Roy thought of himself as a generally cool-headed person. He was never one to get upset over minor, trivial things. Right now, he was just annoyed. He looked on at the girl sharing a table with what seemed to be two twin brothers and all three were discussing the subject of calculus. He had chosen to sit in the common room of their engineering dorms in an attempt to cool down from the situation he had found himself in this morning. Perhaps it was bit awkward that Roy was blatantly just staring at three other students, but he found it was distracting him of his own anger, and also because the huge ceiling-to-floor window of their dorm was on the side he was sitting on and nobody wants that much sunshine in their eyes at roughly seven in the morning.
The sunshine however made the girl's dark skin glow, which only amplified her cheery attitude. The girl had on a big floral bonnet on her head and wore sweatpants and a light shirt. Seeing as this was still morning, her attire wasn't very questionable. She seemed to be mentoring the two brothers. The two brothers were weirdly enthusiastic for the morning as well, which had drawn his attention in the first place to them, and they conversed with each other only in spanish, then would frequently turn back to the girl and speak english, and only because he was listening in on them with no shame, he wished he had passed AP Spanish when he'd taken it in highschool. Roy himself sat on the same couch the girl sat on only sitting a few feet from her, also in pajamas.
"The chain rule is kind of like searching for other rules inside of one problem, not just doing one."
"Que no es nada confuso," One brother said sarcastically.
"But it's true. See, look here." The girl pointed her pencil at an example problem on the paper between them, but the two brothers just sighed loudly and leaned back in their chair in response.
"Estamos muy cansados…" The twins slumped in their chairs and let their heads fall back before nodding to him. "Como el." The trio then turned their attention to Roy, who continued to stare at them unflinchingly. He only blinked back at them in his boredom.
"...Are you okay?" The girl questioned tentatively. He remained honest.
"No."
"Did your roommate kick you out or something?" She pressed on. Roy sighed, wishing his somewhat-annoying roommate chose to stay home last night. Then maybe he wouldn't have found himself in this situation. "Your roommate is Garth right? I have his number if you want me to call him for you." The girl offered.
"Don't. It has nothing to do with him and he wouldn't help either way." His voice was low and he seemed to now stare beyond the girl.
"Okay...well, what's wrong then?" The three were now completely interested in what had soured Roy's mood, and he sat up straighter and took a breath of air before enlightening them with all the details which led to his current behavior.
"There's this girl I was with last night, I brought her back to the dorm-" The two brothers interrupted to coo mockingly at each other, to which Roy merely rolled his eyes. "She slept over at my place, and today, I woke up, and my fucking cellphone is gone." He nervously had begun to comb through his hair again, a tick of his he had yet to get rid of. He didn't even know why he brought out his comb in the first place.
"I'm assuming you've looked everywhere at this point in your dorm." The girl remained sympathetic to his current issue, her brown eyes wide while assessing his situation. "What kind of phone was it?"
"The Iphone eleven Pro." The brothers gasped in unison as the girl's eyebrows furrowed in disbelief.
"The one with three cameras?" Roy nodded in confirmation. "Any idea where she is? I'd track her down ASAP if I were you." Roy had already ruled out the possibility of getting it back as he only remembered her name and nothing else, and the university was quite large. He didn't even know if she lived on campus. As he combed through all he could manage to remember about her the solution to his predicament popped in his brain suddenly, causing him to jolt where he sat on the couch with a new idea.
"She has a class at eight! With a professor named Gould!" He made a motion to whip his phone out of the pocket of his sweatpants but remembered he lacked such an item. "Can you use your phone to go on the class search and look up which class he has right now!?" Surprised by his newfound energy, the girl obliged immediately as the spanish brothers watched in curiosity.
"Intro to archaeology, at Kinsey hall," She chirped, reading the information off the screen. "It's seven thirty, you should probably get going."
"Perfect." He gave his hair one last swipe with the comb before he stood up with a newfound purpose, but paused to take one last look at the girl, who peered up at him inquisitively. "What's your name?" It only seemed proper to at least ask.
"Karen. I'm guessing your name is Roy if you're Garth's roommate." He gave one nod of approval before looking at the brother pair.
"Mar y Montel!" The twins cheerfully chimed in their names.
"Will you help me?" Roy now focused on Karen, who frowned at the offer.
"What do you mean?"
"She stole it, so I know if she sees me she's going to do the best to avoid me. I need you to go get it." Immediately, Karen disapproved of the idea and shook her head, clicking her tongue.
"No, I don't think so. I'm kind of in the middle of-"
"Por favor, Karen?"
"Nos ayudaria a despertar!" The twin brothers pleaded with her. With a roll of her eyes and one final huff of annoyance, she gave in.
"Fine."
