Lisa changed
the subject at once, probably in an attempt to tone Jennifer down a
bit. “I’m off to the library after dinner to make copies of old
exams. Any of you coming?” she asked angelically.
Her question
dried out the zeal of the conversation at once. The slap back to
reality was clearly visible on everyone’s face, a reminder of the
academic pressure of varsity, something the general student was not
so keen about.
Alex declined
her offer with a very polite “No thank you.” Both Jennifer and I
followed his example. To sound more assertive, I added that I still
had to finish an assignment. We all sat there for a few tongue-tied
moments before it got too much for Jennifer and she excused herself
without finishing her dinner.
I felt awkward
with the lovebirds after Jennifer left, so I finished the last two
bites and excused myself as well. I headed for my room, taking the
stairs two at a time. It had occurred to me that Alex must have
carried me down the stairs – I strongly doubt that it was Lisa as
she was too tiny.
The thought
bothered me so much that I gave up on the first question of the
assignment an hour later and climbed into bed.
My glow was by
now completely blue again after the whitening from touching my
luggage the other day. The glow in my room had also faded away. It
looked normal again, the way I liked it.
The room was
small and cosy, and the colour theme harmonized with the hallway.
The curtains and carpet were chocolate brown, and the white of the
bed balanced out dark and light perfectly. My favourite part though
was the green bits – my desk looked out through a large window onto
the garden below. The only other piece of furniture was a closet
that was too big for my limited wardrobe, even after I tried this
way and that to space my clothes out to fill it better.
There wasn’t
much in the way of outfits to choose from so I settled for my
trusty old jeans and boots for the party. A t-shirt didn’t feel
exactly right, so I decided on my only half-suitable white blouse,
a sleeveless, halter neck type of cut. It was a bit out of fashion,
but it accentuated my tanned skin and brown hair. And anyway, I
didn’t have another choice.
I left my hair
hanging loose as always and didn’t bother with make-up.
“Finally!”
Jennifer exclaimed teasingly when she opened her door for me.
She had gone
all out: make-up, hair, clothes. She had on designer jeans with a
pair of black high-heel boots, a beautiful but revealing rose-pink
top and a black leather jacket.
“Wow! You
really dressed up,” I told her feeling a little out of place
against her stylish look.
“Thanks. That’s
in case Alex has a good friend or two,” she winked. “If you’re
ready, we can go. The two lovebirds have gone already.”
She locked the
door behind her and dragged me away from the big main stairway.
When I frowned, she explained.
“You missed the
first initiation session that we had. We’ll draw the wrong type of
attention from seniors if we walk out the front door like this,”
she explained. “Not that I care much, but they’ll keep us busy and
I want to get there! We’ll use the fire-escape.”
The fire escape
stairway was at the back of the building, slightly hidden amongst
tall oak trees, with no lighting at all. The few top stairs that
were visible from the open door were in a condition that would have
given a professional daredevil nightmares. The steps were rusted so
badly that they had holes in them. I didn’t like it one bit. Not
that I was an overly cautious person, but I didn’t believe in
testing fate to the limit. The tree looked like a safer option to
me.
“At least we’re
sure that no one will catch us on these,” I squeaked.
“Oh, come on.
It’s not that bad. I’ve used it before. This isn’t the first party
I’m going to, you know?” she said and continued forward without
hesitation, taking the stairs with impressive speed, high heels and
all. Fortunately, we only had one storey to climb, so I followed
carefully behind her.
“Hey, Gran! You
okay there?” she teased from below.
When I finally
reached the bottom, I vowed not to test the emergency stairs
again.
“We can take my
van if you want?” I offered.
“No way dear,
we walk; they’re watching the parking lot for sure. The senior
rooms look down onto the parking lot, you know,” she explained.
I didn’t mind
walking and after the stair antics, the mile-long walk to the guys’
dormitory was bliss. And with Jennifer’s uninterrupted babble, it
didn’t take long at all.
As always, it
was refreshing outside, but the red shine about the full moon had a
gloomy effect on me. Even Jennifer noticed it.
