The First Step

Chapter 3.

Taking morning classes was a mistake.

I don't know why I had ever thought it was a good idea. Maybe because that was how highschool had been: Wake up at seven, be there at eight, and get out at two. It hadn't seemed terrible then– just the way things were– and yet, as my alarm echoed around my room, I'd come to realize I had made a horrible decision.

"Why?" I asked to no one in particular, reaching my arm out to the side. Somewhere, there was the edge of my bed, and from there, my phone. If I slapped my hand blindly enough times, it would eventually shut off, right? Finally, my fingers brushed against the case... and knocked it to the floor, still beeping.

"Why..." I asked again, although this time the word was dragged out until it was closer to a screech of complaint. Rolling onto my side, I finally opened my eyes, leaning off my bed until I could reach my phone and turn off the alarm. Part of me wanted to hit the snooze button, but I knew I didn't give myself enough time for that. That left my only option to be to continue to roll out of bed, ignore the sheets already untucking themselves out of the corners, and prepare for the day fueled by spite, and spite alone.

Plucking my phone up off the floor, I went to put it in the pocket of my sweatpants, when a notification caught my eye. 'Low battery.'

"What do you mean low battery? I–" My gaze drifted to my charger, the square platform removed from the packing box... and still sitting on the pile of clothes I'd dumped on my floor. "... I never plugged it in."

Great. Just great. I reached for the clothes pile, digging around until I found a black tee, bright red text spelling out the words, 'Son of a Witch.' It was a bit worn now from being my favorite over the years, but it was still comfy. I tugged it over my head, picked a black pair of jeans for the day, and headed out of the room.

"... well I was going to say good morning, but I guess that's not the case."

It shouldn't have surprised me that Dustin was already up, reclining on his perfectly made bed on the other side of the room, equally buried in both his drawing tablet, and his hoodie.

He glanced up from the screen for a second, pausing from chewing on the strings of his jacket to give me a sheepish smile. His energy hit me a second later. It was softer than it had been the day before. Sweeter, meaning that today, he was fortune cookie Dustin, not pot pie. Maybe it was a stupid way to tell the difference, but it was what worked for me, and besides, he didn't seem to like to talk about it much anyway.

So I just shook my head, laughing bitterly as I walked past my bed into the other end of the room. "Yeah, that's one way to put it." The dorm really wasn't that big, a far cry from a real apartment, but at least there was a half wall on the one side to give it the illusion of being two rooms. It wasn't really a kitchen. That was more the communal room past the hall outside, but it held a few cabinets, and between Dustin and I, we'd managed to shove the minifridge in the corner, so it was something. Still had to walk out to go to the bathroom though, which sucked, kind of like my morning thus far.

"Aw, come on. It barely started," Dustin pointed out from around the other end of the wall, out of view. "I'm sure a little low battery won't be the death of you."

"Yeah, well I don't have time to charge it before class." I reached to open up the fridge, only to be greeted by two potion bottles and the white and purple UV bulbs making up the back wall. "Also there's nothing to eat."

"Yeah, we have to go shopping at some point."

Part of me wanted to point out the very apparent fact that 'some point' did not fix the 'now' currently going on, but I dropped it, closing the fridge door with a huff. "Yeah. At some point."