XxX
It was seven fifty five in the morning, and Karen had gathered they were already too late when the four of them arrived at Kinsey Hall to recover Roy's cellphone. Not that they had taken long to get ready, she had decided to stay in her morning attire and managed to do her hair in a minute or less, which was no small feat for her. Prepared to apologize to Roy and wish him luck on his quest to find this girl, she turned to him solemnly only for him to shoot his finger across her field of vision and point right next to her high cheekbones.
"There! That's her. The one in the green skirt." He discerned. She turned to eye the alleged criminal who indeed was wearing a green plaid skirt and a simple white crop top, complete with a matching chanel waist chain. Why do all the asian kids here dress amazing? She wondered before going over to confront the girl, who was walking fairly quickly to the doors of the lecture hall.
"Hey!" Karen barked, jumping in front of her. The girl raised one eyebrow, taken by surprise.
"Hello?" The girl answered back, making it clear she thought the whole interaction was already odd. In an attempt to ease the tension but failing at it, Karen gave a quick smile before making up a lie to see the phone, as she realized she had not planned what she might say.
"I left my backpack with a friend and my phone was in it. Can I use your phone real quick to call her?" It was a bad lie,and hopefully this girl couldn't read the nervousness in her eyes, but maybe it would do for now. The girl gave one last look to the lecture hall doors and just as Karen thought she might reject her, the girl instead said okay. Both of them stepped off to the side in order to avoid student traffic and Karen watched attentively as the girl unzipped her bag to reveal Roy's alleged cell phone. The girl held it in her hand, going to the appropriate screen to make a call and Karen had to wonder how stupid Roy was to not have a password for his phone. The girl gave a friendly smile before handing it to Karen, who held out her hand excitedly.
Just as she was about to accept the stolen item, the girl pulled her hand back, and Karen looked up to see that she had a startled expression, looking at someone beyond her. Thinking quickly, Karen made an attempt to snatch the phone out of her hand while she was staring off into space, but the girl thought quicker, and clutched the phone against her chest, before picking up her backpack and running inside the lecture hall, in which her professor had just started class.
"GIVE IT BACK, JADE!" Roy ran passed Karen into the lecture hall, set on getting his phone back. The twins, who had been standing next to Roy previously and only observed, burst out laughing as Karen frowned at them.
"Should we stay?" She asked aloud, hoping for the input of the twin brothers.
The lecture hall itself was packed with students settling down and opening their computers to take notes as the professor already had started with the introduction before the lesson. This did not stop Roy from scanning the entire room for the vietnamese girl, or anything green and expensive-looking. His eyes almost popped when he finally spotted her and he had to remember to relax his fist as he was carrying his comb and the teeth of it dug into his angry palm. She sat on the other side of the hall, smack down in the middle of the many rows and students, trying to blend in. He walked briskly towards her, hissing her name, when she was close enough to hear. She still ignored him. He was climbing over other student's bags and hitting his knees on the small tables attached to all the chairs.
"Give it back! Where is it?" Roy seethed. He was two students away from her. Jade had her backpack resting on the floor between her two feet. She clenched them together and pushed the backpack further underneath her seat.
When he finally got to her desk, he instantly brought his fist down her notebook paper, and the noise caused students from all directions to eye the boy standing in the middle of lecture in his pajamas. Roy was so angry he might as well have been as red as his hair. He heard the professor call out to him but Roy ignored him. "WHERE IS IT JADE?" He whispered angrily. Jade only leaned to the side in order to see the powerpoint her professor had provided. In one quick motion, Roy leaned down to snatch her bag and bring it up to his chest to take off with it, but Jade grabbed it and began to pull it towards her, finally earning his attention.
"Sir, you need to take a seat." The professor began to sound more authoritative as now the entire lecture was staring at the two. Roy was busy trying to pry Jade's fingers away from the zippers of the backpack so that he could use them. He kicked Jade in her shin in an attempt to make her loosen her grip, but that only tipped off the professor. "GET OUT." Roy quickly looked over his shoulder to finally address professor Gould, who was not amused at all by the boy.
"She took my-"
"You need to leave immediately, you have disrupted my lecture and I won't tolerate this kind of bullshit like fighting!" The professor launched into a heavy tirade condemning him from his lecture at once. Jade scratched at Roy's arm as he had her by the wrist and managed to pull one hand away from her backpack, and was working on her other hand.
"Just one second-" Roy responded to the professor. The students surrounding Roy began to whisper, telling him to get out as well. Jade kicked at his shins from her seat and in his surprise he let go of her captive wrist, which was just enough time for her to escape and start punching at his other hand. Another student had stood up next to Jade and began to physically push him out of the classroom, causing Roy to trip over another student's backpack, in which he lost his grip on Jade's backpack entirely, who now hugged it to her chest before setting it back down on the floor when Roy was far enough from her. Roy was quietly pleading with the student trying to explain the situation as he tried to stop in his tracks several times to get back to Jade, ignoring the now furious professor who was now shouting at him, but the student was having none of it, and pushed him out of the aisles and towards the door. Turning back only to glare with disgust at Jade, he made a swipe of his hair with his comb before walking out. Only he realized in a split second, he had left his comb on her desk. Jade must have realized this at the same time as she smiled sweetly at him before putting the comb in her backpack as well.
