“And here comes the fun part, they’re projecting a German movie at the cinema this Saturday so I’d like for you all to buy a ticket. I’ll write the code on the board that you will all need to tell them to get a 20% discount. It’s worth it guys, the easiest way to learn a language is by doing fun stuff like this.”
I was actually excited for that. Foreign films can be so fun - especially when you have no idea what is happening. I was trying so hard, but my German just didn’t seem to ever improve. It was that one language that I just couldn’t grasp and feel natural about despite loving it and really wanting to learn it.
“By the silence, I’m guessing you’ll all buy a ticket.” She started packing her things so I could tell the class was about to be over. I enjoyed her classes so much that I actually felt bad for being bad at German, she deserved better students than that. “Oh and also, don’t forget to work on your project guys, get that ten credits, okay? “the whole class gave out a sigh and just as we were about to leave our attention was drawn to the ambulance sound coming from outside. Naturally, a couple students ran up to the window to see what was going on but I was pretty sure that you couldn’t see anything through all the trees blocking the view. Surprisingly, you could see from here that the ambulance had stopped right in front of the front door and doctors hurried into the building carrying a gurney.
“What’s going on?” exclaimed one of the girls and hurried into the hallway. She was followed by the rest of the group, and I didn’t want to miss out, so I joined them as well even though I always hated behavior like this, it was so noisy. Only our teacher kept her cool and continued packing her big bag, I honestly had no idea how she carried that around since she was so damn tiny.
“They’re going into the room at the end of the hall,” said one of the guys. “Troy probably did something stupid again” he continued and laughed along with two other guys. Those guys were the typical high school jerks that still lived on in university. Everything was a joke to them, they couldn’t seem to be able to grow up no matter what. Was it so difficult? I couldn’t have known, I felt grown up the moment my dad died, and I had to be mom’s emotional support.
When I was twelve years old, my dad went on one of his boat rides with my uncle Simon, his brother. They loved going out fishing on a boat, it was kind of their tradition, and they did it twice a year. I always begged them to take me with them but the answer was always no, they didn’t seem to trust that I was old enough to take care of myself on a boat, especially if the sea was a bit wilder that day. The boat they went on was owned by my uncle - it was a pretty, white boat. I know nothing about boats as you may be able to tell. All I know is that its name was Cecilie, named after my grandmother who was Danish. It had nice blue roses on the side, and I thought it looked gorgeous. Even though they never actually let me go fishing with them, I did play on the boat on a few occasions, and I loved it.
That particular day, my dad and uncle went on their annual spring trip and never came back. It was an especially cloudy and cold day, the sea was angry and going out on a small private boat was a bad idea. At first, we had no idea what had happened when they never came back, but after a week their boat was found completely ruined, but their bodies never were.
I still remember my mother’s face when she got that phone call, and I think I will always remember it. Since that day I was more organized than any twelve-year-old that I knew, I forced myself to be better and not put any more stress on my mom. I never felt like I lost my childhood, I just felt like I did the right thing.
After a few seconds, the doctors went out of the room, and you could see Troy lying on the gurney unconscious. He looked more worn out than the last time that I saw him, he was so pale I could have sworn that for a second I thought he could be dead. He looked as if all life had left his body.
Maybe it was none of my business, but I felt like I was involved in what was going on with him. I felt like he may find comfort in me visiting him at the hospital. I was there the last time, maybe being there again could have been nice? Who was I kidding? I just wanted to see him and make sure that he was okay. Not after long, I went in.
I waited for about fifteen minutes on those uncomfortable chairs that make you wish you were the one in a hospital bed and I finally got the courage to walk up to the pretty nurse and ask if I could go in.
On my way there I questioned my actions. A few times I almost decided not to do it, but something kept pushing me, right… it was my curiosity and the fact that I had a big crush on him by now.
