CHAPTER 1
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The sun shone from my 3rd floor dormitory window. Birds sang from the tree branches on campus. I was sitting at my desk, desperately trying to finish typing an essay I had to finish for my first hour at school. At college. College was nothing like High school. No one talked to each other. There's no college romance like in the movies. No parties either. We got to choose our classes, and go to them when we felt like going to them. Teachers didn't really care about what was happening in their class, and sometimes we'd just watch a video and go home.
Home. I missed my mom. I had chosen to live in a dorm on my college campus because my mom couldn't move two hours away from her work. I didn't want her to have to go through the trouble of moving houses and finding a new job, so I just went without her. We can visit each other at least, but her voice was always so comforting. She was always really accepting, of me especially. I sighed and pushed my chair away from the bright light of my laptop. I rubbed my eyes, feeling a familiar brushing sensation on my right knee. At least I wasn't completely alone.
I looked to my dog, Lucy, and gave her a pat on her head. She was my service dog, and was alerting to my anxious behaviors. This specific one was shaking my leg. I hadn't even noticed. "Thank you, rat." I smiled sweetly at her, and she wagged her tail from beside me. Usually, dogs and other pets weren't allowed in dorms, but because she was my SD (abbreviation), she got a pass. "You ready to go to work?" I asked her in a soft, squeaky voice. She immediately got up from her laying position, tail wagging excitedly. I chuckled softly, saving my work and shutting my lap top. I had to go to class, so I would finish up the last of my essay before anyone noticed. It would be bad to be late and have late homework. I stood up, ignoring the dizziness in my head as I walked to the closet door. My dorm wasn't too big, there was a bed, closet, desk, and a dresser for my clothes in here. It was big enough for me to live comfortably, and that's all that I could really ask for. I searched through an unnecessary large pile of vests, eventually finding a black and red one. "Aha! Here it is." I spoke proudly, clicking my tongue to call Lucy over. She came over immediately and stood in her hind legs as I had taught her to. Bending over to do anything was dangerous for me at times, so I sat down and fastened her vest. It had a few patches. Two were on the sides, reading 'Do not pet', and the ones on the top read 'Service dog', 'Medical alert', and 'Psychiatric alert'. I sighed, realizing how... what's the word... 'messed up' I am. I hooked her leash onto her collar, holding it tightly in my hands. It was a simple black-leather leash with a leash wrap, just saying 'Ignore Us'.
"There we go.. all dressed." I said calmly. She followed me over to my desk, and I scooped up my lap top and backpack. I made my way out the door, not worrying about whether or not I would squish her in the exit. I trained her well enough that she walks perfectly beside me without even being told to. Heck, I can even walk with her off leash and she would stay right to my side. If you let a normal dog off the leash, they'd get distracted and run off. Working dogs are supposed to be composed and controlled at all times, especially out in public. I didn't see any students as I navigated the carpeted hallways. Why would he? It's 7:30 in the morning, why would anyone sane set their classes for that time? I guess it wasn't that uncommon, because even though 90% of the school hated getting up early, there were still students that shared classes with him.
I walked out the front doors, feeling cool morning air hit my face as I left. It was heated inside the dormitory building, but not outside for obvious reasons. It felt like the further out I went, the colder it got, until the temperature stayed the same. It wasn't even a colder month-- it was the middle of spring! By the afternoon, it would be way too hot. I couldn't be out in the afternoon, not only because my Rat's little feet would be burned, but because my dysautonomia gets worse in the heat. I didn't want to have to faint today, thank you. I took a deep breath as I stepped up the steps to my college building, bursting through the doors.
It actually made quite a bit of noise, and it made me embarrassed to watch the front desk lady look at me. Her eyes traveled to the little dog beside me, and it seemed like she immediately recognized who I was. I didn't really want to talk, but she spoke first. "Oh, hey you're.. Darryl Noveschosch?" She asked, setting her pen aside. She had blue eyes and long brown hair-- an extremely unusual mix. She smiled brightly, but it seemed insincere to me. I nodded. "I thought so." She continued, "your dog looks cute today. What's her name?" We've literally never talked before. She only knows me because when I joined the school this year, all of the staff got an email to ignore my dog when I came around. She obviously wasn't following protocal.
I shifted nervously before answering her question. "Her name is Rose.." That, of course, was nothing short of a lie. Many handlers give out fake names because... well...
"What a pretty name!" She smiled brighter, "Hi Rose!" She called to the puppy, who didn't react. She had a look of disappointment on her face and I gave an awkward smile. When people asked for her name, there was only one thing they'd do next: call out to her. It really distracted her, when her only focus was supposed to be me, her handler. It was just a little trick the SD community had picked up, and now most of us hand out fake names.
"Please don't distract her.. she's working." I said, an obvious hint of nervousness in my voice.
The front desk lady who doesn't have a name tag frowned, but picked up her pen again. "Oh, okay." She definitely looked either disappointed or offended. Either way, I kept walking. I didn't want to have to miss my class because someone was upset that she couldn't talk to my dog. Once out of earshot, I stopped.
