"Hi and welcome to Oxvard University where everything is possible as long as you're committed and believe in it!!!" Oh my goodness, the first thing that came up to me was this lady, who happens to be a volunteer worker at the University. I gotta admit, she's cool, charming yet the way she greets me is actually scary... Or my Monday mornings are making me feel this way.
"Thank you for that wonderful... Introduction, oh Uhm, ma'am is it okay if I ask you where our dormitories might be?" I asked her even though she's still smiling at me hehehehe, help.
"The dormitories? It's located on the south wing of the campus and you just might find your destination there but be careful, the building on the left side is for boys, and the right side for girls, just a quick heads up, everyone got confused every time we have freshmen. By the way, do you bring any luggage with you?" She asked me.
I looked back to see that I am carrying too many of it that contains my clothes, things, and the kinds of stuff I need for this university.
"Oh my goodness, what a tragic sad sight but don't you worry dear, we are here to assist you anytime, one minute." She says and she took something in her pocket... Wait, is that a radio? How come she's prepared for this? Does anyone in this University have radios? Where can I get one?
"Attention all available volunteers, I need assistance on the entrance gate, we have a poor young man in need of help and..." She stopped and looked at me.
"Excuse me, dear, what's your name? So that the boys would be too pressured to help whenever I order them to do so, it's kinda fun!!" Wow-what a sadist. "Uhm, my name is Noah Winters, English Major, freshman," I told her my details and she smiled.
She took her radio again and continued her statement "Ehem, we have a commando situation aka Noah Winters, Freshman, English Major in need of assistance of carrying his luggage to the south wing dormitories, now!!" And she took off her radio and looked at me. I want to be her friend right now.
"Alright Mr. Winters, while we're waiting for our available volunteers, can I ask you a question? Why Oxvard?" She asked me in a friendly way. I get a feeling that she's the kind of girl whom I can rely on in times of need, she has this sister love vibes that she emits around her space. "Uhm, first, the school is very prestigious, the quality of education here is great and lastly, I passed the Entrance Exam," I told her humbly.
"Wow, yes everything you said is true and I am very proud that you got in especially the University is very strict on its Entrance Exam especially English my goodness. You see Mr. Winters, the Oxvard University has a great quality education a student needs in their chosen careers, the university also produces top-notch students especially in your Department, the English Majors, we take pride in it. Last year our university even took the world by storm on a bar exam in which one of examinees who took the exam and got the highest top is actually an alumnus of Oxvard. We are so happy to have you with us, Welcome to Oxvard." And then she hugged me which caught me off-guard.
I gotta admit, she's very touchy, I like her. "Oop!! here they are, alright you and you." She pointed to the two volunteers "I need you to carry Mr. Winters' luggage to the Dormitories at South Wing with care... The last time you boys carried a piece of luggage all of the gadgets inside are destroyed and we paid for it at a tremendous amount, we don't want to repeat the history do we?" She asked them.
"No Ma'am!!" The volunteers answered with power and pride, like in a military. "Good, now off you go!! I'm gonna give our freshman a quick tour here." She said and then we walked inside the main campus.
The Open Field of Oxvard University is filled with students walking around and tents are scattered everywhere. From the looks of it, it seems they are inviting freshman to join certain clubs, even the most bizarre ones like the Sorcery and Witchcraft club, the ones that look like Harry Potter and also, there are the popular ones like the Sports club where every student are lining up to get inquired. I need to know how to get in.
"Uhm, excuse me ma'am," I asked the lady while we're walking to the dorm.
"Oof, no need for formalities, you can call me Suzy. Nice to meet you." She smiled at me, offered her hands as if she was asking me to shake them and so I did. "Uhm Suzy, what are the available clubs here?" I asked her, curiously.
"Ohh you want to join clubs? Well, The Oxvard University encourages students to enhance their talents and skills outside learning environments and we have organizations here that control all of the clubs of Oxvard. There are 6 of them, Arts, Media, Sports, Science, Literary and Spiritual. Each organization, as I mentioned before has its own branches of clubs, for example, in Science Organizations, they have clubs such as Space Clubs, Astronomy Clubs, Biology, etc. But take note Noah, some of the clubs here, require some kind of initiations or tryouts, in Sports organizations to see if you're worthy of being invited to their clubs. They wanted only the best of the best so if you ever got the chance to catch their attention during the initiations, you might find yourself getting invited by them. They also have exclusive parties so you should look forward to that." Suzy explained everything to me.
