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My Life: Chapter 3 - College Orientation

by Fitz

Orientation was a two-day ordeal. The first day, students were supposed to sign in and meet in assigned groups. Then it was an afternoon filled with speeches and ‘getting to know you,’ icebreaker games. That night, the groups all convened in an auditorium and sat through a presentation about the issues of college. Drugs, discrimination, rape, fire safety, harassment... the list went on and on and on. After that, the groups split off again for discussions about the presentation and other life issues.

Not until the next day did anyone even begin to think about signing up for classes. Even then, everyone had to attend various seminars before making any decisions. It was a long, tedious process, and I was immensely relieved to get out of there.

I fully expected to spend all of orientation--and college--stuck on the sidelines. After all, I had been the outcast all through high school. Why would college be any different? It was mostly how I looked that intimidated all of the students in high school. Generally, guys with long hair were thought to be weird. My hair fell to the small of my back. I supposed I could have cut it my senior year, but of everything I had done through the earlier years of junior and senior high, it was something I wanted to keep. Maybe it was a reminder.

Dressed in jeans, a plain black tee shirt, and a nametag stuck to my chest, I shuffled into the auditorium. It was filled with tables and chairs. Students and their parents milled about, most of them sitting at the tables with bag lunches. I came alone. Even if I wanted Uncle Hiko to come with me, he never would. His opinion was that I had been a man at fifteen. He provided the funds, but I had to decide what to do with them. Until very recently, most of that money had been squandered on worthless and even harmful things.

“Isn’t this exciting?”

I looked to the side. A girl with brown eyes and short brown hair smiled and glanced at me.

“I’m in the Liberal Arts college,” she told me. “You?”

“Same,” I allowed, looking back out at the tables.

“My name’s Tae,” she continued. “I’m from Pennsylvania.”

I nodded absently. Her accent had been enough to inform me of that bit of information.

“Kenshin,” I smiled at her. “And I live about an hour south of campus.”

A girl started shouting Tae’s name from somewhere across the auditorium. Excusing herself politely, Tae ran off to find her friend. I sighed and walked into the room. A woman with a nametag marking her as a student leader stopped me with a smile.

“Don’t you want your lunch?” she asked. “What kind did you order?”

After I told her, she plopped a nondescript, white paper bag into my hands and gestured toward a table. Most of the chairs were taken. Someone must have directed the people to fill in all the spaces, because there were no empty chairs between families. It’s a well-known fact that if given the choice, people will put more space between themselves and people they don’t know.

“Hey.”

I stared blankly at the empty chairs, suddenly feeling awkward and out of place. My first impulse was to sit at the end, away from everyone.

“Hellooooo!”

Of course, if I did that, someone would probably come and tell me to move down.

“Red?”

So which was the lesser of two evils: Asking someone if I could sit next to them or wait for someone else to do it for me?

“Hey! Girly-boy!”

That guy was asking for an ass-kicking. My eyebrows dropped into a frown, and I glared at the source of that rather uncouth exclamation. I found myself staring into dark brown eyes, shining with dark amusement. From there, my gaze moved to thick, uncontrolled brown hair, held back with a red bandanna. Then, it was down to a sarcastic grin, which never faded as he addressed me.

“You going to stand there staring at the table all day?” he asked.

“Sure,” I tossed back, still a bit irked at the ‘girly-boy’ comment. “I’m a nut for decorations and I thought I could learn something.”

He laughed at my words, grabbing the back of a metal folding chair. He pulled the chair out in invitation, which I accepted.

“Sanosuke,” he said.

“Excuse me?” I blinked at him.

“My name,” the guy smirked. “It’s Sanosuke. Nice to meet you...” his eyes flicked to the sticker on my shirt. “Kenshin.”

I did not know what to say, so I kept my mouth shut. Sanosuke would not accept silence as an answer. Picky, picky.

“This is where you say, ‘thank you, Sano. It’s nice to meet you, too,’” he prompted.

“Or,” I countered. “I say, hello, Sanosuke. Don’t call me girly-boy again.”

“Oh ho!” Sanosuke chuckled. “So you’re a tough little guy!”

He reached over and caught a lock from my bangs, tugging on it sharply. Of all the nerve! I hated it when people pulled on my hair. Fully intending to teach Sanosuke a much-needed lesson, my hand shot up and caught his first finger. I pushed it back, forcing his hand away from my face.