‘I see a bad moon
rising’
she sang. She went quiet afterwards, for a few seconds
at least, before she continued her chatter.
As we
approached the men’s dorms, much the same as our own dorm with the
dining hall looking out onto the garden, the booming of the music
got louder. Jennifer was in her element, dancing and swaying her
hips. The place was swarming with people, both inside and out.
Jennifer didn’t bother to find Lisa and Alex; she joined the
dancing masses in the entrance hall right away, dragging me along.
I shook my head, lifted my hand as if raising a glass, and made my
way through to the punchbowl on the other side of the room. I
needed a bit of courage to start dancing and swaying about.
It was a
struggle as the place was overcrowded. I had almost reached the
punch table when I heard chanting above the music. A few metres
ahead of me, a crowd of about twenty was going mad. I couldn’t see
past them at first but quickly made out the name they were chanting
– they were cheering Alex on. The circle opened up a little and I
could see his head and shoulders. He threw his arms up in the air,
surrendering with a big smile and made his way to the stage.
The music
stopped. The room went wild with whistles and cheers, even the band
cheered. They cleared the stage to make space for him. Alex picked
up the electric guitar and tested a few notes before he looked up
with a sparkle in his eyes and hit the first notes of ACDC’s
Thunderstruck
.
The hair on my
arms stood up. The rhythm was quick and the song built in momentum,
filling the air and invoking a slowly growing vibe of
excitement.
I was
hypnotized.
He was a
picture of masculinity, young and sturdy, his white t-shirt
accentuating the strong, broad chest underneath it. The lighting
was extremely flattering as his fingers ran fast and fluently over
the strings, showing off a play of muscles.
Alex finished
the entire song without missing a single note, smiling from ear to
ear. The cheers and whistles exploded, even louder than before,
calls for ‘encore’ resounding. He just shook his head and put the
guitar down.
I envied Lisa
as I turned back to the punchbowl. Only after about the third glass
did my brain register the taste. It was better than expected and
not strong at all. So I filled a second glass for myself and a
third for Jennifer.
It was bound to
happen – three glasses in two hands making an erratic way through
swaying bodies ended up being three broken glasses on the floor and
a red punch-stained blouse. I sighed. No one cared and the dancing
continued undisturbed. I picked up the biggest pieces of glass and
went to the ladies’ loo next to the stairway.
Inside I
grabbed a handful of paper towels to absorb the worst of the
wetness but the stain only smeared worse and worse with all the
wiping. The blood on my fingers didn’t help either. Occupied with
the stain, it took a while to recognize the force on me. It was a
magnetic pull, just like the sensation that I had the day with
Duncan. It tugged me in the direction of the garden outside and a
moment later, a sneering laugh came from the same direction.
Curious as
always, I climbed on top of the toilet seat and peeked out the
small window. It was dark outside and I could barely make out the
group of four in a small circle on the open lawn, a girl and three
guys. Three of them had glows similar to mine, all of them bright
white, but the girl had a slightly yellow shine to hers and one guy
had a slightly red shine to his. What really caught my attention
though, was what was happening in the centre.
What looked
like a massive beam of black lightning circled between the four
figures in a doughnut shape, about a metre above the ground.
I was still
trying to interpret what I was seeing and what was so familiar
about the figures when the whole image in front of me changed. The
lightning beam froze, then exploded with a loud cracking sound. A
bright flash of light turned night into day for a split second.
Even my own glow turned white.
Then all four
turned and looked directly at me.
Startled, I
ducked down below the windowsill. For a very brief moment, I saw
their faces and recognized Duncan. The fleeting impression that I
got was that he was on the receiving side of a sound paddywack.
And if Duncan
was in danger, then so was I.
Once alerted,
the empty ladies’ loo suddenly seemed like a very scary place. That
group didn’t seem very friendly and I didn’t want to upset them:
they were too busy with funny stuff for my own good. And I
definitely didn’t want them to find me alone.
I shot out of
the loo, to find Alex, Lisa and Jennifer waiting for me outside the
door.
“You okay?”
Jennifer screamed above the music.
All three
looked at me with questions on their faces and I remembered the
punch-stain on my blouse. Jennifer must have noticed the
accident.
