Note from the author: Total Words: 10,053. Words to go: 19,947.
I wake up to Amy softly, but anxiously whispering my name: “Charlie. Charlie! Honey, wake up. There is a boy in your closet!”
I open one eye and slur, “whaaaaaaat?” The sight of Amy standing by the closet with a broom held like a baseball bat wakes me up completely. The memories from last night slowly come back to me. I call Amy over and explain that she doesn’t have to beat up the kid in the closet because I actually know him. I give her a rundown of the night’s events. She tells me that while she’s thrilled I’ve made a friend, she doesn’t think he should be in my room.
I roll my eyes and walk over to the closet. “Matty, wake up. It’s time for breakfast”. Matt yawns, blinks his eyes, then promptly covers his face with the blanket. I kneel over him and rip the blanket off. “Matty, come on. I’m starving!” Matt groans and sits up.
Amy and Matt get acquainted while I try to think of a plan to smuggle him out of here in broad daylight. I’m all for dressing him up as a girl, but he refuses. Darn, there’s a wasted opportunity. Instead we hide him inside of Amy’s maid cart and free him once we get to the cafeteria.
Amy, Matt, and I all grab breakfast from Gus and sit at a table. Over the course of the meal, I can tell that Matt is winning over Amy with his humor and sweet personality. He’s graduated from “the weird kid passed out in my friend’s closet” to “a nice boy”. Quite an accomplishment.
When we finish eating, we go our separate ways, but agree to meet up for dinner. Amy and I finish up chores throughout the day. When we take a break for lunch I can’t help but inconspicuously glance around the cafeteria for my new friend.
“Who’re you looking for?” Amy asks innocently. I snort. I guess I wasn’t being so subtle after all.
“Noooooo one,” I chorus. Amy arches an eyebrow. We both know who I was looking for. It’s just so unusual for me to get along so well with someone. It’s nice having a friend my own age.
Without further comment we both finish our lunches. When Amy’s job is finally done, we head to my room. Today we decide to play cards. I won the first two hands of Hearts, then she won the next two. I won the tie breaker. Since sweet victory was all mine, I serenaded her with a verse of “We are the Champions”.
By then, it was time to meet up with Matty for dinner. By the time we reach the cafeteria, he’s already waiting at the table. When he sees me and Amy, he bounds over. We go through the food line to pick up our suppers. Gus kept staring at me and Matty then winking and doing this weird thing with his eyebrows. I hope Matt didn’t notice.
We ate our grilled cheese sandwiches and talked about our days. Matt discovered the video game arcade and was holed up in there all day. He was so involved in this one game that he completely forgot about lunch, which is a shocking feat for a teenage boy.
Matty and I walked Amy to the shuttle docking station. We say a quick goodbye to Amy before she boards the almost-full shuttle. They really pack everyone in there to save energy. Full capacity shuttles mean less trips and less trips mean less foolish waste. Although being packed in like sardines isn’t exactly luxurious.
“Hey, want to see my room? I haven’t completely moved in yet, but I figure it’s my turn since we went to yours yesterday,” Matt volunteers.
“Sounds like a plan,” I respond, linking arms with him. I’m glad he’s with me because I’ve only been over to the co-ed dorms once. He expertly steers us to his room.
“Ladies first,” he says as the door swings open. Wow. His room is fantastic. He has old movie posters and recent pictures plastered on the wall. He has pale green drapes that match his sheets. The most prominent feature in the room is a gigantic flat screen television. I wonder how he even got it up here. I suppose it must’ve come on a shuttle with food or school supplies.
