Black and White

Chapter 13 Volunteering

I left Dan at his dorm gate with his friends and headed to mine. My heart was racing after what had happened in the car. The only thing on my mind was Dan. His face popped up every time I closed my eyes. I entered the room to see everyone studying on their beds. I tiptoed to my bed and took off my jacket. Natalie noticed me and silently waved her hand. I scooted over to Natalie's bed and asked her why everybody was so silent. She told me that in one of the lectures that day, the professor asked us to make a group and do a project together. I asked her more about it as I had missed all of the lectures that day. She said that we were supposed to pair up with a partner. I asked if I could be her partner but it was a no. The professor had chosen the pairs herself. I sighed. She told me more about it. Dan and I both of us were missing so she had paired us together. Suzy and Joy also climbed down from their beds after a while. We were still talking when we heard the dorm matron's voice on the loudspeaker which was put up in the corridor. "Lights out" she shouted. All of us giggled. She was a woman in her fifties and her voice had a scratchy touch to it. Joy got up and switched off the lights. We bid each other goodnight and went to sleep. I had a long day and was very tired. Although my eyes were getting heavy, I couldn't sleep. I kept on thinking about Dan. I wished that he remembered what he had said that night. My eyes got heavy thinking about him and I drifted off to sleep. I got up quite early in the morning. I stretched myself and got out of bed. The room was in silence. It was only 5.30 in the morning. I did not want to disturb anybody so I quietly headed to the washroom. I had dark circles under my eyes and my face felt dirty. I splashed my face and rubbed it with the towel for a while. I brushed my teeth and had a long relaxing shower. When I was out, everybody else was still sleeping. I took my jacket and headed out for a walk. There were so many things on my mind that time. I rubbed my eyes as I got out of the room and walked downstairs. Luckily the gates were open in the dorms. I wished the matron good morning and left. There were very few people on the campus. There was the football team practicing and some guys were jogging. I walked alongside the main garden in the campus. The morning was cold and breezy. It was so relaxing. I walked for about an hour when more people started coming out of their dorms. I was just passing through Dan's dorm when some of his friends were coming out. As they saw me, one of them ran to me. He asked if I was here to see Dan. Before I answered he ran back to the dorm. After a minute or two, I saw Dan and him coming down the hall. My stomach twisted into knots as I saw Dan walking to me. I turned around to leave but he had already caught up. He smiled and my knees got weak. I wished him good morning. He asked me if I wanted to have breakfast with him and I said yes. We walked to the canteen together. He asked me what had happened last night and a disappointed sigh left my lips. He looked confused so I told him everything except for the car part. After I was done talking I looked at him. He had put on his goofy smile and was scratching the back of his head. We headed to the canteen and got breakfast. We talked a little about the orphanage we were going to volunteer at. I was excited because it was the first time I was going to look after kids. After we headed out of the canteen, we boarded the bus that was parked near our university. It was a 2 hour long drive to the orphanage. The director puked like a thousand times in those two hours. We had a good laugh about it but the laughter did not last long. The director puked again but in the bus as we were not able to stop the bus that fast. We pinched our noses as the bus was filled with stench. It was a relief when we finally reached the orphanage and got out in the fresh air. As we entered the orphanage, we saw a lot of kids playing around with the people who volunteered there. They ran to greet us. Dan picked up a girl and put her on his shoulders. Dan held her ankles as she giggled with excitement. I saw the cute sides of the other cast and crew members which I had not seen before. Even the costume designer who was known to be a very moody guy also laughed and played along with the children. I walked over to a little girl sitting in a wheelchair. I went and tapped her head. She smiled at me. I rolled over the wheelchair to a more shady place. I asked her name and she said that it was Mia. That name reminded me of somebody.I laughed at her confused face. Asking another kid to play with her, I made my way to where Dan was sitting with a guy on his lap. I walked over and sat next to him. Dan looked at me with loving eyes. I had not seen those expressions in his eyes before. I picked up the kid and brought him closer to me. As I was talking to the kid, I saw a girl walking over to Dan. She was not a kid. She looked almost as old as Dan and me. I narrowed my eyes and saw that Dan's face lit up as he saw her.