3.3 New Kids

The first thing Apollo did when arriving at Sims University was look for his room. He wanted to drop his stuff off and unwind before he was forced to go to orientation. He wondered who his roommate would be, or if he even got one. Since he was a last minute sign up, spots were limited and he applied for whatever was available.

"Hmm, lets see...room 303. That's the third floor," Apollo said to himself as he pressed the button on the elevator. He had passed the dining hall and the computer room. Both would be useful for his late night cram sessions. As soon as he stepped off the elevator, he could hear the loud sound of screaming. It wasn't until he got closer to his room that he realized it was actually death metal music being played and it was coming from his room. "Oh great." He slid the key into the  hole and pushed the heavy door open. His eyes glided over the posters decorating the left side of the room. His eyes finally fell unto a guy lounging on the bed. His piercing lavender eyes were fixated on Apollo's figure. "Could you maybe turn that down?" Apollo asked sweetly. The boy turned it off with a grunt. "I mean you could have left it on..." The guy just stared at Apollo. "I'm Apollo Gray, I'm your roommate. Cool posters."

"Woods," was his response.

"Uhh...what?"

"My name is Damian Woods."

"Oh! Nice to meet you Damian!" The pair instantly fell to silence. Damian didn't seem interested in talking to Apollo anymore and turned his music back on.

Apollo let out a long sigh. Maybe hanging in his room wasn't the best idea. "I'm going to check out campus, uh...see you later?" Damian's eyes were shut and he seemed to be tuning Apollo out. "He''s something else."

He was stopped in the hall by another student. "Yo! I'm Matthew Tellmore, nice to meet ya. I'm on the floor above you. Maybe you could tell your roommate to lower his music."

Apollo laughed nervously. "I tried...he won't listen to me."

"What's your name?" He asked.

"Apollo Gray."

"Well, Apollo. Tell him to save the loud music for the parties. Woo! See ya around freshie!" He hit his palm on his chest and let out a loud howl. The people here were definitely interesting.

Apollo figured he would go and watch some television downstairs. When he entered the room there was already someone sitting on the sofa.

"Hi," She smiled politely.

"Hello," Apollo nodded back. Pink hair? Red and black outfit? Definitely a female version of his little brother. He leaned back on the sofa and shut his eyes. Seriously? All jokes aside, he wasn't aware that this was a coed dormitory. It shouldn't have been a big deal to him, but the only girl he had lived with before was his mother. He had no idea how this would go down.

"My name is Lynette Dagle, and you are?"

"Apollo Gray."

"Nice to meet you!" She grinned. "I'm actually glad to meet someone new here. I was a little discouraged when I found out that my roommate was my step brother's girlfriend. They better take their fun to his room because I will not be having any of it!"

Apollo couldn't help but crack a smile. It definitely was an awkward situation, but she seemed to find the humor in all of it. "Well, if it makes you feel any better, my roommate looks like he came out of some heavy metal band. He's blasting music and everything."

"So you're here to escape your roommate too? I feel like I'll be doing it a lot. She's nice but she's been kissing my disgusting brother. Blehh!"

"My roommate won't even talk to me."

"It's not worse than mine!" 

"Definitely not. I wouldn't want to room with my sister's boyfriend, you know if I had one. Well maybe, what if he was a nice guy? It's gotta be better than the death metal thing."

"We'll never know will we?" She stood up. "I'm heading over to orientation if you'd like to join me. Its in the student union center."

Apollo shrugged. "It's not like I'm doing anything else."

"Name?" The person behind the registration counter asked.

"Apollo Gray."

"Intended major?"

"Business."

"Alright you're all set. Head to the door on your right. Orientation will start in ten minutes. Next."

Then it was Lynette's turn. "Hey, business major?" She grinned. "You don't seem like the uptight kind of person."

"Not all business men are uptight," he defended.

"My dad sure was. He hated when anyone tried to have any fun. That's why he left my mom." She looked at Apollo's surprised face and changed the subject. "Woops, sorry there. Didn't mean to bring that up. I talk too much, that's why some people tend to stay away from me. I say things I shouldn't...I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize." Apollo told her. "It's no big deal. I don't care about little things like that. You seem nice, so I want to be friends with you."

