02

« Mom, Mom stop ! » The girl in the litter finally shrieked. « Let him go ! He’s a big boy now. » I nearly fell off my bed as I tried to contain my laughter, a momma’s boy. How cute.

« She’s right honey, we should probably go, and let our little man get settled in. » I couldn’t see who that voice came from, but I can only imagine it was his father. Though I could see that the mother wanted so badly to protest, she didn’t. She just hugged the boy who was in her arms tighter and kissed his forehead.

« Write me all the time okay, I’ll see you soon baby. » And with that, everyone left, finally revealing the short, flippy haired boy with glasses half the size of his face to me. He was definitely cute, so I definitely need to stop and see Joyce sometime in the near future, but I could tell that he was a complete rack of nerves now that his family was gone.

« Hey. » I said, not too loudly, but clearly loud enough to startle the boy. « Oh shit, are you okay ? » He looked up at me as I stood before him, completely doe eyed as I took a step towards him.

« Uh… Yeah… Hi, I’m uh, sorry about all of them… I didn’t even notice you were in here. » He mumbled.

« It’s cool, no worries. I’m Keagan, and I guess we’re going to be roommates. » I chuckled, trying hard to lighten the mood for the poor boy. I might be an ass, but I’m not completely heartless.

« Jamison. » He muttered. « So… This is my bed ? » I nodded and watched as he placed his backpack down.

« Yeah, well… I’m going to take a nap while you unpack and do your thing. » I said before throwing myself back down on my bed.

« Oh… You’re not going to unpack ? »

I shook my head and smiled. « Nah, not today. We have two days to do it, and I’m not in any rush to get a single thing done. »

This was the first time in my entire life that I would be away from my family for more than three days. And those three days were hell because they were on a school field trip and I had an allergic reaction to a bee sting and I spent most of the trip cooped up in my cabin covered in bumps.

But I knew this time it would be different. For the most part, I was safe here in school. I was a 6-8 hour drive away from home if I wanted to visit. But I wanted to try and be strong and stay on campus for as long as I could without freaking out and running home. I’m sure that’s exactly what my parents are hoping I do anyway.

I’ve never really been too good by myself. I’ve always had my family behind me in whatever I did. Maybe they were a bit overprotective of me, and at times it drove me nuts, but it helped shape who I am as a person. I turned out the way that I did because of them, and for that I am grateful.

I just wish it wasn’t so nerve wracking to be living with a complete stranger. I mean he seems pretty ok. I’ve only known him for less than a full day so I can’t really make any judgments about him. I mean, there are things that I noticed about him. Like, he styles his hair. He has nice teeth. He dresses well. But then I noticed that he’s sort of loud-ish, very excitable and energetic ; which is perfectly fine, jut opposite of me entirely.

I wondered if they put any thought into rooming us together. We must have a similar major or something. Or perhaps it’s just random.

He does seem like the clean type, although he has no intention of moving anything in at all anytime soon. He said so himself yesterday. I would have an OCD attack if I just left all my stuff unpacked. It would drive me insane.

I tried not to look at him too much, or seem like I was weird. He looked like the type who had a lot of power around here, and I wanted to be on his good side. I was his roommate after all, I should learn how to coexist with him.

« So Jamie, » he said, using a variation of my name that I really didn’t like. « Why don’t you tell me about yourself. »

I nearly dropped my pen because I was nervous ; I didn’t know how to answer that. I’ve never been asked to share things about myself ever in my life. What was there to say ?

« Uh. It’s actually Jamison, » I said trying to be polite. « Um. Well I’m a freshman. Biology major. And um, I’m originally from Canada but I moved to West Virginia when I was like 5. »

I couldn’t believe I said all of that in one go. Usually I’d be a stuttering mess, but I kept it together somehow. I just didn’t want to be made fun of. I got enough of that in high school.

He ripped out a piece of paper from one of his books and stuck his gum in it. Normally I’d make a face, but again, I wanted to stay on his good side. So I just acted like it didn’t bother me.

I wondered if he would care if he knew I was germaphobic and had a mild case of OCD. Probably. No. Definitely. Definitely not mentioning that I have those.

« A Canadian eh ? » he said with a slight accent. « That’s cool. West Virginia… not so cool, I’m sure you agree. So bio huh, you must be real smart. You look like the type. »

I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to say thank you or not, because I wasn’t sure if he was actually complimenting me or not. He made me confused. I wasn’t really used to that feeling.

« What’s your major ? » I asked, trying to keep the conversation going without being too curious.

He started to pace a bit. It was making me fidget. I hate when people pace. My dad is a pacer. When he’s on the phone he can’t stay in one spot he has to walk all over the house. One of my biggest pet peeves, of many. I was a very particular person.

« I’ve changed it twice already so nothings really definite. I’d rather just be famous, but the parents don’t really approve of that. »

I smiled because I thought that was an appropriate response.

« You’re young, you have plenty of time to figure things out. Statistics say that the average college student changes their major at least three times so, you’ve got one more shot, » I said chuckling. « I-I’m kidding. »

He laughed but I’m sure it was at me, not with me. I get that a lot.

« You just like, know stats right off the top of your head ? »

I looked down at my book and shrugged my shoulders.

« Not a lot, just some. I read a lot. And my memory is pretty good so I tend to retain tons of information, both useful and useless. It’s a curse really. »

He nodded and continued to pace.

« So you’re not a genius or anything you just like to read and have one of those photo…photo whatever memories ? »

« Photographic ? »

« Yes ! God damn I hate when that happens. You know when you’re trying to think of a word and you know it but you can’t think of it in time. »

« Tip of the tongue phenomenon. That’s what it’s called. It happens to me too. It’s unfortunate. »

He looked at me weird, and for that moment I felt so insecure. Was I being too nerdy ? That happened a lot. I didn’t even realize I was getting like that.

« Sorry, » I said quickly. « I do that sometimes. Just ignore me. »

I turned away and continued to read my book. It wasn’t a textbook, it was just a regular book. I liked to fill my brain with both fiction and nonfiction. It helped me associate with the outside world better. Most people don’t know how to be friends with people like me, because I make them feel stupid.

Not saying I’m smarter than most people, but I’ve been told that before by my actual friends. Which I do actually have back home. 2 of them. They’re pretty awesome. But they’re like 500 miles away so that really is disheartening.

« So do you party Jamie ? »

I didn’t feel like correcting him again, so I didn’t.

« Nope. I feel like you could already tell though. »

« Hey you never know. My mom always said to watch out for the quiet ones. Meaning girls. But she didn’t know- well that doesn’t matter. I’m just saying. It wouldn’t hurt to get out there and live a little instead of making yourself a human computer. »

« I don’t think I would socialize well in a party setting. I’ve been to one or two back home ; not my scene really. »

I knew at that moment that I would not be getting much sleep at all if Keagan was going to have crazy parties in our room all the time. Oh dear.

« It’s Michigan State. You have to party. Just wait, you’ll see how we do things around here. I’m sure you’ll learn to socialize just fine. »

Again, oh dear. This was going to be a long semester.