Chapter 3

They also defined Wednesday, as a parent/student day. We went to all of our classes, and sat in each for twenty minutes. In each class, they handed out our books, and reviewed the course requirements. They encouraged our parents to attend and to ask any questions before they sent us off to the next class. We finished the day by three. Now that the day was almost over, it was time for Mom and Jun to head back to Boston, so they could catch a later flight to Japan. Mom gave me an envelope with cash and travelers checks, but told me that the envelope was for me personally, and that I should bill anything that was school related through the school.

"Nick, my son, you're growing up, and I'm happy that you're following in the family tradition. It seems that this will be a lot of work, but you can do it if you work at it. I love you and I'll miss you, but I truly believe that this will be a good learning experience for you. Try to watch out for Mika, and make sure that she takes care of you, if you need it."

"I love you too, Mom. I miss you already, but I'm looking forward to what this school has to offer. Have a safe flight home, and tell Dad that I love him."

"I will," She said, as she started to cry and gave me a bone-crushing hug before she turned, and quickly entered the limo. At the same time, Jun was doing the same to Mika. As the car pulled away, I turned to Mika, and asked her if she was all right.

"I feel all alone, but I can tell that this will be a good education for me. I'll miss my parents, but I don't know too many teenagers that want their parents watching their every move, anyways. Getting over home-sickness takes you a while, but at least I know you."

"How is your roommate?"

"Paige is her name. I'll have to introduce you. She seems nice enough. She's from California; her dad is a Senator, or something in government."

"Adam says that, for the next four days, they're going to try to wear us out to try to help us forget about missing home. There will be some type of dorm Olympics. We'll have to pick our sports and clubs. There will be meetings, meetings, and more meetings."

"What're you going to sign up for?"

"I haven't decided yet. I love to swim, but I'm not sure about water polo. I think I'll run cross-country this season, swim next season, and row crew in the spring."

"I need to look over my choices. I like all that you just mentioned, but I don't want to become your shadow."

"We have a few days to figure it out."

"I have a meeting in ten minutes with my RA and all the girls on my floor, or the wing of my floor. I'll see you around when we kick your butt in the dorm Olympics."

"We'll see."

When I made it back to the room, Adam was listening to Pink Floyd, and was reading a textbook. He looked up, and said, "Did your Mom leave?"

"Yeah, she's taking the evening flight out to return to Japan."

"You'll miss your parents, for a while, but in time, you'll move past it. We need to have an RA meeting to go over the rules."

"Are these new and different rules from what I heard last night at orientation?"

"These are Adam Rules, and some dorm rules."

"OK, do I need to take notes?"

"No notes- just your attention. Room inspectors don't come up here without giving us one or two days' notice, so you don't have to worry about demerits. I do have friends that stop by, so I like the place to look nice. If you want to trash your room, and close the door, I can live with that."

"I grew up in an Embassy, and know about always keeping things presentable. We just need six maids like the ones they had for us at the Embassy. I pick up after myself fairly well. What's the second rule?"

"You'll be my third roommate since I got here. The first guy was all right, but he was a senior, and I was a freshman. He treated me like dirt. I didn't like it, so I won't treat you that way. After saying that, it's important that you understand that I'm a senior, and you'll need to show some respect at least in public, or I'll have to put you in your place to save face. We can go the easy fun route, or the hard and no-fun route."

"I'm all for fun and easy, since you hold my 'get out of jail free card'."

"What was that with your mom, and the off campus permission thing?"

"You're her 'yes man'. She wants me to make my own decisions, and live by the consequences. She doesn't want Mr. Rutter getting in my way."

"So I receive a couple hundred bucks to write you hall passes for the year?"

"There could be other perks."

"Like what?"

"Like, last week, when I was staying in Boston, I read that the tickets, for The Eagles concert, were going on sale this weekend. If I wanted to camp out, and say buy tickets, you could probably persuade me to pick up a couple of extra ones. Do you think that Mr. Rutter would let me out overnight to sleep on a sidewalk?"

"No, but I would. When is the concert?"

