On/Off - A Jekyll and Hyde Story Page 5

  “Shit.” She couldn’t think about that now.

  She had to get some food in her stomach and try to get some work done. Maybe take a stab at that script for the two-quarter project. Will would probably be stopping by later to see if she wanted to go to the movies. She wanted to feel like she had accomplished something on the first day of the new quarter.

  A low wailing noise was coming from the next room, followed by grunting, and the sound of that dreaded bed frame creaking and thumping against a wall. Jesus. She needed to get some action soon, or she was liable to hop in with Christie and Joe for an impromptu threesome. Worse yet, she might throw common sense to the wind and have a go with Will. That would be a mistake. Kelli cranked the volume on the stereo still higher, then hopped up on the window sill, spinning her feet around ‘til she was scrunched up in the window frame. She looked out over the quad. The sky was bright gray, practically white, the sun was just barely burning through the clouds in spots. It looked like nuclear winter. She bent her head, looking ten floors down at the ants hurrying to the academic.

  Then she spotted someone in a familiar wool cap. The guy from her Media and the Mind class. She leaned forward, watching him walking past. She was sure it was him. Something about that guy was incredibly appealing. She’d been thinking about him all day yesterday, and she hadn’t even spoken to him; he could sound like Mickey Mouse. What was it? He’d just been sitting there doodling in a notebook and she couldn’t stop fantasizing about him. She pulled her hand to her face and bit down on the end of her pinky.

  “He can doodle me any time he likes,” she muttered.

  ***

  It was Friday and Jamie didn’t have classes. He again woke early, feeling somewhat dazed. He’d had strange dreams during the night, and though he couldn’t remember what they’d involved, the images were still nagging at the back of his mind. He decided to skip his run and just get out of the building. He grabbed his backpack and camera and headed for the door.

  The quads were quieter than the previous morning. The wind was much stronger, whistling between the buildings, leaving the people around him leaning at forty-five degree angles as the air held them upright. He watched an art student as he struggled to carry a large, flat, cardboard package. The wind kept whipping the cardboard back and forth in the guy’s arms. Suddenly, another blast snatched the package from his hands, twirled it in the air like a basketball on the almighty Globetrotter’s invisible hand, and hurled it down on the icy sidewalk. The cardboard tore open as a stained glass window inside exploded in a shower of blue and red shards. Jamie spun down and to the side, throwing his hands to his head, shielding his eyes as needles of glass sprayed back over the Quarter Mile. In his mind, he could see the box hitting the ground, saw a sparkling cloud of slivers floating through the air. He stayed crouched on the sidewalk until the tinkling of falling glass had stopped. When he looked up, the clouds had broken, and luminescent glass shards were shimmering on the snow-covered walkway. Jamie turned his head toward the student, who stood in shock, looking out over his destroyed project. Dropping his arms in defeat, he picked up the mangled pieces of cardboard, and trudged away. Jamie waited a few moments, then pulled the camera from his backpack, crouched to the ground, and snapped a few pictures of the ground - a surreal picture of sky blue and blood red, sparkling over the blinding white landscape.

  The image of that broken window stuck with him for the rest of the day. He went to lunch at the student union, all the while seeing that first cloud of glass as it burst from the package like a parachute snapping open in the wind. He decided to go over to the photo building and see if he could play around with the images on one of the computers.

  He was disappointed that Victor, the photo cage prick, wasn’t at the counter when he got there. Maybe pissing that guy off would get him out of the weird funk he seemed to have slipped into. The girl at the counter told him he could check out a computer in the imaging center, or just grab a work station in the lab downstairs. Jamie went down to the next floor and found a machine in a dimly lit corner. He logged on and downloaded the images from his camera, then clicked on Photoshop and started going through the pictures slowly. The images weren’t exactly what he’d had in mind. He had been imagining the explosion of glass, and had forgotten that he hadn’t actually photographed it, just got a fleeting glimpse before his eyes had instinctively snapped shut. He kept going through the images. Several of them were still fairly striking. The sunlight was piercing as it reflected off the glass. He stared into the image, his eyes going fuzzy.