"You're a BI-" The door closed on his face before he had an opportunity to finish his declaration.
XxX
Garfield had been sitting outside of Victor's dorm for the last twenty minutes, recounting the cash he had earned overnight. Victor rolled his eyes as he approached his door with his plastic yet expensive key.
"What do you need?" He asked Garfield in a bored tone as they both entered his room. Garfield only responded by holding up the money he just counted with pleasure.
"Four-hundred dollars." He set the money down triumphantly on Victor's desk. Victor was only left in confusion, dropping off his backpack next to his bed.
"Where'd you get that?" It appeared Garfield was ready for his oncoming questions as he settled into the black desk chair that came with the dorm room and balanced his backpack on one knee, unzipping it to reveal several missing dog posters.
"Found some dogs last night." He gave the posters to Victor's curious hand. "These were plastered all over the bus stop near the CVS. It took all night."
"What were you doing finding missing dogs?" Garfield eagerly hopped on his bed ready to give his proposition, now that the appropriate question had been asked.
"Remember the whole Gizmo thing with Richard and how we got free food afterwards as a reward?" Victor nodded, having a pretty good guess of what this was leading too. "Well, that got me thinkin'...I could make money by doing these bounties!" He held a poster up as an example. "This dog took about five hours to find, which is pretty lucky. It was in an alley fighting with a cat, and I got one-fifty for finding him." Another poster. "This pitbull I found with another missing dog, they were both damn near Gotham, I guess they were walking down the main road there two houses were on. They weren't missing for long, but I got three-hundred for them." One more poster. "This last one I found right near the owner's house, she's this old woman who I guess can't see well, the dog was just camping on the side of the house for the last week because there is a hole in her fence. She tried to give me one-hundred for him, and I told her she can keep the money but she insisted I take at least thirty so I could get a ride home." He waited for his reaction with a bright smile.
"When did you get back?" Victor pressed on.
"I started when I got off work and came back around...four in the morning. I'm about to sleep good tonight." Victor winced at the fact.
"It's really smart how you found a way to get money but…" He paused to word his next sentence carefully. "..You do realize you were incredibly lucky to find all those dogs?" Garfield nodded. Richard had expressed the same thought to him a few hours before.
"I don't plan on making it a habit… but also it's a nice little thing to have on the side," He suggested carefully to his older best friend, to which Victor nodded. "There's something weird going on at my job too, I think that's why there's so many missing dogs for some reason around here."
"Doesn't it sound kinda dangerous?" Garfield raised his eyebrows in confusion.
"You don't even have a car. What if something bad happened?" Garfield opened his mouth to defend himself, but Victor kept talking anyway. "All I'm saying you could use a backup plan. Or at least somebody by your side who has those sort of things." Garfield grinned as Victor crossed his arms, staring back at him with raised eyebrows, knowing exactly what he was thinking.
"You'd join me?" Garfield asked elatedly. "I asked Richard and he told me it was a bad idea." Victor scoffed at the image.
"Yeah. It's a bad idea to go alone like how you did, but together, we'll be fine." Victor assured.
XXX
The one thing that had been true of college so far in Kory's perspective was the chance of a new start. Being in a place where nobody knows your name, unlike in highschool where everybody knows not only your name but your general reputation before they even talk to you face-to-face. She was committed to reinventing herself for the better while she spent her undergrad here, already unfollowing most of her high-school peers and following random people on Instagram just because they went to the same college. She could safely say she has the numbers of exactly three new friends here, being her roommate, Garfield, and her classmate Donna, who she was now drinking Starbucks with while walking back to her dorm, as their lecture just ended. She also has been added to numerous party chats and has been talking to boys who had found her on Instagram who also go to Luther University.
It seemed like she was thriving socially, but the reality was that the only friends she hung out with on a regular basis was Donna and Raven, and she hadn't seen Garfield since their second interaction in the kitchen. While she was included in all of those party chats, she still hadn't found anyone to actually party with, and she definitely would not be going alone anymore. Back in her home country, sex seems to not be as big a deal as it is in America, especially regarding women. The first boy she had talked to on Instagram had questioned her views about this, first asking if she was into casual sex. Kory, seeing the question as more of a discussion on personal views and not an invite, had reiterated the fact that she does not have weird hang-ups about it like how American girls seemed too. That first guy immediately sent a unflattering picture of his penis, which not only surprised her in a bad way, but then the guy got mad at her when she rejected the notion of being interested in sleeping with him. She had to block him, and she's been slowly learning the ways of college boys who DM her ever since. Most of them were very forward, usually straight up asking if they could meet and hook up, some got creative with their 'compliments' and told her she was pretty for an african girl or some racist/sexual jab that they think is clever or cute, all of which earn an automatic block and no message back, but she still tried to at least talk to the ones who come off as sweet and polite first.
