Knee Problems

Chapter 2

“GET OFF GET OFF GET OFF” The words came out in a series of yells as I try to push him off. Kicking him should have made him jump and hold his knee in pain, anything of the sort, he really has the nerve to fall on top of me huh? I have a feeling this was on purpose. It was way too smoothly planned out.

“I can’t. I need a minute. You just hit my already injured knee.” He groaned as he laid still on top. His hard chest was against mine and I was afraid he could tell how nervous I really was. Since the door to the room was open, I don’t know whether I was hoping for someone to barge in or not. On one hand, I could ask for help to get him off of me, at the same time this situation is so embarrassing I would rather die than someone see me like this.

“Asshole.” I mutter under my breath, knowing he would hear perfectly clearly since his chin was resting on my right shoulder and his face was buried in the bed. “That’s it.” I push against his shoulders with my hands and slither my way up, ignoring whatever I feel from him. I tried to do so but the shearing force between our weights was causing his towel knot/ tuck to loosen. I stop trying to move and clear my throat.

“I’m the asshole when you attacked an injured man?” He murmured next to my ear.

This situation right here, it reminds me an awful lot of that time. Even though nothing had happened back then, it was still etched into my brain, warning me to always be careful.

I remain quiet, simply waiting for this hell to be over.

My silence must have finally knocked some sense into him because he lifts his head, observing my expression and then after what felt like forever, lifts his weight and rolls to the side of the bed.

I let go of my breath that I hadn’t realised I was holding in and stand up, brushing my clothes off. I felt the sudden urge to shower and change my clothes.

“I’m heading to class. Once your knee feels better, please leave my room.” I inform as I set down my suitcase flat on the floor and unzip it, getting the supplies I need for class.

He propped himself up on his elbows, still laid back, flaunting his perfectly toned body. He smiled and I couldn’t help but notice how perfect his teeth were. It managed to give me a complex and I started wondering if I should get braces on my own teeth. Perfect shape and completely straight- even the colour was close to white, the one I was used to seeing on commercials. I had to admit, his smile really suited his face.

I found myself being a bit jealous, wishing that I looked this good. If only I was a hot tall man.

“The thing is, roomie, that this area is a hallway connecting the boys dorms and girls dorms. It’s in the middle for late admissions. It’s not really gender segregated.”

I widened my eyes.

“Everyone in this hall are living with the opposite gender?” My mouth opened slightly in surprise, how could this be allowed?

“No it’s just you and me. Since we came here late, this was the only room left.”

I purse my lips nonchalantly. “Kill me.”

“Don’t tempt me.” He grinned.

I could only describe the state of my brain right now as a ‘keyboard smash.’ He tightened the towel around his waist and tried to stand up, with a flinch his hand reflexively went to the knee I had kicked and he sat back down.

I felt a pang of guilt.

Did he really have an injured knee? I didn’t mean to kick so hard.

“I don’t think I can go to class.” He sulks. I notice that he pouts his lips ever so slightly when he’s sulking and his hooded brown eyes were capable of producing deep emotion.

He has to be faking it.

“Okay fine, I’m sorry about that. I didn’t know your knee was hurt.” I apologise with a roll of my eyes.

“You don’t sound sorry at all.” He looks at me pointedly. Excuse me? Weren’t you just sulking a few seconds ago, this face doesn’t match that at all! At this very second, I realised how child like this grown ass man could be.

“Well what do you want me to say?”

His lips scrunch together at one side at the commencement of his smirk. Even I had to admit, that looked cute.

“It’s not a matter of saying, more like doing.”

I raise my eyebrows, waiting for him to be diligently careful with his words. If he says something inappropriate, I would kick the same spot on his knee again with no guilt or regret!

“Can you proxy me today? I’m sure we have at least a few classes together. What’s your major?”

“Art, History, Forensic.” I mumble grudgingly. I don’t like where this is going.

“Great, then you can do it for me in Art and History.” A smirk plays at the corner of his lips mischievously, the small loop earring in his left ear shines and blinds me.

What does he want me to do again?

"Don't tell me you don't know what that is?" He asked me seriously.

I wonder. Is it again one of those obvious things I should know about but I don't because I live under a rock reading novels all day and night, and if not novels then binge watching tv shows until it's morning which means I lack common sense that people usually have.

I groan internally. “So what?”

He pursed his lips. I notice that his lips are thin, though the bottom one is more plump than the top. It somehow weirdly suits the shape of his face. I suddenly had the epiphany of what I was doing and stopped myself. It was strange to notice such features with such detail, I hope he didn’t notice me staring at him.

“Well, when it’s my roll call, you answer for me. And if it’s on a sheet, even better, just sign next to my name.” He shrugs, explaining like it was the most simple thing in the world. He might have forgotten to mention one thing.

“Right, righhhtt.” I say slowly with sarcasm. “Surree, as if there will be no consequences whatsoever when I get caught.”

“When? You mean, if. And that’s a big if. Just don’t look like a pussy when you say it. Look confident, like it’s your roll.” A mischevious sparkle lit itself in his eyes, he was hoping I would get caught. He might even think I’d leave if he bothered me enough like this.

Oh he is dead wrong.

“You’re the pussy for being immobilized by that weak kick.” I mutter under my breath as I grab my backpack.

“Alright so my number is 120 and you can call me Taranis.” He talked as he stood up and dramatically limped to the closet. He opened and started rummaging through his clothes to look for a boxer which he so proudly held up in his hands when he found it.

