Chapter 2

Gabriel woke to the sound of Ryan cussing as he struggled to get out of the tangle of his sheets and get his alarm shut off. The shocking sound of the alarm was finally silenced and Gabriel glanced over at the time on his alarm clock. With a sigh, he realized he still had two more hours before his first class and debated going back to sleep, but with all the noise Ryan was making he decided to just get up and get a jump start on his day.

"Hell Ryan, I'm going to return my alarm. With you who needs one," Gabriel groaned as he struggled out of bed.

"Sorry man, I'm just not a morning person," Ryan responded with a tired yawn. "My family used to hate it. They're all big morning people and are instantly awake first thing in the morning. I take a lot longer to really get going. I'll try to keep the noise down to a dull roar in the future."

Ryan headed for the showers down the hall as Gabriel fired up his computer to check his e-mail for new messages. He had one from Melissa telling him to have a great first day of classes and to let her know how they went. He also had one from the city pool manager telling him that anytime that afternoon would work for the interview. Gabriel sent a reply back telling her that he would be there around 3-4, and then a quick message to Melissa telling her about this morning with Ryan and the alarm clock. He shut down the computer as Ryan came back into the room.

"You may want to head down to the showers now while they're still mostly empty," Ryan told him. "There is only one other person in there right now, but will probably be a lot more in a little bit."

Gabriel nodded to indicate he heard and then grabbed his shower stuff and headed down the hall to get cleaned up. The scalding water felt good against his skin. It was nice to have a warm shower now. Ever since he'd left home he had been having warm showers, and now he didn't know how he had ever lived without them, and was one of things he enjoyed the most about his mornings now. The hot water was a better wake up than any cup of coffee could ever be.

Gabriel entered his room to find Ryan in a flurry of activity trying to find all of his stuff for classes and get it all ready to go. Gabriel changed into some of his new clothes and sat watching Ryan with a small smirk on his face.

"Maybe you should have gotten everything together last night," Gabriel told him, in one of his rare moments of outspokenness.

"Yeah where's the fun in that though. I'm a college student, I never plan anything out," he laughed back. "I'm the original procrastinator. Always have been and probably always will be."

Ryan finally got everything shoved into his book bag, and slung it over his shoulder. He stopped at the door and turned to look at Gabriel with a contemplative look on his face.

"You don't always have to plan everything out to the last detail and be so serious all the time. Sometimes you just have to cut loose and enjoy life," he said as he shut the door behind him.

Gabriel sat at his desk and thought about what Ryan had told him. He just couldn't help the way he was. After years of living at home he had learned to do what he had to do to survive, and for better or worse, that attitude was a part of him now. Maybe one day he might get to a point where he could just let go and relax, but he had become a creature of habit now, and that habit kept him safe from other people.

Grabbing his backpack, Gabriel walked down to the cafeteria for a quick bite to eat. He really wasn't all that hungry, and had never been much of a breakfast person, but he hoped that the food would calm his stomach down some. For all that his dreams had been on escaping to college and moving on with his life, he was still nervous. He was afraid that he wouldn't be ready and classes would be too hard, or that other students would pick on him like it had been in high school. Gabriel snagged a bottled water on his way out and headed across campus for his first class of the morning. Gabriel had been excited at first because most of his classes were all in the same area of campus, the excitement died quickly, however, when he realized that the area his classes where was on the other side of campus from his dorm and it would be quite a walk to get to them.

Gabriel found the building with plenty of time before the class started, however, finding the classroom inside the building proved a more difficult task. This building is like a damn maze, he thought to himself as he navigated the twists and turns looking for his classroom.

Finally, tucked way back in the back corner of the basement, he found his classroom.

The class before his was just letting out and from the number of students coming out of the room it appeared to be a large lecture hall. Once the room had cleared out, he and his fellow classmates entered and took their seats. Gabriel took a seat close to the door and at the aisle end of a row. When he noticed the position he had subconsciously taken in the room he shook his head in despair. Old habits die hard, he thought to himself. Gabriel was pulled out of his thought as he heard a voice talking to him.

"Hi I'm Amber, what's your name?" a cute little blond next to him asked.

"Gabriel," he answered as he pulled out the text, notebook and a pen.

He specifically kept his answer short, hoping that she would get the hint that he really didn't want to talk to anyone, but it was not to be. She was either incredible dense or just didn't care and kept right on talking to him.

"Are you a first year," she asked him?

