Very few people seemed to be paying attention to the man standing in the middle of the room, telling us about all the things that we need to do to even be considered students. He wasn’t bad, he was actually kind of funny even and he tried to make us feel comfortable and welcome. He was a middle aged guy born and raised in the US, with a bit of a patriotic mindset.
Coming from the UK I didn’t see much of a difference in culture so I didn’t have a culture shock or anything but it was still crazy weird to be there. It didn’t feel like home at all, yet it felt like the right place to be. I never felt alone thanks to my two best friends who came here a year ago, they welcomed me with open arms when I joined and showed me all the ins and outs of this place.
Everyone thought they knew what they were doing but the truth was that none of us really did. You could feel the smell of poorly made sandwiches and bottled water all over the room - they gave them out for free to all the students since we were forced to spend way too much time stuck in that room. The room wasn’t that bad - it was painted all in blue like most universities and schools. Apparently blue is supposed to calm you down constantly and lower the chances of you going crazy in class. The room wasn’t bad but the energy inside was - the first day was never easy. I could feel everyone’s fear about being here, starting a new education isn’t easy and doing it in a room where you must calmly sit in a chair and listen to people talk wasn’t making it any better. It felt kind of hostile and formal, even though they made sure to tell us a million times that there was nothing to worry about.
I looked around and enjoyed the view of so many kinds of different people. You could easily tell that they were from at least three different continents. That’s what an international program was supposed to be like. It was my first year as a master’s student in Language studies and I was both excited and slightly scared, but determined to learn a lot and finish my education...hopefully. Now, let me just tell you that I am definitely not the kind of person who likes to get in a messy situation. In no way did I intend to spend my first year in a totally new place getting into trouble and messing with things way bigger than anything that I knew - but I did. I did it without looking back even once.
The welcome to the university lecture was getting more and more boring since I thought that I had it all under control and needed nobody’s advice about anything, my friends had told me everything that I needed to know, right? My attention was everywhere but at the words that the lecturer was saying, I was thinking about what I would have for lunch, about how pretty the hair was on the girl next to me, about how cute my lecturer’s nose was, until I heard something about a student card.
“I’m sorry, could you repeat that?” I said from my seat a little embarrassed that I had to, I was normally a good student, I liked paying attention and I liked being one of the best, so having to ask him to repeat something felt slightly embarrassing.
Thankfully, he seemed to have no problem with my request so he just smiled politely and answered.
“No problem, I just mentioned that you must have gotten your student card from the International accommodation office by now.” The time stopped for a second and panic set inside my mind.
Crap! I had not done this. I panicked for a bit but then I realized it was probably ok… I mean, I could just go do it now. It was time for me to stop thinking that I knew everything and start listening. I googled it up and found out where I should go. Apparently, people who hadn’t gotten their cards could go to some address inside the university’s main building and find it in there from 3-6pm only. I was in luck - the time was 4:30pm so I had just enough time to get there and deal with it.
After the lecture I got up as fast as I could and headed that way. It didn’t seem to be far, I walked lost around the hallways a bit, found some souvenir shop and ended up buying a university t-shirt and a mug, asked a few people and eventually ended up in front of a big grey door. What was wrong with the zero signs in this school? Quite difficult to find your way around, I felt like I was in Hogwarts or something, didn’t expect it to actually take me such a long time. I was there at 5:44 which meant that I had just about 15 minutes to get it done. I opened the door and the moment I entered I realized that I was at the wrong spot. This was definitely not room number 152 even though the campus map said it should be exactly there.
The place seemed like a weird kind of laboratory that wasn’t filled with chemistry sets and weird smells. Instead, it had very few science-looking objects and quite a lot of computers and books all over. Maybe it was some kind of an IT-lab? The room was huge, looked like it could fit a whole average-sized concert audience, which is why I was surprised that it was so empty at that time. On normal days this was probably filled with people making the world better. I was never a computer geek - I was like an old person when it came to those things, but I sure appreciated having my Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram and was very grateful to the people who made things like this for us. Lucky for me, my best friend Jacob was a computer guy so any time I had a problem I could just hit him up and he would deal with it. There was nobody inside but I really needed that card. I walked forward a bit - still nothing. When I reached the end of the room I looked toward the window and right next to it on the ground I could see something which, from afar, seemed like a person.
