Living Years

Disclaimer: The following story contains activity that would be considered of homosexual nature between consenting college students. While none of it crosses into a gratuitous nature, if such material is offensive to you or you are not of the legal age to read such material in your area, please do not. Other than that, please enjoy the story!

The Living Years

Chapter One "Sexual Orientation"

It always happened. The night before the day something big was going to happen. Those days that he'd never forget for one reason or another. He never could fall asleep.

Not for lack of trying though. He'd try. Lots of things he'd try. Like the stupid remedy of counting sheep, which he'd found to be very unsuccessful. Or thinking about something other than what he'd do the next day.

But it never worked. And today was no different. He'd gone to bed at a good time of 11. Which was early considering it was summer vacation and that he normally went to bed much later during the summer. He'd even taken his shower the night before and ironed and packed his clothes. All in an attempt to take his mind off what was to come.

Who was he trying to kid though? He knew that he'd wind up staying up all night thinking about it. Which is exactly what had happened.

Because now that it was exactly two minutes before 8, the time he'd set his alarm clock for 9 hours previously, it was time for him to wake up.

And apparently, his mother had the same thoughts.

"I made breakfast, Shawn."

Shawn had heard his mother coming down the hallway and had since turned his alarm off before it rang and pretended as if he'd actually been sleeping.

"Shawn.."

Shawn opened his eyes slowly and sat up slowly. All part of acting like he was just waking up.

"What's going on...?"

He knew exactly what was going on but for his mom, he loved being her 'little boy' and anything to help her feel like she needed to baby him, even now, he'd do.

"Shawn, you didn't forget did you?" his mother asked, heading over to his blinds and opening them.

Shielding his eyes from the bright light wasn't an act on his part as he actually was a little surprised at how bright it was outside.

"It's your college orientation day," his mother replied, walking back over to the edge of his bed and sitting on it.

That was what had Shawn so excited. Today, he'd be going to college. Of course, not officially, as it was only going to be a three day orientation program. Still, it was almost like the real thing and it would be the first time he spent more than a day away from his family.

"I know you're excited, especially since Ben's going too," his mother said, standing up.

Ben was Shawn's best friend. They'd known each other nearly ten years and did everything together, including signing up for the first of all the orientation sessions.

"I'm not excited...it's just a few days," Shawn lied.

He wanted to say something, and that was what had come out of his mouth.

His mother flashed him a skeptical look before heading towards the door.

"Okay, I'm gonna go wake up your dad," she spoke.

"Good luck with that," Shawn chuckled.

Shawn's father worked nights a lot to gain extra money for his college education and usually slept long hours during the day, on the days he wasn't working at least.

Yawning, Shawn plopped himself out of bed and walked over to his dresser, which had a large mirror in front of it, and looked into it.

Today, he was going to sample what his life would be like in a couple of months.

Hell yeah he was excited!

It was quiet. But Trey was used to the quiet. It was always quiet to him.

At least...when there wasn't anything else going on in the neighborhood. And since it was very early in the morning, it meant everyone in the neighborhood was asleep.

That meant none of the normal loud rap music blaring from car speakers and none of the loud swearing and shouting from drunken party goers milling around outdoors.

And of course, it also meant it was too early for anyone to be considering shooting off any guns.

Trey hated living in the projects. Mostly because he didn't think he belonged here. He wasn't like anyone else who did.

He wasn't altogether a fan of all the hardcore rap music that was the norm where he lived. Sure he liked rap and had a few favorite rap artists, but he also liked pop and rock music, something that was most definitely frowned upon in the projects.

He also hated dressing how he dressed. With the baggy pants and the untied boots and heavy overcoats in the winter. He did it because, like anyone else, he wanted to fit in.

Of course, even with all the things he did to be the typical 'ghetto black person' living in the projects, it still did nothing for his social life.

He had no friends and really didn't have a social life anywhere. He went to school and came home, only going places if he had to or really wanted to.

That was why he felt things were always quiet. Because he spent most of his time alone.

He rarely saw his mother, as she was working three jobs just to not only support the two of them, but also finance his college education.

College.

There was no doubt Trey was smart. He knew it and his mother knew it. That was the one thing that he didn't perpetrate at. It was probably one of the reasons why he didn't have any friends. Because he was smart and it was one thing to be smart and not act it but to be smart and have teachers always commenting on the fact in front of all of your classmates is another.

Trey had good enough grades to get into any college he wanted, probably on a scholarship. But he didn't want to go so far away from his mother.

He didn't want to feel like he was getting away while he left her in the projects. He'd promised her and himself a long time ago that he was going to make her proud. He was going to go into some kind of career, a doctor or a lawyer...something, a career that would make him a lot of money. And as soon as he made enough, he was getting his mother out of the ghetto and away from their rough life.

He just wished that she was here now. To see him off as he went off to his college orientation.

But he knew why she wasn't here and understood.

That still wasn't stopping him from wishing that he had someone, anyone at all, to talk to as he got ready.

The real orientation didn't start until 12pm, but he had to leave early because he was traveling by bus to the school, which was a few hours away.

The only good thing he could see about that was that at least he was on his own schedule and wouldn't have to worry about anyone slowing him down.

It wasn't like he'd ever had to worry about that before.

The place was a mess. Of course it was, after the party his parents had had the previous night, Noah was surprised it wasn't even filthier than it already looked.

And of course his parents were both passed out somewhere in the living room. And of course his older brother and younger sister were...who the hell knows where.

Noah was used to it all now. The fact that his family was a complete wreck was probably the reason why he hadn't allowed himself to become one.

It was also the reason why he generally avoided his family in general. Sure, he didn't particularly like having to find other places to sleep or spend hours upon hours away from his own house, but he did it all because he didn't want to allow himself to be pulled into his family's destructive habits.

So, he studied. Not as hard as he should have and not all the time, but he kept up with his schoolwork, and managed to graduate. He was only slightly pissed that he hadn't gotten any scholarships because at least that way, he could have picked a school far away from his family.

Unfortunately, he was gonna have to go to college in state. And it was also unfortunate that he didn't have enough money to pay for college on his own, thus having to begrudgingly rely on his parents to foot most of the bill.

The way he saw it, it meant that he was still attached to his family and would be in his parents debt for years to come.

And he hated to think about that.

And as he packed for his freshman orientation weekend, he tried to think about what college life would be like exactly.

He was bummed because most of his friends hadn't graduated, which sort of said wonders about the type of friends he had, but they were still his friends and he'd miss them once he actually moved on campus. And when he did actually leave, there was no way he was gonna be coming back unless there was something he needed.

He considered this just the first few steps towards finally becoming the naturally independent person he'd always been.

As Noah continued packing various things for his three day stay away from home, he heard what sounded like laughter coming from one of the bedrooms nearby.

Noah lived in a one story home because it wasn't exactly cheap to live near the beach in Texas. He still didn't understand why in the hell they'd moved to Texas before he started high school 4 years previously, but when he thought about all the cool friends he'd made, he didn't care about it either.

"Shhhh!"

"Bryce...my shoe's stuck!"

"Will you shut the fuck up! My parents are probably asleep!"

"I'm sorry baby....here, help me up."

Noah knew right away that the voices he heard were coming from his brother Bryce and his latest girl of the week, as they tried to sneak into the house through the window in his bedroom.

He was tempted to jump into his bed and pretend that he was sleeping so that he could sneak out without having to deal with his brother, but he also realized that with all the noise the two of them were making, it wouldn't do any good anyway.

"Shit...the joints fell out of my..."

"Fuck! Look, get in here alright!"

Bryce's room was right next door to Noah's. He could hear everything that was going on as clear as day because Noah didn't have a door to his room, thanks in part to some drunken ass idiot tearing it apart in one of his parents' random parties that he was decidedly absent from.

"Baby I'm cold!"

"How the hell are you cold..it's almost ten in the morning. It's like eighty degrees out here!"

Agitated and annoyed, Noah stopped what he was doing and slowly edged out of his room to get a better view of what was happening.

Apparently, he was right and Bryce and unnamed Bimbo were trying to sneak in through the window, which Noah found weird considering he had a key. Bryce's back was facing Noah so he couldn't see him watching and it looked as though he were trying to pull the girl in through the window, as if the house really did have two stories and it was all that hard to get in.

"You're such a lazy bitch..."

"I'm sorry baby."

Noah watched as Bryce pulled the girl, a blonde wearing the tightest, most revealing clothes this side of Texas, inside, and sat her on the bed while he went back outside to retrieve the fallen drugs.

Noah found it all strange to the point where it was amusing. The girl was smiling like she was a four year old at Chucky Cheese and looking all around the room.

It looked as though Bryce was having a bit of a hard time collecting all the drugs and just as Noah had decided he'd seen enough did he accidentally lock eyes with the no name slut.

He'd turned around and started back into his own room but felt a hand on his shoulder turning him around.

"Oh my god, look at you, you're so adorable!"

"What did you say, baby?" Noah heard his brother yell.

The girl had pulled Noah back into Bryce's room and sat back on the bed, looking him over.

"You look just like your brother!"

"What the..."

Noah watched as his brother climbed back into the house and walked over to him.