"Looking at the calendar, I saw they have two shows. One is on Tuesday, and the second on Wednesday, October ninth and tenth. How late can we stay out on a school night?"

"Shit. Let me think about this. Who else is coming to town?"

"Fleetwood Mac is coming to town on November seventeenth and The Who in December on the sixteenth. That's the Sunday after the last day of school before the winter break. The other problem is that I don't have a car, and I'm not old enough to drive."

"We can make things work out. I think we'll miss the Eagles, because of all the plans this weekend, for new students, and because the concerts are on school nights, both before, and after the concerts."

"See we're already working, as a team."

"Newbie, I like the way you think. You've heard the rest of the rules. Sign here that says we discussed them."

We talked about different clubs and sports. Adam was on the debate team, and the chess team. During the winter and spring, he played squash, and golf. He also told me that he smoked some pot, but just on weekends with friends. It appears that before I actually had any proof or evidence to bust him he wanted to make sure that I wasn't going to rat him out.

"You secrets are safe with me, as long as secrets work both ways."

"It will depend on your secrets."

"If I bring a girl back to the room it's not only important that the faculty not know about it, I also need you to keep quiet about anyone that you might or might not have seen. In the game of sex, discretion is very high on the list."

"Casanova is my new roommate. Maybe some will wear off on me."

"You're not too old of a dog to learn some new tricks."

"Fuck off, lover boy."

"What're you reading there?"

"History. I always try to stay ahead in history, because you never know when they'll throw a quiz at you. It's easy to understand the material without a teachers help. So being prepared is easy. It can be hard to grasp Calculus quickly. That is unless you pick up that stuff, and can understand it without a teachers help."

After finding my Civics book, I sat down, and started to read. I read the first two chapters and then picked up my Freshman English book, and read two chapters. Then I read two chapters of my Biology. I left Algebra II for last, and understood most of it. The first couple of chapters were a review of Algebra I. I wanted to make sure that I understood it, so I tried a couple of practice questions before putting the book away.

Adam stopped me when I reached for my photography book. "Dude, you have to pace yourself. It's time for dinner, and you have four days until your first class." We went to the cafeteria, and went through the line. I got a burger and fries, and after Adam gave me the look, I added a salad on the side.

We saw Mika sitting with a couple of girls. Adam nodded, and followed me over to join them. Mika introduced me to Paige Alexander, her roommate, along with Bridget Gregory, and Kimberly Sears from across the hall. I introduced Adam to the girls, and we started a conversation about where everyone was from.

While we were eating, Julie Jones and Tess McDonald sat down, and then Mitch Douglas joined us. They all were returning seniors, and friends of Adam's. Tess was a short busty blonde that wanted to know if Adam was going to have a 'get together' this weekend.

After looking at me he said, "Nick and I would be happy to entertain this weekend. Since we just got in town, we'll need to go out, and stock up on the necessities. Who has a car?"

Julie said, "I have a car. Can we go out tonight? There are still enough parents around that they aren't checking sign outs yet."

"Give Nick and me ten minutes to stop by the room, and then we'll meet you at the student parking lot."

We said goodbye to all of them, and jogged over to the dorm. I got out some cash, and Adam stopped me before we left the room. "Nick, you asked me earlier which girl I wanted you to leave alone for me. Tess is that girl. She doesn't know I want to go out with her, but she's the girl I dream about."

"We'll have to see if we can change your dream in to reality."

"Good luck with that."

It was just past six when Mitch, Adam, the two girls and I headed to the grocery store. We got a bunch of soda, and snacks for the room. We stopped by the package store, and we parked out back. Julie found a guy willing to add our list to his purchase, and it only cost us double the retail price. We had enough vodka, gin, and whiskey to last us for the semester, or so I thought. Julie was in a hurry, so she put the box on my lap. I stopped her, and told her to open the trunk. I didn't want to hold it for the drive back to campus. Adam and I sandwiched Tess in the back seat while Mitch rode up front with Julie.

