Hey-o! Back again, with Chapter 2 of "Of Artists and Dreamers". The response has been great so far. Thanks to all those who have read Chapter 1, and even sent me private messages to say how much they liked it (if you also placed all that praise in the review section, I would be super super grateful). Thanks to those who DID leave reviews: Irrel and TheBigCat. I hope you two keep reading. Your encouragement and suggestions are appreciated.
Okay, now I'm going on and on. Here's Chapter 2. Please enjoy!
Welcome
Calvin was slipping from fantasy into reality, just as the economics professor finished his lecture. Somewhere in his mind, the images of an invisible hand crushing buildings on Wall Street still lingered.
"Not bad," Hobbes said. "But Economics doesn't make for very interesting adventures though. Not like Psychology."
"I'm just glad it's over," Calvin said, shoving his books into his backpack. "Finally…."
"Finally," Hobbes said.
"Finally," they both said. "Film club!"
Calvin and Hobbes scrambled over the chairs in their row, all the while apologizing to the other students, till they reached the aisle. They dashed up the stairs to the lecture hall doors, and pushed through into the corridor.
Minutes later, they were the idiots bolting across campus lawns, splashing through the main square fountain, sliding down outdoor railings, and bursting through the doors to the Creative Arts Department building.
They cut into someone's speech when they entered Study Hall CAD3. The person and his room of a dozen attendees glared at Calvin.
"Sorry," Calvin said, glancing at his watch. "Our class didn't end till five minutes ago. Heads up; it means I'm going to be fifteen minutes late for every meeting we have. Guess you'll just have to—"
"Dweeb?" the person who had been speaking said.
Calvin looked up to regard the burly, stubbled boy standing at the front of the room.
"Hey look, it's Moe," Hobbes said, grinning and waving.
"Moe?" Calvin breathed, and swallowed. "Oh, so this is how Susie felt when she saw me."
Moe smirked, and introduced Calvin to his friends: "Film Club, Dweeb. Dweeb, Film Club."
"Hi, it's really nice to meet you," Calvin said, looking around at the new faces; they all belonged to guys. "You can call me Calvin actu—"
"Dweeb is fine," Moe said.
"Or Dweeb," Calvin said. "That's…that's nice too." He paused. "So…Moe, you uh, you're president of this club huh?"
Moe brushed the hair out of his eyes, and snickered. "Sit your butt down."
Calvin and Hobbes found seats at the back, behind an afro-haired guy.
"Hm," Hobbes said, "how d'you suppose Moe made it into college?"
"Bullying scholarship?" Calvin said.
"No talking at the back," Moe snapped.
"Sorry," Calvin and Hobbes said.
Moe frowned. "Who are you even talking to?" He shook his head. "Okay, now that we're done with our Who is Hotter—Megan Wolfe or Ruby Johansson debate, it's time for film reviews. Who's giving us our film review for this week?"
A hand went up.
"Come up, Brother Jordan."
"Brother?" Hobbes twiddled his thumbs. "That gives me cult vibes."
Brother Jordan, who was just as burly as the rest of the guys, joined Moe at the front. He was holding a sheet. He peered down at the paper, and started to read:
"Last. Night. I. Saw. The. Man. Of. Iron. Re. Boot. By. Jack. Ryder. It. Was. Cool. And. The. Ac-tion. Was. Neat. There. Was. Only. One. Thing. I. Did. Not. Like." Jordan looked up at his audience. "Thank you."
Everyone clapped as he took his seat.
Calvin was stunned.
"We should get out of here," Hobbes whispered. "What if the stupid is contagious?"
"Next," Moe said, "we'll have our second debate. Who would win in a fight? The Indestructible Bulk or Solar Man?"
The room exploded with overlapping chatter.
The only other person besides Calvin who wasn't talking was the Afro guy in front of him. So Calvin tapped him on the shoulder.
"Hello," Calvin said.
"Hey man," the guy said, turning around and offering a small smile. "Calvin, am I right?"
"Yeah. Thanks for remembering that."
"The name's Kofi."
"Hi, Kofi. So uh," Calvin said, "is this what every meeting is like here?"
"Pretty much," Kofi said.
"Oh," Calvin said, disappointment tingeing his tone. "But you occasionally study actual film, right? And work on film projects, and stuff?"
Kofi grinned. "Sure. If by project you mean starting an online petition to change the actress cast as Warrior Woman in the upcoming Dark Man vs. Solar Man movie. Our irrefutable argument? Her boobs are too small."
"Oh," Calvin said again, sinking in his seat.
"Excuse me?" Hobbes said, in a huff. "Val Vadot is a vision, a goddess!"
Kofi shook Calvin's hand. "Welcome to Film Club."