If I had known what I was going to find, chances are that I would not be going inside that room, or maybe I would be going inside it even faster…
I am not the kind of person to believe in anything supernatural. I don’t even believe in God, I’ve had many lectures from my grandma on this topic, and for some reason, I could never grasp my head around the whole god, heaven, hell concept. I’ve never believed in ghosts or any kind of supernatural creature - it just seemed absurd, I didn’t even believe in Santa Claus or the tooth fairy as a child. I believed in science, but I guess I didn’t know what that meant, I never really imagined how far science could go.
I do not know where my manners went, but I didn’t knock. It didn’t even cross my mind to knock, but in a way, I am quite glad that I didn’t. When I went in I saw Troy sitting at the edge of the bed wearing his own clothes, I guess he was about to leave. His shirt looked so great on him that I almost got distracted and did not see the most important part. The part where a cup was floating in the air. Yep… a cup was floating in the air, and he was looking at it. Maybe it was a magic trick? I don’t think a guy who was just in a hospital bed would take the time to perform a random magic trick for his own amusement. The cup was from one of those hospital see through little disposable cups, filled with clear water and it was floating in the air with water still inside it. It wasn’t spilling, it wasn’t moving, it was just there in the air.
Troy looked at me, and at that moment the cup fell and spilled all over the floor. I am pretty sure that I startled him and I am pretty sure that I was not supposed to see that at all. When he dropped the cup, I could see the blood starting to stream from his ears without warning, and I remembered how the first time that I found him he had some in the same spots. I got scared that maybe he was about to fall sick again, so I started shouting for a nurse when something even crazier happened.
In other circumstances, I probably would have loved being pulled close to his body, but this wasn’t one of them.
With some force that I have no explanation about he somehow pulled me towards him without even touching me and whispered in my ear.
“Quiet.”
My body was so close to his, I could almost feel his heartbeat. He was breathing right into my ear, and I could feel his breath on my skin. I stopped calling for a nurse. I looked into his eyes as he was looking into mine and I felt the butterflies fly all through my stomach. He was mesmerizing and that moment that I couldn’t explain to myself at all was even better. I should have been scared, but that emotion was way down the list.
I was scared, I was excited, I had no idea what was happening, and I had a million more questions on my mind, but it was okay because I could feel his body so close to mine it made me feel somehow safe. It made me feel like I already knew him. I imagined that with what he was able to do he could have done something terrible to me to make me shut up - but he didn’t. He pulled me close instead of pushing me away.
“You can’t tell anyone.” he said as he took a step back from me and looked into my eyes.
“Like anyone would even believe me” I was trying to be cocky, but it was also true. Nobody would believe that I saw a guy lift a cup with his own mind. Would you believe it if anyone told you?
“True…” his voice was so smooth. I could probably listen to it all day long, and night. “...but seriously, please don’t.” he was almost begging me while giving me those puppy dog eyes, damn, he was so cute.
“Okay, let’s make a deal,” I said, and I walked up to him again. “I won’t tell anyone if you promise to explain everything to me later.” I was finally so close to knowing what was going on. I could feel some weird energy between us, he was so close to me, I really wanted to kiss him, and in a way, I felt like he wanted to kiss me too. Maybe it was my imagination, but something was definitely going on.
“Deal.” he agreed.
Chapter Five
I knew I was not going on a date, but I put some effort into actually doing my make-up properly. Lipstick, eyeshadow, mascara, all of it. I think I actually looked pretty good that day considering I was tired and I was too nervous to sleep that night.
Troy had sent me a message to meet him in his lab, and I had, of course, agreed. It was time for me to finally find out what on Earth had been going on. I was excited to figure out the truth, but I was also excited about spending time with him. I didn’t know him well, but the fact that he was always in my head was enough for me to know that I was completely into him.
“Take some pepper spray,” Amelie joked while finishing up with straightening my hair. I usually had slightly curly brown hair, and when I straightened it, I looked like a completely different person.
