Author's note:
Well, if you're reading this I have two things to say. 1: You actually read author's notes? 2: Welcome to my 1st ever fanfiction on this website. There's a few things you might need to know about this story but I'll just tell you about them in the corosponding chapeters. I don't own Glee and if I did ... let's just keep that a secret shall we?
At six A.M the annoying alarm clock goes off with its usual blaring screech startling the room's occupants awake. Queue hand smacking at said alarm clock. Also queue yet another alarm clock falling off the bedside table to its doom on the hard floor below. The murderer of the clock muttered a curse and sat up blurry eyed as the other person chuckled under his comforter. Shooting him a glare that would have burnt him alive if only he had heat vision, Arthur (A.k.a. the clock murderer, a.k.a. Artie) got out of the bed. "I don't know why you're laughing Jake; it's your turn to get a new clock." That shut him up fast. He grumbled and got out off the bed as well.
"Why should I have to buy a new clock after you broke it?" Jake asked more than a little peeved. "I've only broken one clock, while you've broken like five. This deal is not at all balanced."
"A deal's a deal Jakey boy. Next time don't shake on it." Artie stretched his arms over his head and grabbed his bag of toiletries. Not that he would ever call it that out loud. That was kind of girly sounding for lack of a better description. He made his way slowly towards the door so as not to draw Jake's attention away from making his bed. He seemed to just sense something was off though, because he suddenly looked over his shoulder at him.
"Hey! Don't you dare go into the bathroom! My class starts before yours!" Jake tried to run and block the door, but his foot got caught on the blanket that was currently strewn on the floor waiting to be tucked neatly into the bed he had previously been trying to make. Artie, seeing his chance, ran out of the room before his cousin slash roommate could tackle him, or strangle him, or whatever he might have tried to do. Locking the door behind him he sighed in relief.
To a normal person this wouldn't be such a serious matter, but to the Abram boys it was a kill or be killed situation. Early bird gets the worm and all that, or in this case, if you fall on your face you go to the bathroom last.
He finished up and came out of the room slowly, looking around for Jake. The coast appeared to be clear, so he made his way deeper into the hallway when suddenly he was bowled over by what felt like a bag of cement blocks. The weight sat on his back for a moment before being removed. Sitting up stiffly Artie rolled over and looked right into the face of his cousin, the aforementioned bag of cement blocks. "That really hurt you know." He complained as he stood up and popped the kinks in his back and winced slightly. Jake shrugged and threw a grin at him as he walked into the bathroom and shut it firmly. The doorknob shook more then was strictly needed to signify the door had been locked, meaning no one could sneak in for revenge. Artie gave the door a kick and walked off to his room to get ready for class.
About an hour later (After having a short, but epic pillow battle with Jake in which he was victorious, mostly because he smacked him in the face and ran out of the apartment to class.) he was sitting in his seat texting his best friend Maria waiting for the devil of all math classes to start, Calculus. Out of nowhere a paper ball hit him in the face. Jerking his head up, he looked around for the culprit. Spying his class partner Toni, with an i as he was so adamant in telling him, grinning as he made his way over to the table; he rolled his eyes and tossed the ball back at him.
"Hey, there's a very important note on this paper ball!" Tossing the ball back to him he gestured for Artie to open it. Rolling his eyes once more he opened it and read the note with a faux look of deep concentration on his face. Once finished, he scrunched the ball back up and threw it at Toni causing it to bounce off his head and onto the floor.
"Since when is 'Hi Artie!' a very important note?" He asked with raised eyebrows.
"Since I wrote it and gave it to you saying it was a very important note." Toni replied smartly as he sat down in the seat next to Artie's. Shaking his head in response, Artie went back to his phone trying to get a few more texts in before the professor came in. Just as he was hitting send a shadow appeared on the table in front of him and he slowly looked up. Standing there in front of him was none other than the very person he was texting. He stared at her for a good minute before speaking. "Sooo what exactly are you doing here Miss DeLuca?"
"Welp, you see what had happened was, I switched out of my math class, and into this one. That way I could bug this really awesome kid I know all day." Maria nodded her head as if this was the most obvious thing in the world and sat in the last seat at the table on the other side of Toni. Speaking of which, Toni was currently staring at Maria like he would spontaneously combust if he looked away for even a moment.
Nudging Artie's shoulder he focused his attention momentarily on the bespectacled boy to ask, "Who is she, why do you know her, and is she single? The only correct answer to that last question is yes by the way."
"Um yea, I can hear you actually. I'd be quite happy to answer all of those questions." Before answering she threw Artie a look that clearly stated this kid is kind of weird. "I am Maria DeLuca, I am Artie's amazing best friend, and yes I do happen to be single." She then tossed her hair over her shoulder, and looked to the front of the class with her nose in the air. After a moment she looked over to see Artie looking at her amusedly with his chin in his hand, propped up on the table while Toni looked somewhat shattered at being shut down so hard. She managed to keep her composure for only a moment more before bursting out laughing. "That was a joke. I'm so not a snob. By the way, you sir have yet to introduce yourself to me." That may or may not have anything to do with the fact that she hadn't quite given him the opportunity to do so, but that was neither here nor there.
"Oh, well I'm Anthoni Binks, but call me Toni. That's with an i." A look of recognizition flashed across Maria's face.
"Ah, so your Artiekinz math partner!" She pointedly ignored the jab in her side caused by Artie's pencil, after calling him the forbidden nickname. Toni swallowed a laugh upon seeing the look on Artie's face and just nodded.
"Yes ma'am that is indeed who I am. Lucky for him too as he'd be so lost without me." He winced at the smack his head received at this, not to say he didn't expect it, but it still hurt. Pouting he rubbed his head and glared at Artie who just shrugged and looked to the front of the room where the professor, who had finally arrived, was about to start the class.
