Let's Get Ethan ✔

Chapter 8

"Fuck! First day shit again," a voice boomed. Ethan's eyes fluttered open to the still unfamiliar room before him.

"Oh sorry, Ethan, just woke up late," Lincoln apologized. He was halfway into his jeans, rushing to squish himself into the denim material. He then took out a cap and shoved his matted, sandy hair into it. Lincoln reached to turn off his lamp and got on his shoes.

Ethan looked over at his alarm and noticed it was about five minutes from turning on alerting him to wake up. Ethan was thankful for his roommate's sudden exclamation. Ethan was surprised this "party boy" had an 8am. But having a roommate awake earlier than him could have its benefits. Ethan would never sleep in and Lincoln couldn't come in plastered at four in the morning, at least that's what Ethan told himself.

Having a nightmare roommate wasn't out of the question, especially at a party school like UCSB.

Ethan quickly got ready for his first day of classes. He was joyful, even if he wasn't excited by the content of them. Spreadsheets and market analysis, oh boy. Ethan looked at Lincoln as he waved to him slipping out the door. There was an apple between his teeth. Its juices were dripping down the corners of his mouth.

That guy could get ready at the speed of light. Ethan played around with his hair deciding to leave it straight across. He felt that putting it up would give him 90s teen heartthrob vibes, and that wasn't exactly Ethan's calling. His pudgy, unathletic body made sure of that. Running hadn't done as much to his physique, compared to the entire summer he spent binge eating Doritos and lazing on the couch.

Ethan pulled on a pair of blue jeans and a clean grey sweatshirt over a white tee for his first day of school.

He grabbed his strange burnt orange backpack off the floor of his dorm and scooped up some pencils and his lanyard from his desk.

He looked ahead in the busy hallway and went out of the dorms in search of the Harbourne School of Business, founded by Richard Harbourne, renowned serious businessperson-man, or however he would care to be addressed.

Ethan was starting his first day off right, starving for breakfast and his mouth as dry as the Sahara Desert. He quickly stopped at a water fountain along the way to his first lecture. He fumbled through incorrect pathways as the time ticked by, eerily close to his nine o'clock start. He wondered why he didn't bother to look for his classes the other day. Oh, that's right, he was out in a torrential downpour then preceded to stare at pretty posters. Typical.

Ethan found the school of Business situated between the library and a rather ugly steel engineering building. There was a pretty stone fountain in front of it. He hurried up the steps of the building and opened the doors. He was greeted by a surge of students who looked just as chaotic as he had felt that morning.

He peered down the main hallway looking for room 200, he realized he had landed on the first floor and would have to find the stairs before he could get there. He searched frantically, pattering down to the other side of the hallway. He heaved a sigh of relief as he found the staircase. Ethan found the classroom easily and entered the large lecture hall on the second floor.

There were plenty of empty rows of seats. He saw his professor way down at the bottom of the lecture hall. Ethan took a seat alone in the middle, left of the lecture hall hoping that his seat was inconspicuous enough. He took out a notebook and pencil and jotted down the subject BUS 101, Business 101, an introduction to Ethan's chosen major. It was all too fitting this would be his first class.

The room was nearly full, everyone was a freshman there. The school had filled to capacity when the upperclassmen had finally arrived. Ethan put his head down avoiding any potential gazes, he wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone. The teacher began introducing himself to the class. Dr. Jones squinted his glassy, blue eyes, and looked out onto the sea of students, trying to gauge the attention they were paying him. He had a scraggly grey beard with long hair to match. Patchy red skin filled his face, he had looked like he wore concealer to cover up a nasty sunburn. He smiled, his mouth crinkled forming permeant lines, his gaze was earnest enough though. Ethan tried to get the most out of the lecture he could, while maintaining an emotional distance. He wasn't going to get invested in his classes. Ethan was fairly sure he'd drop out of college long before he made it into the 3000 level lecture sections.