  Jamie snapped awake suddenly as someone coughed behind him. He turned and saw a tall, bald guy with a beard standing behind him, giving him a funny look. Jamie’s eyes had been open, but he must have zoned out completely.

  “We’re gonna be closing the labs up in a few minutes. We need you to shut everything down.

  Jamie looked at the clock. It was after eight.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize it was so late.”

  He packed up his things quickly and left. It was dark outside as he exited the building. He’d gotten there at three. Must have been more tired than he realized. It didn’t feel like he had been sleeping. It was just a feeling as though he had completely spaced out for a few minutes. A few hours was more like it. Oh shit. He’d forgotten his meds. But those shouldn’t have made a difference. Well, maybe with his motor skills, but not with his head. And even then, they were more as a precaution than anything else.

  “Calm down, Jamie!” he muttered to himself.

  He was overanalyzing it. He was just tired. Either way, he’d better get back and take those meds. He picked up the pace a little, noting that he was once again out of sync with the rest of the campus. A few students were walking along beside him, but overall the Quarter Mile was quiet. When he reached the residential side he cut through Greek Row, where things seemed to be livening up. Music was blaring from open windows, he could hear people laughing and joking inside. He passed a group of Abercrombie guys whipping snowballs at each other, their missiles continually missing their targets and exploding into chunks of ice at they hit the sides of buildings. Jamie tensed up, reluctant to get hit in the head by an errant iceball. He turned off Greek Row and trudged into the quad outside a dorm tower.

  A couple was standing back in the trees outside the entrance to Jamie’s. They held each other, kissing passionately, oblivious to his presence. He unlocked the door and hurried up the stairs, looking at his watch as he got to the floor. He was twelve hours overdue for his medication.

  He opened his door, grabbed the canisters and headed for the fountain. He’d just thrown back the pills with a big gulp of water, when he heard Fritz calling his name and saw him coming down the hall towards him with a broad grin on his face.

  “TGIF, buddy! TGIF!”

  Jamie wiped his mouth and pulled off his gloves.

  “What’s up man?”

  “Not too much,” Fritz replied. “I knocked on your door this morning, but you must have had an early class.”

  “Nah, I’m off on Fridays.”

  “Oh, you must have been sleeping then.”

  “Nope, I got up pretty early.”

  Fritz seemed puzzled. “Did you have work or something?”

  Jamie shook his head.

  “Then, I don’t get it.”

  “I just felt like getting out.”

  Fritz looked at him blankly for a moment, then blinked his eyes and shuddered. “So anyway. We’re having a kick-off party at the house tonight.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  “It should be a pretty good time. You still interested in coming?”

  Jamie nodded his head. “Sure. What time?”

  “Its starts when it starts, but I was thinking we could get something to eat and head over around nine.”

  “Sounds good.”

  Fritz looked over, studying him. “How are things going so far?”

  “Not too bad. Had my first few classes.”

 
“You met anyone on the floor?”

  “No, I haven’t gotten around to introducing myself yet.”

  “Great, we were just getting a group together.” Fritz turned and called down the hall. “Yo, Dougie!”

  A tall, beanpole kid came over. He was wearing a brown Virginia Beach sweatshirt, with a crewcut and thick wire-frame glasses. Fritz smacked him on the shoulder and he cringed slightly, forcing an uncomfortable smile.

  “Doug, this is Jamie. Jamie, Doug.”

  “How’s it going man?” Jamie asked as he squeezed the guy’s hand, feeling bones shifting and popping under dry, flaky skin.

  “Hey, wassup?” Doug said with a quick chin bob and a slow Snoop Dogg demeanor.

  Fritz faked a punch to Doug’s stomach, and the boy’s face scrunched inward. This was not a young man who savored physical contact. “Dougie! Everyone ready to go?”

