Chapter 4

Hobbes scrambled up into the front seat as soon as they were on the highway and then proceeded to drive Calvin crazy by constantly changing the channel on the radio. Finally, after dealing with it for about twenty minutes, he snapped.

"Pick a channel and stick with it already!"

Hobbes gave him a look.

"Geez, okay."

He stopped it on NPR.

Great. Just great. Letting out a long sigh, he rolled down his window and made himself comfortable as he drove. The low voices on the radio after a while helped to settle his nerves. They drove in silence for another ten minutes and then Hobbes spoke up.

"Uh, Calvin?"

"Yeah, Hobbes?"

There was another pause.

"Why didn't you take me when you first went to college?"

Calvin sighed again.

"I don't know, Hobbes. I guess…I guess I thought that it was time for me to try something on my own, you know?" He glanced over at his stuffed tiger. "You and I have done everything together and this was something new. I wanted to do it without always relying on someone to see if I could do it. Does that make sense?"

Hobbes said nothing for a long moment and then nodded.

"Yeah. I guess it does."

Five more minutes passed and then Calvin heard Hobbes' tummy growl. Hobbes said nothing, but Calvin knew he was hungry.

"When I stop for gas, I'll get us some food, okay?"

Hobbes gave him a smile that he hadn't seen in a long time.

"Tuna fish sandwich?"

Calvin smiled when he saw an ear twitch as he said, "Sure." Dumb tiger; always a sucker for a tuna fish sandwich. He would have to make sure to keep his small refrigerator stocked while he was at school. Tuna fish, bread, milk, and chocolate frosted sugar bombs. The food of kings.

Calvin leaned over and changed the radio to a classic rock station and smiled when he saw Hobbes bobbing his head along with the music.

Fifteen minutes later, he pulled into a small gas station and filled up the tank, and then stepped inside and grabbed a tuna fish sandwich, a turkey club, and two sodas. As he checked out at the counter, the man said, "Expecting company later?"

Calvin was confused, but then the man said, "I noticed you're traveling alone, but you've got food for two people, here." He gestured to his purchase.

He shrugged it off and replied with, "I'm really hungry."

The man shook his head and gave him his change and Calvin walked back out to the car and put Hobbes' food next to him on his seat.

"Here you go. One tuna fish sandwich and a soda."

Hobbes grabbed the food and began to eat as they pulled out of the station. Calvin took an absent bite of his own sandwich as they got back onto the road, not noticing that his tiger was looking at him again with a worried look like he had before they had left home.

Something was wrong.

"Calvin?"

"Yes?"

A pause.

"Are you okay? Did something happen at the gas station?"

Calvin just shook his head, not wanting to explain the weird feeling that he'd had when he'd purchased food for the two of them, the gas station attendant's look making him feel strange. Hobbes wouldn't understand what it was like to see something that no one else could.

"No, nothing, Hobbes. I'm fine."

He took another bite of his sandwich and Hobbes let it go.

Calvin would talk to him when he was ready and not before.

An hour and a half later, they arrived on campus. Hobbes stared out the window, which was now rolled down, looking at all of the buildings, the trees, and all of the pretty young women that walked around the college.

Calvin parked in front of a building with a sign in front of it that read, "Scott House."

He grabbed his bag from the back, put Hobbes in it, and then made his way up the stairs, heading to his room that was his home away from home.

As soon as he stepped into his room, he pulled Hobbes out and tossed his suitcase on the floor. He then went straight for his desk.

"Wow…it's pretty big," Hobbes said, nose level with his paws on the windowsill, staring out over the green lawn three floors below him.

Calvin nodded, already distracted, one of his books open in front of him, an open notebook to the side, and a pen in his hand. He started to write and Hobbes, hearing the sound of a pen scratching over paper, looked back at him, a sad look in his eyes.

Calvin, not noticing the look, continued to work.

Sniffing, he smelled the cookies in the bag and smiled. He wandered over and pulled out the bag, sticking a paw in and pulling out two cookies. He put a cookie on the desk, next to Calvin, and then took a bite of his cookie….and frowned when Calvin didn't look up.

Hobbes, being as quiet as he could, slipped past him and into the hallway, finishing the cookie as he went. He began to wander down the hall, glad that no one was around for him to be seen.

Suddenly, he smelled something…something different. But familiar.

Nose alert, ears pricked forward, he followed it to a room on the opposite side of the floor.

Carefully, he knocked on the door.

No answer.

He knocked again, hoping for an answer this time, and then it slowly swung open…and Hobbes was surprised to see not a student, but another, well, being like him. Gold-yellow eyes blinked at him, a paw still on the doorknob.

"Um…hi. I'm…I'm Hobbes. I belong to Calvin, down the hall."

One of its' whiskers twitched.

"I'm Derwent."

He didn't move.

"Can I come in?"

Derwent looked over his shoulder, his bushy mane almost blocking his view. He then looked back at Hobbes and nodded.

"Sure. Liz is out. Come on in."

And Hobbes stepped in.

Part 4/?