Chapter 16: Homework

Labor Day Monday, a National Holiday. Around here it seems more like National Hangover Day. A lot of aching heads and churning stomachs stumbling around. I’m glad the only night I got drunk on was Friday. I like a good party as much as the next guy, but that was enough for me for the long weekend.

At noon today, the Everett Hall Management and all the RAs are putting on a bar-b-que in the outdoor Common Space for us residents. That’s a nice thing for them to do.

After my work-out and shower, I climb up to relax on my bed. It’s time to answer some text messages that have been piling up in my phone.

Jeff says everything is going good back home. He and Bethany have settled into their routine at the Community College. He told me that he took the stock-boy job at Laske’s Hardware, Marc’s old position. He also finally got his own car and is happy not to have to borrow his mother’s anymore, even though it is his mother’s old car, she bought a new one.

Marc is doing well at State and spending time with Melissa, they’ve taken quite a liking to one another and are starting to date. Good for him. He says it’s nice to have a down-to-earth girlfriend and not one with her head in the clouds like Veronica Palermo was.

Tiffany is doing great at the University of North Carolina, she likes her roommate and all her classes. She did tell me it’s been ungodly hot there though, but having the Atlantic Ocean and beaches nearby make it bearable.

Mom texted me some pictures from the Smoky Mountains. They are having a good time, but she said Luke is bored and complains a lot, driving her and Dad crazy. Big shocker there...

As I’m answering texts, Renee chimes in to see how I’m doing. She’s wore out and spending the day laying-low, she partied all weekend at CMU. She asked me how the parties were around here. I told her I was only out on Friday night, she replied with a goofy-face emoji and called me a light-weight.

She told me her dad went to the doctor for his yearly check-up and they found out he has a high blood pressure issue. His doctor wants him to take some breaks from working so much. Bill has always been a driven man and a bit of a work-a-holic, but at his age, he needs to keep an eye that and take care of his health.

She told me her parents will be spending several weekends at Seney Lake to give her dad a break while the weather is still nice. If we go up there later this month, like we talked about, we probably won’t have the place to ourselves. I don’t mind if they’re there, but it would put a big damper on any sexy fun. Swimming out to the raft naked would definitely be out. Renee suggested we could visit them for a day and then go find a little hidden-away motel somewhere to ... We’ll figure something out.

Alex’s phone pings from a text, this wakes him up from his dead sleep immediately. He flies out of bed and grabs for it, “It’s Gail!” he shouts, “She wants to talk!”

“See, told you everything will fine.”

Alex looks nervous, “Oh, man, what should I say?”

“Just hear her out. The rest, I’ll leave up to you.”

“Think, Alex, think...” he tells himself.

“Tell you what, I’m gonna go down and see if they need any help setting up for the bar-b-que and give you privacy. Come down later and find me.”

“Okay, thanks, Kyle.”

Outside, I find Adam by a large charcoal grill, loaded with sizzling hot dogs and hamburgers. “Hey Adam, need any help with anything?”

“Oh, hey Kyle. Thanks, but you really don’t have to, this one is for you guys.”

“It’s okay, I need something to do.”

“Well, alright. Grab those buns and start laying them out in the trays. I’ll put the grilled dogs and burgers in them.”

At noon, the area is filling up with hungry student residents. I see Zach and Connor and wave. Adam tells me, “Thanks for your help Kyle, go on and eat with your friends.”

We load up our plates and find a place to sit. There are reps from all the fraternities and sororities weaving their way through the crowd, passing out flyers to check out their upcoming Rush-Week parties.

Sigma-this, Alpha-that, Kappa, Beta, Lambda, Pi, who in the hell can keep all these obscure Greek acronyms straight? Why not just use simple names like, “The Kegger-Brothers Cave”, or “The Easy-Sisters House”?

This one guy, who looks like he just got out of bed two minutes ago and smells like he hasn’t showered in a week, sits down with us, “Hey, guys! Now, you look like the type that like to party and have a good time.”

“Yeah, sure,” we shrug.