Sanosuke’s eyes were wide with surprise. Tough little guy. He had hit the nail on the head with that one.

He blinked, then grinned. Incredibly, he pushed back against the force I exerted. His fingers moved back into their proper places, then down as he formed a fist with that hand. Unfortunately for me, my hand was trapped in that fist, my fingers being crushed beneath that viselike grip. I set my lips into a hard line and let my hand relax.

Sanosuke released my hand, and I massaged my sore fingers.

“You’ve got some style to you, Kenshin,” Sanosuke chuckled again. “Not bad.”

“Thanks,” I could not help but smile at him. He had impressed me. “Not bad yourself.”

“Heh,” he leered at me. “You come alone?”

“Yeah,” I glanced past him, certain that petite blond woman sitting to his other side was not at all related to him. “You?”

“Didn’t know a soul,” he shrugged. “But for you, now.”

I frowned at him, thinking his comment to be an odd one. Then, he reached in front of me and grabbed my lunch. I blinked and watched in astonishment as he dumped the contents onto the table and started rifling through the plastic-wrapped items.

“You want your cookies?” he asked, holding up what looked to be a sugar cookie with some sort of pink candy baked into it.

“You can have them,” I grumbled, snatching away the sandwich and chips before he could decide he wanted those as well. What a rude guy!

“So, Kenshin,” Sanosuke said around the cookie he had taken from my lunch. “Let me guess... music major? Maybe dance.”

“English,” I replied immediately. “Why would you think music?”

“I don’t know,” he stuffed the second cookie into his mouth, spraying crumbs as he talked. Rude and disgusting. I was willing to bet he was not very popular with the girls. “You’ve got the look about you, you know?”

“No, I don’t know.” Actually, I was pretty sure I did know, and if he said it, I was going to shove it back into his face.

He gave me a shrewd look then and offered a confident grin.

“Artsy,” he said boldly. “With the long hair and stuff.”

“Then why not painting or sculpture?” I challenged.

“You didn’t look like the type of guy who was all that good with his hands.”

I snorted, and he turned a nice shade of red. He started sputtering, trying to recover from that comment. He looked absolutely mortified. I started to laugh. His face turned nearly purple, and I was laughing so hard that tears came to my eyes.

“I didn’t--!” he stuttered.

“It’s because you think I look like a girl,” I said helpfully, since recovered from my hysterics over that rather risqué observation.

“No!”

“It crossed your mind,” I said mockingly.

“Well...” he grunted, his face slowly returning to its natural shade.

“I can tell by the way you won’t look at me that it did.” I don’t know why I insisted on pressing this issue. Looking back on it, I think I just wanted to know if he would agree and run away when he had the chance. Honestly, I did not think he said what he did merely because I had some feminine features. It was like everyone else, and like everyone else, he would jump around the issue so as not to be the bigot. Why would he be any different? It was better to be out with it right away so I could be amused as he slunk away with his tail between his legs.

He spat out a few very colorful words. Turning in his chair, he glared down at me. He was irritated. No. He looked pissed.

“You look gay, okay?” he growled. In hindsight, I was grateful he had the decency to keep his voice down. “You look like a fucking pansy!”

He turned away with another curse, glowering at the table. It was a dangerous expression, but if he wanted to see someone cower under it, he would need to look at something other than his crumpled napkins.

That thought was what first brought the smile to my face. Then, I considered his answer. It was exactly as I had thought. For some reason, his words did not bother me. In fact, I was almost pleased. Almost. I chuckled.

“What the hell is so funny?” Sanosuke snarled.

I laughed outright and tilted my head to look at him, still smiling.

“No one’s actually said that to me,” I told him.

He looked at me like I was completely off my rocker.

“What, you like being called a homo?” he demanded.

“No,” I shook my head. “But it’s worse when you know people think it and won’t admit it.”

“You’re crazy.”

“Maybe,” I shook my head and picked up my water, sipping from the bottle absently.

“Are you?”

“What?” I looked at him in surprise. He just lifted his eyebrows curiously.

“Are you gay?” he clarified.

I had to laugh.

“No, I’m not gay.”