"What the hell are you doing in here?" Bryce asked.

"Bryce baby...aren't you gonna introduce me to your cute little brother?"

"Mindy-"

Noah was thoroughly annoyed with Mindy, gum smacking and all, and turned to leave but Bryce jumped in his way.

"Look I'm sorry alright...just..you're not usually home after....well...you know.."

In some ways, Noah had always looked up to his brother. For starters, Mindy was right, he did look a lot like him. They both were just as tall, at a good 6'1. And both of them had dark brownish-blackish hair that was intricately thrown together on their heads. They both had the same light grey eyes and they both were about the same when it came to their bodies, toned and muscled in all the right places.

And of course, his brother was smart enough to leave when ever his parents threw parties, just like he did.

Of course, lately, Noah's tolerance of his older brother had been quickly fading. Bryce used to always do stuff with him. They were really close up until last year when Bryce graduated from high school.

But instead of going off to college, Bryce decided he'd rather mooch off of other people, and found a different girl a week to get to buy him whatever he wanted just because he looked good enough to convince anyone to do it.

And of course, now it even looked like his older brother was into drugs, something Bryce must have noticed while Noah stared at the bag of marijuana in his hands, moving it to his back pocket.

"Look, this isn't what it looks like," Bryce said.

"I don't care," Noah replied.

With Bryce's changes also came Noah's own changes. He used to be extremely popular, but that was mostly due to Bryce going to the same school as him. After he graduated and stopped spending as much time with him, he just stopped caring really. He started hanging out with the punks and rebels at school just because they didn't seem to care as well.

Mostly, Noah considered himself a loner. He wasn't shy in the least, but he just preferred to be alone.

He didn't want to say it was all his brother's fault. Because it wasn't. It was a combination of things that he really didn't want to think about.

And something else he didn't want to think about was what he was dealing with at the current moment.

"Look, I'm trying to get ready for school-"

"School? I remember school..I was a cheerleader-"

"That's great babe," Bryce said, not looking back at Mindy. "But...school?"

"College orientation. Would've told you but...well, you know," Noah spoke, bitterly.

These days that's all he was to people he came into contact with. Bitter and sarcastic. Only when he had to talk to someone like he was having to do now.

"College...man...." Bryce spoke, smiling.

Noah had graduated a month previously, but Bryce hadn't attended the ceremony for reasons Noah didn't care about.

It was probably news to him now that he was going off to college.

"I'm kinda busy packing so...."

"Oh....right.....well don't let me keep you," Bryce spoke.

Noah flashed his brother a final look before turning to head back to his room.

"Bye little Bryce!" he heard Mindy calling after him.

"Fancy something to drink, sir?"

Jesse took his eyes away from the magazine he'd read and re-read for the past seven and a half hours to look up.

"I don't suppose you could fetch me a dry martini. This tea is getting a bit old," he replied.

"Sir...you're a bit young, wouldn't you agree?" the flight attendant spoke.

Jesse reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out an incentive.

"Here's a few quids...call it your lucky day and I'll call it my liquor ticket," Jesse replied.

The flight attendant pocketed the currency and smiled at Jesse.

"Always the charmer aren't you Mr. Yorkshire?"

"I've been told that quite a bit, yeah," Jesse replied. "Martini?"

The flight attended just shook her head as she went up a few feet to get Jesse his drink.

Jesse was admittedly bored and didn't usually drink what he was sure would be cheap martini. But after being on a plane nearly 8 hours, he was restless.

He was restless a lot because he had so much money, he usually had to come up with interesting ways to spend it all. Or rather, his father had so much money.

Jesse's father owned a very successful and famous publishing company in London, where he was born and raised. That alone was the reason why he hadn't seen much of his father. He'd spent most of his life being raised by various nannies.

Sure, Jesse would do various things to try and get his father to pay attention to him, even just one time, but even when he did something so bad he'd get arrested, his father would just spend money to make all the trouble disappear and go back to working.

Which was why Jesse had decided to do something rash. First, he'd decided that he wasn't going to go to one of the fancy colleges he had enough money to get into, or that his father probably wanted him to go to.

No, one day he put a bunch of names in a hat, and picked one. And when he didn't like the name of the first one, he picked again. And a few more times until finally he just decided to try a school in Texas.

He figured it was perfect. It wasn't an Ivy League school AND it was in a totally different country. At the time, Jesse had thought it was a brilliant plan. He figured his father would stop him before he'd gotten as far as he had.

But...he hadn't stopped him. At first Jesse was sad, but then, pissed off that his father cared so little about him. And it wasn't exactly like he could just up and not do it after he'd submitted his application and paid all four years in advance. Plus he had always wanted to visit America and see how all the yankers lived.

After having ignored the guy he was sitting next to the entire flight thus far, boredom quickly took over and Jesse turned to him, looking him over.

It was obvious he had a decent amount of money, as he was sitting in first class next to him. Probably nowhere near as much as Jesse had, but enough.

He didn't look that old either, maybe not past the age of 25.

He was reading a copy of Forbes magazine, which had Jesse frowning inwardly, as it seemed as though whenever he did look over at the guy, he'd had the magazine all flight long.

Surely it didn't take 8 hours to read a single magazine.

"Interesting read?" he asked.

The guy turned to Jesse and looked at him with a look almost everyone in London gave him whenever they saw him.

"You're-"

"Yeah, I know," he replied.

Jesse could tell right away that obviously the guy was dense, as he was just now noticing him.

"Bloody hell...imagine me being so engrossed in this magazine I didn't even notice that I was sitting next to London's most eligible bachelor...next to the royal princes of course," the guy spoke.

"Yeah, I come first, then them," Jesse replied. "Anyway, you know my name......you are?"

"Seb Warner," he replied, shaking Jesse's hand. "Yeah, I'm on a business trip to Dallas. What about you? You jet setting across the world trysting with hot totties?"

"Actually I've pissed away some of my father's money on a shitty university in Dallas in the hopes that he'll bring me home before the day is over with," Jesse replied.

He figured since he wasn't gonna see the guy again, he might as well tell him the truth.

Seb shook his head methodically, not taking his eyes away from Jesse.

"Here you are Mr. Yorkshire," the flight attendant from earlier spoke, handing Jesse the martini he'd asked for earlier.

"Ah thank you love," Jesse replied.

"Ah..do you think I could get one of those too?"

"Bar's closed off to you Seb-"

"What, oh come on-"

"You're such a cheeky git Seb, and shouldn't you be a bit knackered by now? You haven't slept a wink since we took off-"

"Just move along then Nola," Seb spoke, waving the flight attendant off.

Jesse looked over at Seb expectantly.

"What can I say, I fly a lot," Seb replied.

Jesse just shook his head and sighed, silently regretting for the umpteenth time the decision he'd made.

"Wow!"

"Exactly"

Shawn looked around him not really believing what he was saying.

"This place is huge!" he said, staring at one of the buildings he was sure was a dorm hall.

"Okay, where's the map?" Ben asked, looking over at Shawn.

Shawn hadn't really paid attention as he was too busy looking around.

It wasn't exactly crowded as it was not only summer but early in the morning as well. Actually, Shawn hadn't seen anyone at all. He was hoping that he would have been able to find someone that was here for the same thing he was, to take some stupid math test, but apparently not.

"It doesn't matter. We only have one map and were going to two separate places, remember?" Shawn replied.

"Dude, look...you take the map cuz you got somewhere to be. I didn't have to be here until noon remember?" Ben replied.

Shawn sighed and rolled his eyes.

"I'll call you when I get done," he replied, handing Ben his bag of clothes and pillow. "Don't do crazy shit without me."

"Look around Shawn, what kind of crazy shit can I get into around here?" Ben grinned.

Shawn playfully shoved Ben before heading down a long pathway that led behind the buildings he was looking at. He was almost certain he was going the right way according to the map, but it still didn't mean anything as the buildings on the map looked similar to each other.

"Dammit!" Shawn mumbled.

He was about to cross over to the next pathway leading towards another row of buildings but had to stop as a bus had cut off his path.

Annoyed, Shawn let out a sigh as he waited for whoever was getting off to hurry up and get off.

It took a little while but finally Shawn noticed a young black guy about his height getting off. For a moment, the two of them locked eyes but Shawn looked away and started down the path he was walking down in the first place, forgetting about the guy.

"I still don't see why you went the way of the conformist," Noah's friend Kaz spoke.

Noah flashed him a look while he opened the trunk door and took out his bag. Kaz was sitting on the hood of the car, smoking a cigarette looking at Noah as if he spited him for his decision.

"Oh don't look at me like that man!" he said.

"What?" Kaz shrugged.

"Look I already told you," Noah started, shutting the trunk. "I'm doing this to get away from my family."

"You don't have to go to college to get away from your family, Noah," Kaz replied. "Just do like the rest of us do and drink to make them go away."

Noah drank to fit in with his friends, but secretly hated the taste of alcohol and marijuana.

"I'll be gone five days out of the week," Noah replied. "I'll still see you guys on the weekends."

"Yeah," Kaz sighed, putting his cigarette out with his foot. "Whatever."