I Can't Stay
Calvin could hear the gentle hum of a washing machine even as he climbed down the stairs to the basement floor, his bag of laundry slung over his shoulder. When he arrived at the door to the laundry room, he stopped.
There was a girl with headphones on, dancing alone in front of her washer dryer. But it wasn't the fact that she was dancing so blissfully, so uninhibitedly, that stopped Calvin in his tracks. It was the fact that the girl was dancing around in nothing but a cerulean blue bra and pair of boy shorts. Her platinum blonde hair flew about as she twirled, and jumped, and snaked up and down.
Calvin was frozen. It took him an eternity to clear his throat, and say, "Excuse me."
Of course, the girl couldn't hear him.
Calvin stepped into the room, and inched towards her. He tapped her on the shoulder. "Excuse me."
The girl spun around, startled. She pulled down her headphones. "Oh my god, you scared me!" she laughed. She was winded, and her face was gleaming with sweat.
She was gorgeous.
"I'm so sorry," Calvin said, scratching his hair. "I thought you'd want to know someone was watching. Well, not watching. Well, yes I did watch for a bit, but only because I was so surprised. Not for very long though. I mean, I saw you, and then I thought, you know, you'd probably want to um…I'm rambling. I just…I didn't want you to be embarrassed."
"Embarrassed about what?" she said, tucking a stray strand behind her ear.
"Well…um…You're in your…um…in your…" Calvin began, and stopped.
"Is my load done y—Calvin?" a voice cried behind them.
Calvin spun around just in time to see Susie yank her bathrobe closed.
"Oh that's your name?" the blonde girl said. "My name is Ivy."
"What are you doing here, Calvin?" Susie yelled.
"What are you yelling at me for?" Calvin said. "Why are you walking around half naked in a co-ed dorm?"
"It's three am!" Susie said.
"It's a co-ed dorm!" Calvin snapped.
"We ran out of clean clothes," Ivy said, with an embarrassed smile. "So you two know each other?"
"We lived in the same neighbourhood till I was thirteen," Calvin said.
"Translation: he terrorized me till he was thirteen," Susie said.
"Oh okay," Ivy said. "I thought you guys, like, dated or something."
"God no," Calvin and Susie spat together.
"Where is your bathrobe, Ivy?" Susie said, only just noticing her friend's lack of modesty. "Don't let this creep stare at your body."
As Ivy pulled her bathrobe off one of the washing machines, Calvin made a face and said, "Why would you think I want to stare at her body?" And then, catching himself, he turned to Ivy and quickly added, "I'm sorry. That wasn't meant as a slight to your body."
"It's okay," Ivy said.
"You have a great body," Calvin said. "Awesome even. I'd say awesome."
Ivy grinned. "Awww." She turned to Susie. "He's sweet."
"Don't be fooled. He's a sadist and he's delusional—the worst kind of combination," Susie said, right as the washer dryer whirred to a stop. "Thank goodness. Grab your stuff, Ivy."
Ivy shrugged at Calvin. "Sorry, I can't stay."
Calvin watched as the girls picked their clothes out of the dryer, and threw them into a basket.
"Bye, Calvin," Ivy said, as they passed him, holding the basket between them.
Calvin offered a limp wave back.
Now, he was alone.
He sighed, and dropped his load of clothes on the ground. He was about to open one of the washing machines, when he noticed an olive green notebook on a machine; it was the same machine from which Ivy had pulled her robe.
There was no name on the book, so Calvin flipped through the first few pages. No name on any of them either.
And then, Calvin came to the first page with writing. This page was packed with scribbling.
Calvin leaned against one of the machines, and read the first words aloud:
"In the dormitories of St. Anna's Monastery, something peculiar was transpiring. The hour was unholy—ten or so minutes shy of midnight—but in one room, a pair of eyes popped open…"
Would you like some tea?
In the dark and thick forest, Calvin and Hobbes faced Cassandra the huntress.
"You have five seconds to tell me what you've done with Fiona," Calvin warned. "After that, be assured that I will cut you."
"Oh, I believe you," Cassandra said with exaggerated seriousness, placing a hand over her heart. "And to be honest I wouldn't dream of facing you in a sword fight. You seem rather handy with those things." She was referring to the gleaming blades in Calvin's hands. She smiled, and gestured at Hobbes. "What good fortune then that your good friend has decided to defend me."
Calvin turned just in time to see Hobbes take a swipe at him, his paw engulfed in an enormous blue claw of fire and light. The claw splintered the bark behind Calvin; he'd ducked just in time.
In the two seconds it took for Hobbes to regain his bearings and attack again, Calvin absorbed the elements of his sudden predicament:
Hobbes had formed a claw out of pure mana, and attached it to his right paw. The claw was at least half the size of Hobbes's body, with digits thick and razor sharp, and made of a wild, restless mana that glittered and roared with naked energy.
