thought absently, wrinkling her nose as she reached for the duct tape on her bed. The longer she stayed in the room, the more subtle the strange scent became. It reminded her of garbage at first: the rotting scent of fruit from a Harry Buffalo. But now it was just sugary sweet: a diabetic with a dangerously high blood sugar. Beth watched the girl with a practiced eye. She showed none of the signs.2

Her skin was normal down to her fingers, not showing the red tips often associated with sugar peaks. Her eyes were clear, (although Beth wondered if the eye color was her own, or contacts). No tremors, no fever, no bated breath. Beth ripped of a strip of tape with her teeth and taped two boxes together like a shelf. It was weird, that was for sure.3

"So, Kira," she started again, wrestling the last box into place, "Do you wanna go to orientation together? I realize we don't know each other, but at least we can laugh at the stuff-shirts, eh?"