Jedidiah Woods 

"Hey, thing 1 and thing 2! This is a boys room you can't just budge in like that." A wet...make that dripping wet, short, blonde boy yelled from behind them. 

The girls stopped, stared at him then burst out laughing before falling onto the empty bed. The wet guy in my doorway turned and looked at me, his eyes roaming over me and everything around. His wet hair stuck to parts of his face in weird clumps and yet despite the water dripping off his face he looked like the boys I used to see in fashion magazines. Complete with bleached blonde hair, neon yellow pants and a white shirt that clung to his ripped abs. 

He could have easily passed for the boys I had seen in fashion magazines that were not deemed acceptable in my house. The type of magazines my mother would have torn up and thrown in the fire if she ever caught me reading.  His white shirt was opened all the way to his navel and it clung to his abdomen shaping out every single muscle he had. Not only did the shirt leave nothing to the imagination, but his trousers also clung to his body too and it provided a clear outline of his briefs and everything they held. I looked away suddenly feeling ashamed for even looking at him. 

"Charlie." He frowned, drawing my eyes back to him. 

"Jedd." I stammered clutching the edges of my bed cover with both my hands. 

"These rude idiots are my sisters," Charlie said momentarily, walking out to pull his luggage back into the room, "hey tweedle dee and tweedle dum. Give my roommate space." 

The girls turned to face me with almost identical humour lacing their faces. One of them was dressed like she was going to an opera or a fancy dress party. And the other was dressed in a suit that made her seem strict and the complete opposite of her sister. 

"You don't mind do you?" Fancy dress girl said, batting her eyes at me. 

"Cassie! You are barking up the wrong tree." The suit girl said, rolling her eyes. 

"It's...okay." I managed, still clutching my bedding to my chest, "I don't mind." 

Charlie looked at his sisters before looking back at me, with a small chuckle he finally spoke up, "Hey Cruz, Take Cassie elsewhere so she can find something to occupy her." 

Cassie turned to Charlie with a frown, "I came here with you, all the way from my campus and this is how you treat me." 

"Please Cassie, we all know you came to see the..." Cruz didn't get to finish her sentence because her sister punched her shoulder,, "Right. Secret. Sorry. Bye Jedd." 

"Bye," I said, waving and regretting it immediately. 

Charlie turned to face me and smirked, "It's ok now. No need to hide, unless you have an ugly ass mole or something."

"Um...yeah uhh. You are right, I said letting go of the covers and pretending to get comfortable. I was not comfortable. Especially because Charlie looked exactly like his sisters and I was still reeling from that experience.

Charlie on the other hand was...getting naked. With no warning. He just started stripping off his wet clothes in front of me like nothing was weird. I fought hard not to look him up and down but failed miserably. 

His body was...well, better than I had already imagined. But with sisters like his, it must have been genetic. He dropped his wet clothes on the floor letting the water drip out and join his earlier puddles. I cringed at the squelching sound his boxers made as they fell a few centimetres away from his clothes. 

Charlie smiled at me and pushed up his wet hair, "I have to go shower." 

I nodded and watched him pull out a towel from one of the bags he had brought in. He wrapped it around his waist and walked over to the door. He stopped by the doorway and looked over at me, "My pronouns are he/they. I hope you are not going to be one of “those” people." He looked pointedly at my crucifix like I was supposed to know what that means, "If Summer comes by, tell her to wait for me." 

I nodded, again. 

He walked out and left me confused. I thumbed my crucifix as I tried to figure out who those people were. I closed my eyes and sunk deeper into my bed. It had only been a few minutes and I had already met a lot of people. Soon enough these people would be all I knew since the idea of going back to my fathers house sounded like a figment of my imagination. I glanced at the numbers in the corner of my screen, almost seven, just like that a whole day had passed.  I relaxed into the comfortable school sheets. 

I had barely managed to grab onto the sleep that was playing at the edges of my brain when the door burst open startling me again. For the second time that day, I scrambled into my sheets as yet another female pranced into my ... our room. Summer stood by the door and looked at me with surprise dancing in her eyes. 

"Charlie?" She asked. 

"Shower." 

She turned to leave and I remembered Charlie's words, without thinking I leapt out of my bed and grabbed her wrist. Summer stood still and turned to me with a warning glare. 

"Sorry. I um. I Charlie. Stay."

The glare in her eyes vanished and she looked at me with something that resembled pity. I wanted to wipe that look away from her face but I couldn't figure out how to do it so instead. I smiled at her and hoped she would stay. 

She walked back into the room, closing the door behind her. She looked at me shaking her head lightly. Then with a softer, gentle tone, she spoke again, "Saw you talking to Wednesday."

"Tsubaki," she answered my unasked question, "Stay away from Tsubaki. He is not what you are looking for." 

I blinked up at her as I tried to figure out what that meant. Did everyone in Bradford speak in code? Was simple English not enough for any of them. And the thing with the warnings? Was that customary welcome or what? Why was she calling Tsubaki Wednesday? 

"Oh. Don't worry, I am not interested in boys." I answered looking at her. 

Summer laughed and her laugh just like the summer was warm and gentle, it left a fuzzy warm feeling inside me. She shook her head and laughed again as if I had just told her the joke of the century. 

"Sure." She said afterwards, before continuing,  "I love Spongebob." 

I looked down at my boxers and felt my cheeks heat up. In my haste to make Summer wait for Charlie, I had forgotten about my situation. I pulled the edge of my bedcover and draped it onto my lap. Summer laughed again but this time the warm fuzzy feeling was in my cheeks. 

"Do you mind?" I asked, hoping she would get the hint. 

Instead, she shrugged and said, "No, go ahead. Don't make my presence stop you." 

I thumbed the crucifix around my neck trying to muster enough courage to get out of the covers again. After five minutes of awkward silence, I got out, finding my Jeans and t-shirt on my desk. My frown pulled at my face when I jumped over Charlie's puddles to get to my shoes. 

"Going somewhere?" Summer asked. 

"Ahh. No, not really. I lied." I couldn't tell her I was going to see Tsubaki and possibly hide from her. 

She glanced up at me, "What's your Major?" 

"Music." 

Summer perked up, "Let me see your hands?" 

I handed her my hands with my palms facing up and she smiled, "What's your speciality?" 

"Piano." 

"Which piece did you audition with?" she asked, turning my hands over as if expecting to find a clue on them. 

"Uh... I didn't." 

"I don't know that one. Is that an original piece?"

"I didn't audition," I said looking down at our hands. 

Summer looked up at me, eyes large and smile wide. Her voice pitched a little high as she asked, "You didn't?"

I nodded. The question seemed rhetorical but I nodded anyway. I didn't know why she seemed excited about that. Her eyes assessed me again. Earnestly this time unlike when she had first entered the room. 

"So you are him?" She exclaimed. 

"Him?" 

"It's not important." She said, crossing her left leg over her right, "What other instruments do you play?" 

"Several. I love the piano but I can play others too. The piano is my first love though." 

Summer laughed, "That's simple-minded. It's cute, you are cute." 

My cheeks warmed up and I smiled while pulling out my phone. I laced up my shoes and smiled at Summer, "I have to go but it was nice meeting you." 

The dark-skinned girl smiled at me and said, "Yeah, you too...?"

"Jedd," I said. 

"Summer." She said,

"I know," I said, slipping through our door leaving her behind. Tsubaki wouldn't mind if I got to his room earlier than the invite. After all, I wasn't ready to see Charlie strip so shamelessly again.