His behavior was infuriating. He has already unpacked everything here as if it was his own room.

“Taranis? Please, what kind of name is that? Sounds like a tyrant.” I was hoping to make him annoyed or angry, maybe if I end up making him hate me, he’ll want to move out himself which will really save me the trouble.

“That would be accurate since I’m a tyrant in bed.” He crossed his arms, bulging his biceps as he smiled.

Can nothing go to his head the right way?

“What’s yours?” He asks.

I don’t want to tell him for some reason.

“Hazel.” I mutter.

“Okay, Hazelnut.”

I furrow my eyebrows. “You do realize that nicknames are supposed to be shorter than actual names right? And also, we need to be close to give each other nicknames.”

“All I hear is, you want to get close to me then.” He smirks.

“Stop smiling like that, it looks cheap.” I scoff as I turn to leave.

“But it’s my normal smile!” I hear him say defensively but I don’t stop to look at his expression, shutting the door loudly behind me.

I shake my head as I put the key into my pocket. ‘What have I gotten myself into?’

First I have to attend my morning 9-11 class, after that the first thing I will do is go to the campus in charge and ask her to change my room. How can they possibly expect men and women to live together with no issues? This is ridiculous. Segregation is there for a reason. It’s there for safety.

Class was on the first floor so I took the stairs and quickly got in. Thankfully, I was on time which was quite unlike me, of course having to come here early in the morning did help. As for the rest of the days, we’ll see.

I sit down on one of the middle row benches, noticing how not many students were present even though this was an introductory class. Art was supposed to have around 150 and yet only around 60 were here.

Realisation struck me.

“Hold on, I’ll definitely get caught if I proxy him in a class of such small strength!” I whisper to myself, receiving a strange look from the girl sitting next to me. On the bench I was, there were already 5 people. It seemed like everyone wanted to occupy the middle benches and avoided the ones at the back as well as the ones on the front.

I feel the social anxiousness crawling inside me, telling me I’ll probably be a loner for the rest of college if I don’t try to at least initiate conversation here. I know I should but small talk has never been my strong suit, plus she just stared at me like I was crazy! She definitely thinks I’m crazy right? I had to admit, this girl did not look approachable at all. She had curly hair, pale skin and eyes that made me think she was dead inside. Though she did have the longest eyelashes I have ever seen, they didn’t seem fake either.

‘Sheesh, and I thought I had long eyelashes.’

I see a sheet get passed from behind us to the girl on my right. I saw her walk in, she is pretty and tall. How lucky. Why do some people get blessed like this and then there’s me, I’m the type of girl who usually goes unnoticed wherever I am. I’m invisible, possibly a ghost.

I find myself sighing.

“I know right? If I knew the attendance would be on a sheet, I wouldn’t have come either heheh” She giggled.

I laugh nervously. “Actually, I’d still be here since I have to proxy for someone. I won’t get caught right?” I take the sheet from her hand as she finishes signing and take out a pen from my bag.

“On a sheet? No way. Whom are you filling in for though?” She winked.

“Ugh my roommate.” I say and then immediately cringe. “Well not for long, I’ll make sure he moves out.”

The girl widens her eyes. “You got a boy room mate? Girl what the hell are you doing, you’re so lucky!” She exclaimed as she slapped my arm. I look around to make sure no one heard us, unfortunately, a few people were looking this way since she was loud.

“Does that mean you’d be willing to switch rooms with me?” I ask innocently with a pleading voice. She seemed nice enough. I’m ashamed to say that when I saw how tall and pretty she was, I assumed she would be a bit full of herself. In more accurate words, I thought she would be a bitch. Quite shallow of me to think so but everybody judges.

“Switching rooms isn’t allowed. You’ll have to ask authorities, which, by the way, are useless as fuck.” She rolled her eyes. I signed my name next to my number and then signed his.

“So, is he cute?” She sticks her head close, peering into the sheet. “Taranis.. the name sounds hot.”

I pass the sheet over to the girl on my left, the one who had given me that crazy look. This time, she had the expression of utmost cringe and disgust leering on her face.

“Is there something wrong?” I ask nervously. Why was she doing that when I hadn’t even done anything!

It seemed like she hadn’t realised she was making an expression because it turned to normal immediately and she chuckled. “I just feel bad for you, living with a dude sounds disgusting.”

I place my hand over my chest. “Finally someone gets it.”

She smiles.

“I’m Hazel.” I say to both of them. They tell me theirs. The pale curly haired girl’s name was Dani and the tall brown skinned girl’s name was Aria.

We decided to meet up for lunch later at the cafeteria which was at 1-2. I had a forensic workshop before then.

The class ended and we split up, I was in a good mood because apparently, I made friends on the first day. It might sound really childish, how could I still behave this way after getting into college right? The thing is, when you’re completely ignored as a child, the insecurity never really goes away. The feeling of being alone, is really the worst, for me and at the same time, the feeling of being with multiple people with too long is uncomfortable and drains me completely.

Ah how I wish I was normal.

As I was walking to the workshop which was on the second floor, I happened to look out the window, my eyes shifting to the basketball court.

“You have got to be kidding me.”

I could recognise him immediately because of the tattoos. He was wearing a sleeveless tank and the same boxers he had held up in front of me!

“I THOUGHT YOUR KNEE WAS SHIT YOU FUCKER.” I unintentionally, accidentally, maybe just a little bit shouted the words.