"I REALLY THOUGHT you two were about to go at it in the locker room," Caleb says to me, a devilish grin on his face as he talked about the altercation from earlier this week that seems to challenge the concern in his words. "I was thinking Jay please don't knock this man out on his first official practice with the team." he laughed.

"I was close," I tell him truthfully.

After the argument with Bergman in the locker room the other day, I think it's clear to see where we stood with one another. Being captain of the team means I'm supposed to be on good terms with all the players, suppose to guide and lead them in the right direction to ensure a successful season, but Bergman is just — he irritates my soul which is crazy because I've only known him for a couple of days but yet the dislike I have towards him has grown exponentially. Not only having practice with one another throughout the week but also having shared classes only makes matters worse.

I finally have some free time before I'm faced to meet the brat in our computer class, and I made sure to check twice to make sure I had my own laptop this time. I didn't want to go because I don't want to be anywhere near Cassian but I can't afford to miss any classes this year and I'm already on thin ice with the professor because I was late time. After all, Karina's satisfaction in bed was more important at the moment, so I just endure count down the minutes until I'm forced to give up my freedom.

Caleb told me to meet him in the library so he can do some research on an upcoming paper he's already assigned for his theater class. A paper on the first week? I'd jump off a cliff.

It's always quiet in the university library, I can taste the sweetness of the just-used carpet deodorizer. The vacuum cleaner hasn't been silent long, the heat still mildly rising from the task. The atmosphere is buzzing with all things that wake my senses. Madame Librarian, with honey-brown hair in a taut bun, wire-rimmed glasses hanging on a silver chain mid-way to her chest, walks erect. Her face is serious: no smiles allowed. The only sound is the soft patter of feet on the thick, soft plush carpet, whispers, and the occasional hum of a copy machine. This place is always like this, feels like a quiet prison.

"I wonder if they ever found a mermaid yet," Caleb whispers aloud as he typed away at his laptop completely dismissing the work he'd only been doing for like ten minutes.

"You're supposed to be doing research. Not looking up news women with fish tails." I tell him.

"Besides, this video of this woman slipping into a Volcano is insane!" I whispered before whipping my laptop screen around to show the video. Caleb and I are supposed to be working our asses off, and here we are doing everything but. We're a bad influence on one another. This is why people aren't allowed to leave us in the room alone for too long.

I shook my head, coming to a realization. "No Caleb, you should really get back to work for real. You can't keep joking around and get nothing done." I said to him, my face serious, brows furrowed.

"You know what? You're right. Let me get back to work." Caleb threw his hands up before he went back to typing on his keyboard. I smiled at his corporation and went back to highlighting my notes for class.

We sat in silence as he began typing away on his keyboard while I sat beside him writing and highlighting my notes for classes, drifting off now and then to add little doodles in my notebook.

"Okay, but would you fuck a mermaid?" Caleb randomly blurted at me, stopping his typing and turning to me with raised brows.

"How does someone slip into a volcano?" I asked him, completely disregarding those stupid ass notes I won't even bother studying when I got home. I couldn't help but notice Caleb on the verge of cracking a smile, and that alone caused me to smile at his smile. Soon our laughter filled the library earning us strange looks from some of the people seated in here but we didn't care and their looks only caused us to snicker louder.

"Shh." The librarian sent us a glare as she pressed her wrinkled finger against her dry red-stained lips.

"Yes ma'am." Caleb straightens his posture sending her a military-style salute and I quickly followed with one of my own. Caleb and I burst out into fits of laughter only to earn a scowl from the librarian, but we shrugged it off as we decided it was time for us to leave anyway. I tossed my backpack over my shoulder and followed Caleb out of the library, sending the librarian one last salute as we made our way out.

It's hard to believe I've only known Caleb for a few years. It always catches people off guard when we tell them that we only met during freshman orientation and I can see why. It feels like we've known each other our entire lives. We had a kind of brutal honesty that tested most friendships, but I appreciated it. I always knew where I stood with him. He's loyal and that's all you can really ask for in a friend in my opinion.