"Kaz...."

Noah watched as Kaz looked behind him before getting into his car.

"Just call me and I'll come and get you when you start thinking straight and decide to bail," he replied.

Noah knew that wasn't going to happen, no matter whatever happened over the next three days.

He had to admit, he was a little worried that he'd wind up spending the next three days alone, like he did whenever he decided he felt uncomfortable with a certain situation. But since he was so used to displacing himself away from those types of situations, if it happened, it wouldn't be anything new for him.

Noah watched as Kaz sped off down a one way street, going the opposite way on purpose because he was too lazy to go all the way around the other way.

He was a bit unsure of what to do with himself. He had another hour to go before he'd even be able to check into his designated dorm. Actually everyone in the orientation session was staying in just one of the 10 different dorms available on campus.

Suddenly, Noah felt a little helpless. Here he was barely out of high school standing all alone on a gigantic college campus with nothing to do really. And he wasn't even sure where to go.

All he knew was that he would be staying in Ark Hall with everyone else and that he couldn't check in until noon.

What was he supposed to do in the meantime?

Looking out the window of the limo, Jesse could tell that he'd made it. He was at the campus.

He'd been studying the campus map on the way over to the school, and still didn't feel like he knew where anything was. It was probably because now that he was actually getting to see the place, he could easily see that the buildings on the map all looked alike while the ones he was actually looking at all looked completely different.

"Cheap old gits," he mumbled. "You'd think with a place as big as this and all the money I had to pay to get in here they'd have enough extra income to spend on these damn maps."

He was speaking to no one in particular, as his driver had gotten out of the limo in order to get Jesse's belongings out of the trunk.

Jesse folded the map up and put it in his pocket, getting out of the limo and stretching a bit.

"Jesus Christ, is it always this hot here?" Jesse asked, walking around to the back of the limo.

"Pretty much," the driver replied. "I mean, we didn't really have a cold winter so now we have an extra hot summer to deal with."

Jesse took his sunglasses from off of the collar of his shirt and put them on.

"What else should I know about this bloody place?" he asked looking around.

So far he hadn't seen any cowboys riding around on horses or anything that he'd thought he'd see, which was good as he hated cowboys.

"I don't know really......I guess to be careful you don't get caught in any old time shootouts," the driver replied.

Jesse lowered his glasses slightly and looked over at the driver incredulously.

"It was a joke," the driver replied.

"No, see, jokes are funny," Jesse replied. "What you just told me was a waste of any brain cells you might of had left."

The driver just stared at Jesse as he picked up his two bags.

"Don't worry, you just told me everything I need to know about this pathetic country," Jesse said, leaving the driver glaring behind him.

The heat was almost too much for him, as he rarely spent time outdoors just walking around. He only went out if he had a specific thing to get done. Plus he was wearing very expensive polyester, which wasn't exactly heat friendly.

And now he was trapped in heat and really had no idea where to go.

So he took out his map again and opened it up all the way, moving it in front of his face as he walked. It wasn't really like he could do anything now. He'd heard that the check in time for the orientation session was at noon, which meant he still had a little time to wait.

Of course, that didn't mean he was about to settle for waiting. No, he was going to go see what he could do about checking into the dorm room early. Anything to get away from the heat.

He'd only gone a few dozen feet before he felt something under his feet. It was too late though, as whatever he'd walked into had also caused him to trip and fall to the ground.

Recovering from his initial shock, Jesse, still on the ground, looked over at what he'd tripped on.

It was a bag. Someone's bag. And the someone it belonged to was sitting against a sign post just staring at him as he lay on his back.

"You little shit....what the hell is your crap doing in my way?" Jesse sputtered as he stood up, retrieving his fallen sunglasses and map.

Noah had just ignored Jesse falling but didn't like the way he was talking to him now.

"The way I remember it, that map in your face was the reason you fell," he replied, thumbing a cord on his guitar.

"No I don't think so-"

"Look, you're standing in my light....could you move?" Noah asked.

Jesse was feeling extremely annoyed with Noah, as whenever the guy talked, he never looked up at him, as if he just didn't care who he was.

"Apologize first," Jesse spoke, firmly.

"Oh god, come on, what are you three?" Noah spoke, finally looking up at Jesse.

The two locked eyes and stared at each other for a few moments before Jesse said anything.

"Well?"

Noah sighed before standing up, gathering his things.

"Hey wait a second..."

Noah said nothing more before he started away from Jesse, leaving him behind.

"What a fag," Jesse mumbled under his breath.

Shawn bit into his pencil again. He did it whenever he was stressed. And right now he was stressed.

Math wasn't his best subject. It was the reason why he was having to take the low level subjunctive math test, instead of one of the other higher level test like a lot of the other students.

He'd told himself when he came into the testing room that he was going to focus, and so far he'd done a perfect job. He hadn't locked eyes with anyone because if he did that, then he'd want to start mapping out potential friends and enemies or at least sex partners.

But he was really stressing now.

The original head count of students taking test had been well over a hundred. But as time flew by, more and more people were finishing. Now that it was even closer to noon, there were only a handful of people left. People Shawn guessed had to be taking the harder level test, as most of them looked like nerds.

He'd actually started looking around at people. He figured it was okay to do now that there weren't as many people. That and he was totally stressing. His test was only 36 questions, but he was only on question 12.

Granted, they were allowed 5 total hours to take the test, but Shawn hadn't shown up directly at 8, the time the test started. He'd gotten here later, which meant he really only had about and hour and a half left.

Now, he was panicking. He looked behind him at the clock, for the millionth time that day, and turned back around. He looked back down at his test booklet and then looked next to him for the first time since he'd been in the room.

Sitting directly to his right only a few seats away was the same guy he'd seen from earlier.

He found it odd, because it was obvious the guy was taking a harder test like all the other nerds, only given the urban way he was dressed, he certainly didn't look like a nerd.

Still though, he was taking a harder test which meant that he had to be smart so Shawn decided he was going to get a little help.

He looked up at the front, where the instructors were busy chatting away at a corner in the room. They probably figured that since everyone left was taking the harder test that they'd be fine to leave them unsupervised.

So Shawn carefully got up and walked over to the guy from earlier, leaving one seat between them.

He noticed that the guy hadn't even looked over at Shawn, even though he'd just gotten up and moved next to him.

It pissed him off slightly, but he got over it.

"Pssst."

The guy didn't look up still and Shawn grew pissed again.

"Hey man....hey," he whispered.

Finally the guy looked over at him.

"Hey how's it going?"

"What do you want?" the guy asked.

"You look like a pretty smart guy," Shawn whispered. "What's it gonna take to get you to help me out with this?"

Shawn pointed down to his test booklet and looked back up at the guy with a fake smile.

"You want me to help you cheat?" the guy asked.

"You're not a very positive thinker are you?" Shawn asked, still smiling. "I asked you if you'd help me, not help me cheat."

Shawn watched as the guy looked up at the front and then back down at his own test booklet.

"Look, just get away from me alright," the guy replied.

"Oh, come on-"

"Young man.....get back to your seat please," an instructor standing to the left of Shawn spoke impatiently.

Shawn glared at the guy before getting back up and going back to his seat.

"What a fag," he mumbled.

Noah hadn't been quite sure what to expect upon arriving on campus, but once he got closer to Ark Hall, he could definitely see he was gonna be up for one interesting weekend.

He'd spent the rest of his free time writing some new music up until about a quarter to noon, where he then decided to go and find his dorm.

He was pretty good at finding things as long as he got a good look around first, and he found the hall within five minutes of looking.

He knew he'd found the right place because there was a long line of people standing on the outside of automatic opening doors that led inside the dormitory. Since there were going to be a total of eight different orientation sessions, he hadn't exactly expected there to be so many people at the very first one of the summer.

The only reason he even signed up for the first one was because he figured people would wait to the last minute to do orientation. But it was obvious that wasn't the case.

He found it a little amusing that with the amount of people that were already in line, and most likely more to come, they'd all be cram packed into one single dorm hall. He understood why, but it was still amusing, especially since it was obviously a co-ed dorm given the amount of girls also in line.

The line was moving rather fast however and Noah liked that, as he really hated having to wait for things he found to be pointless. If coming to orientation wasn't mandatory, he wouldn't have even come.

"Excuse me, is this line for the dorm check in?" a random woman standing with her daughter asked Noah.

Noah looked in front of him and behind him at the growing line before replying.

"Actually I think were all waiting around for those New Found Glory tickets......" he replied.

He hated when people asked stupid questions. If he knew this was the right place and didn't even want to be here, then he just figured they should have known as well.

The woman flashed him a look before leading her daughter towards the back.

He didn't used to be so mean. It just came with the territory nowadays. He really hadn't realized how much hanging out with Kaz and his other friends had changed him.

The line was moving even faster, as Noah got closer to the inside, he could see that it split into four different lines.

He wasn't altogether sure why orientation was supposed to last three days. He had no idea what its point was supposed to be, as he hadn't received any information about what was going to take place. All he knew was that he'd be given an opportunity to pick his classes.