“Oh... I guess that means I’ll have to look elsewhere.”

I was dumbfounded. My mouth hung open, and I stared at him.

“You...?” I stammered for a moment before I could find my tongue. “You’re gay?”

“Nah,” he smirked at me, winking mischievously. “Always been curious, though.”

The only suitable response to that was incredulous laughter. Sanosuke laughed as well, his hand swinging up and landing on my head. He ruffled my hair playfully. Then, he leaned back into his chair and folded his arms behind his head comfortably.

“You and me, Kenshin,” he said cheerfully. “We’re going to blow this place away.”

That did not require a response. I leaned forward, bracing my elbows on the table. The official welcome would come soon. Sanosuke shoved lightly at my shoulder, and I offered him a light smirk. He grinned and returned that hand to its place behind his head. Nodding his approval, he looked up, just in time to see the Dean of Students tap on the microphone. It squealed in protest, making everyone groan. Orientation was about to begin.

^_^

Dinner consisted of pizza and pop* in the dorm’s dining room. It was sunny outside, so most people sat on the grass or at picnic tables. I sat on a bench. It should have been under the shade of the nearby birch, but it was just at the right time of day where the sun hung low enough on the horizon to bypass all those leaves. I liked the warmth, so that was fine with me. Sanosuke muttered and complained the entire time, yanking out a pack of cigarettes.

“You want one?” he offered.

Oh, desperately, I did. I shook my head.

“No.”

“Yeah, you do,” Sanosuke predicted, poking the cigarette between his lips and lighting up with the effortlessness that came from being a long-time smoker. “You trying to quit?”

“Yeah,” I shoved my pizza around on my paper plate.

“That’s better for you, anyway,” Sanosuke grunted. “Tough, isn’t it?”

“You have no idea.” And he didn’t. It was a very long story that I was not about to tell some guy I had just met that day.

“Tried to quit once,” he announced.

“Really.”

“Had a bitch of a headache,” he laughed as if it was funny. “I lasted two days. How long’s it been for you?”

“Year and a half,” I admitted.

“You get headaches?”

“Yeah...” Well that was an understatement. Did I have headaches? Migraines. Bad ones. And I spent at least a week worshiping the porcelain god. Most miserable experience of my life. “I got headaches.”

“How’d you stand it?” he wondered, looking awed by my self-control.

“Didn’t get a choice in the matter,” I said grudgingly. I wanted a change in subjects. “Where’d you go to school before this?”

“Eh... Community college,” he blinked, startled by the leap in topics. “And Vo-Tech through a lot of high school.”

I had suspected as much. He was older than he first appeared.

“So you’re not a freshman?” I asked.

“I need four more credits to be a sophomore,” he smirked. “How’d you guess that?”

“I don’t know...” I smirked at him. “You’ve got the look about you.”

“Cute, Kenshin,” he grimaced. “Real cute.”

I chuckled and picked up my pizza.

“Yeck,” I grumbled, reluctantly swallowing the bite I had taken and returning the pizza to the plate. It was cold.

^_^

">*‘Pop.’ Anyone not from the Midwest probably calls this ‘soda.’ You know--soft drinks, carbonated beverages, Coca Cola- and Pepsi-type products.

">Fitz: *whispering* And it’s Duck-Duck-Gray Duck. *runs away*

^_^

Sanosuke was interesting, to put it mildly. Not only was he an unpredictable rogue, he also flirted with anyone who had a pulse.

“I don’t think that guy appreciated your efforts,” I remarked dryly as a young man stormed away. Sanosuke had declared himself my temporary roommate, and we were on our way to our designated quarters. Our trip to the ninth floor, via elevator, had ended somewhat badly.

“No sense of humor, that one,” Sanosuke agreed, trailing after me down the hall. “And what about you? Can’t I depend on you for back up?”

“If you want a date, you’ll have to find one on your own,” I replied bluntly.

“You didn’t even laugh!” he groaned.

“It wasn’t that funny,” I shrugged. It really had not been funny. In fact, it had been almost mean. And Sanosuke had been lying to the guy--telling wild stories that no one in his right mind would believe. “Do you really want to scare off everyone before you get the chance to see if you want to be friends?”

“You should talk,” he shot back. “Mr. ‘let’s piss off this complete stranger because I’m too chicken-shit to tell him what I really think’ redhead.”

