High Point University

Carter pursed his lips and nodded with understanding. Charity sounded about right. It wasn't like James to pick up people just for the heck of it, but if he felt bad for them and wanted to be kind of whatever, well, that was on brand.

It sounded like Jerica partied hard, and probably got on a few people's nerves. She seemed the type to maybe get in fights if you pushed her buttons, but he didn't plan on doing that. If she was chill with drinks and video games, then all was well.

"Well, I've got plenty of booze," he said with a grin.

At that point, Kayla leaned over his shoulder, inserting herself back into the conversation.

"Jerica, was it?" she asked. "Want to play Mario Kart with us?"

"Yeah," Carter said, grabbing another controller off the coffee table. "You too, Rek?" he offered.

"Sure, I'd like to kick your ass," Jerica said playfully. She took two controllers and leaned over to Rek, handing him one with a, "I'm fine, and you need to lighten up." She looked back at Carter with a grin. "We're in, what track we playing?"

"We're going to the beach, beach," he said with a little smirk, selecting Peach Beach.

"Ninki Minjaj," Kayla said, completing the thought. Carter was glad she got the vine reference.

"Sounds good, beach." Jerica took another long drink of her beer and then set it at her feet as she leaned forward. She looked down as the chicken -- from class? -- squawked and ran past her leg. Then she looked back at Carter. "Any roads crossed this chicken yet?"

Carter had a good start. Since he'd won in the last race, that automatically placed him at the front of the starting line, and he'd played the game a million times, so he knew how to start well.

For the first lap, all seemed to be going well. He was playing DK and kept fighting for first with Waluwigi, but Kayla (as Princess Daisy) was on his tail in third, just behind him the whole time. He kept sending giant banana peels her way in moments she couldn't avoid them, and she kept growling at him, which made him laugh.

The second lap was when things took a turn for the worse.

Jerica had sent a blue shell from 6th place, and it ended up hitting him, Kayla, and Waluigi when they were clustered at an intersection, right before a jump, and they all went tumbling off into the ocean. Both Kayla and Carter yelled while Jerica laughed devilishly, but it seemed like despite sending the blue shell, she was still caught in the chaos of those in the back. Somehow, Rek snuck to first place without a word, and Carter had no idea how he avoided the wreckage of everyone being clustered in a chaotic crowd once Kayla and Carter were back in the game.

The last lap of the race was a panic to catch up. He wanted at least to grab the bronze, but he scraped just short of it, coming in 4th. Kayla was just behind him in 6th, missing 5th by a hair. And Jerica... well, she wound up in 8th somehow. He wasn't looking at her fourth of the screen, but he heard her frustrated yells, so clearly it had been something tragic. Bowser, her character, looked very, very sad.

But soon, Mario took up the whole screen. Rek somehow held the first place title for the whole last half of the race, and now Mario was doing the little fist-pumps and getting the gold.

He leaned forward a little to look past the sulking Jerica.

"Congratulations," he said, picking up his beer can and chugging the rest of it down.

"How'd you end up in first?" Kayla exclaimed. "Gosh, that was a rough race."

"By cheating," Jerica muttered, bending down for her beer.

"Remember last week when you decided to beat me 9 to 0 in that basketball game?" Rek hooked his right arm around her shoulders. "Well, I'm gonna remember this, Miss Eighth Place Looooooser."

He dropped his controller in her lap like a mic drop, grinning broadly.

She laughed and gave him a shove before finishing off the rest of her beer. She picked up his control and shoved it back into his chest, then looked at Carter. "Rematch?"

Carter clicked his tongue. So, so many sore losers. First Kayla, now Jerica.

"Sure, why not," he said with a shrug. He hit replay. Same course. Just before the countdown started, he grabbed the Bluetooth remote and turned down the music, just a little. So he didn't have to shout just to hear anybody.

When the countdown started, there was another knock at the door. Elias probably finally sent out texts to people.

"Hey Brit, mind getting the door? You can leave it unlocked," he said.

Brit nodded and lazily made her way to the door, opening it up. The big, tall, towering figure in the doorway was immediately recognizable.

