"Ooh, Chessie was right! You're looking good, Jules! Muy calliente."
I turned around to see Olive trailing after me in her first day of school outfit. I wouldn't exactly say it was as "fashionable" as what Chessie chose, but it looked good on her. She had on a pair of little denim shorts that showed off her tan legs and an oversized red shirt. The neckline was too big and draped over her shoulder. Her sleeves were long and went past her hands. Her sandals flopped against the pavement.
"Hey Olive. You look comfortable," I said.
"Very," she said with a smile. "The first day is always the hardest to stay awake, but I'll get through it somehow. I've gotten too used to sleeping in. I'm going to miss my little siestas." She stretched her arms up over her head. We were still walking in the same direction. "You wouldn't happen to be going to English with Dr. Caliber, would you?" she asked.
"Sweetness! We actually do have a class together," I said. "It must be fate that we were put into the same awesomely boring required class."
"It probably won't be that bad," Olive said.
"All of these required classes are the same. Some professor stuffs a couple hundred kids in a room and lectures about something he doesn't care about to people who really don't care what he says. By definition: awesomely boring."
"But hey! I'll be there!" Olive hooked her arm around mine. "We can sit together! It'll be fun! If it's going to be so boring, why would it be awesomely so?"
"Because I'll be in the class, obviously. Now come on. We've got to pick out the best seats."
"He looks a bit young to be a professor," Olive noted.
Olive and I snatched prime seats in the middle of the auditorium. I was annoyed by the tiny foldable desk we were required to sit in. How did they expect anyone to work on these? I managed to finally balance my laptop on the flimsy piece of wood.
I looked up to see the guy waiting at the front. Olive was right. He didn't look that much older than us. I couldn't quite pin down his age. It was hard to tell with the suit and the bushy eyebrows. It was like he was trying to look decrepit, yet he had the messed up hair of any college student.
"What's with the suit?" I wondered out loud.
"It is one o'clock on the dot," the guy said. "Class will now begin."
"If you don't already know, I am not Doctor Xavier Caliber. I am the head Teacher's Assistant for this class, and Dr. Caliber asked me to fill in," he continued. "My name is Arthur Kirkland. You can come to me for this semester and the next regarding any question on homework and grading policies. Today we'll be going over the syllabus in detail."
The large stack of papers made its way around the room. This Arthur guy was reading verbatim off the page. I know this class was required for all freshman, but seriously. They could raise their expectations a little. They could assume that we could at least read. I got my paper and quickly flipped it over. Crap, even the whole back was full. Absolutely no doodle room. Fine, if he wanted to play it that way...
I got out a notebook to work on started on my masterpiece right across the syllabus. The extra lines of words gave it a...je ne sais quoi or whatever that means. It means I really didn't care that the rules of the class or the dates for assignments interrupted my awesome drawing.
It ended up being a pretty accurate depiction of our TA. I went to show Olive, but she was already asleep. A tiny little puddle of drool fell on her syllabus as she was draped across her desk.
I checked my laptop for the time. 1:43. Geez, he was going to take up the whole time with this.
"And again. If you have any questions, ask me, not the professor. He can get pretty busy with his other classes. If you have nothing else, you're free to go."
The students started gathering up their things and leaving. Olive was still sound asleep.
"Hey, rise and shine, sleepy butt," I said as I nudged Olive awake.
"Hmm?" Olive murmured awake. She wiped at her lips to get rid of the drool. "Class over already? Where are you headed next?"
"I've got to stick around here for a bit. You know. Awesome stuff."
"Okay. Have fun with that. See you around, Jules."
"Yeah, and try to stay awake in your next class, no matter how boring it is." She gave me a classic smile as she left. Soon, it was just me and the TA in the classroom. I propped my feet up on the chair in front of me and leaned back.
I could see Arthur in the front pacing and whatnot. Straightening papers. Erasing the invisible spots from the board.
As the door closed as the last person left, a weird burst of wind carried my syllabus to the front of the class. It floated to the floor, and Arthur picked it up. He frowned at my beautiful drawing of him. His eyebrows knit together, and he crumpled up the paper.
"It's one thing to mock me. Believe me, I've had worse, and in fact, that was a rather half-baked attempt. It's another thing to defile something this important. This might be really useful to you down the road." He tossed my masterpiece in the trash.
"Oh, then I guess we're even now," I said in a mockingly hurt voice. "I offended you. You offended me. I worked very hard on that. You should be honored that you made such an impression on me. Let's just clean the slate. And chillax about the syllabus. There's a digital copy online."
"Excuse me, but are you staying here for any particular reason? There is no class scheduled after this one," he said.
"Calm down, toots," I said as I opened up tumblr. "I'm supposed to be here. Part of my awesome major program."
"And...what major would that be?" he asked.
"Undeclared. Part of the exploratory thing. I was supposed to meet up with the prof after class."
Arthur sighed. "He never emailed me about this. He only told me I had to handle the class."
"Better check your email again," I said.
He pulled out his Blackberry phone and fumbled through the buttons. He must have found what he was looking for because he muttered under his breath and put the phone back in his pocket.
"Whatever. Do you know if there's going to be anymore of you showing up?"
I looked around the room. There was no one else besides us and the next class time had already passed.