"You got a new message." Kory first met Donna in their college mathematics lecture and the two instantly clicked over the Dolls Kill crop tops both of them wore. At first it was a relationship built on fashion advice, with Donna giving her tips on what to wear that would compliment both her tan skin and copper-red hair, and Kory giving her advice in return that would help Donna take care of her wavy dark-brown hair, like deep conditioners and such, but soon they realized they enjoyed each other's company as well.
Donna was now holding Kory's phone as they approached Kory's dorm, stopping a few yards from the entrance. Kory was showing her a pinterest board of hers when the message popped up from Instagram. "It's from a guy named Grant. Is he your boyfriend?" Donna cooed playfully. Kory rolled her eyes.
"No. What is the message?"
"He wants to play twenty questions."
"Reply with 'yes.'" The phone dinged with a new notification as soon as Donna sent the response.
"He wants to know if you're a virgin." The two locked eyes and instantly cackled with laughter. "I literally hate guys like that." Donna admitted when the two recovered.
"What do they hope to accomplish?" Kory snickered with a mix of disgust and amusement. Donna shook her head as she read the message again.
"Delusional and hopeless. I've got the perfect reply."
No, I'm a Taurus :)
"He left you on read." Donna handed the phone back to Kory so that she could observe herself, and the two giggled amongst themselves once again.
"Do you live here too? What floor do you reside?" Kory asked as she held her student ID up to the door scanner. Donna shook her head as she took another sip of her frappuccino.
"I got into a sorority, it's across campus." Kory gasped.
"It is the extremely hot outside! And you have walked me the entire way here! You should do the hurrying before your drink melts." Donna rolled her eyes.
"It's fine, really. You should wish me more luck and hope I don't see a certain sister bitching about her boyfriend again on her phone to her daddy."
"All the luck in the world." Kory sympathetically placed a hand on Donna's shoulder before the two parted ways.
Raven had chosen to spend her free afternoon on her common room floor and kitchen making a cup of green tea and reading a book, despite the warm weather. Housing has not failed on their promise to keep the dorm's air-conditioning flowing, so she learned that she wasted money buying a fan and could have spent it buying more tea to keep her warm.
"Hello Raven!" She looked up to see her bubbly roommate returning from class with a half-finished frappuccino in hand. "May I join you in the cooking? I do not have the left-overs from my last meal." Raven nodded, even giving Kory a tiny smile. It was a fairly good day and she felt much relaxed, even though she wasn't bursting with joy like her roommate obviously was. Kory returned with her tiny kitchen set and what can only be described as her foreign food. The two had come a long way in learning how to put up with one another, and this was an example. Kory cooked happily in silence while Raven continued to read her book. Beforehand, Kory would fill every moment of silence with an unnecessarily awkward comment, but now, they could just enjoy each other's presence without saying a word. Unfortunately this comfortable silence was ruined by the addition of two new people hoping to make a meal as well.
The two boys were chattering about something Raven didn't care to eavesdrop on, but then Kory gasped and exclaimed their presence.
"GARFIELD!" She immediately went over to hug him, causing Raven to at least look above her book to observe the three. Kory hugged him tightly as if she'd known him for years, while this Garfield seemed surprised by the sudden show of affection and hugged her slowly as he realized it was Kory. Then Kory turned to hug his accomplice.
"I am the most sorry, I forgot your name, but I remember you!" She hugged him just as tightly as she did Garfield.
"It's Victor." He reminded her.
Raven kept eyeing the boy who Kory first hugged while still holding the book just over her nose, as she attempted to remember where she had heard that name before. As the realization dawned on her that it was the boy who had asked her out while she was working, she ducked just in time so that her face was blocked by the book she was holding just as he turned her way. But Kory would not let her get off the hook so easily.
"This is my roommate, Raven! We were just doing the cooking." Kory stood by her side and leaned against Raven's chair. With only a deep breath to prepare for the ensuing awkwardness she lifted her head and gave a friendly quick smile at the pair.
"Hope she wasn't too much for you when we called you at the party." Victor quipped, setting down their own pans and food. Raven was momentarily thankful she could give him his full attention instead of Garfield.
"It was fine."
"It looks like she's making it up to you." Garfield stated casually, nodding to whatever food Kory decided to now fry up in their presence, then smiling innocently at her. She might've smiled at him back if she didn't feel so awkward, but was grateful he was choosing to ignore their previous interaction as well.