"Damn," Brit said way too loudly.

Carter wanted to roll his eyes. People were so easily impressed by tall people. Whatever.

"Heyyyyy, Bo!" he called out, eyes glued to the screen. "How's Chef Petrov doing?"

"Oh, I'm chill. Heard the party down the hall before I got the text," Bo said, before offering a hand to Brittany, who took it and shook it like she was still a little shocked by his size. She was a slightly-smaller than average person, so sure. "Hey, I'm Bo," he introduced.

"Brittany," she said.

"I'm using your kitchen, if that's cool," Bo said.

That explained the bags of groceries in his arms.

"Sure, go for it," Carter said, still diverting most of his attention to the race.

"I have to perfect my hashbrowns before Tuesday," Bo said. He looked to Brittany, who started following him to the kitchen. "Do you like potatoes?"

The rest of the conversation faded into the background.

Jerica was more focused this time. She didn't particularly care about Mario Kart, but she did like rubbing Rek's nose in her victories. This game was far tenser than the first had been. Rek was side by side with her most of the race -- sometimes a bit ahead, sometimes just behind -- but way too close for comfort. Kayla and Carter were somewhere behind them, she didn't know and didn't care where.

They were close to the finish line. Rek was just ahead of her. She gunned the throttle and hit his back fender, giving him a shove until he wobbled to the side of the track. He recovered quickly, but not before she dashed across the finish line.

"OH!" She threw both of her hands out and thrust her body towards him like she was gonna chest-bump him, but instead just got in his face. "WHO'S YOUR DADDY?"

He put his palm on her face, fingers wrapping around the side of her head, and gave her a gentle shove away. "Eighth. Place. Loooooser."

She laughed and rested her head on his shoulder affectionately for just a moment before she popped to her feet and grabbed another beer. She flopped back down on the couch and looked at Carter. "What now?"

It was loud.

Really loud.

Benji had known that dorms could get noisy. He had brought his noise-cancelling headphones, picked the room farthest from the lounge area at the end of the hallway, and had a playlist of white noise videos on YouTube from trying to study at WVU's campus last year. It should have worked.

But he hadn't ever expected the noise to be from so close by.

And he hadn't expected it to be so loud.

He was laying on his bed, noise canceling headphones on underneath a pillow he was tightly holding against his ears. He was terrified at the thought of Daniel coming in and seeing him like this. He was sure he'd get teased for how much he struggled with loud noise.

When the pillow and headphones failed to keep the noise out, Benji decided he needed to leave the dorm. He didn't have much homework, but the only place he could think of going was the library.

He got up, grabbed his backpack and headed for the door. He kept his headphones on as he left the room. He hoped Daniel just thought he was the kind of person that liked listening to music while he walked.

He slipped out of his dorm room and headed for the library.

xXx

It was loud.

Really loud.

Daniel didn't exactly pride himself on how good his hearing was, but he had a knack for picking up on noises that most people missed. Not that these noises needed to be carefully picked out; the party going on elsewhere in the dorm wasn't exactly quiet.

But Daniel did pick up on some more...specific details. Like the sound of a blue shell being thrown in Mario Kart. And while Daniel, as a rule, didn't really have much to do with parties, he did like a good competition. Pushing his chair back, he tried to pinpoint exactly where the noise was coming from. He wondered if they'd let a stranger join in on the gaming. It didn't sound like it was coming from the floor's lounge space, so it must have been coming from a person's room.

He headed out of his room.

Just as he did, he saw Benji heading towards the exit. Benji didn't seem to notice him; he had headphones on and didn't even look over his shoulder once. He was carrying his whole backpack, so he doubted Benji was planning on crashing the game of Mario Kart like he was.

Benji left their suite.

Daniel followed a minute later. Not long after that, he found himself standing in front of the noisy room. The noise was making his head pound a bit, but he was used to noise. He could handle this if it meant getting to play some kind of game.

He knocked on the door.

Bo didn't know if the others in the living room just didn't hear or didn't care, but clearly, whoever was at the door didn't get the "door's unlocked, come right in" memo.

