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Music blared throughout the quaint room, the bass reverberating and bouncing from wall to wall, soliciting some frustrated pounding and a lot of garbled cursing from one unlucky neighbor. Juliette hummed distractedly in response, as if she would be heard, but remained perfectly still on her bed, lying face-up with her body stretched out and her hand idly reaching upward. The clamor from next door was drowned by her much louder noise, and for a moment, she forgot about the complaint. 

Instead, she stared up at the glow-in-the-dark star decals dotting the ceiling in elaborate swirls, wondering who the previous tenant had been but fairly certain it had to have been some art student. It was nothing short of mesmerizing, like her own little galaxy. During her first night in the dorms, she wasted hours watching her fake stars twinkle, nostalgia washing over her in an instant, soothing and a tiny bit heartrending. There was little she remembered about Reykjavik, but the way the night sky looked during the dark winter months was forever etched in her mind; it was among the few things she could still associate with the word home.

After receiving another round of angry wall pounding, Juliette pulled her iPod (a blue 5th gen she bought used from eBay, a whopping $50 and her Christmas gift to herself) from the surprisingly efficient dock from Walmart, cutting the music abruptly. There was one last spiteful thump, sounding almost like her neighbor had thrown something heavy in rage, before her walls finally stopped vibrating and the incoherent yelling hushed. Huh. She felt guilty for disrupting the person's sleep and all—because god knows how much she hates when that happens to her—but you'd think a prestigious university like this would have thicker walls.

[color=#49CAB4]"Guess that rules out late night practice,"[/color] she muttered to herself, even though she was sure she'd forget and do it anyway.

Through the small cracks in the window blind, Juliette took note of the still gloomy sky, estimating the time before she glanced at the screen on her iPod to check. Ah, damn, it was 5:44 already! She had always been an early riser, up and about and ready for her jog just as the morning light began to break through the horizon. But these past few days, she found a formidable challenger to her routine in the glorious form of a single twin bed with a super soft mattress. It had made slipping out of bed a daily struggle, as it tempted her with its warmth and coziness, and more than once she very nearly skipped her morning exercises completely. But holy crap, could you blame her? It had been so long since she had a bed for herself. Sure, her friends had awesome couches, but even though she slept curled in like a cat and required as much space as one, nothing beat a good night's rest on your own bed. 

Juliette allowed herself just five more minutes of loafing, to get all the laziness out of her system, and jumped right into her morning routine afterward. The day started with a jog around campus, one or two circuit depending on her time, then a quick high-intensity workout in the nearby park. Her favorite part came after, when she got to blast herself with refreshing cold water from the shower. It felt ten times better when you're all hot and sweaty, seriously. If nothing else, she'd recommend toughing through a killer workout just for that feeling alone.

Jet was reluctant to step out of the shower but pried herself out eventually. She sang as she sifted through her closet for something comfortable to wear (ha! as if there were a lot to choose from), and settled on a basic blue skater dress she paired off with some knock-off Chucks she got downtown. Her hair was still damp, but she put it up in a loose bun anyway, wisps framing her face and some coming loose before she even moved. Aaand done! 

Juliette bent over her bed to rummage through the whirring fridge for breakfast. There was only one tub of Yoplait left and she grabbed it halfheartedly, jutting her lips out in a disappointed pout. Oh well. She'd just have to charm her manager for a breakfast muffin, then drop by the dining commons after class to stock up for the week. The scholarship included a hundred block meals per quarter, which roughly translated to nine meals per week (oh my god, her high school aged self would die from happiness), and she liked to make the most out of each one.

Her constant companion of a duffel bag was heavier than usual with her work uniform and two notebooks and a book stuffed in it. Juliette slung it across her body and headed off, taking spoonfuls of her fruit yogurt along the way.

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Juliette took her time getting to gymnasium, allowing the more eager students to rush past her. She dialed up the volume on her iPod, drowning out the buzzing of excited chatter that filled the campus road. When her music was turned on, the rest of the world faded into the background. Her feet were light and her steps airy, almost as though she was treading through clouds, and never once out of sync with the beat of her music. Even her body swayed to the melody.

She caught one ridiculously overdressed guy (looking like "my father will hear about this" personified) scoffing when she did a pirouette—or wait, was it directed at her scratched up iPod, which she had pulled out moments before? He side-eyed her when he realized they were both going to the gymnasium, and looked mildly confused as to why she was there. In response, Juliette blew him a kiss and winked, definitely catching him off guard. He scurried away in a huff, nose up in the air, almost like she was contagious. 

Juliette raised a brow. If she happened to pull out her plastic spoon out of the tub with a bit more effort, flinging a dollop of yogurt out and directly onto his designer slacks… well, that was an accident.

If everyone at this university was like this, then she was going to have a lot of fun.

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The ceremony was over before she knew it, probably because she came in halfway through and listened to her music the whole time. She pulled out her earphones only once out of curiosity, when she noticed the opposite side of the room—which she could tell from the fog of pretention and stench of affluence was the 'rich' side—had erupted in laughter. At first she thought she had missed a hell of a joke, but she knew jeering when she heard it. Juliette smirked, overcome with the sudden urge to rile things up, because these precious heirlings would surely have the best reactions.

She was one of the few to leave as soon as the speech ended; she had squeezed a quick shift at Ghost Roasters before her first class and it started in a few minutes. In her haste, she nearly bumped into a dark-haired and bearded guy in plaid, idling just outside of the gymnasium, but her quick reflexes allowed her to evade him just in time. Juliette turned around to flash him a sheepish grin before continuing down the path to the café.