"And this is the common room," Adam, the RA said, motioning to the common area inside the wing of Jeisson's dorm. He was assigned to C-wing. There were four wings, A through D. The common area consisted of a few worn couches, an old chalkboard, and one of those old tube TVs. There was a small kitchenette in the corner, and a large fridge.

Jeisson looked up and spotted the upstairs hallway, the wall cut out so you could look down to the common area from it. Two students were up there now, whispering to each other and looking down at him. His new wing-mates, he assumed.

"So this is the place where the boys hang out. Netflix and chill and whatnot."

Jeisson choked back a laugh. "So there's Netflix? On this?" he asked skeptically, eyeing the old TV.

"Oh, uh, no, actually, it's just an expression. It means to hang out or whatever."

"Yep," Jeisson said, fighting to keep a straight face. "That is what it means."

It took Jeisson all of two seconds upon meeting him to tell that Adam was one of those "I'm just one of the guys" types of residential advisors. The kind that wanted to be best friends with you. That had trouble enforcing the rules because of that fact. The kind of RA that Jeisson could really exploit. 

Adam was short and stocky, with uneven patches of facial hair growing on his chin and creeping down past his sideburns. He wore a Dungeons and Dragons t-shirt. "Let me show you to your room," he said.

Adam led Jeisson up the stairs. They passed the two students, who went silent upon seeing them. They even shrunk back a little when Jeisson passed, as if they were afraid of him. Jeisson didn't mind that. He gave them a convincing glare as he walked by, causing them to shrink even further.

All of the room doors were painted a very deep purple. Jeisson thought it was an odd choice, but not displeasing. Adam stopped at the room labeled with the number "17." He opened the door wide for Jeisson to enter.

The space was small but in a cozy way. There were two sets of identical furniture: beds, desks, drawers, and lamps, divided evenly between the two sides of the room, creating a perfect symmetry. Well, it would have been perfect except for the door that led to the bathroom was only on one side. 

What Jeisson assumed would be his side of the room was completely bare. No bedsheets or decorations. But the other side wasn't much better. Other than a blue comforter and some items neatly arranged on the desk, the space didn't look very lived-in.

In front of the desk, his back to them, sat a boy about Jeisson's age. His hair was arranged in a short, tidy afro and he was wearing a plaid button-down shirt. He had large headphones over his ears.

"Remington?" Adam called.

The boy gave no response.

"Remington!"

Still nothing. Adam went up to him and tapped him on the shoulder. The boy jumped, startled, tearing off his headphones and glaring up at Adam. "What did I tell you about touching?"

"You said not to do it. But you weren't responding."

"I'm studying the Mozart effect on concentration and state of mind for appropriate work flow." He seemed to notice Jeisson for the first time. "Who is this?"

"This is your new roommate. Jeisson. Jeisson, this is Remington."

Jeisson gave a salute. "Hey."

Remington ignored him and turned back to Adam. "I thought I was going to have my own room for the duration of the semester."

"Change of plans."

"I'm happy to go home," Jeisson said, putting his hands up. "We can reevaluate my admission next semester."

"No, no, that's not necessary," Adam said. "The school is excited to have you, Jeisson. You scored higher on the TMSA admissions test than any student in a decade."

Remington's eyes narrowed as he looked Jeisson over with new appreciation. "Okay. He can stay."

"It was never up to you," Adam said, the tightness in his voice belying a long-standing suffering.

"As you can see," Remington said as he stood from his chair, "I haven't used any of your living space. It's perfectly divided in half so we have equal square footage. Unfortunately, we have no choice but to share a toilet, shower, sink, and mirror. We can discuss the possibility of separate bath mats."

"Definitely, yeah," Jeisson said, nodding along as if he actually cared. "Separate's the way to go. For sure."

"So I've given Jeisson the basic orientation," Adam said, moving back towards the door. "But maybe you could help him get accustomed over the next few days?"

"Sure," Remington said with a shrug.

"Great. And Jeisson, I'm here if you need me for anything. I'll see you both at check in!" Adam made finger guns and shot them at Jeisson and Remington. They shared a look, confused about how to respond. Then Adam awkwardly put the finger guns in imaginary holsters and left the room.

"He takes some getting used to," Remington said by way of explanation. "You're going to want to read the handbook front to back. What happened to your arm?"

Jeisson glanced down at his cast. "Oh, uh, drag racing accident."

Remington stared at him for a moment. "If you're joking, that's not really funny. And if you're not, then drag racing is really dangerous and you shouldn't be doing it."

"It's the first one."

"Not funny. Got it." Remington put his head phones on and sat back down. He started typing away at his computer.

"Okay. Conversation over, then, I guess." 

Jeisson struggled to get all of his things into the dorm room. He probably should have asked for help, but he was feeling proud. He dropped some of the boxes several times, and by the time he was finished his arm ached. He put it back in the sling and popped two painkillers. Even though he hadn't unpacked at all or set up his bed, he took a moment to lay on the bare mattress, letting the painkillers kick in.

His phone vibrated in his pocket. He took it out to see that Kelly had texted. 

I just heard u got expelled! Y didn't u tell me?

Jeisson pondered the question. He wasn't really sure why. He just hadn't thought about it. Before he could say anything back, she texted again.

I feel so bad. 

He knew how to respond to that. Don't, he wrote. It's not your fault. It's mine.

Where r u going to go now???

Jeisson frowned to himself as he typed in his response. Hell.

I didn't take u for the religious type.

This made Jeisson smile. Hardly.

Will i ever see u again? she texted. U and that lovely mouth of yours will be missed.

He let out a laugh at that. He had to admit, he thought he might actually miss Kelly. He'd never really had any friends. Not close ones anyway. Not anyone he would ever miss. But Kelly felt different. It wasn't just the sex, either. He liked hanging out with her, even when they were just talking. 