I had to flinch at that one. I deserved that--I really did. It was by pure luck that Sanosuke had not been completely offended by my brusque attitude. He laughed and shoved me forward. Being that he had a good eight inches and sixty pounds on me, it was no surprise that he nearly sent me sprawling. By the time I caught my balance, he had his key in the door. He pushed the door open and walked in, whistling at the small size.

“Nice!” he laughed. “Suck it in, Kenshin. You might not fit in here!”

“If there’s not enough room, then it’s because you’re too big,” I tossed back, peeking into the closet space and the rest of the room. The place--intended to be living space for two people--was smaller than my room at home. Granted, I had a pretty good-sized room, but this was ridiculous. Of course, the beds were long enough for someone half again my height to fit on them.

“Well, this is just beautiful,” Sanosuke chuckled. “Let’s go.”

“What?” I turned to stare at his back as he sauntered back out of the room. “Where are you going?”

“The night is young, Kenshin!” he glanced over his shoulder at me and nodded toward the door. “Let’s check out the haunts.”

“It’s eleven o’clock!” I protested, unzipping my sweatshirt and reaching for my bag. “And we have to get up by six-thirty.”

That declared, I pulled out my toothbrush and toothpaste.

“You can’t be serious!” Sanosuke groaned behind me. “Are you even tired?”

“That’s not the point,” I sighed.

“Exactly!”

I yelped as he grabbed me, not at all expecting the arm that slid around my waist from behind and lifted me off the ground entirely. He placed me back on my feet, between him and the door.

“That’s not the point,” Sanosuke added. “So why make it an issue?”

“Where did you want to go?” I challenged, resisting as he nudged me toward the door. He was not using a lot of force, or I would have been in the hallway long before this. As I said, he was a lot bigger. I was pretty good, but I did not want to push back against someone like him. “What’s even open at this hour?”

“The bars--”

“I’m too young.”

“Not to go in, you’re not,” he laughed. “And I can order you something.”

“You’re too young.”

“Not according to my ID.”

“You have a fake ID?” I scowled at him. It was not anything that shocked me. After all, I had used false identification more than once. However, I did not do that anymore, and I was not about to start up again.

“Lighten up, Kenshin,” he hooked his arm through mine and bullied me out into the hall. I gave ground, still protesting, albeit rather weakly. He just locked the door behind him and turned toward the stair well. “Maybe you can pick up a girl who’s prettier than you.”

“I doubt that,” I grumbled, not at all happy with the arm that propelled me through the door into the stair well. If he intended to push me much further, I was going to have to stand my ground more firmly.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Sanosuke nudged me toward the stairs, and I caught the handrail before I could stumble down the flight. “You’ll never find a girl that pretty.”

“You’re asking for it!” I hissed in frustration. He had his arm around my waist again, and I could tell he wanted to haul me bodily down those steps. I did not trust him quite that much yet. “I’m not going to any bar!”

“Afraid?” Sanosuke taunted.

“If I get caught--”

“They’ll give you a warning,” he shrugged carelessly. “It happens all the time.”

“No!” I jumped at the sound of my own voice echoing off the walls. Stupid stair well. I quickly lowered my voice. “Maybe you’ll get a warning, but I will get dragged to the county holding cells!”

Sanosuke blinked at me, then laughed.

“Don’t be so dramatic, Kenshin,” he chided.

“I’m not,” I said, careful to keep my voice low. I had already demonstrated that sound carried very well in this hollowed out section of the building, and I did not really want anyone to hear what I had to say to this moron. “I’m already on police records. All they need to do is punch my name into their computer, and they’ll think I’m up to something.”

Sanosuke stared at me for a long minute, sizing me up. I could almost see the gears turning behind his eyes, comparing my words with what he already knew of me, trying to determine if I was lying. He blew out a puff of air in an almost-whistle.

“You’re shittin’ me,” he murmured. He kept his voice down, thank god.

My face was warm, but I could not hide that now. I just bit my lip in my embarrassment and shook my head. He stared incredulously.

“You have a record,” he clarified. “As in, all the illegal stuff you’ve done in your life.”

“Not all,” I mumbled, nodding uneasily.

“What’d you do?”

