*au based in the universe of john knowles' "a separate peace"*
Eugene, still jumbled from the events of last term, enters his senior year at The Devon School weary of his new roommate. Phineas comes to Devon looking for a fresh start. Brinier's not...
One week in and I'm feeling not a lot better than last year.
I still can't write. About anything. I've gone to the library, tried my room, even tried the bathtub. But nothing is working.
It doesn't help that Phineas seems hellbent on annoying me at every single turn. You'd think he'd get the picture that I really wasn't looking for friends after a week of barely talking to him, but no. He's considering me a challenge. What's worse is he's becoming friends with all of my friends, meaning that I have to hear about the 'great' Phineas Irvine even if I don't have to see him.
At this point, I basically have his schedule memorized to a T. He wakes up around six am, his alarm usually waking me up as well (annoying, seeing as I don't have to get up for first bell until 8) and goes on an early morning 30-45 minute run. He comes back, panting heavily and loudly (so that even if I didn't wake up to his alarm, I'm surely awake now), and gets ready for his day, usually not before tripping on his own shoes or other items of clothing. Then he heads down to the dining hall, to sit with all of my friends, which I guess- to my chagrin- are his friends too. After he finishes his classes for the day, he goes to soccer practice (because of course, star musician has to be a three-season athlete too), and eventually comes back to the room to study. Loudly. It's like he can't focus unless he's doing three things at once. If there's no Plutos practice that night, all of the scooby gang comes over to hang out, or we'll go to Lep's room, and even though Phineas and I don't talk, it's a nice time. After that, he usually goes on another run, and doesn't end up sleeping until 1am some nights. This is something we have in common.
On nights that we find ourselves both up a lot later than we should, we become close to actually having a conversation. Of course, I think I'd actually have to allow myself to talk to him before I could do anything.
This is one of those nights.
"Gene, are you still up?" My roommate calls out, currently watching something from his laptop.
"I told you to not call me Gene." I half-yell from my spot on my bed.
"Right. Good night, Eugene." He shuts his laptop and turns to sleep.
Guess we're not having that conversation.
~The Next Morning~
He's gone by the time I wake up, which is weirdly off putting to me. It's been a week of getting woken up by him at least once, and today I've actually been able to sleep in.
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When I enter the dining hall, Brin and Chet are sitting next to each other, sharing a bowl of cereal, while Clara and Lep are working on something in a notebook.
"Hey! Where's Flo?" I ask while sitting down, noting our friend's disappearance.
"Oh, she went out for coffee with my girlfriend this morning. Ev said they had to work on a lab they hadn't finished I think." Brin says. "But don't worry, I'm here." He grins widely.