  “Yeah, we were just trying to get Sandi off the phone.”

  “Oh, just forget her. Let’s go.” Fritz saw Doug’s look of shock and added, “I’m just kidding with you man. Sandi’s a great girl. As your RA, I can tell these things about people. Come on, let’s head out.”

  Fritz threw an arm around Doug and led him down the hall. They passed an open doorway, where a skeletal girl stood talking on the phone. Fritz banged on the doorway to her room shouting “Yo, Sandi, we’re rolling out!!”

  Sandi pressed her hand over the phone. “I’ll meet you over there.”

  “Sure you will,” Fritz muttered as he continued into the lounge.

  Jamie eyed Sandi’s face as he passed, deciding that she must have been cute at one point, even a few months earlier, but had clearly succumbed to some anorexic demon. She turned her back on the door and he noticed her sweatpants: “Duke” was silk-screened across the butt. For some reason this stupid style was a huge turn-on for him. Go figure. But sadly, it seemed this particular Duke had seen better days. What had once stood as a plump, proud beacon of academic excellence was now sadly deflated, reading simply “UK,” with two sunken characters resembling parentheses on either side of the British abbreviation. Jamie lowered his head, saying a silent prayer for the departed posterior.

  A group of ten students was gathered in the lounge, holding their winter coats and watching The Simpsons. A tall, kind of goofy guy with a goatee was guffawing at the show, turning now and then to smack another much shorter kid on the back.

  “Oh shit!” The guy bellowed, “that is too fucking funny.”

  The small guy scowled every time he got hit. This seemed like a floor that valued its personal space.

  Fritz walked up to the smaller kid and turned him towards Jamie.

  “Will, this is Jamie, the new guy.”

  They shook hands.

  “And this,” Fritz continued, turning towards the goateed guy, “This is my old roommate, Arlin.” Fritz smacked Arlin on the shoulder. Arlin spun and punched him back much harder.

  Jamie nodded his head as Fritz quickly pointed down a row of people. “That’s Arlin’s girlfriend, Vanessa. That’s Vicky, Chris, Jen, Teresa, Nick, Steve, and that’s Will’s roommate, Gabe.”

  Gabe spun around and looked at Jamie with a curious expression. “Hey,” he said slowly. “Weren’t you just in the labs about a half hour ago?”

  It was the guy from the computer lab who had woken him up.

  Jamie was caught off guard. “Oh, yeah. That was me.”

  Gabe laughed. “Are you all right, dude? I thought you were epileptic or something.”

  “Oh no, I’m fine. Fell asleep for a few minutes I guess.”

  “Well, I was just glad you weren’t having a seizure. I’m telling you, I had some girl have a seizure in there last quarter, really tore up a whack-um tablet. Fell on the floor, ripped the wires from the back of the thing, and smashed in the top.”

  “Geez…”

  “But cool. Glad you’re all right.”

  Fritz gave Jamie a funny look as he watched the exchange, then shot a quick glance up and down the hall. “So anyway, there are a few folks missing, but you’ll meet them eventually.”

  Arlin smacked his hands together. “Okay, lets go!”

  The gang headed down the hall. Arlin pounded on the door outside Sandi’s room again, and she turned, flashing a look of sheer annoyance. “Get off the phooooone!” Arlin bellowed.

  Jamie let the group move ahead of him a ways, then he followed behind. Gabe fell into step beside him.

  “The folks Fritz said were missing live in these two rooms on the end.” He pointed to two rooms on the left. “ One is Steve’s roommate Rob. He’s screwing that girl Teresa behind his girlfriend’s back. By the way, Steve, don’t bother messing with that guy. He’s an asshole.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  “Yeah. I don’t say that often, but in his case, it’s the truth.”

  “Who else didn’t I meet?”

  “Uh, let’s see.” Gabe looked down the hall again. “Well, there’s this girl, Ming Na, at the end off the hall, who I swear is like some guy’s concubine. There’s Doug’s roommate Chris. He’s in the same frat as Fritz. But he’s never here.”