Caleb and I go our separate ways after leaving the library and I start my journey to the last place I'd rather be. I don't even know why I have a computer science class on my schedule since I'm not even a computer science major. I'm studying Sports Communications and that's only because when Coach Carter came and scouted me out of high school he said that would be the easiest major for me while I'm focusing on my soccer career. I guess they added the classes to build up credits or whatever but they couldn't give me something easier? Like art or maybe even music appreciation? Computer science doesn't look like the easiest of subjects and I just know there's gonna be math involved in some ways and I hate math.

Worst subject of all time right after social studies.

I walked into the classroom to already see students in the seats they sat in the last time, most of the seats filled with bodies. Cassian's in his usual seat, computer opened and pens and notebooks by his side. I grimaced at the scene before turning my head and looking for any other available seats but when I see the only open one are beside an underclassman who picks his nose and thinks no one notices and a girl who can talk the ear off a deaf man, I exhale a low sigh as I head to my usual seat.

I could see Cassian taking a peek at me from the corner of his eyes, but he doesn't turn his head and returned his stare to his laptop in front of him. I pull out my own laptop out of my bag, maybe or maybe not trying to show off to the brat I have my own laptop and I don't need to look off his.

He rolls his eyes.

Moments pass and before long the professor is in the front of the room going over HTML, HTTPS, and code and I'm trying my best to retain the information by simultaneously writing down the notes and looking at my laptop screen at what she had pulled up for us today. My brain is on overload but I can't stop and I have to get this stuff down because I don't know I'll ever do it. I'll be honest, school has never really been my strong suit. I've never been the smartest person in the class and thanks to my ADHD I have a hard time focusing on things for more than a few minutes without getting agitated. The only person who can ever really get me to focus is my halmeoni (grandmother).

Cassian is beside me with his head behind his laptop, writing lazily with his left hand, eyes struggling to stay open. They close slightly and he falls forwards a bit but manages to catch himself just before his face can collide with the desk. After a few more minutes pass I turn to see the boy with his head fully collapsed on his keyboard, eyes closed completely asleep. I shake my head at him before turning my attention back to my notes, my pen tapping against the paper ready to write what's next.

That's when I feel a sly smile stretching over my face when an idea comes to mind.

As the professor take a break to pull up the next slideshow for the class, I turned my attention back to the sleeping boy beside me. For the first time since I've met him, he looks peaceful and maybe that's because he's in an unconscious slumber and isn't talking. The light from the window shines directly on him giving his blemish-free brown skin a honey glow and I smiled.

The perfect drawing board.

I moved my pen from the paper to his face and began to doodle, caressing the black ink across his face carefully not to wake the demon during his slumber. I scribble a much-needed mustache across his upper lip, jerking back when he shakes in his sleep, but he smacks his lips together and returns back to sleep. I had to cover my hand with my mouth to mouth to keep from laughing aloud especially when I drew the teardrop from his left eye like Lil Wayne.

"Alright, let's continue . . ." the professor voices from the front of the room and the boy jumps up awake and I jerk back quickly hiding my pen.

Cassian blinks a few times, eyes adjusting to the light before landing on me trying my hardest to withhold my laughter.

"What . . ." even just waking up the boy doesn't bother to hide the attitude in his face as he stares at me, and I turned my head away from him.

"Nothing." I simply said as I went back to my notes, and so did Cassian, his upper lip scrunching up as he scratches it and I nearly lost it.

••••

After class finished up I packed my things and got the hell out of there. Oddly enough Cassian and I were heading in the same direction through the school courtyard towards our dormitory. I walked a few feet ahead of him, turning around to see that he still hasn't noticed the drawings on his face even with the students passing by sending him looks. I walked through the school's courtyard with my hands in my pocket and the biggest smile on my face. Being a hater is fun sometimes I don't care what anyone says.

