Owen
I woke up to the warm scent of cookies infiltrating my senses. Grunting as I opened my eyes only to rub them free of any crusts that formed while I slept, my eyes still felt heavy and I was tempted to go back to sleep. I didn't. I'm a college freshman and I needed to start acting like one. Waking up at 10am is not appropriate for such people.
I sat myself up on bed and pulled back my hair that always found themselves bouncing back to my forehead. I then took off the sheets and just sat there, staring at my legs.
They were still shitty but now that I'm in college, I felt the same wave of anxiety I feel once I stepped into middle school and high school. It was that same, sinking feeling of anxiousness and insecurity that blanketed me these days and I kinda wanted to speed up the school year a bit to a time where stares are less and finishing up requirements took most of the time of students.
Limp as ever, I slapped my thigh and as expected, I didn't feel a thing. I sighed and shook my hear as I went in to grab my wheelchair from the side of my bed and transferred onto it. I put on my usual black Converses that were unsurprisingly still clean underneath and went in to my room's bathroom.
The bathroom inside the room was something only people like me had in their dorm rooms. It had bars to hold onto in the shower, a shower seat, and the door even opens by itself with a remote. I don't use the remote too often since I can perfectly open a door by myself but when I want to play a little with Athena, I keep the lights open in the bathroom and when the lights are out in our main room, I like to have the remote in my hands and just press the door open for her to think that someone got in our room or a ghost resided here.
I went up to the sink to splash some water on my face only to wake my senses up a tad bit and brushed my teeth as well. I also took a quick shower to finish off my terribly late morning routine.
As I finished off what I was supposed to do, I then went back to the unfamiliar box of cookies by my bed. I took the box in my hands and laid it on my lap, noticing a note with familiar handwriting.
The penmanship itself was exquisite and I knew only a certain someone who always wrote in cursive.
Inside the box were handsome looking chocolate chip cookies that were just the right thickness and right size to fit on my palm. I took a cookie up to my nose, sniffing it to make sure it didn't have that commercially made smell on them and I was quite surprised it didn't.
I actually commend her for making these cookies on her own. I wouldn't be surprised if she took countless tries just to get the recipe right.
The cookies, though no longer warm from the heat of an oven, were soft to the touch and biting into them was more of a scrumptious endeavor I wouldn't mind taking on a million times.
They were actually good.
Surprisingly.
I ate half of them within minutes and I found myself yearning for more once I stopped myself from getting another one out of temptation.
I found myself thirsty a little while after I ate and I practically forced myself out the room with my water bottle to fill it up.
I pushed my chair past other students who resided in the same dorm as I did and almost everyone's eyes lingered longer at me. Guys gave me funny looks and girls had their jaws down.
I sighed and ignored them. It wasn't everyday of their lives before seeing me that they've seen an actual teen in a wheelchair. Let them feast their eyes on me, then. I try to care less but it still bothered me. A lot.
I know I'm going to have a different college experience from most of these people and I know my challenges are gonna be different from them. What must be practiced around here was for people to keep their eyes up front, not down here. I'm a person too. I'm just a little,-- different. I wouldn't mind if you'd just ignore me like any other person you come across with in halls.
Reaching the lunch hall, I wheeled myself to the water dispenser that was fortunately, my height sitting down. I put up my water bottle under the tap before I heard something metal hit the floor.
I turned my head back and saw another guy in thick glasses and curly hair pick up his water bottle that unfortunately had a new dent in it.
As he stood up, his deep, brown eyes looked at me for a second before his gaze eventually went back to his unfortunate water bottle.
"Dang. To think today couldn't get any worse, it already did." he muttered, shaking his head.
The guy had rich, brown skin and soft facial features. His curly hair was clean cut and his black glasses hung all wonky above his nose. He had on some Marvel shirt and some saggy denim pants paired with some Nikes. He was rather tall and slender, to be honest.
I wouldn't be surprised if this guy was another Calix based on his fandom shirt.
"You could use hard plastic bottles instead of metal ones. To uhm, avoid dents." I said, looking up at him.
He smiled tightly and sighed.
"Nah, I'm good. It's still a bottle. If this one looked closely enough to a chewed up Tootsie Roll, maybe I could get one of those plastic bottles you speak of. Exchange student?" he asked, pointing a finger at me.
I shrugged and shook my head.
"Not really. I lived here for quite some time actually. It's the accent that throws people off." I said.
"Seriously? If you lived in the US for quite some time as an immigrant, your native accent'll vanish and be replaced by some weird, Valley girl, American one." he joked.
"I don't know about that. My accent never really changed since my parents speak so bloody British at home."
The guy laughed for a bit before he shook his head at me.
"If you're from Trinidad and your family wanted to blend in with the black folks here, be my guest." he said, curtseying.
"Your guest indeed, I am. Owen, by the way." I said, extending a hand.
