Newbies
Wednesday
“Peter? Dude, get up. Pete?”
Slowly, very, very slowly, Peter opened his eyes. He groaned, his whole body stiff and sore. Seems the consequences of last night had finally caught up to him.
“Ooh, ugh… did anyone get the license ‘n’ registration of that boot?” He mumbled, slowly pushing himself into a sitting position. Once he finally did that, he looked over at his roommate and probably-best-friend-and-ex-bully, Flash Thompson. “Flash, why can’t I die?”
Flash gave an amused look as he gave his friend some space. “Who knows, man, but it’s ten-thirty. Guessed you’d wanna get up.”
Damn, Peter thought. “I missed classes.”
“Uh huh. Thought you would’ve gotten up not long after I left this mornin’. I come in for a quick stop and you’re still out cold. What happened last night?”
Peter sighed, getting out of bed. “Enforcers”, he explained as he pulled some clothes out, “Finally found where they were hiding out and went and said hello.”
“Get them?” Flash asked.
“Meh”, Peter said, pulling on a new shirt, “Montana got away. Danny and Ox though; they’re done.”
“Good to hear”, Flash said, chuckling as Peter threw his jeans back in the closet. Seemed his friend was really going for that ‘battered hobo’ look today. “Well, I’m heading out again. Gotta get to my philosophy class. See ya later, Parker.”
“Later”, Peter replied, giving a stiff wave as Flash left. Parker sighed, rubbing his hair down before moving into the bathroom. He gave a long and aggregated sigh, instantly spotting his swollen and purple nose. It was a nice picture, totally. “God dammit! Just great.”
The man closed his eyes, counting to ten. When he finished, he let out a long, soothing breath. He walked out of the bathroom again, still doing calming breaths. Putting his hands on his hips, Peter hummed.
“And the age-old question reappears: do I go to my classes looking like an abstract painting or blow it off for today?” Peter mused. “Man, accelerated healing would be a nice fix for this. Thanks for nothin’, spider that bit me.” Eventually he shrugged though, reaching for the room’s door. “Screw it. It’s not the weirdest thing everyone in my classes have seen me with.”
So Peter left the dorm, going for the stairs. If his body would let him, he’d probably just make it to biochem in time. Lucky too, he was running low on webbing. Could probably make a whole lot if he was subtle about it. He grinned to himself, walking the tiniest bit faster.
“Maybe I can salvage this day...”
...
The bus came to a stop, the door opening not long after. As the people got off, one turned as he left, looking around meaningfully. Finally, he saw a big sign on one of the buildings.
“Empire... State... Uni-University. Yes.”
He walked towards it, easily finding the big congregation out the front. Walking up, he went straight to someone who looked in charge. Turned out it was, as the friendly guide smiled at the person approaching him. “Hey there! Here for the induction?”
“Yes”, was the reply. The person was quiet for a moment before looking at the guide again. “I am Sam.”
The guide smiled. “Hi, Sam. Nice to meet ya.” The man turned to the big group after, addressing everyone. “Alright, we’ll be off very shortly now, so make sure you all have everything you need.”
Sam frowned at that. All he had was a bag with some food, a toothbrush and a spare set of clothes. If it wasn’t for the biggest luck-out ever, he probably wouldn’t even be here. He shrugged. He’d probably get better off soon, it was only a matter of time.
He was taken out of his thoughts though when he realised everyone was moving. Sam quickly caught up, stepping into line behind the familiar guide. He guessed there were more around, but he couldn’t really identify any. As the guide babbled on about the various buildings and courses, Sam found himself zoning out. It wasn’t that he wasn’t interested or didn’t understand, it was more just a thing on him.
“- more info on that online-- or just go to the administration building. Very convenient”, the guide said. He turned though, zeroing in on a face he knew. “Hey, Pete!”
As a man a fair distance away turned to them, Sam looked at him in curiosity. This ‘Peter’ clearly had a very purple nose; even from a distance away it was obvious. As the guy came over Sam continued watching.
“Something up, Robbie?” Peter asked, looking at the guide- Robbie- strangely. Robbie just shook his head.
“Just saw you, man. Showing these newbies around.”
“Woah, people are coming today?”
“Yeah, it’s that time of year. You didn’t know?”
Peter chuckled, scratching the top of his head. “I’ve been a little busy.”
“Obviously. What’s up with your nose?” Robbie pointed at the part as he said it. Sam heard a few others in the group murmur about that as well.
Peter just looked at the guide unamused, sighing.
“I’d rather not talk about it”, he said stiffly before walking off. “I’ve gotta get to biochem. See you ‘round, Rob.”
Robbie gave an awkward wave before he resumed the induction, much to the relief of the group. Sam sighed as he started following along. If he was remembering properly, he had biochemistry as one of his majors. Perhaps he’d see that Peter again.
“Sorry about that pause everyone”, the guide started, “So let’s get back to it now!”
...
Flash sat back in his chair, squinting at the roof. The professor was late- again- and it was seriously driving his peers up the wall. A few were doing who-knows-what with their papers, while a few others were loudly debating something over in one of the corners of the room. Maybe back a few years ago Flash would’ve got up and fooled around, but he’d definitely mellowed since beginning college.