"Is there an archery club in Sports Organization?" I really wanted to join archery.
"Of course, actually, the archery has the highest expectations of sports among the University because we are bringing athletes to the Olympics, can you imagine that? I know I do, plus, most of the athletes there are good-looking. Judging from the way you look, I think you'll become popular in no time." She said to me jokingly. I'm not even that good-looking.
"If I join a club, can I join another one?"
"Of course as long as your agreement is non-closure, like a part-time. You have time on this club and you also have the time on the other but I highly don't recommend it since the schedule of our classes are a pain in the ass, don't forget to include the practices and contest that your clubs might join, you might find yourself in tough situations. Do you have a club in mind?"
"Well, I wanted to join Archery and Theatre."
Suzy stopped walking and she was shooked, literally with her hands covering her mouth. "Oh my god, you did not say you wanted to join the theatre?" She surprisingly asked me.
"Uhm, I did say I wanted to-"
"Oh my god!! You have to join in wait Uhm, omg I'm literally shaking right now. Listen, we're having an audition next week, since we're still having our adjustment period, go have some fun out there because next week, you have classes and initiations to look forward to. Anyway like I said, we're having an audition, if you're interested, go to the Main Campus, 5th floor and you'll see an auditorium, it's a large stage and you'll see me there!!" She said to me very excitedly.
"Uhm, any clues on what scene I should act on stage?" I asked her. It's better to be prepared than not right?
She paused for a minute as if she was thinking and then she looked at me. "Well, Mrs. Devins is actually a very strict Art Professor, she wants spontaneity and authenticity on the characters she wanted you to portray so, I can't really say what kind of acting you should do because she was the one calling the scenes. All I can say is be brave, and don't shake too much, she hates it. As long as you have the talent and passion in acting, she will take you in in a snap of a finger capiche?? I'll see you next week, oh, by the way, apologies for talking too much, welcome to your dorm!!" She showed me the Dorm building and wow, the design is extraordinarily beautiful. It's like the structure of the building came out of a Greek Period with staircases and pillars towering above us. It even has a banner that says Welcome Freshies!!11!! and yes, the banner has a typo on its exclamation point but it looks beautiful.
"Oh Winters wait before you go in and throw yourself in bed, here's the map of Oxvard, we are receiving too many calls and reports of freshies getting lost and finding themselves falling in the sewers, just kidding but anyway, the university is pretty big, who knows, you might be able to memorize the buildings here real quick... Oh, cellphone?" She's asking for my phone? Okay, I gave her my phone and she typed something on the screen and gave it back to me. Wow, she gave me her number? Dang, that's speed.
"Aight that's my number, call me if you have an emergency. Call me if you're lonely in your dorm room, I can relocate someone to keep you company, also if the guards of this university don't let you in, call me, if someone is bullying you, call me, if you don't have any friends call me, I'm very happy to help you anytime. I don't usually do this to all the freshies I meet but since you're joining theatre arts, I might give you an exception, my friends there know how much I'm a superhero to them so you can rely on me anytime. All right you have fun in your college life, boys!! His luggage, I'm looking at it, if there's slight damage to it, I'm gonna kick y'all on your balls!! Now go!!" She told the volunteers, and she also hugged me, I'm starting to get hang of it and walked away.
All right, let's see what the dorm rooms look like. The moment we entered the dorm building, things just got out of hand...
Some guys are literally lost and running circles through the hallway, some are stalling, others are partying inside their rooms, and the worst part, there are some ladies present in the building itself, yes, the boy's dorm building has ladies in it. Culture shock but I find this university very liberating.
The volunteers told me that I'm going to stay in Room 307, 3rd floor. When we got there, It's already occupied, I guess I already have a roommate. A tall black guy, with a faded haircut and faded beard, he's wearing a plain white shirt and black shorts. One can see that he's very athletic due to his buffed-up body which gives me the impression that he loves exercising and gym.
"Oh let me help you with it." He says and started to carry most of my luggage. Ooh, what a gentleman. After most of my stuff are inside the room, I gave out my thanks to these wonderful volunteers. "I'll tell Suzy that you guys really took great care of me so that she won't kick you in the balls." I jokingly said to them and they laughed.
They gave me a salute and also thanks for giving them my trust which made me surprised. But anyway, here I am in this beautiful dorm. The space is big, can be occupied by two individuals and we have beds on the opposite corners.
Now my roommate has his own table on the window, he decorated his left wall, my left of course with most artists that he loved such as Ed Sheeran, The Weeknd, and also John Legend. He sure has great taste in music.
