Sumner Misery

Genesis:

It was the first day back from winter break and my stomach was filled with more than just butterflies. It felt as though there were some bees and wasps in there as well. I was intensely nervous if you couldn't tell and the jitters had kept me up for most of the night. I begrudgingly got out of bed and admired my signature eye bags in the mirror. As much as I tried to ignore it, my eyes finally drifted to my psych textbook sitting on my desk. The bane of my existence at the moment (it was ever-changing) not because of any dislike for the course, but rather for the events that it represented. Right before university had closed for the holidays, we had been assigned our partners for a group thesis in psychology and of course, because luck has always been on my side, I got partnered with the weirdest kid in the classroom.

 When I say weird, I mean weird. He was so odd I found it a bit ironic that he was in a psychology course. No one knew anything about him and the university wasn't large at all, with maybe no more than 300 sophomores. He wore the same sweater everyday, but I liked to attribute it to his minimalism rather than his eccentricity, and no one had ever heard him speak above a whisper the rare times he did open his mouth.

 I shooed these thoughts away as I got ready for my first class back, Psych. I decided to embrace my eye bags today, I kinda thought they made me look bad-ass, as I if I was up all night contemplating the fundamentals of the universe and not watching YouTube videos about how to take care of numerous house plants, none of which I owned. I always found a way to get completely engrossed in topics that had no long-term benefit in my life, but alas it made for good conversation so it wasn't a complete loss.

I had procrastinated all vacation long so, there was still a large bag of unwashed clothes in the corner of my room, and because I had been wearing all my groovy clothes (yes, groovy) the only clean clothes I had left was a black turtleneck that had been stretched out and a pair of black jeans that were from my fat days. Since I had no one to blame but myself I went searching for a belt and some black shoes since I might as well commit to this goth look that fate had put in front of me. I had to admit, the over-sized clothes were really comfy and they did kind of make me look cryptic and mysterious. I threw my curly nest of hair into a messy bun, put on my glasses and left. I stopped by my usual grocery store to get my daily black coffee (not part of the costume rather, a dire necessity) and caught the bus just as it was pulling up to the stop. Clearly the universe was apologizing for the hell that I was about to go through. I plugged my headphones in and opened up to my marked page in "God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater." I had probably read that book 50 times already but just always seemed to be a good companion on public transportation and plus I always teared up at the end a bit. 

The bus that I had run to wasn't the usual bus that I took but it stopped at the university nonetheless, it just took a slightly longer route. I didn't care if I was late, there was nothing that I wanted to be in for and maybe he would give him a different partner if I didn't show up. But, to my dismay, I made it with 5 minutes to spare. At this point, I was going to have to suck it up and deal with it, it wasn't that serious anyways. Maybe he was just shy I mean, no one knew anything about him anything which meant he could end up to not be a complete weirdo. So I took a deep dramatic sigh and entered the classroom. I looked around and didn't see him, we were supposed to sit with our partners dictated a note on the board as the professor was still on holiday, so I took a seat in the back next the window and pulled out my non bus-ride novel that I was currently reading, "The Waves" by Virginia Woolf. I honestly had no idea what was going in the book but I had somehow convinced myself that once I finished it I would see how it all tied together.

I began to get engrossed when someone entered the classroom with a loud bang. I thought it was him but it was just the late substitute who had dropped one of the many books he was carrying. My partner entered after him, his head down as usual as he hurried to his usual seat. I groaned inwardly, I was not going to move, I refused. Finally, after about 30 seconds he looked up to read what was on the board and slowly turned around. In his overly dramatic scan of the room to find me, I got to look at him, really look at him. 

He wasn't particularly physically attractive but his features were so distinct and strong that he could model anyways, despite not fitting the conventional standards of beauty. He had a strong prominent nose and jaw and his eyes were a light brown set on top of a pair of eye bags even worse than mine. 

He finally saw me and got up to sit next to me. I couldn't tell what expression his face, I couldn't see any anxiety or annoyance, it was just blank as if he practiced poker faces for a living. As he got closer I realized just how tall he really was which was dramatized by the fact that I barely hit 5'1". When he finally reached the chair, he paused for a moment, muttered something under his breath and sat. I almost missed it because his scent overtook me, he smelled of musk and nutmeg but also a hint of something sweet and citrusy like a ripe tangerine. I didn't expect someone who wore the same thing everyday to smell so good. I regained focus and remembered he had just spoke. 

"I beg your pardon," I asked, I was having none of this, I was already annoyed as it was that I had forgotten the professor was going to be on holiday for a couple days after we had to come back so I could've skipped the class. 

He averted my eyes and shook his head, not in annoyance but almost as a polite refusal. I've never seen anyone shake their head politely but somehow he managed to do so. I was going to ask him his name but he pulled out his notebook which had "Zander Danielson" written on it. 

He started scribbling unintelligibly and slightly furiously. I leaned back and turned to Virginia for solace, they both baffled me but at least I could read what she wrote down. 

This was going to be a long 6 months.