You sit in class, frantically scribbling notes while your professor drones on about gravitational attraction. It's not quite what you imagined college would be like. Two people in the back are throwing Cheetos at each other, one of the guys in front is drawing a caricature of the teacher, and the girl next to you (who also happens to be your roommate) is fast asleep and drooling on her desk.

The professor is about to repeat himself for the umpteenth time when you hear screaming from outside. A moment later, a boy bursts through the door and half shouts, half pants, "Serpentine! They're everywhere!"

The whole class immediately panics, with people running and screaming. Your roommate jerks awake and blinks sleepily. "What's going on?"

"Serpentine! We need to get out of here!" you say, grabbing your things.

"What? Oh, please, no. I'm really scared of Serpentine..." your roommate trails after you as you make your way into the hall.

You're immediately surprised by a red snake with white markings. You knock him out and look around. If one Serpentine is already here, that means more won't be far behind. There isn't time to run, which means...

"Quick, hide in here!" you grab your roommate and drag her into a nearby janitor's closet.

"But if they find us, we'll be sitting ducks!" she protests.

"Maybe," you admit. "But at least they'll only be able to come after us one at a time."

The sound of footsteps outside cuts you off. You make a shushing motion. Your roommate flattens herself against the back wall and accidentally knocks a broom over. It hits a bucket with a loud clanging noise.

You both wince. Your roommate's face goes white while you face the door and get ready for trouble.

The door opens and you see a flash of blue scales before you kick it shut again. Your roommate whimpers, slides down the wall, and curls into a ball on the floor. The next time the Serpentine behind the door tries to open it, you lunge forward and punch them squarely in the face. Then you slam the door again.

"Ow!" A voice complains from behind the door. "What wasss that for?"

"That was for running around and terrifying people!" you shout back. "Try to come in here again and I'll do worse!"

The Serpentine behind the door sighs. "Well excussse me for trying to get revenge on the people who locked my people underground for hundreds of yearsss!"

You sigh and lean against the door so you'll know if he tries to open it. "Hey, I had nothing to do with that! The people who locked you guys underground all died a long time ago. You should be mad at them, not me."

There's silence from the other side of the door. For a minute, you're afraid that the Serpentine is going to try and break it down, but then he says, "You have a point. I never really thought of that before."

Another, longer silence. Finally, the Serpentine behind the door asks, "So, uh, what'sss your name?"

"Y/n, yours?" you reply. You can't stop thinking about how weird this is. You're stuck in a closet and talking to a Serpentine through a door.

"Ssslithraa."

Another Serpentine shouts something unintelligible from down the hall. "All right!" Slithraa shouts back. "I'm coming! Keep your ssscales on!" in a quieter voice, he adds, "Sssee you later, y/n it was nissse talking to you."

"Later." You hear more footsteps from behind the door, and then silence. The Serpentine are gone.