He's currently typing something on his laptop, maybe I should thank him for assisting. "Hey Uhm, thank you for carrying my luggage, I know it's too much but everything I need is there so... Thank you again," I said to him, very awkwardly than what I had in mind.
He stopped typing and looked at me. Oh god, is he checking up on me? But my gaydar is not working on him, maybe he's straight. He smiled at me and he hugged me and oop, which caught me off-guard.
"No worries mate, welcome to Oxvard and you're in luck because, I'm your roommate, the name's Marc, nice to meet you." He reached out his hand to mine and we shake hands. "likewise, my name is Noah Winters, but you can call me Noah." I said to him.
"Okay Noah, the first thing that you need to know is that our dorm room is not free, we are going to pay our rent monthly, we don't have cleaners here so it is our job to take out the trash by Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and lastly, we have a curfew here, 10PM no one gets in and out of the dorm, but don't you worry, we can evade the guards." He said to me and he winked.
"Wait, so you can escape in your dorm? I mean, no one caught you leaving the dorm?" I asked him very curiously.
"Well... Sometimes I get caught but mostly they let me go, they can't control most of the students here, these people are party animals which reminds me, we're going to have an underground party at the basement parking lot of the campus, you wanna come?"
"May I? Sure, I'd love to."
"Great, welcome to Oxvard again my friend, I'm hungry, let's go grab some food." He invited me and walked out of the room and so I followed him.
He is right about the students having these strange party vibes around them I mean look at the dorm building, it's chaotic in a fun way, of course, I wonder what girls dorm looks like?
----- Meanwhile at the Girls Dorm -----
"GURL THAT'S MY LINGERIE GIVE IT BAAAAACK!!!"
"AAAAAAAAAHCK WE'RE GONNA PARTY ALL DAY ALL NIGHT!!!!"
"WELCOME FUCKING FRESHIES
----- Back to Noah -----
Naaaah never mind, I guess they too, have their own share of chaos there.
We left the dorm building and as we walked through the open field of the campus, which is filled with students and tent clubs, I want to know more about my roommate besides his name Marc.
"So Marc, can I ask you something?" I asked him very calmly, hopefully, it's not awkward.
"Aight shoot!! What is it?" He asked me while we're walking.
"I know this is very boring but I'd like to know what your course is."
"Oh, my course? Well, I'm in Science Department and my course is Nursing, 2nd year." 2nd year? This means he's my senior, oh my god, I called him by his first name.
"Oh my god, I am terribly sorry for calling your first name." I apologized I mean, it's very rude to call someone by their first name and we're not even that close, and may I remind myself that he's a Sophomore??
"Naaaah no worries mate, you can call me Marc, and besides we're on the same age gap, do I look that 'old' to you?
"Uhm no, it's just that, you're one year ahead of me so, for formalities I guess..." Marc laughed and it made me more embarrassed. Formalities? Really Noah?
"Formalities my ass, I'm not a power-tripper Noah, to be honest, I wanna be friends with anybody, you have no idea how kind and friendly these people are inside the university. Oh, we're here, welcome to the Cafeteria."
He welcomed me to the cafeteria and it's much bigger than what I expected, the tables have their own unique design and it even has a 2nd floor?? Wow. I got a feeling that almost everyone meets here, judging from the looks of it, almost all the members of the club are present and there is no discrimination towards each other. Like the one in Sport Org, the "Muscle Club" yes, jocks who are flexing their muscles and they are topless, they seem to be hanging out with the nerds in the Science Org and they are having a lot of fun which surprised me big time.
Oh and there's the "makeup club" how did I know that? Well, they have beautiful makeups in their eyes, lips, cheeks and they too are mingling with the artsy clubs. I have this stereotype where the popular girls don't interact with the average-looking ones but here in Oxvard, they are friends and seem to be asking for techniques on blending and constantly talking about arts and suggestions of looking inspiration to Da Vinci and Van Gogh.
It's kinda touching to know that everyone in this university is diverse and accepting but then again...
Would they accept someone like me who is gay? I know I'm still closeted but at some point, I wanted to be free like them, free of judgment, free of expectations, free of everything. I wanted to show the real me without projecting the fake masculinity I had in me which suffocates me a lot. This isn't the real me, I just wish that someday, they would accept me but I'm sure it'll come at the right time.
"All right Noah, you see that lovely lady at the counter, choose your foods there and tell her that I'm treating you." He told me while pointing to that sweet lady... Wait what?