The way he saw it though, picking his classes might take all of an hour or so, not three days and he was already starting to regret his decision to even come. It wasn't like not coming would have gotten him kicked out of the college or anything. But he didn't know that for sure and he didn't want to risk getting thrown out. He may have acted like he didn't care, but he really did.

In thinking about so many different things, he'd lost complete track of time and by the time he realized it, he was already next in line at the check in counter.

"Next please!"

Noah picked up his guitar case and headed up to the counter, where he was greeted by a friendly looking girl he guessed was an upperclassman at the university.

"Hi, what's your name?" the girl asked, sounding very polite.

"Noah Davis," Noah replied.

He watched as the girl thumbed through a tray full of name tags before pulling out his own.

"Here you go," the girl replied handing it to him. "Your room number is on the back."

"What about a roommate?" Noah asked.

While he'd have preferred his own room, he knew that he was going to be sharing a room with someone and was curious as to who it would be.

"Everyone's paired randomly so I don't know who you're with," the girl replied. "If you have any other questions, ask anyone in the wearing these blue shirts."

Noah thanked the girl and walked away from the counter a little. He flipped his nametag to the back where he could clearly see "A-313"

So he was in the A wing, which was on the left side of the building on the third floor. He wasn't anxious to get to his roommate, but he did want to see his room so he decided to go ahead and head towards the elevators, where there were a long line of people waiting to go up.

"Great," he mumbled.

"No, see, you don't understand," Jesse continued. "I was hoping to get my own room. None of this....roommate stuff you keep going on about."

"Look, we have over five hundred people showing up for this orientation session. We don't have the space for-"

"You'd have enough if the blokes running this place didn't decide it was a marvelous idea to stuff us all into one dorm hall-"

"This dorm can accommodate over a thousand people-"

"So you do have enough space to give me my own room then!" Jesse exclaimed.

"Vicky, is everything alright here?"

Jesse looked over at the guy that had just walked up. He was tall, taller than him, and very muscular. Obviously not a guy he'd want to fight with.

"Look, just take your name tag and go please, you're holding up the line."

Jesse didn't give two rat's asses about everyone else in line. All he cared about was himself. No way did he want to share a room that he was almost positive was loads smaller than his room in London with some dodgy old geezer who he knew absolutely nothing about.

What if the roommate turned out to be a kleptomaniac? He had far too many expensive items that he cared enough about to miss if they were stolen from him.

Then there was the whole deal about sharing in the first place. Sharing was like a foreign concept in itself to Jesse. He'd barely learned the word a few years ago.

"How about I give you......I don't know, a hundred U.S. dollars to let me stay in....tell me, where are you sleeping?"

"Alright that's enough," the bulky guy from before replied, pulling Jesse, who grabbed his bags and name tag, along.

"You're staying in the A wing of this dorm hall like all the other guys," the guy replied, as he led Jesse towards the line of people waiting to get on the elevator, arm around his shoulders.

"Things would be so much easier for me right now if you'd actually taken a shower this morning," Jesse spoke, trying to inch away from the guy's grip.

Only, instead of leaving Jesse at the back, he pushed him closer to the front so that he couldn't get back out the same doors.

"Don't try anything," the guy spoke.

"With bright lads like you running around, I sure won't," Jesse replied, sarcastically as he watched the guy leave. "Asshole."

Jesse just sighed and leaned against a wall, deciding against his will to wait with all the other normal people.

"Dude I'm telling you, if they put us all in the same dorm hall like this it's gonna be straight up fucking every night," Ben spoke as he and Shawn waited in line.

"Maybe, but it's not like we're rooming with any of the girls or anything," Shawn replied.

"Yeah....oh look we're next," Ben replied, stepping up.

"Names?"

While Ben was telling the girl in front of the counter who the two of them were, Shawn took the opportunity to look around. He looked behind him, where a pretty Hispanic girl was winking at him. He looked to his right, where there was a rather large short guy puffing an asthma inhaler. And then he looked to his left. That was when, for the third time that day, he saw HIM.

"Hey..look, that's him," Shawn mumbled, as Ben handed him his nametag.

"Who?" Ben asked, pinning his tag on his shirt.

"The guy I told you about. The one that got me in trouble during the test," Shawn replied.

"Shawn, I don't consider getting yelled at any kind of trouble," Ben sighed, as he headed towards the elevator line.

"Still, he didn't have to be such a jackass," Shawn replied, watching the guy from behind.

"Dude, just stop it okay. You sound like a total fag when you talk like that," Ben replied, waving to a pretty white girl that was smiling at him.

Shawn did stop talking about him, but he didn't stop looking in his direction.

"Oh wait, so what floor did you get?" Ben asked.

Shawn turned his nametag to the back and examined it.

"Third floor....room 312," Shawn replied.

"Lucky bastard," Ben mumbled.

Shawn looked up at his best friend and smiled.

"Why? What?"

"I got stuck on the 8th floor," Ben replied.

Shawn laughed as he and Ben moved up as the line did.

"You know what that means don't you?" Shawn asked.

"What?" Ben asked.

"That we're probably not gonna be seeing much of each other," he replied.

"We'll see," Ben replied, watching another girl smile at him.

"One elevator, a million and one fucking people!" Jesse said aloud.

He noticed a few people look his way, but he didn't care one way or the other. He just didn't want to stand around anymore.

So he did something about it. By pushing various people out of his way.

He figured he did it just in time too, as the elevator had opened and several people started to get in.

Jesse continued to push people out of his way as he made his way towards the open elevator.

"Hey...you can't," Noah started, but he stopped when he realized that Jesse wasn't paying attention.

Not wanting to be pushed aside, Noah started pushing people out of his way as well as he and Jesse eventually stuffed their way inside the elevator, watching the faces of many angry people as the doors closed.

"It's all the same to you huh?" Noah asked. "Rude to any and everyone."

Jesse looked over at Noah and realized that he was the same guy from earlier. As he did, his annoyance started rising even more.

"This doesn't happen to me in London you know," Jesse spoke, moving aside to let the people getting off on the second floor out. "People treat me like the celebrity I am there."

"I would tell you to go back, but they're probably glad they got rid of you," Noah replied.

Jesse sighed with annoyance and crossed his arms.

He said nothing more as the elevator carried them to the next floor. He got out on the third floor, just as Noah had.

The two tried to avoid each other as they walked down the hall but Jesse quickly grew annoyed once more.

"Are you following me?" he asked. "It's not unheard of but-"

"Get a life jackass, my rooms on this floor," Noah replied.

"So is mine," Jesse replied.

Jesse picked up his walking speed, and not wanting to feel like he was being beat, Noah did as well. They both stopped once they reached the outside of a single door.

Room 313.

"Okay well go find your room then and leave me alone," Jesse spoke, expectantly waiting for Noah to leave.

"Wait a sec....this is your room?" Noah asked.

To answer Noah's question, Jesse pointed to a sticker on the door that had his name on it.

"I'm Jesse Yorkshire."

"I'm Noah Davis," Noah replied, pointing to his own name.

The two boys glared at each other, realizing that the weekend was going to be way more different that they originally thought.

Trey took a deep breath before he turned the knob to the door of his room and stepped in.

Once he did, he almost felt like he wanted to run. Because he saw two things he didn't want to see. For starters, he'd hoped to get a roommate that was like him in the fact that he was here alone and didn't know anyone else.

But the guy he had was obviously different, as he had a friend sitting on the edge of the bed by the window, which was apparently already claimed.

And the last nail in the coffin was over just who his roommate happened to be.

"What.....you gotta be kidding me!" Shawn exclaimed, rubbing his face with his left hand.

Trey stepped further into the room and let the door shut behind him as he placed his bag on the bed.

He watched as his roommate glared at him and his friend laughed.

"Look, I should go find my room," Ben spoke. "I'll be back later.

"Wait, no Ben...."

"Shawn, don't be a little chicken shit man," Ben spoke, heading for the door. "It'll be okay."

Shawn stood by the door as Ben exited it and he watched as it shut.

He let out a sigh before turning his head slightly to look over at the guy he'd be sharing a room with for the next three days.

He was black, obviously. But he was tall, a little taller than him. He wasn't skinny, but he definitely wasn't a macho muscle guy either. Maybe a swimmer or something. He could see the guy had dark brown eyes and that his left ear was pierced with a large sparkling diamond earring. He couldn't see his hair because it was covered by a hat, which was tilted to the side of his head.

The last thing Shawn wanted was for the guy to be some kind of ghetto hood gangster who'd steal his stuff the second he turned his back.

Then again, he did know the guy was smart, so maybe he was different.

"Uh....I'm Shawn," he spoke, extending his hand for his roommate to shake.

Trey stared at Shawn's hand before he took it into his own and shook it firmly.

"Trey," he replied, with caution.

He was taking everything cautiously.

All he knew about Shawn, other than that he had light blue eyes and shaggy blonde hair atop his heads in curls, or that he was a few inches shorter than he was and built almost the same in muscular strength, was that the guy obviously wasn't too bright.

Not only had he been stupid enough to get himself in trouble during testing, but if he was trying to get him to help him in the first place, he couldn't have been all that smart.

"So......where you from?" Shawn asked, not really caring.