The student center is in the opposite direction of where I came from so it would take a little while to get there, but I didn't mean it because the weather's nice out today. The perfectly green trimmed lawn and neatly cut bushes made this place look a little less intimidating and a little more like an actual campus. There were even a few students who lingered around in groups. I could make out a couple of them vaping in a corner despite the school's strict rule against it, but I tried not to stare for too long.

There always seem to be a few distinctive groups that hung around in the courtyard and after a few years at CU, it's easy to differentiate who belonged with who. There were the stoners, the slackers, burnouts, and everything else that could exist in between. However, in a secluded spot in the middle of the courtyard where the stone benches and tables stood sat the fraternity and sorority kids. A large group of them. I don't dislike the frat bros or the sorority girls, I'm actually cool with a few of them and I've had my fair share of girls but it's just something so cult-like about them that rubs me the wrong way. They asked me to join many times and I always decline why would I pay money to wear ugly shirts and sleep in a house with twenty-something guys who only shower once a week?

Much to my dismay, I have to walk past the fraternity kids to make it to the dormitory. I keep a straight face with my hands still stuffed in my pockets as I walked over making it a mission to not lock eyes with any of them. Everything's going good for the most part until a loud voice sounds off not too far from me.

"Back to school bash, you already know the vibes,"  one of the sorority girls has a very distinct voice. The kind of voice that easily catches everyone's attention, "y'all already know it's going down at the Tri Alpha house. It's gonna be on some Project-X shit!"

She and a few other members of the Tri fraternity are tossing around flyers like hotcakes and the students of Columbus are swarming them like flies to get one. It's not until she comes up to me that I'm met with a fist full of flyers. "Jaylen, I already know you're coming but here's the flyer." the girl hands me the piece of paper and I offer her a smile.

It's no secret here at CU that I like to party, I was practically crowned party animal of the year my freshman year when I got drunk off jungle juice and jumped off a two-story fraternity house and into their pool. I love a good party, I love to party and the feelings I get when I'm at one is a feeling unmatched, and the best thing about it is in college there's always a party for some reason. My guess would simply be because a party is usually where everything begins, the start of an era for some, but there's always a party and for some reason, I always find myself in attendance.

Cassian walks past me, our shoulders touching but before he can get too far the girls stop him too. "Party at the Tri-" she blinks up at him, head tilting a bit and I had to turn my head not to burst out laughing.

"Hey . . ."

"Hi," he replies back dryly, eyes darting over to me for a moment. The girl laughs to herself, bringing a finger up to her upper lip a bit. "you have a little something on your lip, and your cheek, and your forehead."

Cassian sends her a look. "What . . ." he mumbled before reaching into his pocket and pulling out his phone and opening the camera app. I couldn't hold it in anymore and burst out into laughter when his mouth fell agape once he saw his face.

"I'm gonna kill you!" He tries to lunge at me but the girl inserts her small frame in between us. "You can't kill him yet. He has to come to the party and you do too!" she shoves him a flyer and he snatches it from her hands, steady keeping his glare on me.

"What's your name?" she asks him, a faint blush on her cheeks as she looks up at Cassian. No way he's pulling right now with a drawn cigar mustache on his lip.

Cassian finally removes his eyes from me, nostrils flaring a bit. "Cassian, Cassian Bergman," he says his name like it's an achievement and I roll my eyes.

"Oh, you're Cassian? You have to come to the party Friday!" the girl clings to his arm and from the raised brow look on his face he wanted her to let go but didn't mention it to her. The girl turns to me with pleading eyes. "Jaylen please make him come."

It's my turn to raise a brow at the girl but then I turn and see how annoyed Cassian looks and it only makes me smile a little more. "Oh c'mon Bergman, come to the party Friday." I tease him, reaching a hand up to pinch his cheek and he immediately slaps it away.

Amid my laughing, however, a gust of wind somehow managed to miraculously blow the party flyer from Cassian's hand distracting him and I take this as my opportunity to run away from him, erupting with laughter in the process as he started to run behind me through a crowded area of the student quad.

"I'm gonna kill you Jaylen!"

"Gotta catch me first Bergman!"

••••
EXCUSE ANY MISTAKES OR ERRORS