"Hobbes, stop," Calvin cried. "She's taken over your mind."
Cassandra was laughing like a maniac. "Get him, boy," she shrieked at Hobbes. "Make him bleed!"
Hobbes lunged again.
Calvin twirled out of the way, and the blue claw smashed into the same tree trunk. Calvin took the opportunity to dash past Hobbes, making for Cassandra with incredible speed.
Cassandra didn't move.
Calvin leapt into the air with a cry, and came down with his swords.
Cassandra smirked.
The edges of the blades were inches from Cassandra's forehead, when Hobbes' blue claw curled around Calvin's waist, having extended from its source like elastic. The claw snapped back, and Calvin was pitched through the air. He hurtled towards a tree, bound for bone shattering impact. Instead, Calvin reoriented his body mid-air and met the trunk with the flats of his shoes, ricocheting off the coarse surface into a tight, controlled spin. His feet found another tree, and another tree, as he bounced between them back to earth.
Right before he could land, Hobbes was upon him again, his blue claw rushing down. Calvin leaned back just in time for the attack to whoosh over his chest and chin.
A narrow miss.
Calvin landed unscathed, with one knee on the ground. "Hobbes, listen to my voice. Don't let her control you. Fight it, Hobbes. Fight it!"
Hobbes roared, as he fought back for control of his own body.
"I'm going to kill you for this," Calvin said to Cassandra.
Cassandra smirked. "Not if I kill you first, boy."
Hobbes' eyes glowed blue again, and he threw himself at Calvin.
Calvin lifted his blades, spun around, and sliced clean through the tree behind him. One loud crack, and half a second later, the tree was tipping over. It came crashing down.
"How are you still up?"
Calvin snapped back to the real world. He lowered the notebook to see Hobbes in bed next to him. The tiger was staring at him.
"I couldn't sleep," Calvin said.
"Again?"
"No, this time it was different," Calvin said. "I was reading. This." He rapped on the back of the notebook he was holding with a finger.
"What is that?" Hobbes asked.
"A notebook. It belongs to this girl I met in the laundry room downstairs called Ivy. She left it under her bathrobe."
"Her bathrobe?" Hobbes said, sitting up. "Her bathrobe was off?"
Calvin rolled his eyes. "Don't get excited. It was innocent."
"I'll bet it was."
"Trust me, it was. Susie Derkins was there in a bathrobe too."
"You aren't saving yourself by adding that," Hobbes said.
Calvin made a face. "Susie? Really? Ew."
Hobbes had a dreamy look now. "She always was a cutie—"
"That's besides the point," Calvin snapped.
"Oh, so you admit it?" Hobbes said with a wide grin.
"Eat mud," Calvin said.
In the next bed, Jeremy groaned. "Make the loudness stop, man. Who are you talking to?"
"Sorry," Calvin said, and lowered his voice. "Look, this isn't about the damn bathrobes. It's about the story she's written in here."
"That good, huh?"
"Well," Calvin said, chewing on his bottom lip. "It's got some derivative scenes, and the dialogue gets a little cheesy every now and again…"
"Everyone's a critic," Hobbes muttered.
"But man," Calvin said, shaking his head, "it like, really sucked me in, you know? I had to keep reading. Her imagination is almost as crazy as ours. I never knew that."
"You didn't know she was crazy when she tried to get us to have tea with her stuffed rabbit, Mr. Bun?"
Calvin shrugged. "Yeah, but she was a kid. All kids have a little crazy. I didn't think she grew up with it."
"Like you, you mean," Hobbes said.
"Hey, I'm not crazy. You're just real."
"I know I am. Are you?" Hobbes said, with a smile.
Calvin frowned at him. "I hate it when you do that."
"Anyway, why did this girl give it to you to read?" Hobbes said.
"Um," Calvin said. "Well, she didn't technically give it to me to read."
Hobbes' eyes went wide. "You stole it?"
"I didn't steal it. I…borrowed it."
"What if it had personal details?" Hobbes said. "What if had diary entries, or her deepest, darkest secrets? What if it had erotic fan fiction?"
"Then I would have stopped reading," Calvin said. "Burned it, if it had been that last option."
"You should return it," Hobbes said.
Calvin looked wistfully at the notebook. "But I'm not done reading it, and I'm already at the climactic end. I have at least twenty pages left."
"She's almost through with the story? That's rare for an amateur."
"Even more reason why I should finish this," Calvin said, with pleading eyes.
Hobbes looked thoughtful. "Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to finish it. You're almost through anyway."
"I'm almost through anyway," Calvin said.
"Then we return the book?" Hobbes said.
"Without a wasted second," Calvin said.
Hobbes sighed. "Fine." He perked up. "And then you'll tell me the story?"