"What activities have the two of you participated in recently?" Kori gushed, her bright green eyes glowing with kindness. Before exchanging a knowing look with his partner, Garfield remained silent as he allowed Victor to share the story of the two of them catching a criminal and almost getting shot. Kory's expression went from one of friendliness to one of horror. Even Raven had unconsciously set her book down to listen with wide eyes at his story.
"You two were able to catch him?" Kory had heard the ending, but it seemed to shock her that it had a relatively good ending.
"Sounds like you guys could have used a safer strategy." Raven mumbled behind Kory's statements.
"Yeah, but it gave me an idea!" Garfield exclaimed, shuffling on his stool and resting his hands on the table as if to present a business proposal.
"Worrisome." Garfield ignored Raven's unprompted statements and told them of his plan.
"These flyers are all over campus. It's not like I'm gonna continue going after criminals, but for the small minute sort of things…. People reward you for that sort of stuff. Why not?"
XXX
Richard was extremely aware of his privileged position financially whenever he found himself compared to other students. No, FAFSA did not grant him financial aid, but also he had no student debt or loans either. He could thank his dad for that. Nevertheless, he tried to stay humble and down to earth, not judging someone else's financial situations and not saying stupid shit like 'Just work harder and then you'll stop being poor' when he found himself in a conversation regarding student debt, which unfortunately is very common on college campuses. He also preferred to keep his financial business to himself. He never understood how all the international students flaunted their money in the clothes they bought or the new apple technology they already pre-ordered. Very bold move for them.
Currently, he found himself at the ATM machine next to his bank, a quick stop on the way home from previously visiting CVS across the street. After collecting a couple hundreds dispensed from the machine, he turned on his heel to go on about his business, when he was confronted by a look of absolute anger by a man (who was likely a student after observing his appearance)waiting in line for the next associate who could help him. Richard blushed and wondered if he'd been caught as he stuffed his newly collected money in his wallet then shoved it back into his backpack but then he realized the man wasn't eyeballing him so harshly, rather the wall, he appeared to be thinking of something else.
"Are you going to punch somebody?" Richard said only in jest, if not to get the man to acknowledge his presence and take the cue to move out of the way, as he was blocking Richard's path. Instead of moving out of the way, he took this opportunity to relieve some of his anger and started ranting about how some girl stole his phone or something and now he had to cancel his bank cards because of Google pay, but Richard wasn't keen on paying attention as he immediately started trying to find a way to leave not only the conversation but the area, which was blocked by the line of customers. Eventually, he just gave up and resigned to listening to the man's sad tale.
"I tried to go get it, but she took it to class and got me kicked out. Now I'm getting email notifications on my computer from shopping sites." Richard was ready to answer with the standard, 'That's wild/sucks, man,' when he was finished when only what could be called an intrusive thought popped up.
"I know someone who could help you," Richard quickly offered, taking out his own phone to text the very person he was speaking of.
"For real?"
"Yeah. He should be able to find her easily," Richard chuckled to himself. "I'm Richard by the way."
"Roy. What do you mean? Who is he?"
"He's my friend. He just said he's free right now if you want to go meet up, but I'll be honest and say you should go file a police report, but it also sounds like you don't want to get the girl in trouble." Roy squinted his eyes suspiciously.
"What makes you say that?"
"You would have filed one already." With no immediate response from Roy, who now sat with this new truth, Richard asked if he still would like to go meet his friend, in which Roy agreed to.
It wasn't that Richard doubted Garfield's ability to go about campus making money from bounties and missing dog flyers- he just wanted to see if Garfield was as serious as he believed himself to be. Although, it was admittedly surprising when Garfield had texted him back yes in all caps, and he thought it would be amusing to watch how Garfield planned on tracking down this girl and getting Roy's phone back, whether it be successful or not. Garfield had told him he'd meet Roy at his dorm, where he was cooking on his kitchen floor while Richard waited for Roy to cancel his bank cards in a chair.
Richard could tell Roy was nervous about going to meet Garfield. Which he could admit himself seemed quite sketchy, especially the fact that it is unknown whether Garfield would actually find the girl, not that Roy needed to know that. Richard tried extracting all the information about Jade's whereabouts he could as the two walked to Garfield's dorm and then to his floor on the elevator, just in case Garfield couldn't crack the case.
"He's cool. We'll get your phone back."
"And my comb."
