Chapter Two

I found Jack looking me over with strange look on his face

"Ms. Weisel, you know no one knows this campus half as well as I do." Jack started. Ms. Weisel nodded suspiciously. "And I think, that Miss .." He pointed at me meaningfully, waving his hand.

"Di Maggio." I said raising an eyebrow. He smiled at me and turned back towards Ms. Weisel.

" Miss DiMaggio can benefit from observing me no charge." Ms. Weisel laughed and handed him a file folder.

"Sounds fine to me Jack. Goodnight"

"Goodnight Ms. Weisel."

She smiled at him and went back to her computer. Jack opened the folder, scanned the contents quickly and walked toward the door. When he realized I wasn't following he turned around and beckoned to me. Unsure I picked up my coat, glanced at Ms. Weisel and followed him.

Jack walked quickly, nodding at different people as we traversed a busy hallway. I could feel the frustration building as I tried to match my stride to his.

"Hey, man how'about slowing down." I asked slightly peeved. He turned around surprised. I raised both my eyebrows and he shook his head.

"Yeah," he said, with that same, strange look on his face. "Sorry." He began walking much more slowly and while we walked he pointed out the different aspects of campus.

"See there, that's Irving Hall, in other words the theatre. We have a great Drama crew here. Some of the best and brightest stars of the American stage today." I looked over the building closely, taking in its wide arches complemented by the delicate landscaping. Pretty neat. I thought stopping.

"Come on," said Jack taking my hand and leading me on. "That's the cafeteria." He said pointing out a long building surrounded by picnic tables. "The cafeteria ladies are pretty gruesome, but Tibby, the lead chef, is really nice. He gives me and the gang extra fries on chicken patty day." I wrinkled my nose in distaste. "Yeah no kidding." He said laughing softly. I looked down at our hands, noticing the way his long fingers intertwined with mine...He's got artistic hands. The thought came to me, unwanted and unbidden and I began to feel really uncomfortable. Almost as if he read my mind Jack let go of my hand to point out one last building.

"That's your dorm and mine actually, Pulitzer Hall, affectionally referred to as the Lodging House. Boys on floors one and two, girls on floors three and four." His voice dropped dramatically, "No intermingling after seven o'clock and doors remain open at all times." I couldn't help but laugh and I was rewarded by his grin. He glanced at his watch, it was only five thirty. "Come on, I'll introduce you to some of the guys."

We walked into an area Jack called the commons room where a bunch of kids, mostly guys, with a couple of girls thrown in the mix were lounging about playing checkers, cards, or just talking. They all looked up as Jack walked into the room and then everyone went silent. I had the feeling at that very moment that Jack was some kind of leader in this place and I looked up at him confused.

" So, uh Jack, who's the chick," The awkward silence was broken by a deep, jovial voice and I glared at a shorter boy with black curly hair and brown eyes.

"Chick?" I asked my voice tipped with warning. He raised an eyebrow at Jack and smiled. He walked up to me and taking my hand, brought his lips to my hand.

"It is my pleasure to make your acquaintance Miss."

"Charmed I'm sure." I replied smiling in spite of myself. Jack examined the scene carefully and then faced the crowd.

"Guys, this here is Josephine DiMaggio. Jo..." he hesitated and looked at me. I nodded. "... Jo for short." I was met by a chorus of "nice to meet ya's" and "Welcomes". Jack took me aside and one by one pointed them all out to me by name.

"Okay Jo, the boy who kissed your hand is Antonio Higgins, but we call him Racetrack. The ones playing with him are Ivan with the blond hair and glasses, "Dutchy", Henry's the one with the frown, "Skittery" for short , and the one smiling quietly is James, we call him "Bumlets". Those three sitting by the fire laughing are Jamie who we call "Itey", Alex who we call "Snitch" and the one with his fingers in the pie is Oliver, who we call, well, "Pie-eater"." I giggled nervously. "The one dead asleep over there is Les and the one reading is his brother and my best friend David, we call him the "Walking Mouth" but he don't seem to appreciate it that much. Now for the girls. The one with the long brown hair is Sarah, she's Davey's sister and my ex-girlfriend." I looked at him curiously and he shrugged, "Friendly split, anyways, the one with the short black hair is Sarai who we call "Blade" and her friend, who kind of looks like her sister, is Melissa who we've named "Shot". The girl lounging over Davey's shoulder is Catherine and we've never called her anything but. Racetrack's girl over there, the one with the short curly auburn hair, that's "Dice". She and Race are a match made in gambling heaven. What one can't win fairly, the other will cheat the heck out of it."

"Hey, we don't cheat! We just improvise," yelled Racetrack and Dice at the same time. Jack swatted at them playfully with the cuff of his sweatshirt and returned to me.

"You think you got it," He whispered.

"I think I can handle it." I replied. I went through the names silently in my head: Racetrack, Dice, Dutchy, Skittery, Itey, Bumlets, Pie-eater, Davey, Blade, Shot, Les, Catherine, Sarah... "And what do they call you."

"Cowboy." He answered pulling out a bandanna and tying it around his neck.

"Right and just by curiosity how does one get a nickname."

"One earns one." He replied in all seriousness with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. I smiled uncertainly.

"Oh, what fun!" I muttered nervously. The others, overhearing me laughed heartily.