With an internal sigh and a silent question of why him, he answered her question hoping she would leave it at that. Gabriel really didn't like talking too much but apparently Amber did. Of all the people who could have been seated next to him, it had to be the perky talkative one.

"Yeah, I just got here a few days ago. This is my first class." Gabriel said as he watched a striking woman walk through the door and start preparing for class.

Seeing where Gabriel's attention had wandered off to she looked at him with a smirk and told him, "Professor Schaeffer's classes are always great. She's one of the best professors in the department, and maybe even the whole college."

Ms. Schaeffer quickly handed out the course syllabus and class was underway. The assignment and reading schedule was laid out in exacting detail and looked daunting as Gabriel glanced over the syllabus. He was definitely going to have to stay on top of this class. Of particular note was the group project at the end of the course. He would be required to partner with someone where they would co-write a ten page paper and create a 20 minute PowerPoint presentation.

The reading requirement, while time consuming, would be relatively easy; the group project on the other hand was going to be a bitch. Gabriel's personality did not lend itself well to working in groups and every time he had to do group work in high school it had turned into a nightmare. Besides, he hated being tied to someone else for completing a project. He hated them in high school and nothing had changed since to improve his opinion of them. Most teachers tried some bull shit like making both people get the same grade so if you got a slacker partner you either got a bad grade or had to do all the work by yourself, it was not a way to make people like group work.

All throughout the class Gabriel and Amber had a whispered conversation when Ms. Schaeffer wasn't speaking, and as the class wore on, Gabriel found himself liking the little blond more and more. She had a good spirit and seemed like someone who could be trusted without reservation, and that revelation shocked him. The last person he had met like that had been Melissa. Some of the instant trust may have also been the fact that she was so tiny and non-threatening. At about five feet tall, it was hard to image her ever hurting anyone.

Since it was the first day of class, Ms. Schaeffer finished the class a bit early, gave out the homework, and then turned them loose.

"For class tomorrow I want you all to have read the intro and first chapter of the text and be prepared for the lecture," Ms. Schaeffer told them. "Take careful notes of the main points and stay caught up on the vocabulary that is indicated in the text. They are important terms that will be used throughout the quarter."

With that said everyone packed up and headed on their way. Gabriel had an hour break before his next class and was heading to the student union building to get a jumpstart on his reading when he heard his name being called.

"Gabriel, wait up," Amber called out. "Do you want to go get a cup of coffee?" she asked him as she caught up beside him.

Gabriel really didn't care for coffee right then and would much rather have been by himself, but he figured it would be rude to brush the girl off after she had been so nice to him earlier. He really didn't know why he getting so comfortable around her so quickly. Except for Melissa, he really didn't trust girls all that much, and even with Melissa it had taken her a very long time before he trusted her. With Amber it was an almost instant trust and that just confused him even more. He wanted to get to where he could trust people again, but that half of him was warring with the other half of him that was screaming to be careful and to not let anyone close enough to hurt him.

Making his decision he told her, "Sure, lead the way."

With a smile on her face, she fell into step beside him and they walked to the student union building. Amber chatted about inane things while Gabriel was quietly mulling over what it really was about this girl that he allowed her to start him talking, instead of pushing her away like he always had to others before.

Amber, realizing he wasn't talking back lapsed into silence just walking at his side. She began to quietly study the young man out of the corner of her eyes. He was nothing to special she thought. He was handsome enough, but not super cute. She wondered what had made her latch onto him so quickly. She was polite and enjoyed the company of others, but not usually this quickly. Looking a little closer she noticed the defensive posture and the way his eyes swept the path in front of him. Suddenly everything clicked. It was like a light bulb going off in her brain and she put several things together very quickly. Gabriel was much like she had used to be she thought, scared of the world and thinking everything in it was out to get him.

Gabriel politely held the door open for her and she thanked him with a pleasant smile as she went through. Amber could almost feel Gabriel tense as the noise and chaos of the student union building hit them like a physical wave. Reacting without thinking, she reached out and took his hand in her tiny one, Amber felt him flinch, but she maintained her grip and led him to a more quiet quarter of the building and as the noise and people died away, so too did the tenseness she felt within him.

Amber asked him if he wanted anything as they let their bags slip to the floor and sat down at one of the tables. Shaking his head no, she told him that she would be right back. As she walked away, Gabriel let his eyes close and his breathing relax, while he kept aware of the sounds around him. As he heard Amber approach their table, he reopened his eyes. She sat down and studying the young man across from her.