"Wait you're going to treat me?" I asked him.
"Yeah, it's my thing, I told you, you are very lucky to have me as your roommate now off you go, mate!! Don't be shy, I'll be right there." He pointed to the table where we're going to sit. I walked through the counter and upon looking at Marc, he seems to be having his moment on the other students and he really is indeed a friendly capybara.
When I reached the counter, the foods are high quality, the greens, the meat, oh my, is this heaven? "Have your picks child don't be shy everything is nutritious and healthy so eat more live happy." The lady at the counter told me as she encourages me to eat more like wow, thank you, Goddess.
"Uhm, I want the salads, oh and this barbecue steak and Uhm... Do you have pasta here?" I asked her calmly but I really can't contain my happiness, food is my weakness. "Well have at it!!" She says and she reached something under the counter, a plate, and asked the chef inside the other room to prepare the pasta, and in a few minutes, it's already there. Hmmmmm the smell of that sweet tomato sauce and the melted cheese, ugh, wow.
"Ma'am, this is the most beautiful piece of art I've ever seen in my entire life," I told her as if I won a grand prize, which I did.
"Why thank you, dear, we take pride in all the foods we serve. Is that all the foods you need?" She asked me.
"Yes ma'am and oh!! Someone is treating me, his name is Marc."
"Oh, Marc Lucius? You're pretty lucky today young man. You know he's our regular customer and he comes here a lot." She said to me and winked. Huh, so Mr. Perfectly Fine here is a food-lover, interesting. "And by regular customer I mean he visits here every day?" I asked the nice lady here.
"Yes he does, like I said, he's a regular here plus he likes to volunteer on serving foods here. He's quite a popular chap you know." She said to me very proud. I looked at Marc once again and he is indeed very popular among the University.
Anyways, the sweet lady typed something on the monitor and smiled. "All right, it's all set enjoy your food." Wait that's it? "Uhm, you're not going to take his cash or something?" I asked out of curiosity, she never took out any money or stuff.
"Oh, that? We never take tangible cash here, we are using cashless transactions." Cashless transaction? What kind of sci-fi Star Wars Trek is this? Or maybe society is progressing too hard and I can't even catch up. "Oh yeah, before you go dear, here's a cupcake, it's on the house." She took a cupcake on a small plate and put it on my tray. Wow, what a sweet lady, my heart is melting my god. "Thank you so much, Uhm, my name is Noah Winters by the way." I introduced myself to her. "Nice to meet you, Noah, I'm Mrs. Summers, you can call me Summers." Aweeee, what a lovely name. "Mrs. Summers, you have a wonderful personality."
"Oh and you too Winters, it's interesting that our last names came from the 4 seasons hahahaha alright, eat your foods well." She told me and started to walk towards Marc. He raised his hands so that I can see him where he was, he was smiling until his face changed to shock and pointing towards me? Wait I'm confused, what's going on-
SPLOOSH
Holy shit, someone bumped me in the back and I fell down hard to my face on my fucking tray. I can hear the gasps around the cafeteria. Great so much for my 1st day. "Oh shit, I'm sorry I didn't see you there." Yeah, you didn't see me standing so technically I'm invisible and mistakenly took me as a pillar. "Well, thanks a lot," I said to the person, sarcastically. The person helped me stand up on my feet and oh, he's a dude. He's taller than me, wearing a black hooded sweater with a white shirt underneath. Black Jeans and some sport shoes. He's also wearing a black backpack and I can't see his face because it is covered by his hoodie.
Oh my god? What is that smell? Oh shit, my shirt is covered in salad dressing and barbecue sauce. "Oh, my apologies but you smell good though." What did he say?
"Excuse me?" I asked him, in an offensive tone of course I mean, he dares to make fun of me? Seriously? Then he removed his hoodie and I saw his face. Wow, he looks beautiful. He has fair skin, dark-colored hair, and those eyes, wow, I feel like I'm drowning in a tub full of testosterone hormones, I'm suffocating help.
"Nah just kidding, uhm I'm really sorry about bumping into you. I'm supposed to meet someone here at the cafeteria but it seems I got lost and uh... Yeah, that's pretty much what happened." His reasons are bland, to be honest, but from the looks of it, he looks kinda lost. Suddenly Marc approached me and he was shocked to see me in a state of despair. "Oh shit your shirt mate, I'm sorry I didn't bring any extra clothes on me. It's in the dorm room, I'll get it there." He says but the guy in a hoodie stopped him, he took something out of his bag, wow he has an extra shirt? He's prepared and...