“A lot of shit, Sanosuke,” I sighed, suddenly very weary. I leaned back against the wall and closed my eyes. “Can I go back to the room now?”

He was quiet for a moment, and I thought I would just turn and go back up the stairs. His hand closed around my wrist.

Shit.

I looked back at him uncertainly. He smirked.

“You’re not getting off that easy.”

He yanked on my wrist, and I jumped without thinking, turning the fall into a smooth leap as I hit the landing. Sanosuke had been intending to steady me if I faltered, but I already mentioned that I did not trust him that much. His grin said he was impressed with the maneuver.

“Zip up that sweater of yours, Kenshin,” he said with a laugh. “We’re going outside.”

^_^

The air was cool, but somewhat balmy from the warm day and our position by the river. Sanosuke picked up a rock and flung it into the water. It landed with a soft ‘ploop.’

“What kind of shit, Kenshin?”

I should have expected that, but I suppose I hoped he would not ask. Let’s be honest. It was not a topic for lighthearted conversation. I could just hear it:

“So what’d you do?” “Nothing much. Just killed a guy once.” “Really? Speaking of killed... man! Did those Vikings get there asses whooped the other night!”

Maybe I hadn’t killed anyone, but I was pretty sure our conversation would not be quite that easy. If it did, then I needed to reevaluate this time spent with Sanosuke.

I picked up a rock and turned it over in my hand. It was a nice flat one--good shape to it.

“Drugs,” I said finally. “Some alcohol, though not as much.”

Turning, I flung the rock out to the dark river. It landed, almost reluctantly, and took off again. Normally, I would have smiled over seeing a rock skip seven times, but that was just not the time for it.

I looked up to see Sanosuke fumbling with his cigarettes. For a moment, I puzzled over this, wondering why a seasoned smoker would have problems kicking a cigarette out of the box. Then, I saw that he was trying to put the cigarette back in its case.

“Oh,” he muttered, still struggling with the box.

Shaking my head, I reached out and took the smoke from his hand. Turning it, I gently poked it toward his mouth. He got the hint and bit down on it lightly, blinking again in surprise as I flicked a lighter to life and held it out for him. A small glow of orange flared in the night, and I smelled the smoke as he exhaled gratefully.

“You don’t smoke, but you carry around a lighter?” Sanosuke asked.

“It’s your lighter,” I told him, tucking it into his front shirt pocket.

“A pickpocket, too!” he grunted in obvious disapproval.

“Sometimes,” I admitted. “Don’t tell anyone. No one got me for that.”

“So... what?” he sat down abruptly, making himself comfortable on the riverbed. “You get busted for smoking on the corner outside the high school?”

The words were mocking, but his tone was serious. I got the distinct impression it was the only way he knew how to handle solemn situations. Joking just made it easier.

“Not quite,” I sat down beside him. This was something I would not even talk about with counselors. It got to the point where I was spending whole hours in the psychologist’s office, just glaring at the man. Finally, Uncle Hiko got sick of it and refused to pay for my continued counseling. That was the end of those pointless sessions.

So, if I did not want to tell someone who was bound by oath and contract not to discuss what I told him with anyone else, why was I contemplating telling a guy I had met only twelve hours before? I didn’t know. It just felt right, sitting on the river bank with a seemingly carefree, cocky young man in the pre-midnight hour when we supposedly had a curfew of ten-thirty.

“It was a little more severe than that,” I murmured.

“Weed?”

“Whatever was available,” I shrugged. “I wasn’t a choosy kid.”

“Why’d you stop?” he asked quietly.

“Cops caught me,” I answered, mostly honest.

“People don’t stop just because of a police raid,” Sanosuke fixed a shrewd stare on me.

“I did.”

“Bullshit.”

I pressed my lips together, staring out at the river. The jerk got more out of me than most people did. I did not know what he expected. My life story? Good luck! Even if he did manage to get me drunk--or high, whichever he pleased--I was a tight-lipped drunk. How else does a kid survive for almost three years without anyone truly understanding what kind of nasty habits he’s picked up?

“I’m going to ask one more question,” he said after a long silence, strangely subdued. “You don’t have to answer, but I have to ask.”

“What’s that?” I wondered apprehensively.

“Did you get sick?”