Brittany had been hovering at his side, watching him cook, and Bo decided if he was going to make a million hashbrowns, well, he might as well make a full-out breakfast. So he borrowed some extra eggs from Carter's fridge and started making some scrambled eggs, some bacon, some muffins.

Maybe he'd gotten a little over his head, but he was used to pretending like he was running a full kitchen with orders on the house but by himself. He liked to tell himself if was preparing himself for the stress of the job. You had to be able to keep track of many orders and keep a level head.

That said, he was spinning many plates at the moment. Hard to break away, and Brit didn't seem interested in answering the door. Still, he figured he'd ask.

"You wanna get the door?" he asked.

"What for?" Brit said, looking up at him.

"You know, typical hospitality things," Bo said, wondering why he didn't just go answer the door himself at this point.

"You know what," he said. "One sec."

He turned down the heat on the burners and wiped his hands on his apron and hurried to the front door. When he opened it, there was a guy who looked kinda familiar.

"Oh! Hey, I met you yesterday!" Bo said with a smile. "Daniel, right?"

Bo glanced back into the apartment.

"I know they're pretty loud..." he said with an apologetic smile. "If you want, I think I have enough influence to make 'em turn it down a bit. They usually listen to me. Especially since I'm--"

He was going to say making all the food, but then he heard the timer for the muffins go off.

"Muffins!" he exclaimed, spinning on his heels.

"Comeoninmakeyourselfwelcome!" he said in one word before zooming back into the kitchen. Brittany hadn't touched anything thank goodness. Or not thank goodness? The muffins were okay, he got there in time. He could breathe.





James found a quiet corner of the library to sit down.

Fortunately, it was the first day of classes, and hardly anyone was in a rush to finish homework or study for tests, so the library was pretty clear. He found one of the usual desks that he liked sitting in because it was in a corner, and from the corner seat he could view the rest of the room. All the exits, all the people in it. Nothing could surprise him that way, and no one could sneak up on him.

With a sigh, he sat back into the chair and set his backpack on a seat beside him. One by one he pulled out his laptop, his books, and all the things he'd once had on his desk back at home, but brought here for the quiet.

That said... there were a few hushed conversations that could be overheard as distant murmurs, but it was nothing a little focus and a pair of earplugs wouldn't block out completely.

Morri heard the door to the lounge unlock and watched Lordy walk in with the goofiest smile spread across his face.

"Good first class?" He asked Lordy.

"An interesting start if ever there were one." Lordy replied, taking a seat across from Morri, "Have you ever been cut off by a live chicken mid-sentence before?"

"Hm, I guess you could say you were," Morri looked him in the eye, "Cock blocked."

Lordy resisted the urge to reach across the table and slap him into another century for the moment. "How is your lesson plan for tomorrow going?"

"Horrible, I can't figure out if I should get straight into the lesson or if I should bore them with introductions." Morri rubbed his temple.

"Listen, it's only the first day. Don't be too rough on them. There's a reason you're so highly rated online."

"Nothing is set in stone, my friend. Even the prettiest rose has it's thorns, and I worry mine will one day pierce too deep." Morri sighed.

Lordy ignored the fact that Morri was calling himself pretty, which was only accurate for this current moment because he was being Drama Queen, "Here, I know what will cheer you up."

Morri looked up at him, "Let me guess, rum?"

Lordy shook his head, "Nope. We can go to the library and pick out books for each other to read."

Morri smiled at the idea.

Lordy smiled right back, "And then we can get drunk."

Elias plopped himself on one of the giant beanbags, trying to focus as he opened up his phone and started shooting texts. The beat of the music buzzed through the walls, but it only helped him focus. Naturally, the first person he messaged was Mel. And because both of them were impatient speed texters, he waited for her to respond, which took no time at all.



... Ah, fuck.

He didn't remember that at all, and yesterday he...

Elias grimaced. Oh boy, Evaline was probably passive aggressively pissed at him right now. Although, at this point, he was getting used to it.

Groaning, he left Mel's text and scrolled down to Evaline's. Knowing that quarter systems started school weeks after a semester system, he cringed at the text he sent her yesterday, noting that she left him on read.