He was only trying to engage in small talk until Ben came back and the two of them could go looking around the campus.

"Uh...Hillside," Trey replied carefully.

Trey had debated whether or not to tell Shawn, as based on looks alone, it was obvious the guy was from 'White Suburbia' where as the place he lived was notorious for being very dangerous.

"Oh," Shawn replied, turning slightly to his right.

He said nothing more as he walked over to the bathroom door and opened it.

"Wow....." he spoke.

"What?" Trey asked.

"Well....it's just, I didn't know we shared a bathroom with the room next door is all," Shawn replied.

Trey got up to see what Shawn was talking about and sure enough, there was a door on the other side of the shower.

"Weird," Shawn replied.

"Yeah," Trey agreed.

The two looked around but looked at each other when they noticed that whoever was in the room adjacent to theirs must not have been getting along, as there was loud shouting coming from the room all of a sudden.

"Huh..." Shawn said.

"I have to sleep near the window because I'm allergic to things too close to walls," Jesse replied.

"What a fucking liar...you're not allergic to any damn walls," Noah replied, as he sat on the bed near the window that he'd claimed and Jesse wouldn't give up.

"How do you know?" Jesse asked.

Noah flashed him an incredulous look before opening his bag and looking for his MP3 player.

"Just stop acting like a damn little kid and grow up," he spoke.

"It's the atmosphere, you stupid prick," Jesse replied. "I'm not used to having to deal with so many idiots all at once."

Noah had already decided that if he was going to get through the weekend, he was going to have to do his best to ignore Jesse, however hard he seemed to be making that notion.

Jesse realized Noah wasn't going to reply and turned around to look at the bed he'd actually be sleeping in.

"Tacky little thing, isn't it?" he spoke aloud.

"Well you do get what you pay for," Noah reply.

"Obviously," Jesse replied with distaste, beginning to wish he'd actually paid for an Ivy League school.

Noah put his MP3 player into his pocket and stood up, taking the sheets he'd brought from home out of his bag.

"Wait...so....we were supposed to bring our own sheets?" Jesse asked.

"Unless you want to sleep on that mattress," Noah replied.

Jesse looked down at the mattress and shuddered.

He walked over to the large dresser-desk thing that provided the space between the two beds and started going through it, looking for some sheets.

When he found some nicely folded up, he pulled them out and smiled.

"I kinda figured," he said.

"If only you knew if they were clean," Noah spoke, as he continued to make his bed.

Jesse looked them over and decided to put them on the bed anyway, figuring that the sheets were probably loads cleaner than the filthy mattress probably was.

"You know, I could've gone to Harvard....or Yale," Jesse spoke, as he started making his bed.

Noah said nothing as he started trying to put a case over his pillow.

"I would've had my own room there, no doubt," Jesse replied. "Or at least a better roommate."

Noah chuckled to himself and shook his head silently as he started going through his bag.

"Something funny, Norton?" Jesse asked.

"It's Noah," Noah replied.

"It's what I said, wasn't it?"

Noah flashed Jesse an annoyed glance before deciding to see what was going on with everyone else.

He opened the door to their room and noticed several people headed to a room at the end of the hall. After he saw a scrawny looking guy come out of the room carrying a bag with the name of the school on it, he figured he would go see what was going on and left Jesse alone in the room.

Out of habit, Jesse locked the door behind Noah, not really realizing it and started going through one of his own bags filled with things that he was seeing for the first time, as his personal shopper had packed his bags.

"A winter coat?" Jesse mumbled, taking out a large overcoat that had been packed in his bag. "It's not even cold enough in Alaska for this thing."

He tossed it aside and continued going through the bag.

Things between Shawn and Trey had been pretty much quiet.

Shawn hated quiet and usually tried starting conversations with people wherever he went, but his roommate was just too weird for his taste.

He only answered his questions with short little answers that really couldn't be expounded upon, and he seemed much more shy than his overall look gave off. It didn't really seem like they had anything in common at all.

Basically, Shawn was counting the very seconds until Ben came to get him.

"Dude, did you get your bag yet?" Ben asked, just walking into the unlocked door to the room and shutting it behind him.

Shawn walked over to his best friend and examined the bag in his hands.

"There's all kinds of shit in here," Ben replied. "They have like our schedules and shit and itinerary..."

"They gave you a key?" Shawn asked, noting the key hanging from a string around Ben's neck.

"Yeah we all got em from our RA," Ben replied. "Resident Assistant."

"Like our leader or something?" Shawn asked.

"You guys have a different RA," Ben replied. "There's one for every floor."

Shawn looked over at Trey who was sitting at the head of his bed, fiddling with an alarm clock.

"Come on," he spoke, not even offering Trey to come along.

Trey watched as Ben and Shawn left the room.

When the door shut behind him he looked around.

Trey had already gotten his bag. It was the first thing he'd done before he came into the room, as he'd actually followed directions.

He really didn't foresee himself having any fun. He was so hoping that his roommate would be more like him. He didn't care that Shawn was white, although it did seem like Shawn cared that he was black.

But if he couldn't even make friends with his roommate, he wasn't holding out hope for the rest of the weekend either.

Deciding he needed a bit of fresh air, he walked over to the door and opened it, watching the various people pass him with their bags.

He almost felt like running again. Already it seemed like everyone was the best of friends with the way they were all talking and laughing as they walked down the halls and went in and out of the rooms.

If anything, it only made him feel worse about his chances of making any friends while he was here.

He didn't make eye contact with any of the guys as they passed him and really wasn't sure why he was still standing in the hall. Just as he decided to retreat back into his room did he notice something.

There was a guy, as tall as he was and white, standing outside the door of the room next to his, the room he shared a bathroom with. The odd thing about him was that he was banging on the door, shouting the name of his roommate.

"Jesse! You fucking locked me out!"

It didn't seem to Trey that the Jesse guy was there. And if he was, he certainly wasn't going to let him in.

He already knew that he and the Jesse guy didn't like each other as he'd already heard them arguing.

Trey wasn't sure why the guy didn't just use his key, as he had to have had one since he was holding the bag he'd received earlier which held their room key.

But feeling a little sorry for the guy, he decided to help him out.

"Hey...look, if you want...you can come through here...." Trey spoke.

Trey noted the guy looked as if he were debating whether or not he wanted to use his key or take him up on his offer to let him go through the bathroom to get back to the room.

But he didn't have to because the next thing he saw was the door opening to the room. The guy turned to the open door and quickly rushed inside of it, slamming it hard behind him.

Trey walked back into his room and shut the door, getting back on top of the bed and looking at nothing in particular. ***********************************************************************

Jesse looked over at Noah, who was glaring at him.

"What?" Jesse asked, with a grin on his face.

Noah said nothing, deciding against smashing the annoying Brit's face in.

"Sorry it's a habit," Jesse replied. "Besides, you have a key right?"

Noah said nothing as he walked over to his bed and plopped his back on to it, letting out a sigh.

"I just realized, I haven't even checked to see how revolting the loo is," Jesse spoke, as he opened the door to the bathroom and turned on the light.

He looked into the shower, already deciding that he'd use the shower shoes his personal shopper had packed after all. Then he spotted something that nearly freaked him out.

"What!?"

Noah, who had started listening to his MP3 player, paused it and sat up, looking over at the bathroom Jesse was in.

"It's bad enough they expect me to share a room, but now I have to share a loo with three other people?"

"You didn't know that?" Noah asked.

Jesse turned to Noah with an incredulous look on his face before turning back to the bathroom.

"We'll, I'll just try not to drink too many liquids then," Jesse replied, turning to shut the bathroom door.

As he was shutting it, he noticed the door to the opposite room opening, and he turned back around.

"Oh.....hello there," Jesse spoke, greeting the person who'd opened the door.

Shawn looked over at Jesse before deciding to reply.

"Hey....." Shawn replied.

"I'm Jesse," Jesse replied, shaking Shawn's hand. "Awfully small, isn't it?"

Shawn looked around.

"Yeah, well at least it's not communal," Shawn replied.

Jesse smiled.

"Heading out?" he asked.

"Yeah, I was gonna go exploring the place with my friend," Shawn replied. "Had to piss first though."

"Mind if I tag along?" Jesse asked. "The company on the other end is appalling."

Shawn had decided that Jesse was fun. He'd never met any British people before, but he figured he might as well to get to know Jesse while he was here.

"Sure, why not," Shawn replied.

Jesse left the bathroom and shut the door behind him, looking over at Noah who was listening to his MP3 player with his eyes closed.

He figured he could sneak out of the room while Noah wasn't looking. It wasn't like Noah would miss him anyway, the stupid jackass.

So he grabbed the bag he'd gotten earlier and his key before he silently exited the room and went to go meet Shawn next door.

Noah knew he must have dozed off. He could tell because his MP3 player was off and it was a lot quieter in the halls than it had been before he started listening to it.

The first thing he noticed was that, thankfully, Jesse was missing. It wasn't dark out, so he knew he hadn't been asleep long.

When he actually checked the time, he realized that he'd only been asleep an hour. According to his schedule, this was supposed to be the time that he was to use to 'explore' the campus in order to get familiar with it.