She smiled in return. "I was thinking the same thing about you!"

"I'm going to go to the bathroom before we head in. Wait for me, okay?" Lynette said.

Apollo nodded. He began to look around the student union center. It was nice. There were vending machines and arcade games. He even saw a guitar laying around. He wondered if there was anyone who could actually play a guitar here, it'd be pretty cool to see. he wouldn't doubt if his roommate could. As he was lost in thought, his eyes set on two figures deep in conversation. Shit, Katherine and Tommy. They're going to Sims University too? Apollo thought to himself. He tried to turn around and duck away but he was too late. They saw him. Katherine stared nervously at him. Tommy on the other hand seemed ecstatic to see him. "Apollo, bro! Over here!" He waved his arms frantically to get his attention.

"Damnit," He cursed under his breath as he got closer to the two. Hopefully this would be the only time he saw them.

"Hey man, what's up?" Tommy stuck his fist out to bump with Apollo.

"Tommy, what's going on?" Apollo decided to play along. Tommy didn't understand how awkward all of this was. Probably because Katherine didn't tell him what she did a few months ago.

"I'm actually really happy to see you here. I feel kind of bad for ignoring you in highschool. It was a rough time you know, trying to find out who you are and who you want to be. I thought being cool meant dissing my friends. It was a stupid mistake."

"Yeah..." Apollo said silently. He didn't believe a word of it, but he was sure he'd never bump into these two again so it wouldn't matter.

"See Katherine, I told you he wouldn't be mad. You were worried for no reason! She thought you were going to flip out on us or something." Katherine's eyes never left Tommy's face. "What's wrong babe?"

"Nothing, I'm just tired from moving in. I had a lot to unpack." She rubbed her eyes. Anything to avoid Apollo's all knowing gaze.

"She isn't kidding. The girl came in with two suitcases and a carry on bag! It's only for a few months!" Lynette said.

Apollo smiled up at her. She couldn't have made better timing. "I plan on staying through the winter semester too, to get extra credits."

"Lay off, Lynette!" Tommy warned.

"Wait a minute...is Katherine your roommate?" Apollo asked Lynette.

"Yep, and that jerk over there is my brother."

"Step-brother," Tommy corrected.

"Wait...what? I never knew you had a sister!" 

"Her mom married my dad last year. They insisted we go to the same university. Now we're dorming in the same building. I can't escape her."

That's what I'm thinking about you, Apollo thought. Were they really going to be in the same dormitory as him? He would most likely be seeing them a lot more than he thought, especially because of their link to Lynette. Great, just great. Can this be any worse?

"Whatever dunce. Let's go before we don't get a seat, Apollo." He was glad that she hated them just as much as he did. He couldn't get out of there fast enough.

"Hi, just find a seat anywhere. We'll be going over everything you need to know before classes start. My name is Mason."

"Hi Mason!" Lynette smiled brightly at him.

Apollo eyed him. he didn't look much older than them at all. "I didn't think teachers were allowed to dye their hair." He looked away nervously, realizing that he said it out loud.

"Yeah, that's awesome! I love colorful hair." She laughed, playing with her own.

Mason laughed along with her. "I'm a teacher's assistant, that's why I introduced myself as Mason. I probably should have said Mr. Moon. Don't tell my advisor!" He motioned to the back of the room.

"Your secret is safe with us, sir!" Lynette placed her hand across her forehead as if saluting.

"Mr. Moon, if you will start orientation please," The teacher said.

Halfway through the orientation, Lynette began to whisper to Apollo. "This is soooooooooo boring. If Mason wasn't so cute, I'd be sleeping right now."

"Are you serious?" Apollo sighed. Girls.

"His purple hair is soooooooooooo dreamy. Seriously...look at him!" 

"I can't believe you're..." Apollo began.

"Any questions should be addressed with me and not with each other. Is there a problem?" Mason asked.

"No problem, sir!" Apollo said quickly and Lynette giggled. He shot her a look.