The guy nodded amusingly and reached for my hand, shaking it.
"Fitz. Don't ask for the full version, though. The trial version's all you'll get." he said laughingly.
"Then it's a pleasure to be acquainted with you Fitz. Uhm, major?" I asked.
Fitz smiled widely showing his bright, white teeth and kept fidgeting his dented bottle in his hands.
"Biology. I'm still kinda torn between pursuing med or science so, yeah. How 'bout you? What does British boy major in?"
I scoffed as soom as he called me British boy. It wasn't always like that since I was so used to people calling me wheelchair kid. That damn nickname always managed to get the best of me.
"Biochemistry. I just despise physics so much, I took a course that didn't have it in the curriculum."
Fitz raised a brow as he leapt forward toward the water dispenser, cut me up front, and put his bottle under the tap as water flowed into it.
"Sorry 'bout that. I wasn't listening since I was busy cutting the line to the water dispenser. You were saying?"
I managed a chuckle as I pushed my chair back a little so Fitz can stand normally by the dispenser as he put in water into his bottle. Not long after, he was done and his gaze turned to me again, waiting for my reply.
"I'm majoring in Biochemistry. It's,-- cool. I think."
Fitz smirked and nodded.
"Yeah, it is. I heard y'all have all those fancy lab classes! The professor there doesn't sound too good too, from what others say." he said, shaking his head.
"Come again?"
I had a terrible feeling in my gut that this was the professor who still had to accommodate to my needs as told by the ODS. I felt myself lose color slowly by slowly. I paled.
Fitz eventually shot me a pitiful look and sighed as he stepped away from the dispenser and stood by my side.
"He's horrible. My senior adviser, Rae even said that he sends even the brightest in his class to tears. During a lecture. That's horrifying." he said, shuddering.
I felt a huge lump in my throat and immediately felt cold. And the AC wasn't even put on max.
"Is there a chance it's in a building with stairs?"
Fitz looked confused for a moment and made a weird look, scrunching up his face to understand the scope better.
"Damn RIGHT there are stairs everywhere bro, especially going to lab, why the HELL--" Fitz said until he cut himself off and piped down as his hand brushed against his mouth, covering it as he looked at me.
"What?"
Slowly putting down his hand from his mouth, he then fumbled with his water bottle and kept playing with it in his hands.
"I'm REALLY sorry for not thinking of your uh, --thing, once you mentioned stairs. Have you went to the ODS though? To like, make things okay with your classes?"
Remembering the ODS, I sighed and slumped back in my chair as I tapped a finger on my right armrest. I couldn't help but fidget and all since this professor might as well replace extroverted Athena in my nightmares.
"I talked with them and they said they'll figure something out but what will they figure out if the class is for lab? With actual equipment and chemicals and flasks and--"
"Woah woah woah, slow down, dude. CHILL. There's still a week to go before classes start. Leave it to the ODS. If not, just, uh, use your British."
I felt as if not only the whole world was on my shoulders but the whole universe was crushing my soul piece by piece. I was terribly anxious about this class since the professor's the only one who hasn't made adjustments among all the others.
"How is that going to be of use, anyway?"
Fitz looked at me like I was crazy and scoffed.
"Like, EVERYWHERE. You Brit immigrants always get away with things because of your fancy accents and tea parties and God save the queen--"
"We do NOT have tea parties, mind you. I don't even like tea. And, --Who even says "God save the queen"?"
Fitz suddenly looked amused at my quick retort and sighed.
"You do have a point. Right, so you're like, fully Americanized except for the fancy accent?"
I nodded and tugged the corners of my lips upward, looking up at him. Damn, was he tall.
"Obviously."
Fitz looked away for a moment before looking back at me, smirking.
"Something tells me we're gonna endure a long lecture on Microbiology or something one day. You play Mario Kart?" he asked, inviting me with a slight smirk on his face.
I managed a soft grin and nodded.
"Hell yes. Let me fill up my bottle first before any ass kicking takes place. I've had quite a lot of practice. In ass kicking, I mean."
Fitz laughed shortly and shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Let's see."
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Hey everyone! How's everyone doin this fine day? Another day of quarantine's passed and yet, here we are, inside our houses (hopefully, fingers crossed) doing whatever we want to try may it be some sort of new hobby or an old one.
Speaking of new things,
I tried inserting in a couple of media what's-its for the sequel and I don't know if it's any good. What do yall think? I'm open for suggestions!
Credits for the photos and media I used mostly go to Pinterest because it is THAT vast in terms of content and I just love that app to death.
Hope everyone's doing well! Stay safe!
LOTS OF LOVE!
â¤ï¸ Bea
p.s. is it weird that while I made up Fitz's character I kept thinking of Jordan Fisher because he is one BEAUTIFUL man. John Ambrose deserved better tbh