Chapter 1
I woke this morning completely disoriented as I did every morning. My eyes fluttered opened revealing my dark and messy room. It felt good waking up knowing I didn't have to rely on anybody, I am my own man. Completely in a daze I reach over to my nightstand and checked my phone.
"7:42! Crap, I'm going to be late for my first day of school!" I shouted
I quickly jumped out of my bed and ran to the bathroom. It was probably record breaking how quickly I took a shower and brushed my teeth. As I ran into to my room I stopped in front of my closet.
"What in the world am I going to wear?" I said to myself looking into my closet confused.
Now wasn't the time to be worrying about appearances if I wanted to make a good first impression. I quickly threw on a black v-neck, a gray hoodie and my fitted black jeans and ran out the door. Not noticing that I had forgotten to put on shoes, when my feet touched the cold sidewalk my body cringed.
"Sh*t!" I cried out as I ran back into my apartment.
Once inside I realized that I had forgotten more than just my shoes. I quickly examined the room and noticed that I hadn't had my phone, my book bag or even done my hair.
*BOOM* *Beep, beep, beep* "AHH!" the sound of my Hotpocket exploding in the microwave scared me half to death.
Putting that incident aside I raced to my bed and put on my combat boots, grabbed my phone and my book bag and headed out the door. I quickly checked if I had all my belongings as I opened the wide doors of my apartment building and felt the brisk mid-September breeze hit my face. I pulled my phone out of my right pocket and checked the time.
"8:22? Fuck, I'm never going to make it on time now." I whispered angrily.
Realizing that I had so little time to make it to class I had to skip my morning latte, and breakfast. I ran as fast as I could to the train station, earning a couple of confused faces and cold glares from the other pedestrians. As I approached the train station I heard the automated system tell everyone "There is a Manhattan bound 2 train approaching the station."
I immediately reached for my wallet and struggled to pull out my metro card, my meaty fingers wouldn't let me, once it was out I let an audible sigh of relief escape my breathe. I quickly made my way to the train and found an empty seat, checking my phone once again
" 8:25, ok I think I can make it" I said confidently.
I soon realized that I was speaking to myself and checked the train cart to see if anybody had noticed, to my luck they hadn't…. As I exited the train when it reached my stop and I yet again checked my phone to see what time it was, it was now 8:50 I had thirty minutes to make it to the university. Now that I have a few extra minutes I quickly entered the nearest Starbucks and ordered my usual latte. Even though I had a few extra minutes I stilled quickened my pace, as I approached the gates of the university I heard a familiar voice calling my name.
"Orion! Orionnnnnn!" He shouted sounding irritated.
"I've been shouting out your name for the past two blocks!" Liam stated impatiently, with his right arm waving in the air and his eyebrows crossed in frustration.
I have known Liam for over seven years now, he and I were inseparable. We've been in the same class since 6th grade. We'd always get caught up in mischievous acts, but would never get caught be because of Liam's quick thinking. But school was something that we never faltered in our grades were always at the top of the class. He and I were truly like brothers. When the end of our senior year reared its head Liam and I began to realize how much we'd miss each other when it was over. So He and I began to apply to the same universities, and to our good fortune we both got accepted into Columbia. We even moved into an apartment together this summer.
"I'm sorry Li I didn't even hear you, my heads been in a different world today" I said honestly.
"Its alright Oreo" He said with an insanely wide smile.
"You know how much I hate that nickname" I said hastily.
"I know, that's why I call you it" Liam said with an evil smirk plastered on his face.
"Anyways I'll catch up with you later I have to get to my psyche class early and get a good seat" I said as I jogged away from my best friend.
"You still have twenty minutes!" He exclaimed as I was slowly out of sight.
"I know! But you know how I feel about first impressions!" I shouted as I entered the building.
"Yea, yea whatever" Liam muttered to himself as he walked to the nearest concession stand.
As I walked into the magnificent building I could help but become overwhelmed with nervousness. Even orientation wasn't this bad. Making my way to the assigned classroom I began to notice that I was the first one there.
"Hello? Is this Mr. Thompson's class?" I asked at a seemingly empty classroom.
I heard a loud bang coming the teachers desk. I quickly ran down the aisles to the noise and saw a man emerge from the desk.
"Yes this is my classroom" He said while rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry about startling you" He said with a grin, still rubbing the back of his head.
