I'll be honest with you, this chapter wasn't prepared for today XD. Though, forget about that, get reading!
"Where is the book club supposed to meet?" Jay asked Cole as they walked the campus.
"I think it's in Borg Hall."
Cole held a notebook in his hands and was walking slightly ahead of Jay. Jay, however, was glad to see Cole was finally accepting life with him in it. He watched Cole as they walked, smiling since he knew the black-haired teen wasn't annoyed by his company. Well, most times he was, but other than that, Jay was feeling great.
As they approached Borg Hall, Jay fumbled with the strings of his blue coat, getting more nervous the closer they got. He was going to see Nya again.
"I can't wait to see Zane again!" Cole said with excitement. He reached for doors and allowed Jay to walk in first.
Oh man oh man oh man. Jay chewed on the inside of his cheek as he stepped inside, taking a good look at the people around him.
He saw Zane coming forward to greet him and Cole. But there were two people he'd never seen before in the school.
One of them was a girl. She had scarlet hair, pulled up into a high ponytail. The color of her hair seemed to go well with the color scheme of her clothes. She wore a honey colored, full zipped sweatshirt, with a lighter orange shirt underneath it. Her pants, however, were just a simple pair of denim jeans.
The second face was of a guy. His hair was strange to Jay. It was a dark greyish color which was brushed back, and had a white streak coming down the middle. The teenager looked a lot older then him, but he did look friendly.
"Jay! Glad you could make it!"
Jay shook his head wildly and looked to his left, seeing Nya walking towards him with open arms. She stopped in front of him and clasped her hands together.
Cole, who had just finished chatting with Zane, left to stand next to Jay. "Hi! I'm Cole, you're Nya, right?"
"That's me! And welcome to the Book club! Heh, it ain't much yet, but once we get it running I'm sure you guys will love it!" Nya jumped to her tip toes overwhelmed by excitement.
"I think I can see why you like her," Cole whispered to Jay with a smirk and an elbow.
Jay rubbed his arms and glared at Cole.
"You two know each other? I met Jay yesterday in the library and man! He sure impressed me! He told me he read twenty books over the summer! Even I couldn't read that many!"
Cole looked at Jay with his eyebrows raised.
"Er, are you sure Nya? Cause Jay here - ow!" Cole yelped when Jay elbowed him back.
"Heh, what he's trying to say is… Are you sure I said twenty books?"
Nya shook her head in question. "Um… I guess, why? Did you read more? I'm sure I can handle it if you said you read more."
Running his hand through his hair, Jay chuckled nervously. "Yeeaahh, I uh, I read twenty-five books! It was a lot but it was sure worth it! Heh heh… I guess you can say, I'm an egghead!"
"Okay, now I know for sure that's a lie," Nya said with a laugh.
"Do you?" Jay asked, slightly embarrassed.
"Anyways, who cares about that? It's if you enjoyed the book that counts! Here, I'll introduce you to the other members!" Nya grabbed Jay's wrist, making Jay tingle. She pulled him over to Zane and the other two unknown members. "This is Zane, Neuro, and Skylor!"
Burning from the touch of Nya's hand, Jay quickly let go and ran up to Neuro and Skylor, shaking their hands violently.
"Nice to meet you! I'm Jay! Jay Walker! What's your names? Oh wait, that's right, Nya just mentioned them! Ha ha I'm pretty forgetful aren't I? I'm Jay - wait -"
Cole put a hand over Jay's loud mouth and pushed him to the side.
"I'm Cole, pleased to meet you," he said with a friendly handshake and big grin.
The ginger watched as Cole socialized with them, but as he did, he stumbled over to Zane. Jay leaned against Zane's shoulder and stared at the group. He let out a mournful sigh, putting his face to his palm. "Oh, Zane, what was I doing?"
"You were talking at an extremely fast pace, you're hands were shaking, and you appear to be nervous."
He slapped his face once more. Why couldn't he keep calm for just five minutes?
"Is something wrong?" He heard Zane ask.
"I can't act right when I'm around her. It's like the world is spinning so fast, she's the only one I can think of."
"Are you referring to, Nya?"
Jay answered Zane with a small nod. "Any advice?"
"My advice is to keep calm and not to worry. Just be yourself and nothing could go wrong. That's what I was told when I was in middle school." Zane let out a heavy sigh and took a seat on an empty couch as the rest of the group mingled. Jay noticed his saddened face and took a seat across from Zane, with a frown plastered on his face.
"What happened?"
Cyrus Borg, the man who had came in earlier was already leaving the classroom, rolling out in his wheelchair. Zane, being the only student to sit at the back row had jotted down everything he could from Cyrus' speech. He wanted to remember it. He wanted to use it.
Feeling that wasn't enough, he stood up and ran after him. The teacher didn't seem to care, for all she did was urge Zane to go.
"Mr. Borg," Zane called out, "thank you for coming in! I am not sure if anyone else has told you this, but your speech made me feel proud of who I am, and gave me hope of becoming a better me! Thank you for sharing this experience with us." Zane told him as he clutched onto the arm of the wheelchair.
"Why, thank you young one! What is your name?"
"My name is Zane."
"Well Zane, is there anything I can help you with before I leave?"