"It's a basketball shirt... Wait you're giving me this? Don't you have like tryouts or something?" I asked him out of embarrassment, who knows if this guy is joining a basketball club and I took one of his uniforms, it's too much. "Naaah it's fine, besides my tryouts are gonna be tomorrow so you should return it before the game itself." He told me and he winked. Goddamn it why he has that certain 'medusa' spine-tingling stare at me.
I stood up my composture and just go with the flow. "Oh don't worry, I'll clean it up to the point where it will smell nice, I got a feeling that you're the type of athlete that sweats too much." I jokingly said to him and he laughs. "Oh don't worry, I don't sweat 'that' much but I bet I will smell your scent." Oh shit, he has the art of flirting and playing too much. I need to stop this nonsense immediately so I looked at Marc. "Hey Uhm I'm sorry about the food, I wasted your money, I promise I'll pay you back," I said to him and he just shrugs it off and smiled.
"Naaah no worries mate, I'll talk to Mrs. Summers about this, I'm pretty sure she will understand, oh, by the way, you should change your shirt, Noah. Yow my man Uhm.."
"The names is Tyler Collins, nice to meet you." Oh, so this Mr. Hooded Big Guy is Tyler Collins. I gotta admit he is big but he's not the muscular type one like Marc here, I got a feeling that Tyler here likes to go to the gym and his body was going to be bulkier if he kept on exercising. "Right anyways, can you help Noah change his shirt to the restroom, I'm pretty sure he's the kind of guy that doesn't want to show his body around." He says and he laughed. Wow.
"Why thank you for that assessment Marc," I said to him sarcastically bland low tone. He pointed and clicked his mouth at me and then ran off to Mrs. Summers. Now I'm stuck with Tyler Collins here. "So, you wanna go change that shirt or not? Either way, it looks great on you." He jokingly said that to me. I punched him soft in the arms and he laughs. "Look I don't know where the restroom is," I said to him.
"I do." He says. "Well, lead the way, Mr. Big Guy," I said as we walked together to the restroom. When we got there, I immediately got inside in one of the cubicles and changed my salad dressing, barbecue sauce shirt to his basketball shirt, and wow, it's too loose and my arm looks small in this. I know that Tyler is inside the bathroom so he's gonna hear me. "Hey Uhm, I know it's too much to ask but do have any smaller size that my body can fit? I look like a hanging shirt with thin arms." I said to him.
"Nah, my body is too big so that's the only size I have." Oh my god, I let out a sigh and slowly got out to the cubicles and then, Tyler looked at me as if he was assessing whether I look good or bad, and then he smiled. "You have the same size as my girlfriend, both look great on you." Wait did he just compare me to his girlfriend? And he has a girlfriend??
"So you just unconsciously compared me to your girl?" I said to him.
"What can I say? You looked cute and it kinda reminds me of her." Wow, this guy is flirty indeed. I know that he's straight but somehow my gaydar is tingling which is weird because I don't usually use it but to him, it's tingling so hard but no, I'm not gonna hit on this guy, he's taken and straight for god's sake. "Well if you say so, let's get out here before Marc gets the impression that we left him alone," I said to him and we both got out of the restroom.
When we came back to the cafeteria, I immediately saw Marc raising his hands and the food, oh my god, the foods are there. "Hey thanks for the shirt, by the way, I promise I'll give it to you tomorrow, fresh and clean," I told him with a smile. "You better, I'm gonna need it on my tryouts tomorrow, by the way, you should come and watch me play." Did he invite me to watch his game? Wow, this is new.
"Are you sure? Well, I'll try anyway." I told him and he also smiled. "Well it's nice to meet you..."
"Noah, Noah Winters, and likewise, Tyler." We both shake our hands and somehow at this point, I felt a connection in him, like a butterfly tingling in my stomach. Oh my god, this is bad, first meeting and I already had a crush on him? Is this what they call love at first-no, shut up Noah.
"Well see you tomorrow at the tryouts. Be there or else I'm gonna drag your body to the court." He jokes again and this time he made me laugh. "Not if I see you first," I told him and he was surprised.
"Oooh, feisty little guy. All right, you take care now." He walked straight to the door where the exits are and he waved at me. At this point, I already had my first friend in Oxvard, my first embarrassing moment, and finally, my first crush.
Today was a fairy tale indeed...