"Your comb too, both." Richard reassured as they stepped off the elevator and towards the kitchen. He didn't like making such promises, but now that he had roped Roy in, he felt obligated to at least sooth him momentarily, even if they might've been li-
His eyes might as well have popped out of his skull. He wasn't sure if his mouth opened in his disbelief, but for a moment he forgot himself as he walked into the kitchen and immediately noticed that Garfield had not been the only one cooking. The two of them slowly approached the table where a girl was sitting. Roy was only following Richard's slow walking pace and Richard was only walking so slowly because he was observing another girl who had her back turned to him, she was cooking with the aid of Victor. Roy frowned and eyed Richard strangely before walking ahead of him as Richard stopped to bluntly ogle at the girl who had not even noticed his presence. Garfield, ignoring the slight awkwardness, stood up from his stool to welcome them with a great smile.
"Hello-"
"HEY!" Both Richard and Kory shouted at each other, almost as soon as Kory turned and made eye contact with him. Being unnecessarily and awkwardly loud, the rest of whom were in the kitchen turned to spectate. They both continued to talk over each other accidently, as they asked each other where they've been and how they were doing, only to become suddenly aware of how they were acting in front of other people and then get quiet almost immediately, smiling and laughing awkwardly while still stealing shy sneaky looks at one another. Richard knew he'd recognize her curly red hair anywhere.
All of this went down only in the course of about two minutes, and suffocating on the clear romantic tension between the two, Garfield merely rolled his eyes and welcomed Roy into the kitchen, bringing the attention back to the issue at hand.
"Richard said you could help me find my comb and my phone?" Roy would have minded small talk first, but he was growing to be a bit desperate.
"Without a doubt. What kind of phone is it?"
"Iphone eleven Pro." Unable to stop himself from wincing at Roy's stolen item, Garfield nevertheless continued to ask him questions as everyone else listened closely as well. It was a good thing Roy knew the name of the thief and could give a description or else his determination would have faltered quite a bit.
"Bet we could get it back by tomorrow afternoon."
"Not tonight?" Roy said dejectedly, which caught Garfield off guard. It was already mid-afternoon. But Garfield didn't want to disappoint him.
"Okay tonight… but probably super late." He settled on. Raven couldn't help but roll her eyes and huff, despite being relatively silent the entire time.
"There is no way you guys think this is a good idea." She stared at Garfield with a deadpan look but was only met by his confused face. "I'm just trying to point out the fact that you're entirely unprepared. You haven't even finished cooking your dinner." She nodded to the pot of vegetarian matter, which was now boiling over, Garfield rushed to tend to it. Victor handed Raven a plate of meatloaf and a now acceptable-looking mush(?) of Kory's food.
"I'm done with dinner. I'll help you out, but it'll have to be tomorrow, Roy. Want a plate?" Victor offered.
"I'll take you all out for Starbucks if you find my phone and comb tonight." Roy accepted Victor's plate but his firm, desperate plea made everyone turn their heads. "One medium drink and one food item."
XXX
If she is ever known to tell a single truth, Jade would say the most relaxed she'll ever be is whenever she is eating. She never liked to rush her food, like that one scene in ratatouille, she liked to really absorb the taste of whatever she ate. And so then she can contemplate about her day and her future plans, also to do some mindless wondering that would put her more at ease. It was a lifelong dream/fantasy of hers to travel the world in expensive hotels and just literally eat all of their food. Right now, she had chosen to spend some of her money to grab a bite of Five Guys at the epicenter of campus, Greenwood Maine. She had never eaten inside of the building, it being like a mini-mall for fast food, so she figured she should treat herself. Each piece of bacon and fry was heaven in her mouth. She didn't even notice the two girls who sat at the table next to her and drowned out their chatter in favor of eating her meal, closing her eyes to experience it on a wholesome level. After eating about half of her bacon sandwich, she dropped a hand to reach down at her side to unzip her backpack, hoping to find a pack of napkins in the tiny front pocket.
"Oh my gosh, there's a roach on your table!" Jade's eyes immediately shot open to look at the girl who had made such a claim, before quickly observing her own tiny table on which her meal sat upon.
"I don't see anything." Jade noted, but standing up and away from the table just in case she still could not see it. She looked at the girl again, who still gazed at her table with a worried expression. The other girl accompanying her was not paying attention, digging through her backpack on the other side of their table. "Where is it?" Jade was only growing more confused and paranoid, but the girl was not looking at her, but still at her table. She flipped her black braid behind her shoulders before standing up herself and shuffling in her high-waisted jeans, raising an eyebrow at her bacon burger.
"I don't know, I didn't see where it went. It's not behind your food, is it?" She tugged at the hem of her crop top nervously. Jade narrowed her eyes in anger at the girl's peculiar behavior before glancing back at her delicious meal in annoyance.
"I have napkins in my bag to kill it." Jade stated sternly, turning around to look behind her to pick up her backpack, extending her hands towards it's straps only to realize her bag was gone. Confused, she stood up and looked over her shoulder at the girl who watched her every move, she looked as if she just got caught. "Did you…" She trailed off, looking around the mostly empty cafeteria. There was only about three other people. All of which who were eating opposite of her end. She looked at the ground, and back at her food, where the alleged roach may or may not be still, and then she heard a quick zip, a sound that almost broke her neck because of how quickly she turned to locate it.
