According to Zarah's friends, the start of year social events were a great way to meet new people. Her experiences in her first year hadn't been too bad, so she had pushed herself to attend more this year. The second-year events, she also reasoned, might be a little more interesting, as the students there would more settled into their lives and courses. And hopefully they'd be a little more mature. Or at least less prone to making aggravating remarks about her.
As someone unaccustomed to socialising, however, Zarah was unsure quite how to start. She found herself awkwardly circling through the room, drifting past various groups. It was one thing to plan to be more social, but another to actually put that plan into action. She wanted to succeed, but her mind couldn't help supply her with ways that things might go wrong. Some of which were informed by her own past experiences.
Caught up in her own thoughts, Zarah just barely managed to avoid walking into someone going the other way. It was careless, and she knew she ought have known better.
"Oh!" Zarah exclaimed. "I'm so sorry, I should have been paying more attention." It was only once she was paying attention that she recognised who she had almost walked into — Du, a fellow student from one of her classes. Given she'd already embarrassed herself, she decided she didn't have much too lose by trying to be friendly.
"Huh, I'm pretty sure we share a class or two," Zarah said, trying to sound vaugely confident. "You're... Du, right?"