"Of course," Calvin said.
"Ooh, we should do this with breakfast," Hobbes said.
"I think we have Yum-Tarts in the kitchen," Calvin said.
Hobbes licked his lips. "Yes, please. With salmon."
"There's no salmon, Hobbes," Calvin said. "But would you like some tea with that?"
"I would."
Calvin jumped out of bed.
Here, have a muffin
"So, where is this Ivy girl's room?" Hobbes asked.
Calvin was throwing on a shirt. "I think she's Susie's roommate. That's just a few doors down the hall. We'll just leave it by the door and no one will be the wiser."
"Hey C-Man," Jeremy called from the bathroom. "Are you going out to get breakfast?"
"No," Calvin called back, grabbing the green notebook off his bed. "I already ate."
"Can you grab me breakfast anyway?" Jeremy asked.
"I'm not even going downstairs. I'm just—"
"Come on man," Jeremy said.
Calvin sighed. "Sure. What do you want?"
"Coffee and a bagel. I'll settle you for the cash when you get back."
"Sure," Calvin said, and stepped out.
"That'll be the third time he's promised to pay you back for something you bought," Hobbes said. "You need to quit buying stuff for him."
"He'll pay," Calvin said. "His money is just tied up."
"Tied up in what? The tequila shots he does with his boys every night?"
"Can we not do this right now?" Calvin said. "I'm kind of on a natural high, and you're killing my vibe."
"Hey, forgive me for caring about our finances," Hobbes said, turning his nose up.
Calvin smiled, and shook his head. "Well, here's Susie's door." He lifted his hand to knock, and stopped.
Hobbes froze as well.
There was yelling coming from inside the room.
"I gave up everything for you! And you stabbed me in the back!" a voice said. Susie's voice.
"I didn't stab you in the back! I made a life decision!" another voice said. A guy's voice this time.
"I thought I was part of that life!" Susie said.
"Wha—You are!"
"Am I? Because it feels like your ex is a bigger part of it than I am!" Susie snapped.
"Yeesh," Hobbes whispered.
"I think we should come back," Calvin said, turning around.
"Hey Calvin," Ivy said, her face inches from his.
Calvin yelped and jumped back. "Ivy!" he said, hiding the notebook at his back. "You almost gave me a heart attack!"
Ivy was standing before him, with two cups of coffee. She was in pyjama bottoms this time, but she was still wearing that cerulean blue bra in lieu of an actual blouse. Calvin tried to keep his eyes up.
Ivy laughed. "I guess now we're even."
"Even for what?" Calvin said, and then remembered he'd also startled her last night. "Oh yeah."
"What are you doing here?" Ivy said
"Uh…" Calvin looked at Hobbes, but Hobbes was pretending to study something on the ceiling. "I was looking for you actually."
"Oh really?" Ivy said, with a smile. "What for?"
"Maybe I should come back later," Calvin said.
For at that moment, the guy behind the door was yelling, "Can you just calm down for a second? I came all the way from Florida for you. And you haven't offered me so much as a glass of water!"
"A glass of water?" Susie sounded hysterical. "Oh, I'm sorry. Would you like some coffee too? Maybe some eggs, sunny side up? How about a waffle? Here, have a muffin."
"Hey!" the guy cried.
"And another muffin! And another muffin! Have some freakin' muffins!"
"Stop throwing those! Stop it! You're crazy!"
Ivy seemed oblivious to the ruckus transpiring behind the door to her dorm room. "No," she said. "Go on. What did you want me for?"
"For uh…for uh…" Calvin swallowed, and thought hard. "For Film Club!"
"Film Club?" Ivy said.
"Yes. Film Club. It's a uh, club. For film."
"You're a smooth operator," Hobbes muttered.
"You like stories and movies and such, right?" Calvin asked.
"Sure. Who doesn't?" Ivy said.
"Cool," Calvin said. "We meet Tuesdays at 4 pm. Can you make it?"
Ivy flashed her perfect smile. "Sure. I can pass by."
"Great. So I'll uh, I'll see you soon," Calvin said, stepping around her to leave.
"Tuesday," Ivy said.
"Tuesday," Calvin said.
"4 pm," Ivy said, opening the door to her room, and letting the two loud voices float into the hallway.
"4 pm," Calvin said, walking backwards.
Ivy tucked a blonde strand of hair behind her ear. "It's a date."
"It's a—wait, huh."
Ivy entered her dorm room and shut the door, leaving Calvin speechless.
Hobbes elbowed his ribs. "Well, well. Look who's the tiger now."
And that's it! Thanks for completing Chapter 2. Did you like it? Any comments and suggestions? Please, please, leave a review. I love hearing from you guys. You can also send me private messages; I don't mind. Thanks again for reading. Have an awesome day (or night).