The other girl. Was going through HER backpack. Unashamedly so leaning over the edge of her chair on the other side of the table. She tucked a lock of her red hair behind her ear, once again reaching inside HER backpack, not even realizing that she had been caught. Jade silently stomped over, then kicked her squarely in the face with enough force to push her off of her own chair and land right on her ass, taking her own backpack and whipping it over her shoulder. But the red-head seemed unfazed by this, she stood right back up and towered over Jade with a glare that even caused Jade's own angry face to falter in fear.
"You stole a phone." Wasting no more time to act, Jade shoved the girl into their table as hard as she could before dashing off into the hallway. She could hear the girl get up and take off after her. Whether it would count against her or not, the building was relatively empty- it was now late afternoon/early evening, so she did have room to sprint as fast as she could, but it also meant she couldn't lose herself in a crowd. Pushing herself to run fast enough to turn the corner and not have the girl on her tail as much, she jumped onto a lower staircase that would take her into the lower level of the food court. Luckily it was a big building with lots of exits, so as long as she played her cards right, she could get out of here relatively quickly and unscathed.
She wasn't surprised at Roy's reaction, and it was honestly dumb for her to post a picture of herself on social media enjoying the sun right before getting a meal. She should have figured Roy was still tracking her down. It was a really good picture though. Made her skin glow during golden hour. That three-camera phone was really amazing. What surprised her the most though, was how many fucking friends this guy seemed to have, all hell-bent to get his phone back. Her own friends would have just patted her on the back and would say 'Better luck next time.' She figured it was the same case for everybody.
The tall red-head was nowhere to be seen, nor was her pale friend. What a distasteful way to fool her! Jade paused to re-zip her backpack, hoping it's contents were not lost on the way down to the lower-level. She was now hyper-alert of her surroundings, ignoring the stares from the food workers and the few students still sitting and doing homework on their laptops. She looked around every corner she turned carefully and quietly, slowly but surely making her way to the elevators. She figured the girl and possibly Roy was still wondering around the main first floor searching for her, it has lots of places to hide. She went to the higher second-floor. Almost immediately after she stepped off the elevator, she was snatched up by the back of her shirt by a tall, extremely built black man. She made a move to punch him in the face, but he caught it with his own hand easily, forcibly putting her hand down.
"There's no need for violence if you just give us the phone. I'll let you go."
"And the comb." Another man was at his side. They both seemed to be relatively calm, which was dissimilar to Jade's own feelings right now, she was extremely hot.
"I don't have it with me." Jade said desperately, pushing the man's hand off of her arm.
"May we take a look then?" After a moment of consideration, Jade shrugged off her backpack and tossed it to the blonde adversary, who caught it with ease and bent down to look through it.
Jade slowly began to back up and away from the two foes, but the taller one caught her shoulder and gave a stern look at her, as his accomplice searched her bag.
"I don't see it anywhere." He noted out loud.
"I told you I don't have it with me." She made a motion to take her bag back, but he ignored it.
"Then where is it?" She took off running in the other direction before he could finish his line of questioning, darting from hallway to hallway. Her heart was beating so fast, and she wanted to stop, but she had to at least get off the second floor first. But like a sick game of pac-man, another guy stood in the middle of one hallway where she planned to run as the other route was a dead-end. White boy with black hair. Who did he think he was? Some kind of detective? He stood in a way that conveyed authority, although he looked to be about her own age.
"Can you just give it to me or tell us where it is so we can get on with our lives? He hasn't turned you into the campus police so you have nothing major to lose." Jade ran right pass him into one of the common rooms of the second floor, darting behind a chair to catch her breath and to observe where they might go. She rested her head against the chair as she tried to silence her heavy breathing, and resigned to then turning over to rest her head on her knees, eavesdropping on their conversation. Now finally Roy shows up.
"Did you see where she went?" He questioned the others. She couldn't believe she was chased down like this, and while she was just trying to fucking eat! Yeah, she had his phone. In her pocket. And his comb too. She stood up, while Roy still spoke to his little team, and made her way to the railing of the second floor. Below, was a small fountain and she stared at it as Roy took notice of her. He walked with fury, calling her name before she whipped around to face him and tell him to stop walking. In that moment, Roy looked legitimately worried for her safety-she didn't blame him, she proably looked crazy as fuck- but she decided to not let his expression affect her. Jade took out the missing Iphone out of her pocket. Roy was genuinely surprised, in such a way it seemed he was disappointed by this fact.