Remington rose from his seat, pulling off his headphones.

"Oh, hey," Jeisson said, "are you hungry? I'm starving."

Remington gazed down at him. "I go to dinner at six."

Jeisson glanced at his phone. "It's five fifty-five."

"Exactly." And with that Remington went into the bathroom.

Jeisson waited the five minutes, not saying anything when Remington came out of the bathroom and went back to work. Promptly at six, Remington pulled off his headphones once more.

"You can join me for dinner, if you'd like," he said graciously, as if he was doing Jeisson the biggest favor.

"Great. Thanks."

They left the dorm and headed out to the yard where Jeisson had seen all the students working before. There were less students out now as it was getting dark outside. Remington paused their walk to the school building to point out the other dorms.

"Seven dorms total. Three female, that would be 02--"

"Oh what?" Jeisson asked.

"Sixteen zero two. That's the address of the dorm. Oh two. That's what we call it. So the three female dorms are 02, 03, and 06. Then there's three male dorms. 01, 05, and 07, that's us. Then the co-ed dorm, that's 04."

"They say the co-ed dorm is filled with nymphomaniacs," said a voice behind them.

Jeisson turned to find a short, curly-haired kid. He had a sleazy smile on his face as he looked over to the 04 dorm. Jeisson wasn't sure where he had come from and how long he had been there. 

"That's Kyle," Remington said. "Kyle, this is my new roommate, Jeisson."

Kyle gave him a nod, then pointed back over to 04. "They're significantly cooler than us." He looked Jeisson up and down then, and tilted his head, thinking. "Actually, you might belong there."

"You think so?" Remington said, skeptical, as he also looked Jeisson over.

"Yeah. The hair, those piercing blue eyes. Skinny, but not unappealingly so. Dressed okay. Nothing too fashionable but inoffensive. And that jawline. Could cut glass. He'd fit right in. Quite a tall drink of water. That's what my grandma says when she's talking about Cary Grant."

Jeisson put a hand to his chest in mock offense. "Excuse me. I am not a piece of meat."

"Who's the new guy?"

Jeisson whirled around to find another newcomer, a short, bald girl with a nose ring. She had strong, almost harsh features and actually pulled off being bald quite nicely. He wondered how these kids kept sneaking up on him. They were all like ninjas.

"My new roommate," Remington told her.

"Hey. I'm Nat." 

She held out her hand and Jeisson shook it. She had a firm grip. 

"Kyle said everyone in 04 is a nymphomaniac," Remington said.

Nat raised an eyebrow at Kyle, and crossed her arms. "Excuse me?"

"I also said you were cooler than the rest of us."

"We are cooler than you. But we're not nymphomaniacs." She looked back toward her dorm and made a face of disgust. "Not all of us, anyway."

Jeisson followed her line of sight and saw a couple making out hard against the side of the dorm, almost but not quite out of sight.

"So co-ed," Jeisson said, turning back to Nat. "Boys and girls live together?"

"Not quite. The dorm is split into four wings, just like the rest of them. Two girl wings, two boy wings. Look, don't listen to these losers, okay? I'll tell you everything you have to know."

Despite her significantly smaller size, she threw an arm around Jeisson and pulled him towards the middle of the yard. She pointed at the dorms as she spoke about each one. "01. The 01-ers, we call them. Nerds. LARP-ers. Coders. They use Linux, so enough said. 02. Preppy, rich, overachieving girls. They demand attention. 03. The party girls. Overly strict parents and they're using what little freedom they have here to rebel as much as possible. 04, as discussed."

"Nymphos," Kyle whispered, earning him a punch in the arm from Nat.

"Then there's 05. The jocks. If you can call them that here. They do things like tennis or swimming. 06. The down-to-earth girls. Smart, normal, generally pleasing. And 07. The male equivalent of 06. Normal guys."

Jeisson looked to Remington, in his button-down, with his strict schedule and Mozart theory. That's what passed as "normal" at the school? He wasn't judging, to each his own. Jeisson didn't care what Remington did or didn't do, really. He was just surprised.

"I wanted into 01 but they ran out of space," Remington said, as if knowing what Jeisson was thinking.

"I'm in the room right next to you guys," Kyle said with a wink. "If you ever get bored of this kid and want to come over."

"This has been enlightening," Jeisson said. "Thank you."

"My pleasure," Nat said. "Now, on to the cafeteria before Remington freaks out about being too late for the good chicken."

"Everyone knows the first tray is the best tray, Nat. We collected enough samples to prove...."

Remington droned on while the group continued their walk to the school building. Two students passed them on the sidewalk. One looked over with a sneer. "Oh, look, it's the Nerdlingers." The other laughed.

Nat rushed towards them, suddenly shouting, "Shut it, dweebs!" They ran away from her, laughing. She stopped but continued yelling after them. "You're in the frickin' chess club! Your virginity shields have the power of an Orc with Spellbreaker!"

Kyle put an arm around Nat's shoulder, gently pulling her along. "There, there, Nat. Calm down."

"What was that about?" Jeisson asked, trying his best not to be amused, since Nat still seemed pretty pissed. She was still swearing at the kids under her breath, in a language Jeisson was unfamiliar with.

"Well," Kyle began, "Spellbreaker is a shield from the popular--"

"No, not that," Jeisson said. "Why are they calling you guys nerdlingers?"

Remington looked at his watch. "It's five past six," he said, quickening his pace. "Come on."

They all trailed after him, struggling to keep up. 

***

A/N: Another Sunday another chapter! I hope you all enjoyed this one. Fun(ish?) fact: this school is loosely based on my own high school.

Don't forget to comment and vote if you liked it! I welcome all feedback!