After class the three college students walked together to the mess hall to get a quick pick me up after a grueling day of math. Toni picked up his usual double chocolate, chocolate chip muffin, and as usual Artie nearly gagged at the sight of it. He picked up apple cinnamon which was a less death wish granting muffin. Maria assumed she could bum some muffin from the both of them, as they were huge, and just grabbed some coffee. They headed to a table by the window and sat down. "So," Artie started, "how did you enjoy your new math class Maria dearest?"
She stuffed a piece of his muffin in her mouth and chewed before answering. "It was very math like. Thanks for asking."
"You're a clever one aren't you?" This was of course asked sarcastically. "FYI, you have to ask for some of my muffin." She just took another piece without a word and chewed on it slowly while making eye contact with him the whole time. He narrowed his eyes at her and scooted his plate closer to his body. Shrugging, she moved onto Toni's muffin which he shared with no problem as he was too busy staring at her to care about his food. "Take a picture man, it'll last longer." Toni jerked at his voice and turned a bright red.
"I have no idea what you are talking about Arthur." He casually took a bite of his muffin and looked out the window as nonchalantly as he possibly could. Not that anybody bought his act, but it was a valiant try just the same.
They sat for a bit just enjoying each other's company and the sounds of the people around them when their companionable silence was interrupted by a thump on the window next to the table they currently inhabited. The teens jumped and swiveled their heads in unison to see what was happening. To their surprise someone was on the other side of the glass laying on the ground. The person seemed to have smacked the window before falling to the ground or passing out for whatever reason. Whoever it was, looked a little worse for wear as their paper white skin had a green tint to it like they would be ill at any moment had they been awake. Toni, ever the caring one, quickly rushed out the door to try and help the person outside. Maria and Artie looked at each other briefly before running after him. By the time they caught up he was already bent over the person that they could now see was a girl, trying to rouse them from their unconscious state. She groaned a few times and opened her eyes staring somewhat lifelessly at them before they fluttered shut again. Curious passers bye were starting to look on with interest so now was probably a good time to move the girl. Toni looked at Artie in a silent plea for assistance; Artie sighed, but complied, helping him lift the girl while Maria watched with worried eyes. They carried her all the way over to the infirmary and put her down on one of the cots the room held. The nurse, seeing them, hurried over. "What seems to be the problem with this poor girl? She looks positively green." The nurse asked concernedly as she began checking her over.
"We have no idea; she kinda just fell over next to us and we thought she could use some help." Toni answered her as the other two were unsure what to say.
"Oh, that is so nice of you. I wish more people your age would extend a helping hand to someone who needed it. By the looks of her she definitely needed it." She pulled a pen light out of the front pocket of her uniform and pried open an eyelid to observe her pupils. Even with the light fully in the girl's eye there was no change. She looked up at the others with a confused look on her face. "You're all sure you have no idea at all what could be wrong with this girl?"
Artie looked at her with raised eyebrows. "Look ma'am, we don't even know her so there's not really much reason for us to know what was wrong with her now is there?" Maria elbowed him in the side and he stepped away from her shooting her a small glare. "Well I'm sorry, but it's true. Personally I just thought she was on something, but judging by your reaction that is not the case. Do you have any idea what could be wrong with her?"
The nurse stared at him a moment before speaking. "Well going purely by the results of the quick check I just did I would honestly have to tell you she was dead." Three blank stares met her words. "I know it sounds crazy as you can clearly see her chest rising and falling, but it doesn't seem she's actually taking in any air, just going through the motions of living." Again she was met with blank stares, but this time Maria ventured to speak.
"What does that mean? It kind of sounds like … surely that's not what you mean so … I'm not sure what I even want to say right now. This seems crazy. We should call for an ambulance or something." Behind them they heard stirring and turned around to see the girl jerking around on the cot like she was having a seizure. The nurse rushed over to calm her while Maria dialed 911 on her cell. Soon thereafter the girl stopped moving and was still. After what seemed like forever, the ambulance came and rushed the girl to the hospital.
"I hope that girl is okay." Toni said as they headed away from the infirmary.
"I wonder what was even wrong with her." Artie chimed in.
"We don't even know what her name is to ask if she's okay later." Maria added.
Artie shrugged, "Well I guess we could always ask about it later I mean … actually I don't know what I mean. I do know that I'm slightly freaked out by what just happened." The other two nodded in agreement. "I hope whatever was wrong with her isn't like contagious or something, because one, I hate being sick, and two, that was freaky as hell." Again the other two nodded. "Well I don't know about you two, but I think I'm gonna go home, and not do my homework, because I'll be playing video games instead, if either of you wants to come over your welcome. I think Jake might still wanna whack me with a pillow." This time they both gave him identical what the hell looks. "It's a long story, anyway you in?"
"I wish I could party Artie, but you see I have to go actually do my homework." Maria stated with a look of remorse.
"Yea I have to pick up my little sister from school. She went to some after school club or another and mom can't get her, so I got stuck with the job." Toni added, looking less than thrilled about it.
"Bummer, I guess I'll just have to play with Jake, and by play I mean I'll have to beat him at ever game again. Maybe we should just buy a new game to so we can have a fresh start." He stopped and pretended to think about this for a moment. "Meh, that sounds like a lot of work. I can do that on the weekend, for now whooping his butt will have to do."
"Oh, that's real nice of you. No wonder he likes you soooo much." Maria rolled her eyes and waved at the boys as she parted from them and headed to the dorm.
"Guess I best get going too then Art my man. I shall see you mañana." After patting him on the back Toni left, leaving Artie alone to head to his car and drive home.