The More We Know

Part One

I capitol L-oved UMass. It was right up my alley, I guess one could say. A medicore campus graced by the sun everyday during the spring, decorated with people who always wanted a hit, and professors that didn’t take roll call. If ever there was a Utopia on this spherical mass, I’d found it. 

Hello, hello, my non-stop internal monologue interrupted as my coffee browns detected the blur of a herd of scantily—more like barely—clad legs passing by. Incoming.

 “Looking good, Jenna” I said, tilting my aviators down so there’d be no mistake who I was looking at. The leggiest of the leggy, the blonde one that had more than likely driven more than her fair share of men to insanity, noted my unblinking stare and smiled one of my favorite kinds, the anything but innocent one. God I loved that smile. “I’ll be here all year, you know.”

 Jenna jokingly rolled her eyes and as I watched her and her co-eds hip-sway away, a shadow eclipsed my face. A clearing of the throat followed.

 “You know, I’ve passed you at least a dozen times this week, and if it wasn’t for your incessant cat calls that are about as creative as a paint by numbers, I’d have thought you were a statue,” the dark form casting a shadow on my morning said. Female voice, but that was about all I could identify. The way she was directly in front of the sun made her appear as a black paper cutout. “You haven’t moved from this patch of grass once.”

 “Observant,” I muttered under my breath, playing with the unlit cigarette between my teeth

 She continued, either not hearing or not caring I was trying to give her the brush off. “Just in case you missed the bulletin, this is a university. Complete with classes, credits, and co-eds.”

 “The co-eds I have most definitely noticed,” I said, shielding my hand over my eyes, trying to get a better look at the blacked-out woman in front of me.

 “Good for you,” she replied, clapping her hands in a patronizing way. “Your parents must be so proud. You know, if you were going to do nothing but play hooky the four years of your one time chance at a college career, why didn’t you go to some community college, and save yourself some money?”

 Given this girl was a stranger and didn’t know a clue about me, it seemed she was being a little harsh.

 “Let me save you the suspense” I said, slipping my glasses back into place in hopes I’d be able to make out this fiery female wielding insults.

“There are two kinds of people in the world. Those that are the college sort and those that are not. I’d fill you in on where I fit in to those two categories, but given you’ve seen me a dozen times here during prime class time, I’m guessing you already know.”

 Her head bobbed side to side, causing the sun to shoot like lasers into my eyes with every bob. “And let me save you the suspense,” she repeated. “You’ll never know unless you try.”

 Few things catch me off guard, but I have to admit that kind of did. “You are so very wise, grasshopper,” I said, lowering my voice and making a face. “Any other proverbs for me today?”

 She laughed. It was a small one, barely two notes, but it was there. “Yeah, here’s one,” she said, the smile evident in her voice. “Get your suntanned butt to class.”

 And then she was gone, twisting away and cutting into the rest of the college sorts intent upon their next class where their minds would be filled with useless junk and impossible dreams. I didn’t catch a very good look at her, other than average height, average build, and having an impenetrable wall up to my charm, but I didn’t need to see more.