8Genre: friendship, slice of life
Characters (ages): Tai (18), Matt (18)
Warnings: Eh, nothing really
Song: College Kids by Relient K
Notes: Just two short stories in college
"College always was his dream, and I would always say it's not for me."
College Kids
"Wow," Tai breathed mesmerized by his surroundings. Four gray walls, a few feet of dusty floor boards, and a slanted, wooden desk: it had to be the most wonderful thing he'd ever seen.
He took his time tiptoeing around the room trying to memorize where the floorboards creaked, figure out how to place everything in the now empty room. Something about the experience was invigorating; he'd never had this much power.
No one was going to order him around or tell him what to do with the space (Well he did have a roommate, but he wasn't as keen about the dorm room.). He had supreme control over not just the dorm room but everything: what classes he took, how late he stayed out, what he ate, when he studied. It was all on him.
In the doorway, Matt appeared lugging a cardboard box of CDs. With a grunt, he launched the box onto the desk and placed his hands to his hips. "Now only… twenty more boxes."
"You brought that much stuff?" Tai asked.
The blonde narrowed his eyes. "No, you brought that much stuff."
"Oh…Hehe," Tai chuckled guiltily. He hadn't bothered to carry up anything from the car considering how excited he was. He sprinted up to his and Matt's new dorm room even before the car was fully stopped.
There were a few comfortable moments of silence as Matt shuffled through his CDs, and Tai surveyed the room more. Finally, the latter spoke with evident awe in his voice, "We own something in this world."
Matt glanced up from his copy of Relient K's latest album. "Actually the school owns this."
His friend frowned slightly. "You're ruining this." Matt didn't respond. "It's supposed to be the greatest moment of our lives!"
"Really?" the blonde asked raising an eyebrow.
"Yes." Tai nodded with the utmost certainty.
"What's so great?" he asked pessimistically, "The dust?"
"It builds character," The brunette reasoned.
"The cramped space?"
"All part of the experience."
Blaring music and 'whooping' could be heard past one of the gray walls. Matt grimaced. "The neighbors?"
"…Teaches tolerance?" Tai tried. "Come on, you'll love college!"
"It's just more school," he reasoned, "I'll love getting out of here."
Despite his friend's pessimistic attitude, Tai knew it wouldn't cause him to lose any of his spirit. "Come on, Matt! What about our freedom? Our control over our own lives? We could make a difference in the world!"
Matt retorted, "Uh, we already did that. Saved the world from evil digimon about a million times."
"Yeah but no one knows it was us," Tai grumbled. Maybe in college, he could make a name for himself.
"Well you go and make your name in the world," Matt started while heading back out the door to grab another box, "I'll unload the car and move it before it gets towed."
000
Matt tapped his pencil repeatedly while looking over his trigonometry notes. It was rather unsettling that he couldn't decipher them… not that he'd understood what his professor was saying in the first place.
After fiddling with the lock, Tai sheepishly walked into the dorm room. "Hey, on a scale of one to ten how bad would it be if I didn't turn in one of my final papers?"
"…11.5," Matt mused still focused on his notes, "Why?"
Tai kept his gaze planted to the ceiling. "I got a little too caught up in the college experience and uh…"
Matt looked up at his friend, resisting the urge to facepalm. "You didn't."
"And that, my friend, is the problem," Tai concluded.
"I warned you," his friend reminded, "This is still school."
"But this could turn into a great memory!" He explained still trying to be optimistic.
Matt said sarcastically, "'The Reason Tai Failed College and the Wrath of his Professors Came Down Upon him.' Yeah, that'll be a good one for the campfire."
Thanks for reading!