“Then you gotta come check out the Delta Tau Chi house, that’s what we’re all about, man!” He hands us a tattered flyer that looks like it’s left-over from the early 1960s.

“Uh, yeah..., sure, okay.” We say, just to get this dude to move along. He smells like his primary diet of old stale beer and cigarettes.

“Just look for the DTX House, can’t miss it, at the far end of Chatsford.”

DTX? Sounds like an acronym for ‘detox’, which I suspect all those ‘brothers’ will need to do following their college years...

I see Alex is down from the room, he’s getting his food. I wave him over to sit with us.

“How did it go with Gail?” I ask.

“Oh, she was pissed alright, but she told she was mad at all of the guys. She said we left her behind that night. I honestly don’t remember everything that happened, but I think we did look for her and didn’t see her. Do you remember Zach?”

“Nah, I came back here after that first party, remember? I didn’t go on to that second one with you guys.”

“Anyhow, I told her it would never happen again and that I/we are very sorry.”

“We live and learn...” I tell him.

Later that day, I heard that the Universities’ Pool Building is open for anyone to swim, sounds good to me. As I’m getting changed into my swimsuit in the locker room, Chad sees me and comes over. He’s definitely sporting a few scrapes and bruises as Rachel told me about.

“I suppose you heard about Friday night, huh?” he says to me.

“Yeah ... What happened, Dude?”

“Got drunk and hit on the wrong girl.”

“But, what about Suzy?”

“She was pretty drunk and half passed out. I don’t know why I did it...”

“I know you like your easy pussy and all, but come on, you gotta draw the line somewhere.”

“I know ... Suzy is pretty pissed at me about it.”

“Do you blame her?” I ask.

“No, I guess I can’t...” he sighs, “But, enough about me. So, did you end up gettin’ any this weekend?”

“I could have, but I didn’t think it would have been right at the time.”

“Wow, Kyle, you sure have some will-power there, my friend.”

“Just a little thinking before acting, that’s all.”

“So, are you seeing this girl again?”

“Yeah, we went out yesterday and I’m seeing her again tomorrow.”

“Well, good for you,” he high-fives me.

Back to the grind on Tuesday morning. Professor Havelina, in Economics, is sure in a bitchy mood today. She chewed a girl out for checking her phone while she was lecturing. Normally she doesn’t even seem to notice that sort of thing, or care much one way or another what we do. We paid for the class, it’s up to us to get the most out of it. I mean, I can understand how it’s rude to incessantly play on your phone during class, but the girl she embarrassed doesn’t normally do that. Maybe Mrs. Havelina is a closet-partier for all we know and recovering from the weekend herself.

Outside the Halsig Center, I text Abby to see if she would like to join me for lunch. I made sure to do this away from class, I don’t need to face the wrath of Havelina over it. Abby replied right away that she would, “Love to.”

Five minutes later, she sees me, runs up and gives me a big hug, “I’m so happy you invited me to lunch!” then, she steps back, “I’m sorry, was that hug too much?”

“No, it’s fine.”

“I was just thinking about you and then my phone went off and it was you.”

“Just thought if you were free, you might want to grab something to eat with me.” I tell her.

“Well, you thought right!”

We get our lunch and find a table by the window. I tell her, “I come here often. I like the Study Area over there for getting work done before my afternoon class.”

“This is a cool place.”

“Yeah, I like it,” then I add, “Oh, watch out, Havelina is in a nasty mood today. She laid into some girl for texting.”

“Really? What a bitch! I like the class and all, but that Mrs. Havelina can be such a ... such a cunt!”

In a quiet voice, I tell her, “Okay Abby, a little overkill there. Use cunt very rarely and only when you really, really despise someone, it’s a pretty strong word.”

“Should I have used pussy in its place?”

“No, one bitch in the statement works.”

“Okay, Kyle.”

After we eat, we move over to the Study Area to work on some of our assignments. I notice Abby looking at me often and smiling, I smile back. I guess I really did make her day by asking her to join me. Back in high-school, she only hung out with one or two of her awkward friends at a corner table in the lunchroom.