"First day and already in trouble. Look at you Gray!" Tommy snickered light heartedly.

"Alright settle down, settle down," Mason instructed. His superior did not look too happy at the outburst.

The rest of the orientation went by pretty smoothly. Lynette was doodling M's all over her notebook. Apollo tried to concentrate, but he couldn't shake his roommate's creepy gaze. (He happened to be sitting across from Lynette.) There was something definitely different about that guy but he couldn't place his finger on it.  After the orientation was over, Mason came over to talk to the two of them.

"Hey guys, cut me some slack on my first job would you?" Mason rubbed the back of his neck. "My advisor is so strict. He looked like he was ready to kill me."

"Sorry about that," Apollo apologized. "So, you're teaching here as like a teacher's aid?"

"Kind of." Mason nodded. "I'm in grad school now, so this counts as credits instead of me taking a class. Plus I'm getting paid which isn't so bad."

"Grad school!" Lynette's eyes lit up. "That's awesome!"

"We're heading back to the dorms, come on," Tommy said grabbing Lynette's arm.

"I thought you didn't want anything to do with me?" Lynette taunted.

"Come on you guys. You're siblings, just get along." Katherine told them.

"Maybe we should head back too." Apollo told Lynette.

"Don't let her drag you around Apollo!" Tommy said.

"I'm not.." Apollo tried to reason but Mason cut in.

"Since I'm a student, I'm in a dormitory as well. Which one are you guys in? I'm in Northeast."

"Us too," Katherine said.

"Don't tell me you're my roommate...brown bed covers?" Tommy asked.

"Yupp, that would be me."

They all headed back to the dorms and hung out in the common room until it got pretty late. Tommy held Katherine tightly and she seemed to be enjoying his touch. Apollo didn't get it. It made him sick to his stomach. Katherine had always been his best friend. He had never believed that he would look at her and not recognize who she was. She wore a crop top and short shorts. When he knew her, she would wear baggy clothes and no makeup. he didn't care what others thought of her. Tommy was the guy he would always call when he wanted to play video games or if he had a stupid idea he wanted to try out. Tommy was like a brother to him. Why were his two closest friends pulling so far away from him? They felt like strangers now. Tommy was completely comfortable with with him still, but Apollo wasn't so sure about him or his girlfriend. Lynette sat next to him, sprawled comfortably on the couch. He could tell that she was a carefree person. He had only seen ill will towards her brother and even then, she seemed to lack any malicious intent. Damian somehow ended up with the group. He offered few words, mostly grunts. He was still pretty much unreadable to Apollo. Mason sat on the floor, chatting happily with the group. He was older than them by at least five years but he was stuck in the undergraduate dorms because there was no more room in the graduate dorms. Nobody seemed to mind because Mason was cool enough.

"The kinds of parties we're going to have in here!" Tommy exclaimed excitedly.

"Count me out," Apollo raised his arm up. "I need to focus on my studies. No parties for me."

"Aww come on, it's the only good idea he's ever going to have!" Lynette whined.

"Me too. You know how I feel about drinking babe." Katherine leaned closer into Tommy's body.

"Fine, we'll have our own personal party." He kissed her ear tenderly.

"Not here, Tom." She tightened her grip on his arm.

"I'm leaving this barf fest." Damian got up.

"Not a bad idea," Mason stood up as well. "I don't need to watch eighteen year olds make out."

"Come on guys!" Tommy called out. "We'll keep it pg."

"It's getting late, go to bed guys." Lynette was getting ready to leave. "There's no party if it's just you guys. You're making my new best friend uncomfortable. Get a room."

"What? No, I'm fine. But I do think it's time to get some rest. I'll see you guys in the morning. Good night everyone." Apollo followed Lynette, Mason and Damian out of the room. He was thankful that Damian kept to his side of the room. Apollo was exhausted and wasn't in the mood to deal with anyone else. He sent his mother a quick text to let her know about his first day and then went to sleep. His first day was pretty eventful. He could have done without seeing Tommy and Katherine but the rest of the day was alright, so it balanced out.