But he was in no hurry, as he knew there was plenty of time to get used the place later.

Right now all he felt was that he had to pee. So slowly, he got up and opened the door to the restroom and walked over to the toilet, which was closer to the other door.

He had just finished peeing and flushing when he heard the sound of something loud falling to the ground in the next room.

He wasn't sure why, but in an instant he'd swung the door to the other room open and stepped inside, coming face to face with the guy that had offered to let him come through the bathroom earlier.

"Oh...sorry...." Noah spoke.

He had only just realized that he'd basically barged into someone else's room without their permission.

He took sight of what had fallen though, which looked to be several heavy contents from a bag that had been sitting on the bed earlier.

"Uh....are you okay?" Noah asked.

He didn't know why he'd asked it. The guy certainly looked okay. But he asked it anyway.

"Um..yeah," the guy replied.

Noah swallowed hard before saying anything else.

"Uh..I'm Noah....from next door," he replied.

"Trey," Trey replied.

For a moment, the two of them just stared at each other before Trey bent down and started picking the stuff up that had fallen.

Noah also bent down to help.

"I must have fallen asleep....," Trey replied, picking up a large alarm clock radio. "I heard the flushing and I guess it woke me up."

"Yeah...I fell asleep too," Noah replied.

Trey took the last of the items from Noah and set it on the desk-dresser next to him, standing up as Noah did.

Noah wasn't really sure if he should have been leaving or what. He didn't feel like being rude for some reason. Otherwise, he wouldn't have even come into the room in the first place.

"So...what was up earlier?" Trey asked. "Did your roommate lock you out on purpose or...."

Sensing it as an invitation to stay, Noah took a seat in one of the chairs next to the bed while Trey plopped himself atop the bed and sat up, keeping himself up by his elbows.

"He says he didn't but I wouldn't put it past him," Noah replied.

"Shawn and I heard shouting earlier," Trey added.

"Yeah, well the guy I got stuck with has this conceited complex where he thinks everything is about him," Noah replied. "Plus he acts like a twelve year old with the way he's always arguing about something."

"He can't be worse than Shawn," Trey replied.

Noah stared into Trey's eyes for a while before saying anything.

"One thing they have in common, they're both okay with leaving us by ourselves," he spoke, smiling a little.

Trey smiled back.

The first day of activities had been relatively painless for everyone. The hardest thing they had to do amounted to having to walk from where they were all staying to the farthest reaches of the campus and sit through a cheesy play that basically told everyone that they WILL be raped while on campus or that they WILL have a best friend turn gay on them. Cheesy stuff like that.

Or at least, stuff that Noah had found to be relatively painless and cheesy. They'd gone to the play before dinner with their RA and floor members. Everyone had been split up into groups of 20 people, according to rooms.

Noah and Trey had gotten to know each other better over dinner and Trey had so far been the only person that Noah had really even talked to.

After dinner, it was back to their RA group meetings, where Noah and everyone else were informed that they wouldn't be picking their classes until the very last day of their stay, or Sunday evening.

Noah found that to be completely absurd, as he found all the excess 'crap' he was having to endure pointless.

He also learned that their RA group would be meeting with another RA group. A gang of 20 girls and their RA to perform something their RA had only described as being 'Spirit Cheers'

Going back to his soccer days, Noah used to readily participate in any and every school spirit festivities. But something about the way the RA described the cheers made it seem like it was even more pointless then the rest of everything they were having to endure.

After the second RA meeting, it was back to the dorms where everyone was allowed to mingle until 12am and buy snacks and pizza.

Noah had passed in favor of talking some more with Trey.

Noah found Trey to be a lot different then one would think just by looking at him. He wasn't the hardened thug his appearance and clothes made him look like. If anything he acted more 'white'. Noah had learned Trey was into a lot of the same bands that he was and they both did a lot of the same things. Noah was happy that Trey hadn't brought up either of their home lives, and that just made things even better between them.

By 12, he had to return to his own room like everyone else and it meant he had to face Jesse and more of his complaining.

Of course he did his best to ignore him, but Jesse knew all the right ways to get under a persons skin just to make sure that he'd get a response of some sort out of him.

Noah had almost decided to rip Jesse's head off after waking him up at 2 in the morning because he had yet to fall asleep and had finally decided to take a shower and go to bed.

Ordinarily he wouldn't have been as upset, but he had to get up early to attend a special breakfast banquet for people in the music theory major he was interested in.

But he did his best to fall back asleep and left Jesse to his own self, happy that when he woke up in the morning, he wouldn't be around to hear his complaining. ***********************************************************************

It wasn't even 8 in the morning yet. Trey knew that he didn't have to be up until 8:30 for breakfast, but he was up now.

Not because of the sound of his own alarm clock going off, but because of the sound of somebody else's alarm clock going off.

Only it wasn't the standard loud buzzing or ringing he was used to hearing. No the alarm he was listening to was someone's blaring radio. Only it wasn't just any radio station. It was a Spanish talk show blaring so clearly, Trey could hear the very words being spoken, even if he didn't understand any of them.

"Turn off the damn radio already..." Trey mumbled to himself.

He sat up slowly and looked over at the bed Shawn had been sleeping in previously, only to find that it was made up and he wasn't in it.

The door to the bathroom was left wide open however, making it that much easier for the people in the next room to just walk right in and steal. Trey wanted to think he could trust Noah but he had no idea about his roommate.

Getting out of bed completely, Trey could also see that the door on the other side of the bathroom had been left open as well, only not quite as wide as his own door.

It was then that he could clearly tell that the radio that was blaring, the one that had waken him up, was coming from the room Noah and his roommate were in.

Trey didn't want to be rude and go into their room just because he could. Although, with the loud Mexican talk show getting more and more annoying, he wanted to.

He decided to wait a bit and instead picked out his clothes and laid them oh the bed. He then started brushing his teeth and washing his face.

By the time he'd finished ironing his clothes and was ready for a shower, the radio still hadn't been turned off and Trey was really annoyed.

He walked into the bathroom and walked over to the other side of it, peeking through into the other room.

He could clearly see that one of the beds was empty. The other one had a nice sized lump in it. He couldn't tell who it was though, as the covers were completely over the sleeping body.

Trey's first thought was to just go and turn of the radio and shut the door behind him so that he could take his shower. But he realized that if the radio coming on had been the alarm set to wake someone up, then he felt he should at least try to wake whoever was sleeping up.

So he walked into the room slowly and walked over to the bed, the one closest to the door, and firmly shook whoever was in the bed.

When he got no response he shook harder until-

"Bloody fucking hell!"

Trey jumped back, tripping over the cord from the radio and unplugging it, watching as it fell to the ground, and shut off.

He looked up at the guy. It was obvious it wasn't Noah so it had to be his roommate he'd told him about, Jesse.

Jesse was shirtless and wearing nothing but a tight blue pair of boxer briefs looking down at Trey with an agitated look on his face.

"What...the fuck!" Jesse growled.

Trey grabbed the fallen radio and stood up, placing it back on the desk.

"I...I'm sorry....your alarm....it came on..."

"And what? You thought you'd sneak in here and get yourself a cheap feel, did you?" Jesse asked.

Trey swallowed.

"What? No...I-"

"Well go on then, what the hell are you doing in my room?" Jesse asked.

Trey sighed.

"Look, I told you-"

"You rooming next door?" Jesse cut Trey off.

Trey looked back towards the bathroom before replying.

"Yeah I was gonna take a shower but...." Trey continued as he watched Jesse begin to gather some clothes out of his bag. "I heard the radio....I just thought I'd wake you up is all."

"Yeah well I do appreciate it, really," Jesse replied, picking up a towel. "You know....I don't think we've properly met. I'm Jesse."

"Trey...Noah told me-"

"You can't be friends with that loopy git. Seriously right?"

Trey allowed himself to be pushed along by Jesse through the bathroom and out to his own room and watched as he looked around.

"Huh...I guess Shawn isn't here then," Jesse said.

"No...he was gone when I woke up," Trey replied.

"Huh..." Jesse replied, looking over at Trey ever so slightly before rushing back into the restroom, shutting the door behind him.

"Hey what the hell..."

Trey rushed over to the restroom and tried to open the door but realized that Jesse must have been holding it shut.

"Can't you see I'm trying to use the loo?" Jesse shouted.

"Oh come on, I was gonna-"

"Gonna's not getting you in here," Jesse laughed. "Run along now, I'm about to take my shower."

Trey sighed and leaned against the door, realizing for himself that Jesse was every bit as bad as Noah made him seem.

For Shawn, things at the campus thus far had been a mixed bag of surprises.

The first day had been okay, excluding any time he had to spend around his nerdy roommate, Trey. Trey was too quiet for his taste. And beyond that, he didn't seem all that interesting.

By the second morning, he'd had an interesting run in with Jesse's, the guy he'd just met, roommate Noah at a breakfast banquet Ben had dragged him to.

The details of which amounted to him having apologize to him after accidentally knocking him over, causing him to spill his tray of food.

Things would have been fine if they'd stayed that way, but during the entire banquet, Shawn noticed that Noah kept shooting him fleeting looks of hate that didn't sit well with him.