As she pulled out, Tess brought a bag of weed from her purse. She reached in for a joint that she'd rolled earlier. She lit it and took a puff before passing it to Adam, who took a hit, and passed it to me. I had it in my hand for less than ten seconds, when unexpectedly, a cop turned on his siren behind us. He must've seen a bunch of kids pulling out of the liquor store.

Julie started to freak out, and Tess was right there with her. I reached over, grabbed her baggie, and stuck it in my pocket, as Julie pulled to the side of the road. I then took the biggest hit that I could of the weed, and rolled down the window. As the officer walked up the side of the car, I blew out the smoke right in the path he was walking.

He yanked open the door, and grabbed my arm, pulling me out of the car. He said, "You're one dumb kid."

"Yes sir, officer. I've been told that in the past, but I'm still young."

"Do you have your ID on you?"

"I'm not old enough to have a driver's license, but I do have my diplomatic immunity card that the White House gave me." I handed him the card. I knew that it really was only good for when I was outside of the United States. But I didn't think that a young novice cop really wanted to jeopardize his career over some kid with a joint. He looked at the card, and didn't know what to do.

I said, "You already overstepped your bounds by yanking me out of the card without a warrant signed by the State Department, but you didn't know better. Let's just pretend this never happened, and go on our happy separate way."

"What about the stuff in the trunk?"

"That's my stuff, and if you want to wait around for a warrant we can. It might take a day or two to secure a signature from the right person in Washington. I think that Secretary Vance is traveling this week to some talks in Israel. Do you want us to follow you to the station, so you can give him a call?"

He handed my card back, and said, "Kid, this is your lucky day. I'm almost done with my shift, and you seem like too much work right now. Don't drink and drive."

"Thank you officer, have a nice night."

Getting back in the car, Tess was pulling me in for a hug. I pushed her to Adam, and said, "Adam was the one that brought me along, so for keeping your butt out of jail, please shower your kisses on him. Julie can kiss me for keeping her butt out of Jail."

She gave Adam a kiss, and I caught Julie's smile in the rearview mirror. She made a beeline for the school, and we laid down the liquor bottles, and covered them with snacks before taking everything up to our room. Too many teachers took the elevators, so I picked up the box to my shoulder, and went up four flights of stairs. I was starting to sweat when I put the box down on the counter in the kitchen next to the paper bags that the rest of them carried.

Julie came over, and gave me a hug and a kiss on the lips. "I was freaking out when you got yanked out of the car. I had no idea what you were thinking."

"If the police were going to implicate someone, I thought that it would be better if it was one person and not all five of us, so I took the baggie, and the joint. The liquor was in the trunk, and I know about search and seizure laws. Back in Japan, my friend Billy Carter taught me that if you act as if you know what you're doing, people tend not to bother you. I acted as if my diplomatic immunity actually meant something here in the States. Even if he knew that it didn't, he must've realized that I knew people that he really didn't want to meet to explain the situation. Kids with booze and pot are an everyday thing with cops. He didn't want the complications or the drama, so he let us go. I figured either I'd take the fall, or he'd let us go. My mom would have a fit if I got busted for it."

"You're the hero of the day."

"You should first teach me how to get stoned, and then you can teach me more about kissing pretty girls."

"What about Tess?"

"You want to kiss her too. Maybe Adam would be willing to share, or at least watch. You'll need to find a new friend to bring along for Mitch."

Mitch was hoping to have Julie, but I'd just cut him off at the pass. Tess didn't seem to mind the pairing with Adam, so I said, "Mitch do you have any requests, for Julie and Tess, as they hunt down a party partner for you?"

He said, "Julie, are you really going to go with a freshman?"

"I forgot he was a freshman. Maybe we can just hang out tonight, and then try to find a younger girl for Nick."

"Mitch, in Japan we call that cock-blocking, and it's punishable by death."

Julie said, "What would you know about cock-blocking young man?"

"I know that if Mitch ever wants to borrow a room, he better ask Adam, because it just so happens that mine is unavailable."

As Tess came over, she gave me a hug, and then slid her hand inside my pocket.