I stared from
the one to the other. They were on planet Sophisticated and I was
on planet What-a-Mess. Earlier I had thought Jennifer was stylish,
but Lisa was more than that – she was super-sophisticated in a
fashionable little soft-violet and silver dress.
Embarrassment
completely evaporated the fright of a moment ago and turned my
cheeks to a lively red that almost matched the stain.
I was the odd
one out, and I stood out like a mole. Displeased with myself for
the stupid unnecessary accident and for blushing about it, I
lowered my eyes. I resented myself for not tagging a jersey
along.
“Fine. Just
messed up,” I screamed back, pointing at the humungous stain.
Jennifer
nodded.
“We’ll take you
back with Alex’s car if you want?” Lisa offered.
“Okay, thanks,”
I accepted the offer, grateful for the getaway.
I waited for
Alex and Lisa in front while they went to get his car. I couldn’t
help but roll my eyes when I saw it– a fancy white Lexus. It was so
typical that a popular guy with looks and brains and talent and a
personality and a wonderful girlfriend would have money and taste
as well.
The trip back
took forever. Lisa and Alex talked about the band that had played.
I sat quietly in the back of his car. They must have noticed my
detachment, as they didn’t try to draw me into their conversation
although at one stage, Lisa turned towards me, but Alex pulled her
hand closer to him.
I didn’t care
about seniors right then, and took the big stairway. I went to bed
immediately, switched off the light and spent the rest of the night
staring bemusedly through the window at the moon.
My emotions
were out of control. They oscillated between fear, awe,
embarrassment, appreciation and possibly infatuation - I wasn’t
sure. The evening ran in cameo scenes over and over again in my
head.
The nagging
feeling that it was Alex and Lisa standing outside with Duncan
earlier stayed with me until sunrise.
***
Chapter 4 –
Disturbances
Jennifer was
such a tightly wound Jack-in-the-box today that I wouldn’t have
noticed Lisa’s fretting if it wasn’t for the bright plum colour
polish on her nails.
For the
billionth time she picked up her mobile phone, pressed a few
buttons then placed it back on her lap before continuing with her
lunch. She had even done it during the algebra class earlier.
I knew Jennifer
would nag Lisa if she noticed, so I decided to leave the matter
until our philosophy class later that afternoon. Jennifer didn’t
share any of our classes - law and science doesn’t have much in
common - but Lisa shared algebra and philosophy with me.
Jennifer had
chosen a table right next to the cash point of the campus dining
hall, and she winked at every semi-decent guy who passed by. And
then she imagined, out loud, the rest of her life with each one who
winked or smiled back. I was used to her babble already and it
didn’t bother me much. Actually, it made it easy to be around
her.
Lisa pushed the
salad around on her plate a little more and looked up. She waited
for Jennifer to pause for a breath and then she squeezed in her
question.
“Do you guys
have a signal?”
“Huh?”
Jennifer’s dumbstruck look quickly changed to a frown.
“Don’t know,
dear
. The only signal I’m worried about is the one the next
hunk will give me.” She rolled her eyes. “I need to go. See you at
dinner. Maybe.” And with that, Jennifer pushed her plate away,
jumped up and took off.
Lisa just
stared at the table.
I took my phone
out of my bag. “The signal strength seems fine now, or at least
better than yesterday anyway.”
Lisa sat
motionless.
“Don’t mind
Jennifer. She can be self-absorbed sometimes, but I don’t think
it’s intentional.” I wasn’t sure if I should ask or wait for Lisa
to tell me what the matter was.
“Are you all
right?” I finally asked.
Lisa sighed.
“Just fine. Hey, can I come with you to your next class... as a
distraction?”
“Sure.” My
heart fell to my shoes. The heat had made me lazy and my brain was
still in shock from algebra earlier. I felt like a nice afternoon
nap instead, so I tried my luck a little. “But you might not like
it; it’s astronomy.” Traditionally only the nerds and
over-ambitious prospective astronauts took astronomy. I took it as
it was part of my course and so far it had been interesting, not at
all what I had expected.