element university

the boat and welcome

My mom hugs me goodbye for what feels like forever before finally letting me go. She looks deep into my chocolate brown eyes.
In the element world, you can easily tell which element people have by their eyes. Blue eyes signify that your element is water, green is earth, hazel is fire, grey is air, black eyes are tech, and brown is avatar. Avatar is a new element: all of them.
I take one last look into my moms green eyes. Beside her is my dad with his big black eyes. He hands me my backpack and briefly hugs me.
I turn towards the boat being boarded by students. I look back at my parents once more before walking onto the boat. I sit down by a blonde girl who is staring out at the ocean.
"Is this seat taken?" I ask. She turns to me, her blue eyes symbolizing her element of water.
"No," she says with a small smile.
"Hi. I'm Ally." I hold out my hand and she takes it
"Ginger," she replies. We sit in silence for a second.
"So your an avatar!"
"Yeah. Brown eyes give it away I guess."
"Kind of, and also because you're not shaking and avatars are the bravest." She was right. Each element has their own quality: for water it's noticing things other elements can't, earth they don't scare easily, fire benders are honest all the time, tech benders are fan girls through and through.
"Well, to tell the truth, I have always admired water benders for their all-seeing eyes," I say, laughing a little.
"They're not ALL-seeing eyes," she says, smiling.
"So, are you nervous?"
"Yes!" she almost shouts.
"What is there to be scared about?"
"I don't really know I'm just scared!" she blushes a little.
"Well I can promise you that there is nothing to be scared about."
"Are you sure? 'Cause I'm pretty sure there are many things to be scared about!" I laugh at this comment and she laughs too.
"OK there are some things to be scared about, but who says that it will happen to you?"
"I don't know."
We stare out to the ocean looking for the island where the university is.
"There it is!" I yell.
"What?"
"The university!"
"Oh i see it!" Ginger says. We both stare at the campus. It's on a huge island. It has a huge tower in the middle surrounded by little buildings with dorm rooms in them. We slowly cruise up to to the island and watch it get bigger and bigger. When we are finally there, we see a young woman in a small blue and black business suit waiting at the dock. Her brown eyes seem to jump out at me.
"Welcome!" she smiles a white-toothed smile. Ginger looks at me and bites her lip, but I just smile, looking at all the buildings and dorm rooms.
"This is element university, where we will help you control your elements. You will be divided by your elements for your classes unless you're an avatar. You will not be divided by elements for your dorm roommates; you can choose the two girls you want to room with. You'll then choose a dorm that you'll spend the next four years in, understand?"
All students nod in agreement.