Lucy stopped with me, sitting down and looking up. I smiled and dug around in the pocket of my backpack, tossing her a treat, which she graciously chewed up. "Good girl." She always does really well, and it couldn't make me happier. We continued walking side-by-side, entering the classroom of my first hour class. The lights shone brightly in the giant room. It was pretty much just a huge movie theater, rows of desks increasing in height as the steps got higher. The 4 people in the room already didn't even turn to me as I walked up the steps, taking a seat in the middle of the 14th row. There were easily 20 rows, though there weren't even that many kids in the class. I sat down and placed my backpack to the side. I looked to Lucy, who was already getting into position under my legs. Even so I whispered a command. Basically, Service dogs were to stay out of the way when you're sitting or standing in place. They weren't really allowed up in the chairs, because they had no business being there. Being in your lap makes it harder to alert, and bigger service dogs just don't fit. I set up my laptop, opening it back up to my Google Document. I started typing away at the rest of my essay before class started.
I barely noticed more students flooding in-- around 5. There were probably around 12 people in the room by the time class started, including me and the teacher. I sighed as our teacher spoke up and class started. I didn't bother to learn his name. All I know is that on Fridays, I have Biology, English, Civics, and then an Algebra class. To be honest, I was really disoriented with school. I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life, and I was already 20 years old. When you're 12, it doesn't really matter if you don't have a specific job in mind, but when you're 20? I mumbled a quick 'oh my goodness' to myself, thinking of all the jobs I had been debating over. If I dropped out of college I'm pretty sure I'd be a disappointment to society, but maybe I'd just do online work. Or work as a math teacher. Or go to medical school. There were obvious choices I leaned towards more than others, but it didn't set anything straight. I sighed, leaning forward in my chair.
"Psst!"
I ignored the sound coming from somewhere close to me. No one really talked in this class, especially to each other, so I really didn't expect that.
"Hey! you!" It was a whisper from someone behind me, and when I finally realized, that got my attention. I looked behind me, and up at the boy who had been bugging me. Really? Out of all the spots in the class, he chose right behind me? I knew this kid. He was around 2 years younger than me, and maybe 4 inches shorter. His name was Zak, and he usually wore a blue hoodie with jeans. His 'aesthetic' was just black and blue. I have no idea if I used that word right-- I saw it online, and I haven't exactly grasped the meaning of it yet. I instantly regretted thinking though. "Do you know what the Wi-Fi password is?" He asked me. His messy brown hair got in the way of his bright eyes, and I guessed that he didn't comb his hair today. I didn't either.
"It's on the whiteboard..." I pointed to the front of class, and indeed, the Wi-Fi password was written in big red letters.
"Oh. Thanks." He simply replied, and I turned back to my screen. The teacher had been going on about our Essay that was due today, and told us that we had 5 minutes to turn it in. I guess I could have waited until the start of class to finish.. I'm just glad I got it done instead of taking chances.
The class continued without interruption, until it was about 45 minutes in. I felt something soft on my head, and ran my hand over the top of my hair. The thing fell back, and I picked it up. It was a black pen. I frowned and looked up to Zak, who was snickering, obviously trying hopelessly to contain his laughter behind his hoodie sleeves. I couldn't help but smile at his stupidity, but just rolled the pen back on his desk and looked forward to the front of class again.
There was silence, aside from the soft voice from the professor at the front of the class. The room was far too big for his voice to be heard everywhere, which lead to him wearing a headset, speaking into a microphone which projected his voice from the speakers strategically placed around the class. I was too nervous to sit underneath or by a speaker, so I always sat towards the middle. I felt the familiar sensation of soft pressure on the top of my head again. This time, I picked up the pen without it falling over and looked over to Zak. I was about to tell him off, because it was getting annoying already, but he spoke first. "Your outfit is cool. You match with your dog."
I was caught entirely off-guard by that, and stared blankly up at his smug face. I got compliments like that often, both on-campus and off-campus because I tried to match colours with Lucy often. I didn't mind it, though I got suspicious that he, like others who mentioned my SD, was trying to talk about her more. "Thanks." I replied with a small smile, and turned back to the lecture.
My phone vibrated in my pocket, and I did my best to ignore it. I got another notification, though. And then again. And again. Feeling embarrassed, I took it out and tapped on the message. It was a text message, from contact name Zak. Yeah, we had each other's phone numbers. We weren't really friends, more so acquaintances that texted each other when we needed help with a dumb class homework. So much homework. I read the text messages.
'u should wear red & black more often'
'read my texts'
'do it'
'read meeeeeeeeeeeeeee'
I giggled a little. I couldn't help it-- something about being texted while sitting pretty much right next to each other just got me.
'Pay attention to the lecture >_>' I responded, turning my phone on silent so I wouldn't even get vibrations. I heard an audible huff from the boy behind me, and I continued typing notes onto my screen.
Class was over in a flash. Even though each class was about 2 hours long, it felt like no time at all before I was out on the side walk again, heading back to my dorm to prepare for my next class. All of my classes were either at morning or at night. I sighed, turning on my phone to check the time. 8:46am. I noticed I had a new text from Zak, right below my 'Your phone is on silent' notification. I tapped it, unlocking my phone screen. I read the text message. Slowly at first, and then over and over again.
'Do u want to go out w/ me tomorrow mornin g?? maybe as a date idk. or not'
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Word Count: 2359 words