“Sick...?” I was pretty sure I understood what he was asking, but I did not want to jump to conclusions on something like that.

“It’s not unheard of,” he was watching me, but I could not look at him. “Sharing drugs... Disease, Kenshin.”

“AIDS,” I said quietly.

“Yeah,” he sighed. “AIDS.”

“No.” Impulsively, I leaned back on the ground, folding my arms behind my head. The sky was crystal clear, and it would have been a great view had we not been in the middle of the city. As it was, I could only see some of the brighter stars. I sighed and closed my eyes. “I never got sick.”

“You got lucky.”

“I suppose.” I opened my eyes to look at him again. “You’re not the model student, yourself. How old are you? Twenty?”

“Twenty-one this February,” he nodded. “I had an off year. Hell, all of junior and senior high was off. And a lot of elementary school.”

I smiled, knowing exactly what he meant. He chuckled and shook his head.

“Spent most of my childhood in foster homes,” he said abruptly.

Wasn’t this just the night for telling our intimate secrets! Of course, I did not say that aloud. I did not want to discourage him. It was only fair, after all. He had the dirt on me.

“I skipped out of a lot of school to spite those bastards,” he said, speaking to the night as much as he was to me. “Spent most of my time on the streets just to make them squirm. Fuck them, you know? Then, the man who’s my adoptive father came along, and things just changed. Got through high school and took some community college classes to get my scores up. And here I am!”

I blinked as his hand mussed my hair for the second time that day.

“Let’s go back to the dorm,” he suggested. “You look ready to drop.”

I smirked and shook my head, taking his proffered hand and letting him haul me to my feet.

“You boasted earlier that you could--what were your exact words?--carry my skinny ass across the bridge if you had to,” I teased mildly. We needed some joking after that conversation. “That’s farther than from here to the dorm.”

“That was before I tried lifting you,” he retorted with a roguish smirk. “You weighed a lot more than I expected.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I glared at him. Okay, so I was a bit vain. Was this guy telling me I was overweight?

“Whoa!” he laughed. “Don’t take it so personally, Kenshin.”

I grumbled under my breath. The last time I had gone to the doctor, I had been well within the safe weight range for my height. It was on the low side, even!

“That happens to people who work out a lot,” Sanosuke offered. Perhaps he was trying to soothe my ego. If that was the case, then it was working. I looked at him cautiously.

“Really?” I asked, hoping he would elaborate.

“Sure,” he smirked. “You know... muscle weighs a lot. More than fat.”

Some portion of my brain informed me that I should have learned this bit of information in high school Health class. It was vaguely familiar, but I had gotten a D in Health, which was barely passing for high school. All the teachers informed me that D’s would not cut it in college.

“So?”

I blinked.

“So what?”

“Do you work out?” he poked at my arm. It hurt, so I rubbed the spot and shook my head.

“Not really,” I held open the door to the dorm, and we walked into the lobby. The guard was reading a book. He barely glanced at us. “I was into karate and judo as a kid. I picked it up again just this past year.”

“That explains it,” Sanosuke grinned.

We stepped into the elevator, and he pushed the button for the ninth floor. A silence fell between us. Usually, that would make me uncomfortable, but for once, I did not mind. It gave me time to consider everything that had happened that night--everything that had been said.

“Sano...” I said, just as the elevator dinged past the seventh floor.

“Hmm?” he smirked down at me, and I glanced at him warily.

“Sano, if you tell anyone what I told you tonight--”

He laughed, momentarily cutting off the rest of my words. I grimaced and shook my head. Sano just chuckled again and clapped his hand against my shoulder.

“Your secret’s safe with me, Kenshin,” he said confidently. “And if you start spreading around that I told you that stuff, I’ll kill you and make it look like an accident.*”

I blinked, startled by his frank words. Smiling then, I nodded my agreement. He snorted, as if the conversation, brief though it was, had been the most ludicrous thing he had experienced in a long time. Well... perhaps it was.

Sano left the elevator and walked back to the room quietly. I trailed after him, content to keep my silence for the rest of the night. Fortunately, Sano seemed to share my sentiments. Admittedly, I would never know for sure. My shoes landed somewhere in the closet space, my sweatshirt over a chair, and I crawled under the bed covers. I was asleep mere seconds after my head hit the pillow.

^_^