“Not funny, he’s not dangerous” I knew she was joking, but I was sometimes sick of those jokes. He was a normal person, not some science weirdo. How did I know that? I didn’t. That’s just what I wanted to believe.
“Just call me if there is anything, ok?” she said and looked at me like my mom sometimes does. By this, you could tell that I rarely went on dates and when I did it was so weird for everybody that they acted like I was five years old.
This was obviously not a date, but when I told my friends about it, that is how they saw it, and I was really sick of trying to explain things, so I just went with it.
When I got to the lab, I was surprised to find out that maybe it was, in fact, a date. The door was slightly opened, so I just entered. What I saw inside surprised me - he had prepared a table with food and beverages for us. Everything was perfectly ordered and smelled fantastic.
“So, I thought that we were having this conversation anyway so we might as well make it pleasant” I definitely liked what he had just told me. If there is one thing that I am always happy to see, it’s food.
He looked better than ever. He had actually cleaned up and did not have blood all over his ears. His complexion was finally a normal color that looked perfect with his gray shirt. I could totally see the veins in his neck, which I personally found to be crazy attractive. My eyes stopped on his eyes and the way he looked at me. He didn’t mean to, but the way he was looking at me made me feel like he was telling me sweet words with his eyes, it wasn’t on purpose, it was just who he was.
“Looks great!” I said and walked toward him. I took off my jacket and got to show off how perfectly my shirt shaped my body. I couldn’t help but notice that he liked it too, his eyes were all over me.
“I didn’t know what you like so I got a variety of sandwiches that you can check out,” he said while unpacking the boxes on the table.
“I’m not picky,” I lied. I was actually very, very picky. I hated more food than I loved even though I loved food in general. I just knew that at that moment even if I hated the food I would have pretended to like it because I did not want to seem like a bitchy, picky, spoiled girl.
We both sat down and began trying out the sandwiches. Even though I wanted my answers really bad, I felt like it could wait. Luckily for me, I actually enjoyed the food, and there weren’t any dishes that made me want to puke.
Even though the food wasn’t bad, I felt a weird feeling in my stomach, and that feeling was because I was nervous to be around him. He was beautiful, and he had gotten food for me, it felt just like a date.
“So, you’re into languages, huh?” he asked while taking a sip of his coke.
“How did you know?”
“I looked you up.” he said while giving me a smile.
“Stalker…,” I joked and smiled back while putting my hair behind my ear. I hated how it would always get in my mouth when I ate. Long hair can be a pain.
“Hey, you’re the one who stalked me at the hospital. “
“I wanted to help you!” I knew he was joking, but I had to make sure.
“Relax. I know, thank you for that. I honestly don’t know what could have happened if you hadn’t found me that day, so thanks,” he looked at me, and I could tell he was genuine in thanking me.
“You’re welcome, it was nothing.”
“I heard you stayed in the hospital all night.”
Ugh.. I did not want to seem weird.
“I would have done that for anybody,” I said fast trying to make it seem all normal because to me it was.
“Well, you sure know how to make a guy feel special,” he was funny. We both laughed and went on with our meal.
“You know; I’m really enjoying this, but eventually we have to get on with the real reason for which I am here.” I was getting a little impatient. “what I saw is gonna require a really good explanation.”
“I get it. The thing is, you won’t believe me.”
“Try me,” I said as I went closer to him. I sat next to Troy and put my phone on the table. It was really uncomfortable to have it in my pocket when I was wearing skinny jeans.
We were so close to each other at that moment that I could feel his breath on me. My heartbeat sped up, and I could feel myself getting more and more nervous.
He looked at me as I sat next to him and in the next moment, he grabbed my hand. He held it, and I could feel his soft skin on mine. It felt electric… it was just his hand, but it felt like I had the whole world in mine.
I pulled aside because I felt like he was just trying to distract me.
“What are you doing?”
