Chapter 1

Rosalind stared at the dark screen, waiting for the next post to appear. It wasn't very often that she found someone worthy of roleplaying with, someone who was even close to matching her skill level. Most of the people on EternalMoon couldn't write their way out of a paper bag. She couldn't really find it in herself to blame them. This was supposed to be a fantasy roleplaying site for ages 17+, but it wasn't a well-kept secret that many of the players were actually 13-16. A block of text appeared in the chat and Rosalind devoured it with her eyes eagerly. It was multiple paragraphs, filled with descriptive details about the character she was currently speaking to. One of her favorite species to roleplay as; dark elves, otherwise known as Drow. The Drow were known for their black skin, snowy white hair and red eyes that were accustomed to the darkness.

Glancing at the clock, Rosie was sad to see that it was almost time to go. She bit her lower lip, opened up a Google doc, and typed up her response as fast as she could without jeopardizing the quality of her writing. Her character was a Drow princess, Rosie being part of a group of players that had banded together to grow their own little world of magic. With a quiet sigh, she told her partner that she had to go do stuff in the real world and that they could finish what they started later.

Rosalind (or Rosie as she was known to everyone in her family), pulled on a lavender top that hung off of her slight frame and paired it with black leggings. As she got ready to go to school, her thoughts were still trapped in the false world that she and a few of her internet friends had created. If she were being honest with herself, she knew that she preferred to be a Drow princess in a powerful family, rather than the exceedingly average eighteen year old she was. If only she could jump into the screen of her computer and join the conquerors, kings, fairies, and elves.

Rosie gathered up the textbooks that were sitting next to her bed and the binders that went with them. Stuffing them into her neon pink backpack, Rosie shrugged the straps over her shoulders and headed towards the door. Her grandmother was already at the hospital, pulling another double shift. As she headed towards the front door, her cousin Amanda stepped out of her bedroom, getting ready to catch the bus.

"Have a good day at school, Manda Panda." Amanda rolled her eyes upon hearing the nickname she'd had since she was three, but gave Rosie a smile.

"You too, Rosie." There was a small red car waiting in the driveway to pick Rosalind up. It belonged to one of her best friends since middle school, Charlotte. Throwing her backpack in the back seat, Rosie slid into the front passenger seat, grinning at Charlotte.

"Good morning. Thank you for giving me a ride today." Charlotte waved a hand dismissively before pulling out of the driveway.

"Don't worry about it." Rosalind, her grandmother and cousin lived on the outskirts of town, fifteen minutes from the university. Rosie couldn't walk or bike there, because the path she needed to take was across a major highway.

Her grandmother's old car, that was supposed to have gone to her, was totaled by her well-meaning uncle. She was stuck bumming rides off of her friends until she could afford to buy another used one. Charlotte cranked up the radio and they flew down the highway, hair blowing in the wind while a generic pop song filtered through the speakers.

Pulling up to Mizzou, Charlotte and Rosie exited the car, going their separate ways with a "see you later." Rosalind made her way through the bustling campus and into one of the oldest buildings there, picking up the pace so that she wouldn't be late for German. It was a bit of a shock to remember that there was no bell system in college. No warning bells, no tardy bells, no lunch bells. She shook her head a little bit, wondering just how different everything would be, and slid into a chair at the front of the room.

One could definitely call Rosie a bit of a teacher's pet. She liked learning, she liked school and she would frequently raise her hand to answer questions. Having taken four years of German in high school, Rosie was quite confident that this class wouldn't be too difficult for her. Hiding behind her curtain of chestnut locks, Rosalind risked a small glance around at the other students who were already in their seats. She didn't want to awkwardly meet someone's eye, so if anybody turned their head, her eyes would snap towards the front of the room.

The professor was standing there, a small kind-looking older man with silvery grey hair. There was a few minutes left before the lecture was supposed to start, and the professor kept his eye on the door, muttering "wilkommen, wilkommen," as students passed by. Once everybody was sitting, he opened up his laptop and cast a powerpoint onto the screen behind him.

Of course, there was the god awful ice breaker challenge, where everybody had to introduce themselves and get to know one another. That was the only part of school that Rosie hated, how they forced students to interact with each other. Meeting strangers wasn't her strong suit and it was in moments like this that she preferred the distance of the virtual world.

Sitting behind her was a man that seemed to be a few years older than she was. Rosie liked the fact that he was a ginger, with scraggly red hair and a scant strawberry blonde beard. His square face was splattered with brown freckles and underneath the white t-shirt, she could tell that he was rather skinny. He seemed to be of the complete opposite attitude as Rosie, a natural extrovert, and as soon as she turned around he introduced himself.

"Hey there, I'm Patrick." An easy-going grin crossed his lips. Rosie tried to return it, but knew that she hadn't quite pulled it off. She was too nervous.

"Rosie." Rosie turned back around as quickly has politeness would allow. It's not that she hated people, she was too shy to connect well with strangers. It took her a long time and repeated exposure to someone for her to come out of her shell. Then Rosie wouldn't shut up.

After all of the various introductions were made around the classroom, Professor Weber started going through the rest of the slides on his powerpoint. Rosie tuned him out, not really caring what was on the syllabus. She would read through it later. Her mind wandered back to her character on EternalMoon, Tawalla Da`Un. Somebody like Tawalla certainly wouldn't be too nervous to talk to the friendly guy behind her. She would take charge. She was strong and confident. A projection of what Rosie wished she could be.

It seemed like the hour-long lecture passed by in seconds. Everyone around her started collecting their papers and packing up their things. Rosie snapped back to reality, fighting through the fog that clouded her brain so that she could do the same. Carrying her backpack out by the straps, Rosie briefly stopped in front of a vending machine, glancing sideways at a candy bar in the window, but kept on moving.

She had two hours to kill before her next class. Rosie's feet directed her to the student lounge where she claimed a comfy chair and opened up her laptop on the table in front of her. A small smile tugged at her plump lips as she clicked on the bookmark to EternalMoon.

"I'm back."