My Only Constant

Chapter 9

"Well, that was...interesting," I murmured to myself as I stepped out of the lecture hall. Ms. Cloete was friendly, and she gave us a thorough briefing for the year ahead. Despite that, I got an odd, eerie feeling from her. She spoke kind words with no expression on her face at all! It was quite off-putting. How she behaved wasn't my focus, as long as I did well in her class, I couldn't care less how she acted. I was determined to get through college and get my dream job, I also needed good grades to keep my scholarship.

I was standing outside of the auditorium looking at my phone and wondering what I was going to do with the rest of my day. It was only midday. Then a notification appeared on my screen: You have been added to the group chat 'SURVIVING COLLEGE'. It was a group with all my close friends as well as the four boys: Jake, Nadir, Jay and Ethan. I unlocked my phone and took a look.

JAKE: How was everyone's first day?

BEAU: Good

JAY: What is this group chat for?

DIYA: My day was good!

JAY: Cool :)

JAKE: Well, I made this group so that we could all make plans. It seems like we all enjoyed dinner last night.

ZAHRAA: Oh, the others aren't online, we should talk more after they check their phones.

JAY: Yeah, talk to you guys later!

A group chat... I hadn't been a part of one of those in years. I assumed that meant that we were all friends now. Cool! I mean, I was hoping to make new friends anyway.

After some wandering around I decided that I should go get something to eat before going back to the dorm. My stomach growled. I'm not even sure if I had something to eat before leaving in the morning; it was about time I grabbed something to eat. I began walking to the convenience store, but this time I went to the store on the other side of campus. I hadn't been to that one yet, maybe they had something different.

The bell at the door rang as I entered. Walking up and down the aisles, I browsed for something to eat. Something salty sounded good, so did something sweet. There were just too many options! I was near the refrigerators when the store's bell rang again, startling me slightly. That same tall figure I had encountered earlier in the morning entered the store and calmly walked over to the refrigerator section.

"Oh, you again..." Ethan said nonchalantly.

"You again," I retorted.

"How was your first class, freshman?'' he asked.

"Fine, yours?"

"Whatever," he replied. "What are you looking for?"

"I haven't decided yet. Everything sounds good right now; I haven't eaten for today."

"Oh, I see you should try the tiramisu. It's my favourite here," he said picking up a pre-packaged pudding and waving it in the air.

I shook my head and politely declined," No thanks, I don't like coffee-flavoured desserts and soggy biscuits."

"Suit yourself. Are you alone?" he spoke. He briefly looked around before looking back at me.

"Yeah, everyone else is either still in a lecture or busy with something else," I responded. I looked at the fridge some more before picking up a spicy chicken pasta  (I was craving pasta after trying Jay's last night) and grabbing an energy drink. "You're alone too, but then again it seems like you are most of the time. Lone wolf kind of guy, huh?" I teased.

"Whatever loser," he scoffed," You know those things are bad for you right? It messes up your sleep," he commented pointing at my drink.

"Doesn't bother me," I shrugged.

"Well anyway, want to eat with me? You won't seem like such a loser eating all alone,"

I was taken aback by the offer. He just offered to eat with me and called me a loser in the same sentence. That jerk was out of his mind. Delusional. Psychotic. Crazy. At the same time, I wondered why he was being so nice to me; he walked with me to class and offered to eat with me. What type of mind games was he playing?

"You're really going to reject an offer from a handsome, kind and generous person such as myself. It's a one-time offer." he said pointing to his face like it was some priceless piece of art.

I was beyond shocked by his boldness. I had to surprise him with my reply in return.

"Sure, let's eat together."