"You're skirt has pockets?" He asked in a dismal tone. She nodded, smiling widely at him, tucking her free hand inside one of the pockets and twirling for him. Then she nonchalantly tossed both the phone and comb over the rail before taking off, once again. In a futile effort to catch his phone, Roy had sprinted and leaned over the railing, ignoring the fact that Jade was getting away, now that she no longer had what he needed. Garfield, Victor, and Richard were only a few steps away, but watched in horror at what just happened, unsure if they should go after the girl or begin to comfort Roy.
"I got it!" Raven caught both items, and almost dropped them, but held the phone between the palms of her hands, letting the comb drop into the water fountain before sitting on the edge of said fountain and placing the phone into her lap and then fishing the comb out of the water. Giving a thumbs up to Roy, who grinned at her from above, she announced both of Roy's things were now safe.
XXX
Kori rested the ice-pack the Starbucks employees quickly made for her along with her frappuccino and coffee cake onto the side of her face as she waited for her friends to get their orders and return to their claimed table. It felt so cool against her cheek and seemed to cool her entire face, as not only did it ease the pain, but she was really sweaty as far as running around the entire floor of Greenwood Maine, and she hated the feeling of her clothes sticking to her skin like this. Her denim shorts didn't feel so bad, but her white NASA shirt will definitely be washed immediately to avoid any unwanted pit stains. Roy had bought them all Starbucks using his meal plan money before thanking them all for their work and even exchanging numbers or Snapchats with all of them and then deciding to head back to his own dorm to relax.
"Are you okay?" Richard took a seat next to her, noticing the huge bruise starting to develop on her cheek. She tried her hardest not to blush, and instead of looking at him she picked at her coffee cake.
"I will be the okay. Just a bruise," She couldn't help but to at least offer one genuine smile at his concern.
"Raven, you're the only one who's not tired." Victor remarked compared to the four of them, who was at least some degree of exhausted, mostly from all of the chasing. Raven had gotten green matcha tea and a blueberry muffin to eat.
"I thought she'd come back to finish her meal." Raven admitted truthfully. Not that she was particularly motivated for the mission anyway.
"I don't know why he didn't turn her in the first time. Seems like a lot of unnecessary effort on Roy's part." Richard said to no one in particular, but receiving nods of agreement from the table.
"It's because he likes her." Victor noted, with the approval of Raven.
"Do you think he's gonna try something with her again?" Raven asked Victor, who was seated next to her.
"Probably, they've got a lot to talk about though." They all snickered at this fact as Garfield arrived at the table, getting the same frappuccino as Kory except with a grilled cheese sandwich.
"What's funny?" He dropped small, laminated cards onto the table along with his food.
"What's that?" Victor asked in retaliation, nodding to the cards. Garfield motioned to a guy standing who had been going around table to table, selling said cards.
"I bought it off him. Team," He clasped his hands together as if to make a formal announcement. "We succeeded in the first mission, but,' He began to distribute the cards. "We definitely could have handled it better. It's important to learn to communicate with one another. Which is why…" He raised his own card in the air to show them all. "We are going to a paintball tournament." They stared back at him in silence. "What?"
"Who said this is a team?" Richard asked him.
'It was a one-time thing," Raven specified for herself.
"When is it?" Kory said excitedly.
Victor smirked at his ticket. "I'm down. Have you ever played paintball, grass stain?"
Garfield rolled his eyes.
"No. But you don't need to know what you're doing. It's just for fun." He looked around at the table dejectedly. "Kory, you'll come right?" Kory nodded eagerly and turned to face Richard.
"You will come with me, yes?" Richard was somewhat taken aback, by the offer, coming from Kory.
"Yeah," Of course he'd go with her. Garfield grinned at this interaction.
"What about you Rae?" He beamed at her. "You'll come with me too, right?"
"No." Raven was not as smitten as Richard clearly was, not that Garfield expected her to be. He sighed before making his case.
"Come on, Rae,"
"Raven."
"Raven, I bought this ticket for you." He glided over and leaned onto the table next to her, showing her the card. "You should come. It'll be fun. Then you can go back to reading those books you like." Kory nodded in concurrence.
"Please friend Raven? It will be the fun!" She proclaimed. Richard seemed to beg Raven with his own expression, as if he had to go, he thought she should come too. And Victor's oh-so-encouraging smile. Raven rolled her eyes, now flustered.
"Okay." Ignoring the ensuing woops and laughter, Raven picked up her own ticket and read the information on the front.
All-Day Experience
Paintball War
Team: Blue
Okay I named Mas y Menos Mar y Montel because I didn't know what else to name them.
Y'all think this story cannot happen in real life but I just saw a missing dog poster, everywhere on my campus with a 7k dollar reward... so hmm
What other villains/criminals do y'all wanna see in this story?
Also what's your favorite drink at Starbucks lmao