He was cheered up later on, after hearing about Jesse's humorous encounter with Trey, which not surprisingly, Trey hadn't told Shawn about once he came back up to the room.

Shawn found Jesse to be a little over the top at times, but an overall fun guy that he wouldn't mind getting to know better once school started in September.

The rest of the day went fine. Jesse had convinced him and Ben that it would be okay to sneak into the off limits 'Floor Dorm'. Shawn was a little concerned about what getting caught would mean, but once they did sneak in, they were joined by nearly everyone from their RA group and some other people and they all wound up having a good time.

Shawn wasn't surprised that Trey hadn't shown up nor did he care. At least, he didn't want to care but every time he told himself he didn't was also just more time spent thinking about him and he didn't want to spend too much time doing that.

By the time the night finally wound down, Shawn felt extremely uncomfortable around Trey. Sure, it had a little to do with Trey's own personality clashing with his, but he there was more to it. More that he didn't quite understand.

That uncertainty in the back of his mind had caused the two to go to bed in silence, Shawn still wishing he knew exactly what he was feeling.

The third day, which RA's everywhere had labeled "Super Sunday", was a day devoted entirely to having fun and not worrying about anything that had to do with academics. Or at least, that was what Noah had learned in the previous nights RA meeting.

All he knew so far was that today was the day that he'd finally perform the stupid cheer routine that he and his conjoined RA group had been practicing the past two days.

The whole thing was ridiculous for Noah and he only made the motion that he was participating without actually participating. No surprise that Jesse was into the whole thing. He'd even suggested quite a few moves that probably would be labeled illegal to do anywhere in the world.

"Okay, now remember, when Diana starts motioning, that's when the guys stand up and shout the chorus," Frank, the group RA leader spoke.

Noah snickered to himself and looked down at the grass below him. It was bad enough he was having to learn a cheer routine, but it was also extremely humid out.

"This must have been how Justin Timberlake got his start," Noah mumbled to Trey who stifled a laugh and turned to him.

"We don't have cheerleaders where I'm from," Trey replied. "And if we did, we sure as hell wouldn't have any guys doing any cheers."

Noah laughed as he and Trey watched two girls try to lift a smaller girl with difficulty, as they were not only wearing short mini skirts, but heels as well.

"Proof enough this is just so wrong," Noah spoke as he and Trey continued laughing.

Shawn heard laughter coming from the back of the crowd and looked back to see Trey and Jesse's roommate laughing, looking like they were having fun.

"Alright, let's head down to the Star Room," Frank spoke.

"And another thing, why does every room have to have a special name? Inside and out, it's still nothing special," Noah spoke, as he and Trey started along with the rest of the group.

Shawn looked back at Trey talking with Noah before turning to Jesse, who was standing to the left of him. Ben was with his own RA group.

"Looks like our roommates hit it off," he said.

Jesse looked back as well.

"Brilliant, maybe now they can stop being so bloody annoying," he replied.

"You aren't worried?" Shawn asked.

"About what?" Jesse asked.

"That they aren't back there talking about us."

"Putting the fact that I enjoy any and all types of attention aside for the moment, what I care about will never be anything that tacky loser has going on."

"Yeah..." Shawn replied.

"After all that wasted effort, we still only came in second place," Noah replied. "I'm sure someone out there feels bad about that."

Trey laughed as he looked around the crowded stadium.

It was just after 9 at night and all 568 people in the orientation session had been jam-packed into the basketball stadium, on the floor no less, for something that was supposedly going to take place.

That something had remained a mystery to everyone, but Noah didn't particularly care what it was. All he was interested in doing from the very first day was picking his classes. All the extra stuff was never going to interest him.

"Okay so I bet you're all wondering what you're doing here right?" came the voice of an older man probably in his early thirties standing on a stage that was located in front of everyone.

The loud chatter that had filled the room previously died down once they realized things were about to get started.

"Well my name is Tony Greene, I'm a professor of human studies here on campus and every year I host what is probably the most exciting thing you guys will do during your orientation session."

"Way to play yourself up old guy," Ben joked, playfully shoving Shawn.

"Look around you....there are exactly five hundred sixty eight of you in this room," Tony continued. "How many of you in here know everyone in the room...raise your hand now."

No one did.

"Exactly. What I want to try and do tonight is get you guys to introduce yourselves to as many people as you can through all kinds of different ways. What I want to start out doing though is have all of you go around and find ten different people you share a major with and when you do, I want you all to stand in a big circle. If you're unsure of your major, just find someone else who is as well. Go!"

No one really sat long enough to think about anything as almost everyone in the room was up in a flash.

Noah and Trey looked at each other. They were both aware that of all the things they'd discussed, their respective majors hadn't been one of those things.

"Um...I'm music theory," Noah spoke over the loud chatter in the room.

"Film studies," Trey replied.

They both realized that it meant they were going to have to each go off on their own and find ten other people that shared their major.

"Well...uh....I'll see you then...." Noah spoke, standing up.

"Yeah," Trey replied, standing up as well.

Noah had barely left Trey's side when he felt someone grabbing him by the shoulder and turning him around.

"What's your....oh for the love of God!" Jesse exclaimed.

"Great, it's you...." Noah replied.

"We need one more person, what's your major?" Jesse asked.

"Music theory," Noah replied.

"Oh well too bad-" Jesse had started to say but another guy in the group quickly spoke up.

"It's close enough man, let him in."

Jesse sighed with annoyance and stepped aside making room for Noah to stand next to him in the circle as they all waited for what was coming next.

Trey meanwhile was finding it hard to approach all the random strangers in the room in order to ask them what their major was. The fact that most everyone was already standing in a circle made it just that much harder.

"Hurry now!" Tony spoke over the microphone.

Trey continued looking around, worried that he wouldn't find a group.

"Hey isn't that your roommate?" Ben asked Shawn.

Shawn looked over in the direction Ben was staring and looked away.

"Yeah, so," he replied.

"It looks like he needs a group," Ben replied.

"Well he can-"

"Hey!" Ben spoke up.

Trey turned around and noticed Ben standing next to Shawn. He wanted to just ignore Ben since Shawn was there, but he really did need a group and was willing to pretend like he was majoring in whatever they were so he could join theirs.

"What are you majoring in?" Ben asked.

Trey looked over at Shawn before replying.

"Um...."

"It doesn't matter, nobody's really doing that. We just found the first ten people we could," Ben replied. "Join us."

Trey looked over at Shawn again, who was now staring his way.

"Sure," he replied, uneasily.

"Everybody got a group now?" Tony spoke looking over the audience. "I guess so. Alright good."

Everyone grew quiet as Tony continued.

"Alright so first order of business...I want all of you to take turns introducing yourselves. Your name, hometown, favorite sport, things like that. I'll give you about five minutes. And begin!"

While everyone in Trey's group was deciding who'd go first, Jesse took it upon himself to decide he'd be the first to go in his own group.

"Well I have to say I'm utterly disengaged that no one here seems to know who I am, but I don't mind informing the masses for records sake," he started.

"Don't I know it," Noah mumbled.

Jesse pretended not to her Noah as he continued.

"I'm Jesse Yorkshire son of millionaire publishing mogul Thomas Yorkshire. I'm from London, where I must say things are a lot less scorching. I enjoy club hopping and of course skirt chasing.....why aren't any of you writing this down?"

"Next!" Noah spoke.

Jesse flashed him a mean gaze.

"Wait....so you're like...rich?" a girl standing next to Jesse asked.

Jesse looked over at her and smiled.

"Why yes I am...."

"Amber. Amber Tanner."

"Right. Tell me Amber, do I look better from my left side or...." Jesse turned to his side. "My right side?"

"Give me a break," Noah mumbled.

Once again, Jesse pretended not to hear him.

"Alright, now that you've all had a chance to get to know each other, let's try a little game I like to call 'Trust In Me'," Tony announced.

No one was really sure what that meant, but they were all ears.

"Okay, first thing I want you guys to do is turn sideways so that you're facing the person next to you's back."

Trey turned sideways. He was completely aware that the person behind him was Shawn, the same guy who didn't seem to like him at all.

"Alright now I want you guys to reach out and grab the shoulders of the person in front of you with one hand on each shoulder."

"Quick question, do you ever wash your hands when you finish in the loo?" Jesse asked as Noah put his hands on his shoulders.

"Now what I want all of you to do is take small steps towards the center of the circle without letting go of the person in front of you until there aren't any spaces between all of you."

Trey took a deep breath as he complied with Tony's request, along with everyone else. He was only able to take a few steps before it became impossible for him to move again without letting go of the person in front of him.

"Alright now here comes the fun part. Slowly I want you all to start bending down until you're sitting in the lap of the person behind you."

The room grew with loud chatter and the sound of complaining teenagers.

"Don't worry, it's not as bad as it seems, or it won't be as long as you trust the person behind you to catch you as you sit down. Remember, you sit without letting go of the person in front of you. Everybody ready to try it?"

Trey took another deep breath as he slowly started sitting down, as did everyone else in his group.