At quarter to 1:00, I gather-up my laptop and books, “I need to get to going to Philosophy. Are we still on this afternoon at your place?”

“Oh, yes, we are! Can you come over about 6:30?”

“Sure, I’ll grab dinner with the guys and see you then.”

At dinner in the cafeteria, Connor tells us, “Okay guys, so I checked the door of Room 408 this morning and it was open. Can you believe that? They still leave it unlocked after the shredded paper prank.”

“Okay, then are we tentatively on for this Friday?” I ask. “I’m working Thursday, so I can get the bucket and all the cups.”

“Sure,” Alex says, “This is going to be epic!”

Zach adds, “Guys, this is going to take some time to accomplish, I’m sure people passing in the hall will see what we’re doing.”

“So, what if they do? The guys in 408 are gonna know it was us anyway, it’s no secret. Shit, we might even be able to recruit some help,” I tell them.

Connor says, “Yeah, I’m sure they’ve pissed off more than a few people in our wing.”

Back in our room, Alex hands me $80, “My money from home came today, I think this is everything I owe you.”

“Looks right to me, thanks Alex.”

“Man, I really need to find a job, I don’t think I’m ever going to hear back from the Game and Card Shop.”

“Maybe try looking for jobs on-campus? I seen postings on the bulletin board downstairs. Sometimes they need help in the cafeterias or you might be able to make some side-money with grounds-keeping.”

“Yeah ... I’ll take a look, I need to find something. Where are you heading off too?”

“I’m going over to Abby’s, we’re working on Economics homework.”

“Okay, I’m gonna get my laundry caught up, I’m sure you’re sick of looking at my mountain.”

I give him a thumbs-up as I head out the door. I thought about telling him to check under his bed for his dirty undies, but I let it go. Alex hasn’t been leaving his clothes thrown around the room quite as often these days. All steps in the right direction and I’m happy he made good on paying me back.

At Abby’s place, I park my bike, sling off my backpack and knock on the door. From inside, I hear a loud, “Hey Abs, get the door!” Abs? That must be Belinda...

From how Abby described this person, I’ll bet she is laying on the couch, four-steps from the door, but too lazy to get up and answer it herself.

“Hi Kyle, come in.”

I step in and see a rather masculine-looking woman sprawled on the couch, engaged in her TV show. I guess, I won that little bet with myself...

“Kyle, this is Belinda. Belinda, this is Kyle. We’re going to study together.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, just keep it down. I’m trying to watch Housewives here.”

“Come on, Kyle, we can work in my room.”

Abby’s room is at the end of the short hallway. Once we’re both inside, she shuts the door. I have to laugh, “Wow, she’s a bit on the manly-side, huh?”

“I know, right? She’s on the Women’s Wrestling Team.”

“They have such a team here? I can see why she intimidates you. Hell, she even intimidates me!”

I can see Abby is fighting to keep from laughing too loud. “See, I wasn’t lying to you.”

“Nope, you sure weren’t. She seems a little on the dyky-side, is she like, into girls, or something?” I snicker.

“You would think so, but no. She has this brain-dead, boyfriend, Patrick. He’s just like her, all muscular, a total jock. You should hear the two of them when they’re in her room, it’s sounds like they’re throwing the furniture around in there or something, all this loud banging and crashing.”

“Some girls like it rough,” I say, then add, “Or maybe it’s the other way around, he likes her to throw him around?”

Abby giggles, “Who knows ... Have you ever done it rough like that?”

“No, not like that. I mean, I’ve had some lively fun, but never, like, breaking shit or anything.”

“That’s good. I can’t see you getting like that...”

Two minutes in and we’re already the subject of sex, “Maybe we should get started on our homework?” I ask.

“Yup! Oh, and you were right, Mrs. Havelina was pretty bitchin’ with our class too.”

“I think you mean, pretty bitchy.”

“Oh, yes. Did I say that wrong?”

“Yeah kinda, I don’t mean to be the correcting-language-police type, but bitchin’ is an older term referring to something being cool.”