Either way, he looked back down at the room, noticing the new arrival. She wasn’t the teacher, and didn’t look like a replacement. Flash sat up properly as the woman awkwardly made her way around the room, avoiding the groups and went and sat down in one of the empty seats. As she looked around curiously before hunkering down, Flash made a decision. He got up, then made his way next to the new arrival.
“Hi”, he greeted, giving a wave. The woman turned to him, giving a half-smile.
“Hey there”, she replied. There was a beat before she widened her eyes, then put out a hand. “Should prolly give my name, shouldn’t I?” She drawled. “I’m Kate, Kate Pryde.”
Shaking her hand, Flash smiled. “Cool. I’m Fla--”, he paused for a moment. “My name’s Eugene Thompson.”
Kate raised an eyebrow. Apparently something was amusing, Flash thought. “Nice to meet you... Eugene.” The man gave a greeting nod, Kate motioning the room once he was done. “What’s going on here?”
“Boredom”, Flash simply answered, shrugging. “Mr. Walters hasn’t shown up yet, and the others are getting a bit restless.”
“Restless?” Kate echoed. “I heard one of the girls back there call somehow a ‘godless heathen’.”
“Was probably Klara then”, Flash guessed, before leaning a little closer. “She’s one of those Christians.”
There was a chuckle at the jab, Kate crossing her arms where she sat. “So don’t tell her I’m Jewish, then?”
“Do it just to see what happens”, was Flash’s reply, earning a laugh from the woman. When she calmed down, he glanced over at her. “So... is this your first day here, or just at this class?”
“First day here. I’ve been... made to move around a lot the last couple’a years. But if everything’s properly sorted, this’d be my second proper year of college.”
Flash raised his eyebrows. “Huh, what a coincidence. My second year at college too.” He crossed his arms, smiling a little. “You know, Kate, personally I think you’ll like it here.”
“’Cause of you?” She snarked. Flash chuckled, shaking his head.
“No, no. This is just a really good place, you know? I mean-- sure, it’s the only college I’ve gone to, but it’s pretty damn great. The people here are usually pretty good, and you’ll definitely be learning something at one stage or another.”
The woman leaned back, giving a light sigh. “I’ll keep that in mind, Eugene.”
After that was said, the two heard some shuffling, looking up to see the professor coming into the room. “Alright everyone”, he said, dropping his things on the front desk, “Sorry I’m late, but I’m here now and we’re getting right into it. So let’s start.”
There were no arguments as the lesson rushed into its start.
...
Sam had made a friend.
Hobie was his name apparently, and he was quite extroverted. Since the brief pause in the tour, everything had been going smoothly, and in that time Hobie had weaseled his way all the way to the front of the group, excitedly talking to seemingly anyone who would listen. Although it seemed he really wanted Sam to listen.
“- that’s how it works, y’know? But my mom didn’t believe that, so I had to go through the whole thing again--”
“Uh huh”, Sam absentmindedly said, trying to pay attention to Hobie and the tour.
“- and then minutes passed and she just straight up says: ‘oh, I think you had it before’. Jeez loiuze. Anyways, now I’m off to college. This is gonna be great, I reckon. Sure, I was kinda a loser in high school, but I think I’ll be able to change that here. How ‘bout you, man?”
Sam coughed, frowning for a moment. “Um, I... unsure. We will see?”
Hobie looked at Sam curiously, but shrugged it off. “That’s true for me too, I guess. But hey, a party here, a coming of age there, and we’ll be cool and enlightened.”
A chuckle came from Sam. He was pretty sure it wouldn’t be like the movies he was sure were being referenced. But if Hobie wanted to believe that, he wouldn’t deny him. A few more minutes and it seemed the tour was ending, the guide stopping out front a building.
“Alright”, he started, “This final stop here is where you’ll all”, the guide leaned up, looking at the group before going down again and nodding. “This is where all of you will be staying-- ‘rooming’, if you wanna say it like that. Now you should all have the necessary items to actually get into your rooms, so go have fun I guess. Just go see the admin if there’s problems.”
And with that, the guide left, leaving all the freshmen to their own devices. As most went straight up to find their dorms, Sam stood, looking up at the building. He hummed. “Here I am.”
“Nervous?” Hobie asked, who was still standing with Sam, to his surprise. “I am, a little.”
“Hrrm.” Sam started walking into the building, holding the straps of his bag. “I do not see... a reason? To be nervous.”
“If you say so”, Hobie remarked, walking along with his new friend.
They decided on the elevators, taking the fast way up to the dorms. As the doors dinged again, they stepped off. Walking down the hall, the two passed the people who had been in the same guide group as them. Sam pulled out the key in his pocket, checking his room number then going up to the door. Seeing that Hobie was still standing next to him, he raised a questioning eyebrow. Hobie just grinned wide, holding up his own key.
“Well what do you know?” Hobie gleefully exclaimed. “Looks like we’re roomies!”
Sam looked at his new friend and roommate in surprise. This was definitely going to be interesting...