The Piano Knows Something I Don't Know

Do animals have rights?

Do animals have rights?

One week went by, and Brendon and I only became closer. I spent every waking moment that I wasn't in class with him. I could already tell that this was the start of a truly amazing relationship. There was something special about Brendon and I, and I was proud to call that wonderful man my boyfriend.

As I became lost in an amazement of love and friendship and intimacy, I found it difficult to pay attention to other aspects of my life. My grades were still satisfactory, but it was impossible to pay attention in class when I could be thinking about Brendon. However, there was one thing that I couldn't help but notice.

Patrick Stump had stopped showing up to class.

It was unlike Patrick to miss a class. There was one day earlier in the year when Patrick had caught a nasty illness, and he had insisted on going to his Freshman Writing Seminar anyways. If it had been me, I would have simply taken the day off, but that was the kind of person that Patrick was.

I thought it was odd when Patrick missed Principles of Ecology on Monday, but there were plenty of excuses that he could give. Perhaps he was sick, or maybe he had another commitment. Maybe he just didn't feel like showing up to class that day. On Wednesday, I thought that it was even more strange that Patrick wasn't there, but there could still be an innocent reason why he hadn't bothered to show up. Andy and I had to do the lab by ourselves that day. Both of us were certain that he would return on Friday to make up the lab.

When Patrick didn't show up on Friday, it was obvious that something was wrong. I had seen Patrick around campus, and I knew that he was going to statistics, since a few of the other students in my Ancient Philosophy class were in his class, and they said that he was still going to class. However, I couldn't figure out why he refused to go to Principles of Ecology.

I talked to a few other freshmen that morning, and I soon discovered that statistics was the only class that Patrick was attending. He was skipping nearly all of his classes, and for a rule-abiding student like Patrick, that was a major red flag. I had to talk to him.

On my way to the dining hall, I met up with Andy. "I'm concerned about Patrick," I told him.

"Me too," Andy said. "He hasn't shown up in Principles of Ecology all week."

"He hasn't gone to any of his classes except for statistics," I said.

"That's so unlike him," Andy said. "I didn't even think that he liked stats."

"Me neither," I said. "He's always complaining about Pete being in that class. Andy, should we talk to him about it?"

"We should," Andy said. The two of us entered the dining hall, took some food from the buffet, and searched for Patrick. It took us a while, but eventually, Andy found Patrick sitting by himself, eating a sandwich.

"Hi Patrick," I said as I sat next to him.

"Leave me alone," Patrick replied.

"Come on, Patrick," Andy said as he sat next to Patrick on the other side. "We just wanted to hang out with you."

Patrick looked away from both of us and said, "I don't want to deal with this right now."

"What's wrong?" I asked him.

"I want to change my major," Patrick said.

"That's not too hard," I said. "You can just go to the Shufflebottom Center and fill out the paperwork."

"I talked to Ray Toro once, and he said that he changed his major three times in his first semester," Andy said. "It's not that big of a deal, and a lot of people change their major. What do you want to change to?"