Mr. Thompson didn't look like a typical college professor. I'm talking about the silver hair, wore out suit and a beard. He didn't look a day over thirty, and was dressed as if he were a teachers assistant.
"No problem. I'm Orion" I said extending my hand and smiling at my new teacher.
Mr. Thompson stopped rubbing his head for a moment and shook my hand, giving back the same smile I'd given him.
"Nice to meet you Orion. Wait" I quickly gave him a confused look as he looked through his roster. "Orion Mathias. You graduated at the top of your class, congratulations" He said happily.
"Thank you, you just have to work hard" I said trying to be as modest as I could be.
"Since you're the first to arrive I'll give you a heads up. I'm handing out an assessment test to see where everybody is at. I suggest you start studying" He said almost jokingly
"Thanks for the warning" I said as I approached the nearest desk and pulled out a text book.
Not soon after that the bell rang and signaled everybody to get to class. The huge room began to fill up steadily. Once everyone was present and accounted for Mr. Thompson gave them all the news about the assessment test. I heard a few moans and groans coming from the crowd, I on the other hand was happy cause at least I knew what was coming.
After my psyche class was over the day flew by. All my other classes went great, mostly because I didn't have to take anymore tests. After my last bell rung I ran to the courtyard to meet up with Liam.
"Took you long enough" Liam said as he rolled his eyes
"Sorry, I had to use the bathroom on my way over" I said in complete indifference.
Thunderclouds started to form overhead.
"That's odd. Its not supposed to rain today" Liam said with his head directed towards the clouds, and a single rain drop fell to Liam's nose.
"The drizzle will surely get us sick if we don't hurry home" I said panting as we ran to the train station.
By the time Liam and I got to the apartment the rain out side was pouring as if there had been a long drought. We quickly threw off our drenched clothes and changed into some dry house clothes.
"So how's Vanessa?" Liam asked from the kitchen
"I think she's good. Last time we spoke she told me she had a new beau, but still wanted to mess around" I said while channel surfing on the couch.
"What? She did not say that!… well I hope for your sake you said yes" Liam retorted with excitement.
"I said no, I'm not a 'hit it and quit it' type of guy like you. I actually like being in a relationship and wouldn't ruin another's for my pleasure" I hollered from the couch.
"I'm shocked you would even say such a thing" Liam said holding his right hand to his chest and letting the sarcasm roll off his tongue. We both laughed at the ridiculous sight Liam had just shown.
"OREO! Get in here!" Liam shouted spontaneously.
The sound of him screaming scared me half to death, I readily jumped off the couch, grabbing my phone on the way, and ran to the kitchen. Liam stood near the microwave with his arms crossed and his right eyebrow raised.
"You had better clean this mess, cause I sure aint!" He shook his aggressively.
"The Hot Pocket! I completely forgot about that" I ran to grab a Bounty and some Windex to remove to stains. It took a while for it to come off because it was already crusty. But soon enough it was clean, wiping my hands I picked up my phone. I just received a text from Brinett, a girl I met a few days prior at orientation.
"Hey orion ;)" - Read the text, I quickly responded with
"Hey babe ;) Hope you didn't get caught in the rain Lol"
As I lifted my I head I noticed that I missed a spot in the microwave. I let my hand slip inside to wipe it off and placed my phone on the plate off the microwave. Once cleaned I shouted to Liam "All done!". A flash of lightening and a loud thunderclap came shortly after causing me to jump, making the microwave slam shut with the impact of my shoulder.
"What's all the ruckus?" Liam voice from the couch
"Nothing!" I shouted reassuringly as I made my way to the living room. Unaware that my phone was still in microwave, rotating. After a few seconds I realized that my phone was still in the microwave, I ran to the kitchen and pulled out my warm phone from the microwave. "Sh*t" I said to myself almost certain that my phone wouldn't work anymore, I hit the unlock button and the screen lit up to my surprise. The only problem the phone had was that the time was moving at a rapid pace.
"I'm going to bed" I said to Liam as I walked pass him
"So early? Its only 10:00 pm" He said with a shocked look on his face.
"Yea I need some sleep between all the nervousness and scares all day, I think I might have a heart attack" I said laughingly as I walked into my bedroom. A chilly breeze from the window caused my spine to shiver, I ran to the window to close it. But suddenly a huge flash of lightening came soaring in and struck my cell phone.
The huge explosion from within my room caused Liam to jump off the couch and race into my room. "Oreo are you alright?" he shouted as he kicked down my locked door. But to his dismay I wasn't there.