Zane stood there as he pondered his thoughts. What could Borg help him with? He always had trouble fitting it. "Mr. Borg, no one here likes me. I don't know how to fit in, and I feel alone. I always try to please others but I regret my actions later on. I don't know what to do anymore, I just feel-"
Cyrus put a comforting hand on Zane's shoulder and looked him in the eyes. "Say no more, Zane. I was just like you when I was younger, out of place. I felt I didn't belong. But later I learned that it didn't matter what other people thought of me. You just have to learn to love yourself! If you love yourself, nothing could go wrong!"
Jay nodded as Zane told him the story. He didn't want to sound rude, but he was growing a tad bit… Bored. The only parts which interested him, were Cyrus Borg himself, and the lesson Zane was trying to teach him.
"Jay? You were listening, right?" Zane asked when he caught Jay staring dreamily at Nya.
"Oh, me? Yeah… Uh huh."
Soon, Nya was walking over to the both of them. "That sure was an interesting introduction," she said to Jay. "You two wanna come over and mingle with the others? It's no fun sitting out here alone. Ya know what I mean?"
"Of course, Nya." Zane stood up and started towards the rest of the group.
As Zane left, Nya noticed Jay looking down at his feet. She took a seat by him and started to laugh a bit. "You know, Cole told me you love comics. Do you have a favorite comic series?"
"Oh, ah, I like Starfarer…"
"Never heard of it, but I bet my brother has. If you go in and chat with the others, I promise I'll check out whatever this 'Starfarer' is. Deal?"
Jay hopped onto Cole's bed, picking up his copy of The Catcher in the Rye. He scooted up so that his back hit the wall, and he put his legs up so that his knees were chin level.
Cole was coming back late to the dorm because he had told Jay that he had left something back in the building where the book club was held. So to pass time, Jay decided to re read the Catcher in the Rye. Jay opened the book and stared at the pages, gagging at the condition it was in. He didn't take very good care of the book, but it didn't matter since Cole would still read it.
""Chapter 1 - if you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and -""
The door creaked open and Cole walked in, tossing his backpack at the dresser. His eyes looked incredibly tired and his posture was poor. Jay could easily tell how exhausted Cole was.
"So?" Cole had almost forgotten Jay was in the same room. He shrugged and collapsed onto his bed, closing his eyes. "Did you find it?"
Cole shook his head, opening his eyes. "What are you doing on my bed?"
Closing the book, Jay got on his knees and positioned himself so that he was looking over Cole. Jay lifted his shoulders, "I wanted to read the book, and it was on your bed…"
Cole's brows drew inwards and he frowned at Jay. Jay moved back so that Cole could sit up. He picked up the book and waved it in Cole's face. "Have you started reading it yet?" Cole replied with a no. "Why not? I thought you loved reading."
"Just because I'm a bookworm, doesn't mean I have time to read every single book in the world, Jay. Besides, didn't you say we'd be reading this in the book club?" Jay, who was still on his knees, crossed his arms. "Anyways, I have some homework to do."
Cole jumped off the bed and took a seat at his desk, putting his bag on his lap.
"It's half an hour till midnight; when's your homework due?"
"Thursday," Cole answered as he opened his textbook.
Walking over to Cole's desk, Jay closed the book and picked it up, setting it on top of the dresser. "It's Friday! We can go to the library on Monday and work on it there!"
Cole frowned at Jay's presence. "Unlike you, I prefer to start my homework early. Not slack off."
"I'm not telling you to slack off, I'm just saying that it's late and you should get some rest! You had a long day, and you need the sleep."
"Since when do I listen to you?"
"Uh, never? But you should start now and get ready for bed. Getting enough sleep helps sharpen the mind, right?"
"And so does homework!"
"For goodness sake, Cole! Homework can wait! Maybe because you're so tired from today, you're not thinking straight!"
"Okay no! Yes - maybe, I dunno anymore. But what I do know is that our bickering is getting us nowhere." Cole stood up from the chair. "We'll go to the library tomorrow -"
"Monday."
"Tomorrow. I got a whole two extra days to finish this assignment and you want me to wait till Monday?"
Jay did his best to keep a straight face.
"Fine. Monday it is."
The two of them stood still, facing each other in silence. Jay felt satisfied of convincing Cole to work on his homework, Monday. Tomorrow was their first weekend of the college year, and he wanted the two of them to relax and take it easy.
However, just as a let out a sigh of relief, his phone buzzed in the distance.
Okay, so here's a bit of information that I need you to know- next week I think on Wednesday or Thursday, I'll be leaving for Canada (unless something goes wrong with the weather, then the trip is cancelled). I'll be there for about five days, but for now let's just round it up to a week. And, since Cananda is across the border for me, I won't be able to use any internet/data unless I'm connected to a WiFi. Anyways, that means no updates next Thursday. BUT because I'm nice XD, I will update next week either Tuesday OR Wednesday whichever day before I leave.
I'll probably be able to reply to some of your comments or read some stories as I leave, since I'll most likely still be in the state by then. Other than that, I think that's all I have to say for now. If any of you are reading my other fanfic Down a Long Road, prepare for the same news to appear when I update. I may add a few extra notes but, just a fair warning!
Welp. Thanks for reading this chapter! Hope you enjoyed!