He could already hear and see several other groups of people beginning to fall to the ground, obviously meaning they hadn't exactly trusted the people behind them.

He wasn't sure that he trusted Shawn any more than he would someone from his neighborhood, but he didn't want to fall because falling would cause everyone else in the group to fall as well.

He was a little surprised when he felt his ass touching Shawn's legs but happy he hadn't fallen or that Shawn hadn't let him fall either.

"How long are we supposed to sit like this?" Ben asked.

Shawn wasn't paying attention. All he could think about was the fact that he had another guy sitting in his lap. It was a weird feeling but there was something else behind it. Something he couldn't quite comprehend.

"Uh oh...looks like some of you aren't very trusting at all," Tony spoke.

Noah was doing as best as he could to keep himself steady as he sat his own self down, but Jesse was making things harder for him by trying to sit down too fast and too rough.

"Jesse-"

"Just suck it up and catch me," Jesse replied.

Noah was mostly trying not to be the reason everyone else in the group fell but it appeared to him that Jesse didn't seem to care about anyone else, just so long as he managed to sit down perfectly.

"Jesse you have to go slower-"

"Stop being fussy and be still-"

"Jesse...!"

It was too late. Noah had tipped over, falling, and in the process dropping Jesse who caused everyone else in the group to fall as well.

"Owww," Amber mumbled.

"Here, let me help you up there darling," Jesse spoke, rushing to help Amber up.

Noah sat up, brushing his pants off.

"Jesse I said to be still...now look what you did," he spoke.

Jesse looked down at his fallen group members before replying.

"Oh and I'm just so gutted over it, I really am," he replied, sarcastically. "At least we lasted a lot longer than that lot over there."

Noah sighed and fought back his recurring urge to beat the hell out of Jesse once again.

"Looks like only the strong and trustworthy survived....like that group back there," Tony spoke, pointing to the group Trey and Shawn were in. "You could all learn a thing or two from them."

"Alright, my legs hurt now," Ben spoke, standing himself up.

As Trey looked around, he could see everyone else standing up around him while he was still sitting in Shawn's lap.

Part of him felt like he didn't want to get up for some reason. A reason Shawn must have felt as well as Trey noticed he hadn't tried to shove Trey out of his lap either.

"Shawn, come on man, it's over," Ben spoke, pulling Shawn up.

Trey pulled himself up and looked over at Shawn who was looking back at him.

"Okay, so maybe we'd better save all the hard games for later," Tony said. "How about next we try-"

By the end of the night, most everyone in the entire stadium had left feeling very sore.

Shawn was just glad that the only thing he had to do the following day was pick his classes, which he could do from the comfort of his own dorm room without having to walk anywhere.

The RA's had all gotten together to convince the assistant Dean in charge to let them all stay up later than 12, which had gotten them all an extra hour.

Ben had insisted in trying to get Shawn to get any and every girls number he could, which Shawn definitely didn't mind doing. It was just....he had so many other things on his mind and it made it hard to concentrate.

Shawn often found himself wondering what Trey was up to as he ate pizza and mingled with everyone in the lounge and cafeteria downstairs.

Trey, meanwhile had decided to turn in early. He was sore from all the activities of the day like everyone else, but he also had a lot on his mind as well.

So much was going on in his life now. He had come hoping just to make a friend, and while he wasn't exactly sure if he and Noah were friends yet, he liked to think that he'd accomplished that goal. What he hadn't expected was to start thinking about his roommate.

After all, Shawn hated him and he hated Shawn. Or so he thought. But just feeling Shawn's hands around his shoulders as he sat in his warm lap.....

But then there was Noah, who he felt more connected to. Noah hadn't tried to get him to cheat. Noah hadn't gone off to do his own thing not inviting him to come along.

He didn't even know why he was thinking about either Noah or Shawn the way he was and thinking about them scared him a little. He didn't want to consider what it really meant just because he wasn't quite sure he was willing to admit to something he didn't know for sure he was yet.

He figured, after tomorrow and he went back home, things would go back to the way they were supposed to.

"What the hell!" Shawn exclaimed shooting up.

Trey sat up as well because he was hearing the same thing. Jesse's radio again.

Shawn looked over at Trey and the two stared at each other before Shawn stood up and walked over to the bathroom door, opening it and walking around to the other side.

Trey watched from where he was standing as Shawn shit off the radio and shook Jesse awake.

"It's like I said before, the prince and I were switched at birth!" Jesse exclaimed before blinking and looking around.

He noticed Noah staring at him with an angry look and Shawn standing over him, shirtless and also looking a little upset.

"You're from London, but you listen to Mexican radio stations?" Shawn asked.

"Well I don't know what stations are here in America really, now do I? Besides, I'm not the one who set it to that station. You can thank my personal shopper for causing us to all lose valuable zeds," Jesse replied.

Shawn sighed and crossed his arms, turning to look over at Noah who fell back on the bed sighing to himself.

"Can everyone just get into my room whenever they feel like it, then?" Jesse asked.

Shawn sighed before leaving Jesse's room and heading back into his own.

"I tell you, you Yanks have absolutely no sense of time do you?" Jesse mumbled to himself as he fell back onto his own bed.

Trey watched Shawn silently as he walked over to his bags and picked out his days clothes. He tried not to stare hard at his six pack or well defined pecs, but the very fact that he'd noticed them in the first place was cause for concern in his book.

He looked away as Shawn shot him a glance before heading inside the restroom, leaving him wishing the day would hurry up and just end.

Noah was happy that it was finally Monday. Because it meant that he could now go home.

Yesterday had been completely mishap free for everyone, and Noah was happy about that. He spent the entire day with Trey talking about what classes he would take among other things.

It took he and Trey nearly four hours to completely finalize their schedules, but once they had, they walked the long distance to the records office together in order to submit their schedules.

They spent the rest of the day catching up on things they needed to get done, like getting their school I.D.'s made and renting mailboxes.

Trey was just happy he didn't have to be around Shawn. He hadn't even thought about him up until that night when they had to go to sleep. Even then, he just tried to remember that he'd most likely never see him again.

Noah, however, he was up to seeing again and wouldn't mind exchanging email addresses and phone numbers.

Of course, now that everyone was gearing up to leave, the time to do such activities had actually come.

"Goodbye shithole dorm room," Jesse spoke, as he zipped up his bags. "I definitely won't be missing you at all."

"Don't worry, it won't be missing you either," Noah spoke.

Jesse put his bag over his shoulder and turned towards Noah.

"Oh piss off, you loon," he replied, before heading towards the door. "I really won't be missing you."

Noah shut his guitar case and was about to get ready to leave before he remembered he hadn't gotten Trey's number so that he could talk to him over the summer.

He walked through the bathroom and knocked on the open door to Trey's room, walking in.

"Hey," he spoke.

Trey turned towards him and smiled.

"Oh hey, I thought you took off and forgot about me," he said.

"And miss comparing horrible roommates over the summer?" Noah smiled.

He was a little nervous as he'd formed quite a friendship with Trey. He almost didn't want to leave just so he could hang around and talk with him some more.

"Well, I wrote down my number and stuff...." Noah spoke, handing Trey a piece of paper with various things scribbled over it.

Trey took it from Noah and walked over to a desk, taking out his own sheet of paper and handed it to Noah.

"So did I," he replied.

Noah smiled as he took it from Trey and put it in his back pocket.

"Well....I'm not really good with goodbyes...." Noah started.

"Noah...." Trey strayed, getting closer to Noah.

Outside in the hall, Shawn had realized he'd forgotten his pillow in the room and turned around.

"Where you going?" Ben asked.

"I'll meet you at the car, don't worry," Shawn replied.

"What did I do with my bloody sunglasses?" Jesse mumbled as he walked down the hall.

He and Shawn spotted each other halfway and met up outside the door to Shawn's room.

"You forget something too?" Shawn asked.

"Only my seven hundred dollar pair of Armani sunglasses," Jesse replied, as Shawn turned back towards the door.

"Shit, I turned my key back in," he said.

"So did I," Jesse replied.

Shawn sighed before examining the door closely. If wasn't closed all the way.

"Trey must still be in here," Shawn replied.

"Perfect, I can cut through the loo and get my shades," Jesse spoke as Shawn pushed the door open.

Only, both boys stopped dead in their tracks when they saw what was going on.

Both Noah and Trey were standing in the center of the room, kissing.

Noah quickly pushed Trey off of him and turned around.

"Bloody hell!" Jesse exclaimed.

Trey looked over at Shawn.

"Perfect timing," Noah sighed.

"Jesus Christ, you people really are all crazy!" Jesse spoke. "Hell, I'm never coming back here!"

Everyone watched as Jesse turned towards the door.

"Imagine me, rooming with a faggot and across the way from another one!"

Shawn flashed Trey a final stare before saying nothing and turning to leave.

Trey turned back towards Noah.

"Look, Trey..."

"I'm sorry....I don't know what came over me.....I'm just....really sorry," Trey replied, before he grabbed his bags and ran out of the room.

Noah sighed and looked down.

At least he could take comfort in the fact that after today, he'd never see any of these people again.

Personal email: crossingboi2004@yahoo.com

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