“It’s just… this is really hard for me,” he said, and by the way, he was looking at me, I felt like he meant it. His eyes were almost teared up, he was scared.
“You can trust me,” I said, and I put my hand back on his. I felt like he needed somebody, whatever was wrong, he shouldn’t have to go through it alone.
“I don’t know if it is safe for you to know,” his voice was shaking a bit as he was speaking. “I’ve wanted to tell someone for months, I want to tell you, I really do.”
“Then tell me,” his hand was holding mine so tight.
“Whatever I tell you, you have to promise not to tell anybody and pretend like you do not know anything about it, ok?” his eyes were begging me to agree.
“Okay. I won’t say a word.” I meant it. I could feel how bad he needed to confide in somebody and I wanted to be that somebody for him.
“I’ve been doing experiments,” he said and stood up. He went up to his computer and showed me some charts that I did not understand at all. It was more confusing than all the math courses I had ever taken.
“I don’t get it,” I wanted to make sure he knows my science knowledge is limited.
“Those experiments were me trying to develop medicine for my mother. She has cancer.”
“But, you’re just a student… How?” I didn’t want to sound like I thought that he wasn’t smart enough but if nobody has medicine by now, what are the chances of a student doing it really.
“Trust me, I had everything I needed, except somebody to test it on.” I had a feeling I knew where this was going. “So, I tested everything on me” he added.
“Oh my God…,” I exclaimed and went up to see that computer diagram like it would actually tell me something. It didn’t.
“I kept testing everything, I monitored my DNA change with the help of people in the biology lab. They didn’t know what we were doing, but they sure enjoyed the practice,” he continued while showing me some other slides.
He took a deep breath and clicked the next slide. It was a picture of many broken objects on the ground.
“This was when everything went wrong for the first time,�
� he said and looked at me as if he was checking if I was ready to run. I wasn’t going anywhere.
“I found out that I could do things I hadn’t been able to do before, but always at a cost.”
“Is that why you were unconscious?” Things were starting to make sense now.
“Yes. Most of the time when I do… things… I end up either hurt or unconscious.” I was finding this hard to believe, but it made complete sense considering all that I had seen until now.
“Then you should stop doing it,” it seemed logical to me.
“You don’t get it… if I can do this, I am so close to a breakthrough.”
“No… it hurts you, it’s bad.” I couldn’t believe he was okay with basically dying every time.
“I am close to finding a way to control it!” he went close to me and grabbed both my hands. “Imagine if I had a way to use amazing powers like this without consequences, I could do anything!” he was so persuasive with his beautiful eyes looking right at mine.
“You shouldn’t risk your life for something like this,” I insisted. “I know you want to help your mother but… let the doctors do it.” It was definitely not my place to say it, but I was sure that his mom wouldn’t approve of him doing this for her.
“Lana…” him calling my name was so damn amazing to hear. “It isn’t about that anymore, it is about what I can do. I can find a way to control it. This is both crazy and amazing, and you’re the only person I am sharing it with right now.” He held my hands, and I felt excited for a second.
It was something insane that he had just shared with me. I was still finding it hard to believe, but I had seen him lift a cup with his mind. I was there to see what he did, and now I had an explanation for it, and God was he being amazing at that moment, holding my hands, looking into my eyes and sharing the most important thing in his life with me. I felt like I was in a superhero movie, except he was quite far from being a hero – he was more of a mad scientist.
I felt so close to him at that moment. I was the only person he had right now, and I wanted him to feel like he could trust me. I didn’t usually believe in energy and all that shit, but I could tell that he and I had something special for sure. So what if I was willing to trust a feeling more than logic, I had in fact just found out that impossible things are actually possible. I felt amazing around him, I enjoyed looking at him, and he was really nice to me. He was interesting to me before I even knew what he could do. Have you ever met somebody who felt really special to you without a really good reason? That was Troy for me. I felt it more than it made sense.
The Campus Jock: A College Bad Boy Romance Page 22