Welp. He was probably eventually going to see her sometime this week, so might as well rip the band-aid now.



Maybe fifteen seconds went by, and he stared at the screen impatiently, waiting for her to see it. And then the read receipt turned on, and he sighed.

... Except she didn't respond. Goddammit, Evaline.

He sent another text.



Instantly left on read. He smirked.



As if she was fed up with him, he then saw the typing bubble pop up. Finally.



... She took forever. If this were Mel, he'd impatiently text her to stop typing up a novel and just use the microphone function if she had a lot to say. But instead he waited, and then finally got a response.



Elias smiled and rolled his eyes, switching the screen back to Mel. They didn't get along as well as they used to, but he knew this was her way of saying she forgave him for being a forgetful idiot.



Success. Score. Victory. One point for Elias.

Switching gears, he then sent a text to his bois Chad and Thad, but since they came up as green bubbles, he made no effort to pay much attention to them. But next up, his boi Bo.



After sending the texts to Bo, he scrolled down to James's texts and sent him a relevant meme he found after searching for relevant memes on Reddit.



Satisfied with the people he invited so far, Elias jumped up to his feet and put his phone in his pocket, rushing out the room to enter the party again. The music was a little softer, but with more people in the apartment, it meant they could talk to each other easier. Wait! New people!

The smell of breakfast foods in the air finally hit him, and he smiled when he walked to the kitchen.

"Hey Bo!" he greeted, taking a muffin. "Wow, you got here... like, so fast. And cooked so fast too. Huh."

He took a bite out of the muffin, deep in thought because this meant Bo was a lot faster of a cook and baker than he thought he was.

He turned his attention to Brittany who looked bored, so he tossed her a muffin. "Here's a muffin, muffin," he said with a smirk, and then looked at the random guy at the door.

"Hey, come on in, friend! We have muffins now!"

Jerica needed another beer.

The six-pack that'd been on the table was now empty, so she wandered into the kitchen in search of more. There were a few people nearby, but her eyes landed on Bo, the big man she'd taunted the day before. He seemed good-humored enough that he'd react well to her trying to make friends. Maybe.

He was facing the stove. She walked up behind him and got on her tiptoes so she could hook her right arm over his shoulder. "Bo!"

She looked past him, suddenly realizing how good everything smelled. It couldn't have been more than two or three hours since she'd eaten her body weight in Chick-fil-A sandwiches, but her stomach rumbled a bit anyway.

"What a man!" She gestured vaguely at the stove with her left hand, her right arm still wrapped around him awkwardly. "Muscles and muffin-maker -- no better combination!"

There was a lot going on. Bo had just taken the muffins out and started taking them out of the pan and setting them on a plate to cool. Elias grabbed one (which was still hot) right after he set it down, and walked away, eating it. Bo just hoped he didn't burn his tongue, but he seemed fine. Bo didn't really get a chance to reply to any of Elias's greetings before Elias was back off to greet Daniel at the door. Good. At least Elias was on that.

Bo finished stacking the muffins in a little pyramid on a kitchen plate and then felt an arm come up over his shoulders. He glanced down at Jerica and laughed. Thankfully, with her arm around him, he was still able to use his hands. He turned on the burner under the pan with scrambled eggs, and started stirring them up a little, and sprinkling in salt and pepper.

"Just call me the muffin man," Bo said with a little laugh. "I hope you like breakfast food because that's what I'm making."




James had to close the messaging app on his laptop after that. He was getting distracted, even if it was just a little fun to send little jokes to Elias - whom he still didn't understand for partying at almost 4 in the afternoon, now. At least it was inching closer to the evening.

He closed his laptop for the time being and sighed, deciding to just get into the book he had to read. Twenty, big fat pages on Russian history. It wasn't that he didn't find it interesting, it was just a lot of content already, and the book had small text that filled each big page. Oh well, he could complain about textbook creators later.

He started to read.

"Does this mean..." Her arm was already getting tired of being so far over her head. She spun so that she was leaning against the nearby counter. "That now I know the Muffin Man? Do you live on Drury Lane?" She grinned at him playfully. "And of course I like it. I like all food."