“KN?” I was surprised by what he said.
Austin came closer, and I ended up thinking that he’d kiss me, too. It was like a second instinct. But of course, he didn’t. Instead, he whispered something in my ear, “He’s gay.”
“He’s what?” I exclaimed.
“Shh,” Austin hushed me.
I shut my mouth. After looking at him for a good three seconds, I couldn’t help but ask again, “Really?”
“It’s a secret. Right, Chris?” he asked for confirmation from the one called Christoffer.
“Don’t go around saying that. It’s just a rumor,” Christoffer said, shaking his head in warning. “You don’t want to annoy him. It’s not a good idea.”
I slowly nodded in response.
“Jules, how are you?” Someone slammed on me from the back.
Bombs away moment.
I swore, at the end of the night, I’d end up getting hundreds of bruises or lung failure. As I was still composing myself, I ended up tripping on a foot. That made me land on someone, before dragging that same person straight towards the ground with me.
“Sorry,” I said, soothing my butt after I moved away from him. That was a major ouch. How rough could these guys be?
“Damage,” he muttered.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing,” he said, standing up on his feet. And then, he extended a hand to me and said, “Help?”
I nodded and took his hand. “Thanks.”
“Good,” he said another word again.
I straightened my clothes and thought that I might as well introduce myself. Introduction mood was so in the air. Shoving aside the thought that I might as well make a body slam, I kept it simple. “Jules. What’s your name?”
Honestly, he didn’t seem to be the type that would go for body slams. In fact, he looked like the opposite. And instead of saying his name, he repeated mine, “Jules.”
When Paige was into jocks, I’d die to date a nerd. I couldn’t explain the attraction I felt for them. I was so into people who were showing around their latest Star Wars collection or reading books I didn’t even know exist.
But as something clicked inside my head, I shoved those admirations away. They needed to be cast away in the deepest sea or thrown into outer space. Because the thing was, he had the same shade of hair as my brother. So I stared at his face and studied him closely instead, like the way the creepy KN guy did a moment ago.
I pleaded for the sibling’s recognition to kick in right away, wishing that this person was Finn. I also wanted to ask him bluntly if he was, but I couldn’t risk it. Not now. That would put me in the spotlight. It also might scare Finn and make him disappear again. Of course, I didn’t want that to happen.
As I was staring at him, he gave out a horrified shrug. “What?”
“Nothing!” I hurriedly replied.
“Okay,” he said again, before picking up the book he’d dropped. I saw a name written on the side of his book: Grayson. It must be his, if not the fake name Finn was using. I eyed him suspiciously, putting him as my number one priority among the others I had to stalk for the next few days.
“Did someone just fart?” I heard someone ask loudly from behind me.
A stench smell filled the room. I instinctively covered my nose. Looking around as others pinpointed who had done such a crime, I realized I was holding my hand delicately over my nose, and all the others were just using their thumbs and forefingers or their shirt. I hurriedly pulled down my hand and kept it to my side, completely ignoring the hideous smell.
“You?” Nerdy clearly noticed.
I winced. Did he see it? I was like some runaway felon pronounced guilty. Turning my head to him, I nervously laughed. “What?”
He didn’t answer, and just stared at me, closely.
Thinking that I should really shake this off, I defensively told him, “I’m not the one who farted!”
He squinted his eyes. Oh no, he wasn’t talking about the fart. Did he notice the mistake I’d done?
What? What? What?
Finding my cool, I tried laughing again. “Why you are pushing the blame on me? Maybe because you were the one who...”
He seemed unshaken by my attempt to sound comical. Rather, he looked apprehensive about me. Then he shrugged his shoulders, simply saying, “Not me.”
I was about to say something else to further cover up my mistake, but he alraedy turned his back on me and walked away. Not knowing what else to do, I just crossed my fingers.
On the first night with the boys, someone was already suspicious of me. And speaking about the first night, my mind got occupied with finding out the identity of my gay roommate. My soon to be best friend here. We would so relate. But I hoped he wasn’t like KN. Having the thought of KN staring at me during my sleep, I shuddered.
“There you are!” Jayden said to me. “Are you having fun? Dinner will come around in about...”
He turned me towards the kitchen area at the far side of the room. Then, on the cue of three, I saw people emerging from inside, putting silver trays on the counter. In response, everyone flooded in front of the counter, asking for this and that. Loud. It was so loud as everyone began ordering their food.
“I thought you would be surprised,” Jayden noted, laughing at my reaction.
“Is it always like this?” I asked. How would we ever get some food if everyone acted this way? It seemed like I had to wrestle for dinner during my stay here.
“Always,” he affirmed. “So are you coming or are you full?”
“Hungry, but I’m not sure anymore,” I replied, shaking my head.
“Figures,” Jayden said.
“Hey, do you know who’s Cosgrove?” I asked him about my roommate. I suddenly felt like calling it a night. Dad called him as Mr. Cosgrove. He said that he was harmless, because he was supposedly gay and I was actually a girl. That was why Dad had arranged for me to share a room with him instead of roommate no. 1, who was a well-known playboy.
“Cosgrove?”
“He’s my roommate,” I told him.
“Oh, that’s bad,” Jayden said with apprehension, looking oblivious suddenly, as if I’d turned the tables and surprised him instead.
“Why?”
“You just met him,” Jayden slowly answered.
“Really?” Well, that made sense. I basically met everyone here a moment ago. It was just that I hadn’t been able to memorize all of them.
Jayden nodded. “I feel bad for you. I first thought that you’d be sharing rooms with Daniel, since there were still two rooms available. But you know, you can always ask for a transfer tomorrow.”
Ah, so Daniel was the playboy.
“Why?” I asked again, not really getting a word or two he said. Why would I want a transfer in the first place?
“You don’t know his first name?”
I shook my head in response. My dad just kept on saying Mr. Cosgrove last night. He said, ‘He’s a good boy. Well-mannered. You’ll be okay with him.’
Realizing that I had no clue, he exhaled. “It’s Konstantino Nikolas.”
“That’s a cool name.” It was catchy, even.
“You still don’t…?” Jayden asked, obliviously.
“Oh, I got it. Konstantino Nikolas?” I repeated. Jayden still got that look on his face, like I’d missed something so obvious.
And then it hit me.
“KN,” he confirmed my thoughts.
“Crap,” I breathed. “Are you serious?”
“He is your roommate, all right. The thing is, no one wants to share a room with him, because he is just like that. You know, creepy. There’s something wrong with that guy,” Jayden said.
“So is Daniel okay? I mean, if I make arrangements for transfer, will he be cool with that or...” I was seriously considering that transfer now.
Jayden exhaled once more. “He’s okay when he’s awake, but there are some rumors that he sleep walks. So if you’re his roommate, you’ll feel obligated to drag him back to bed when you see him lying next to you or on the floor or even in the bathroom. It’s tiresome to share rooms with him, I guess. He’s a huge guy, as you can see.”
I swallowed. That wasn’t a good idea, either. Why did I have, like, only two options? Why?
And then an empty tray flew out of nowhere. It barely missed my entire head. The tray, I found out, came from those guys who got fed up with each other’s jokes and got a bit worked up. Next moment, Jayden and I were avoiding plastic cups.
This would be a long night.
FINDING FINN JOURNAL NO. 4
My roommate is the creepiest guy in school. Great. Just great.
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