“What’s it like?” Ryan asked.
“Long, tiring, stressful, your hard earned dollars wasted away on books you’ll only use for one course, no one remembers your name, getting lost on campus, forgetting to hand in an assignment, forgetting to eat, being tormented by students that aren’t even your classmates, wondering how the hell you became friends with them, being compared to others endlessly, macaroni and cheese, wishing to hell you could benefit from a lunch pass, wondering why the hell you didn’t work overtime over summer break to afford a lunch pass, stressful, confusing, being called a softy, being manipulated by a girl who does it so well you forget your being manipulated, calling out for justice but instead get a ‘run along and play now’, and above all else, wondering why the hell your there.”
“Ah, I see, so everything’s going well with you then. Good. I was actually worried about you being alone, so far from home.” Sarah said. She began to unpack my bags, sorting the ‘dirty’ to the ‘still can wear before a wash’ clothes into piles. I shot up and stared at her. “Did you hear what I just said?” Sarah nodded. “How’s that good then?”
“You have friends, I was worried you’d become a hermit.” I stared blankly at her. I have friends? I thought. I don’t recall making those up there. Sarah continued folding and tossing my clothes while I sat and watched her. Ryan, who liked constant conversation and hated lags, spoke up. “Sis is amazing eh? She’s become really insightful the past couple of months.”
“Oh? And what brought this insight on?” I asked half bemused and somewhat reminiscent of a girl up north.
“Time and the fact that I am your sister might have helped. I know you inside out; it’s natural for siblings to develop that sort of communication. And your not soft, your kind and gentle, just because you don’t talk like a gruff egotistic icon, doesn’t mean your not of the male gender.”
“My head hurts.” I moaned loudly and pathetically.
“Now your being mellow-dramatic. So tell us about ‘them’.”
“Them…”I thought and before I knew it I was off on in a long and endless rant. “By them your referring to three people determined to ruin the whole university experience for me, and one determined to minimize the damage as much as possible. What else can I say? I don’t even know how the hell I was introduced or when I started seeing more of them but they keep on popping up out of nowhere and we don’t have any classes together! They are all older than me, in different majors than me, heck in a different social class, and yet they are always around and I get serious pains in my head trying to figure it all out.”
“So who’s the one who is cushioning you?” Ryan asked.