  They headed down the concrete stairway, the group’s footsteps echoing ahead of them. Jamie shouted over the noise. “It seems like a pretty cool floor.”

  “Yeah, its not bad. People get pissed at each other now and then, but—” He trailed off as they walked outside.

  Arlin was running up ahead, holding a couple of snowballs over Vanessa’s head. She did not seem amused.

  “Arlin, if you do it, I will fucking kill you!”

  This seemed to goad him on, and he started tapping them on top on her head gently.

  “Stop it! I’m telling you! Don’t start with me! Not tonight.”

  “Those two fight a lot.” Gabe said. “But they have a lot of makeup sex too. He’s in the single next to your room, so I hope you have thick walls.”

  “Does she live on this floor?”

  “Nah, she’s a sophomore. She lived in the dorms her freshman year, but she’s back at home now. She basically lives with Arlin though.”

  “What’s Fritz like?”

  “Oh, he’s chill. Real relaxed RA. As long as no one makes a scene, he doesn’t care what people are up to.”

  “Cool.”

  This guy, Gabe, was kind of a gossip, but he was making Jamie feel more comfortable. They got to Gracie’s and filed inside, giving their meal cards to an older woman who sat in front of an enormous old cash register. She carefully compared each picture to the person before letting them inside. Every time she swiped a card through the scanner on the register, she’d give her chin a sort of frustrated jolt to the side, sending a tremor up to the top of her blue beehived hair.

  “This is Esther.” Gabe whispered. “Just smile, don’t make any funny moves, and you should be fine.”

  They stepped up in line and Esther turned to Gabe with an accusatory expression.

  “Good evening, Esther.”

  Esther eyed him carefully, cocking one brow as she looked from card to person. “Turn your head.”

  Gabe graciously turned to the side. “How are you this evening?”

  “I’m fine,” she muttered as she waved him through.

  Jamie handed the woman his card and stood at attention. She studied him for a moment, then lowered the card without a word, and nodded. He and Gabe rounded the corner and headed up the long ramp to the food service area. The place was packed.

  ‘So this is when people come here to eat,’ Jamie thought to himself.

  The rest of the group had fanned out to various food lines. Jamie left Gabe and wandered over to get a sandwich. He grabbed a tray and took a place in line, slowly arching his neck around as he watched people streaming into the cafeteria. He was growing accustomed to the polar extremes of the student body: beside grungy, paint-covered art students, finely groomed preppy business majors held hands with their significant others. Socially inept computer engineers stared down at brown plas
tic trays, not looking up, not moving a muscle, as though studying a line of code engraved in the ancient platters. Jamie was watching just such an individual at the salad bar, carefully selecting the perfect Saran-wrap-entombed jello, when he saw the girl from his Media and the Mind class walking by in the back of the room. Jamie turned his head to watch her pass, just as Fritz came up beside him.

  “Don’t get the grilled cheese.”

  “What?” Jamie was annoyed, trying to peer around him. “Why not?”

  “Just trust me, man. It's bad. Get something else.”

  “Okay.”

  “You still down for the party tonight?”

  “Oh yeah, I forgot all about it. Yeah, I’m totally down.”

  “All right. Well, you and I have been given a special mission. Top secret. High priority.”

  “What?”

  “Beer duty.”

  “What, we have to serve it?”

  “No, we have to get it. Don’t worry, I’m twenty-one. But, I need help picking it up in my car.”

  “How much beer are we getting?”

  “Couple kegs.”

  Jamie didn’t want to do it.

  “You know, I’m only eighteen.”

  “That’s not even an issue. This is an honor. The brothers usually fight over who gets the chance to pick it up each week.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure they do.”

  “Unfortunately, they’re all busy making preparations for tonight’s festivities. Can you help us out?”

  No sense getting off on the wrong foot.

  “Yeah, not a problem.”