"Looks like it's just us," I winked at him. I knew they were going to split the undeclareds among the different departments, but I didn't know I'd be on my own. That's cool. I'd be fine. I'm awesome on my own.
"Great," Arthur rolled his eyes. "Looks like you'll be with the English department for a little while."
"Fantasmic. So...can I go? You've got nothing else to read for me, right?" I asked.
"Wh...Why would you go? You haven't even done anything yet!" Arthur said rather flustered.
"Look. I don't know what I'm doing. You don't know what I'm doing. Just get back to me when you've come up with something awesome and Englishy for me to do." I put my laptop away and over my shoulder. I made my way through the empty aisle to exit the classroom..
"J-Julia! Wait a minute!" Arthur spluttered, searching though some papers.
"Ooh, impressive! Class of two hundred and you managed to sort of get my name right. The name's Jules. See you around, bushy-brows."
Looks like I awesomely survived another first day. First day of college in fact. I think I could deserve to treat myself a little bit. And right now, I could really go for a short stack of pancakes.
I crossed the street over to Chicks. They might not be free this time, but hey, they'd be worth it. I still remember the taste from last time. So hot and sweet. Or maybe I was just thinking of the company.
I sat down at a booth by the window and got out my laptop. I plugged my headphones so I could listen to YouTube videos.
Something plaid caught my eye. It wadn't on my screen. It was slightly over it. A plaid, flannel elbow lifted a hand to go though a head of honey colored hair. I smiled and slipped my headphones off.
"Hey there, stranger," I called out.
Matt looked over at me shyly. "Hey, uh...Jules."
"Looking for a place to sit?" I slapped the spot on the table across from me. "Park it, Mattie."
"You remembered me," he said as he slid in.
"Yeah, I'm pretty awesome. I've got a thing for names. You're not half bad yourself if you remembered mine," I said with a smile.
He turned a little pink at that. Gosh, he was adorable. So much fun.
"So what's up? You were looking pretty distressed back there," I said.
Matt turned even redder. "Oh, it was really nothing. Something just...threw me off a bit. That's all."
"Come on! You know you can tell me. We're not complete strangers. We've met twice now, you know." I winked at him.
"Ah, well...it's just. You were...in my spot," he said ashamed.
"What?"
"This booth...it's my favorite place to sit in the place. It's silly really. Don't worry about it. I'll figure it out," he mumbled out.
"That is quite a predicament." I grinned. "See, this is becoming a favorite of mine, too. I guess we'll just have to share."
Matt nodded. "Work out some sort of schedule or something."
"I don't mind sitting with you," I said. Matt looked up surprised, gaging me. "You don't mind, do you?"
"No," Matt said. "I actually kind of like the idea," he added quietly.
"Alrighty then! Looks like we've got a sweet deal going. I'll sit here when I feel like it, you'll sit here when you feel like it, and we'll kick out anyone who tries to steal our spot."
Matt chuckled under his breath. "Sounds good."
"So what's it this time, sweet cheeks? The usual?" the waitress said. She was pretty old. In her seventies at least. The lenses on her glasses were pretty thick. Like half an inch thick. She was probably blind as a bat.
"Muriel..." Matt was turning beet red.
"The usual it is then, honey. Ha, after two years, you'd think you'd go for a change. I think I'd about have a heart attack if something different happened," Muriel said.
"And I'll have a coffee and a short stack, please," I said.
Muriel's hand went to her chest, and she started gasping for air. Matt and I shot up out of the booth. I wasn't quite sure what to do. Matt had a better idea. His hands were helping Muriel.
Muriel waved him off. "I'm fine, honey. I'm fine. You just scared me a little, sweetie."
Matt sighed in relief and backed away. He got back in the booth.
Muriel pushed her glasses farther up her nose. "Now, let me get a good look at you."
Her wrinkly hands went to mine, and she felt them. Her head nodded up and down as she looked me over.
"Alright, turn around now, sweetie," she said.
I was a little confused of why she wanted me to turn, but I did it anyway. She stopped me when I had my back towards them.
"Ooh, you did good, Mattie baby. She ought to be lots of fun." She slapped my butt. I whipped around and saw her heading back to the kitchen. "God, knows you need it."
"I'm...I'm sorry! Muriel...she's..." Matt tried to explain. He could hardly get his words out. He was so embarrassed he couldn't even look at me.
"I like her. She's a feisty old lady," I said as I slid back in the booth.
"I'm sorry. That all the waitresses assume that we're... They've gotten kind of attached to me, so..."
"I think it's cute how they all care so much," I said.
"Alright kiddos, extra fast. Extra hot. Extra on the house." Muriel came over with a tray with our plates. She set them down and started filling up our coffee mugs. "Back to school special."
"Thanks, Muriel," Matt said.
"Yeah thanks. By the way, we're not actually together," I clarified. "We're more of 'booth acquaintances.'"
"Oh, you kids and your lingo these days. I don't care what you call it. Just no hanky panky. That I can see." She slipped off her glasses and winked at me. She turned around and put her glasses back on.
I couldn't hold it. I burst out laughing. I couldn't help but grab my sides and lay down on the booth. God, I loved that woman.
"Oh...shut up and eat your pancakes," Matt muttered.
