The Counselor

Chpt 4. A new side of the coin

For the rest of the night, he decided to go to places he had never been in the building.

He went to floor 85 which had a library. He read a few comic books and skimmed over a few space novels. Then he left.

Floor 3 had other dorms. Floor 60 had a giant waterpark and a hot tub. He dipped his feet in but didn't stay.

He went to Floor 32, 16, and 45. Each one had dorms, but also made him wonder what was so special on his own.

He checked his phone, "Already 11:30." He grumbled to himself.

Since he didn't believe it to be another day until he saw the sun rises, it was still an early night. He had options: he could go back and sleep since he had to go run.

Or he could keep exploring.

He took the elevator to the first floor.

The lamps illuminated a warm glow, and the white walls shimmered like faraway stars. He went to the back, sitting on a beanbag, and raised his head to the fake sky.

He sighed, taking off his glasses to rub his eyes. His body could finally relax after the day he had, he stretched and twisted his neck.

He didn't even want to text Arthur. He could do it tomorrow.

Taking his phone, out he questioned if he should go to Twitter. He went to Twitter.

Of course, even though he was here less than a week he somehow ended up being on the Top 10 list, besides "Oil Spill Causes Turtles' Migration to Dissipate" and "Dog Learns to Use a Scooter".

"Teen hacks into Pentagon worries US Government" Yeah, that'll go great when he applies for college.

He pressed it, seeing his short video of coming out of court. People had plenty to say, some even a bit controversial for Twitter.

He kept scrolling. Scrolling, Scrolling, he kept going down the dark rabbit hole. He glanced at the time - it was 12:30.

He looked at the fake stars again. He wondered what the material was made of, could he do that too? Not to a building, but almost making something camouflaged – like a chameleon.

He squinted in thought, but he decided that it was probably best for him to go to sleep. Making his way back to his bed, he carefully crept into the room, and laid down. He let out a sigh of relief, ready for a peaceful rest. 

***

3 am. Gabe's phone only rang once before he turned it off. He glanced at the other bed, where one boy's promise was getting broken if he slept for one minute more.

He put on his slides and walked over to Matthew's side, throwing off his blanket. He was quite stunned to see Matthew's bloodshot eyes staring at the ceiling.

"Come on, up and Adams!" He encouraged as he made it to the bathroom. He wasn't too surprised when he was still sitting there when he came out.

"We gotta move, I like to get to Vanderbilt Park early." He said off-hand as he went to put his sneakers on. No movement.

He sighed, hoping that will get his roommate moving.

He heard a thump. Peering up, he was quite surprised to see Matthew moving on his own.

He started to pack his bag, filling it with snacks, bottles of water, and headphones.

Matthew groaned as he stormed out, dressed in sweatpants and a hoodie. He didn't want to run. He just wanted to wrap himself into a burrito, and hopefully get this whispering to stop. He didn't want to think about texting Arthur to meet up. He just wanted to sleep! But no, he had to go make himself look cool for once, and now he was paying the ultimate price – running.