Chapter 2;
The Roommate;
Cal's mother and his ex Latishe were sitting in the kitchen together. The mother was cooling a hot mocha coffee that she had just brewed, and Latishe was playing with her newly manicured finger nails. This was not an awkward situation between the two women, you could tell by the calm air around them that this sitting happened often, and was commonplace.
The mother smiled after taking a sip out of her coffee cup.
"It's so quiet here now... I feel as if I can actually relax.." She notes that the coffee is bitter and gets up to retrieve sweetener. As she digs in the pantry, she notices Latishe's ginger eyes on her.
"What? Is my hair untidied or something?" The mother pats her curls momentarily, then Latishe smiles, putting her palms flat on the table.
"Naw, it's just I see a momma who misses her son!" She laughes heartily. The mother scoffs, ending her search for the sweetener and sitting back down.
"You must be seeing another momma girl, i'm floating on clouds right now. You don't know how much trouble that boy has caused me. When he was in middle school he used to get suspended all the time! I had to hear 'fighting' 'pranks' and 'sexual harrasment' all in the same sentence! My girlfriends kept their kids away from me like I was the plague!" She then smiles. "The only thing good he ever brought to this household was you, didn't last long did it? Oh sorry i'm rambling!" Latishe gets up, tired of playing with her hands, and searches through the pantry as well.
"No ma'am, you're right. He was as loose as a board with me, cheated on me with females, males, transies... everyone!" "-But no matter what, he's the type of person you wouldn't want to lose. We used to call him the puppy, every mans best friend. Could make friends with a signpost if he so choose, but what a crazy boy your son is!" Then the mother smiled.
"Yeah, thats called not thinking before he acts.. no means to him cheating on you, just his craziness. I hope he does good at this school, god knows he needs to learn, I'm afraid that once he gets out in the real world, he won't be able to get out as easy, make nice friends, or get forgiveness towards his bad deeds. Those people will be harsh on him. I hope he doesn't ever end up behind bars like his father! Look at me rambling again... Lord, I miss him already!" Latishe gets a cup out of the pantry, dusts it off, and goes to the boiler on the stove.
"He'll be back in no time." She says reaching for the boiler filled with black coffee. "What I'm worried about is how soon that school would want him back here!" Then the two women share a laugh of agreement, like two giggling school girls.
"Bastard! Keep your filthy hands off of me!" Lavi yelled, wiping off his uniform.
"Now I have to change clothes... great! I would ask you to compensate for this, but I'm not even sure if you can afford the fabric of my tie!" Cal backs up from Lavi, knowing that he had to get out of the room as soon as possible, before I actually do hurt him! Cal thought menacingly. As Lavi continued to wipe his uniform, Cal walked toward the door, and out of the room making sure to slam the door behind himself.
Once in the dorm hall, he breathed. He couldn't believe he was actually going to fight on his first day!
"It's cause of that midget brat, he just won't shut up!" Cal reassured himself. None of this was his fault, he was just being a good roommate. "God why are you so cruel to those who are young?" He cries dramatically, kneeling next to his door.
"Maybe you should become atheist, I'm not complainin." Cal notices someone beside him and straightens up from his little play. A tall boy, about his height. He has wavy black hair shiny and short cut, his face shows a bored-almost tired- expression, and he looks as if he has the wisdom of an old man. Cal still shocked by having someone pop up beside him, manages to mutter out a greeting.
"Yo."
The black haired boy stares at Cal momentarily, and then chuckles alittle.
"You know, I was unpacking my things in the room while talking to my roommate, and we were having a very interesting conversation. But suddenly, I heard yelling coming from the room beside me, sounded like some really angry person to me. So right when I go to check on the bozo who obviously can't keep his voice down, I find a guy praying outside? Did I miss something from this situation?"
"Oh so thats what happened, sounds like a racist bitch to me.. I would've killed the boy...By the way names Dawn.""My roommate is ok, and we had some nice conversations, though he's alittle weird, gives me the shivers." Dawn and Cal were traveling down the dorm room halls trying to find a lounge in which they could relax in, away from their strange roommates.
"I thought 'bout killing him, but I don't wanna be arrested on my first day here." they both laughed. Cal pointed ahead to a small room filled with snack machines and petite televisions, Dawn followed.
The room was filled with students who obviously had the same desire to relax as Cal and Dawn, some were spread eagle on long brown leather chairs, others gathered at the screens watching some boring programs.
"Dawn, you gotta dollar on ya?" Cal asked examining one of the machines. Dawn cringed.
"Damn! We just became friends and you already want a loan, we have to work out a payment plan or something..."
"Ok, one dollar today and I'll pay ya back a penny every month!"
Dawn sighed as he got his wallet out digging through its smooth interior.
"I only have twenties.." he mumbled.
Cal couldn't help but burst out laughing, and to that Dawn looked disgruntled.
"Hey it's not funny, that means you're going to have to wait for a snack until I can break these."
"Whatever, rich prick..."
Both Cal and Dawn, simultamuosly deciding to give up on their venture for snacks, sank into two chairs opposite one another. They could briefly overhear the conversations going on in the lounge. While some were talking about the tv programs and what they were going to do for the day, others were talking about something more serious. "I heard the owner of the academy sent out his own son to keep watch over us!" "Really thats dumb, now we can't do anything fun! Do you know what he looks like?" "No, but I don't know what I'd do if I was caught sneaking one of my ladies in here." "It is stupid, like the school has spies to make sure we are not acting up, we are not little kids anymore, I need to smoke! And I do not want someone reporting me each time I do it!" Wow! Proper speaking bad boys Cal laughed. "Make you wanna beat them up don't it?" Dawn asked and Cal nodded. "Believe me, there are tons of those boys around, got enough bad in them to do wrong, but don't have the balls to get in trouble cause of it..." Cal smirked, "..and you not that type too?" "Nope I've been a hard ass for as long as I can remember." They both laughed. Cal didn't really consider himself a badboy, though others had gave him the title before. He never really did anything to deserve it though. When he got into fights and got suspended from school, it was only to help someone out. When he had had sex with more women and men than you could count, it was only to spread his love (he actually believes this). And when he said something rude, like about the half dead principals, he considered it constructive criticism, get un-old! So no, he never thought of himself as bad.
"Sorry man, I just gotta ask this, Cal, being honest... you don't look like the kind that this school would accept.. so how did you get in here anyway?" Cal sighed "They handed me a scholarship because of how good I am at basquetball, and I didn't want to leave home, my momma just thought I'd be put on the right path and all that crap. Actually I was missing home before I even left." At that Dawn smiled. "I'd certaintly trade ya. I don't think I miss my home in any way, you don't wanna meet-" CRASH! There is a loud noise that resonates throughout the lobby. Everyone looks up, but only Cal recognizes the flustered Shal kneeling on the ground. On the tiles is a toppled over cardboard box, and its contents are spilled all over the rest of the tiles. Cal and Dawn quickly rose to help while the others boys simply sat there and gawked. "Thanks for helping you guys." Shal blushed as Dawn and Cal carried the heavy box to its destination. "No prob, we make a left here?" "Yeah. Honestly, I didn't know what my Uncle had in mind when he said he wanted me to get his delivery. I thought since he was gonna spend his time as the dorm manager, he would be ordering supplies for that, not porn flicks."Dawn managed a short but slightly strained laugh. "I never knew a person could watch this much porn... is it even humanly possible?"