I went forward to see if something was wrong and it sure seemed that way. A man was laying on the floor and seemed to be unconscious. I wasn’t sure what to do. In that moment it felt like my brain stopped for a second - you don’t see a man lying unconscious on the floor every day. I felt scared and my heart started beating fast. What I got in that short minute was that he was insanely beautiful. Despite seeming pale and worn out, I had never seen anybody more beautiful in my life. He had dark hair that seemed to be styled by him. When I looked closely I noticed he had some blood on his Star Wars t-shirt, I could see that his ear was bleeding earlier. Despite having dark hair, I could see by his freckles that his skin was pale and his face maybe sculpted by some kind of God.
Enough time, getting lost in the beauty of the random person lying on the floor. I grabbed my phone quickly and called an ambulance. While waiting for the ambulance I had no idea what to do. I checked for his pulse and thankfully I felt it, I tried to wake him up but it didn’t seem to work, I grabbed his hand and said that everything will be okay, maybe he could hear me, I didn’t know.
They arrived surprisingly fast and me being mesmerized by his beauty and feeling somewhat responsible for him having been the one to call an ambulance, I joined him in the ambulance and then spent my night in the waiting room at the hospital. I couldn’t get a lot of what was happening when I was in the ambulance. They pulled me aside while everyone was shouting and trying to awaken the boy. I couldn’t see exactly what they were doing to him but I know that they were trying really hard to keep him alive and it wasn’t that easy. Spending the night at the hospital was a choice, I was in no way obliged to do it. At first I was just waiting for his family to show up but nobody did, it was just me waiting. I was surprised but I figured that he may also be an international student, I knew that if I was in his spot I would have really appreciated somebody to be there and wait for me, even if it was a complete stranger, I would have appreciated the support.
Chapter 2
As a child I was very close to my grandmother. When she got sick I spent a lot of time at the hospital, I enjoyed being around her, she was always telling me stories and teaching me new things and like most grandmas - she always had candy. My grandfather was a train driver so she spent a lot of time being on trains with him, they went all over the country and she got to experience many different places, so she always had amazing stories to tell. The time I spent with her was never boring, she always entertained me and told me that if I use my imagination I never had to be bored in my life, she encouraged me to travel and one of the reasons why I went to study in the US was exactly everything that she told me about travelling and what it does for the soul. That’s why I was
used to the hospital smell, even though I lost her it reminded me of amazing moments that we had together and of all the wise things that she told me that I will always remember and pass on when possible.
This time was different. The hospital smell was making my stomach turn, I could feel the dizziness and the urge to leave as soon as possible. I couldn’t though, I felt somewhat obliged to stay and wait for this person that I didn’t even know, this beautiful human that nobody was showing up for. I found it quite strange, everybody has some family, where was his?
He was all alone and I felt like nobody should be alone in a time like this, I would have hated being alone at the hospital, I would have probably even been completely freaked out.
I was waiting and waiting for hours -nobody was telling me anything. I woke up by a loud noise, it was just the garbage truck, I had spent the whole night sleeping on an uncomfortable hospital chair, I could feel the pain in my upper back and neck, this was going to take a long time to feel better. By looking outside, I could tell that it was very early in the morning, maybe around 6am. I had to get to school for my first real day, people who don’t show up in the beginning are just bound to drop out as soon as possible, so I took the liberty of walking up to the pretty redheaded nurse at the desk.
“Hi, I’m sorry, yesterday I came in with a guy that had passed out, young, brown hair…”
“We have been waiting for somebody to look for him” she told me and started typing something with the speed of light into her computer.
“You’re free to see him, room 305” she added with a lovely smile. I saw her dimples and I could easily tell that she would break many hearts. “Oh, I’m sorry. I’m obliged to write your name if you’re going to visit him, what’s your name?” she added right after and took out some tablet to write on. The hospital here was quite modern and they seemed to have all of the newest technology at least by what I could tell, they had nice sponsors.
“Lana Wood” I answered and smiled back.
When I got to his room no sound was coming out of it so I knocked on the door but nobody answered. It was slightly cracked open so I just continued opening it. The boy was lying on the bed and he seemed unconscious. His face looked even worse than before, he was so pale you could see all his veins, it was like his face was begging for my help. I felt so much compassion for him, I felt like I wanted to help him with all that I had no matter how long it would take me.
I walked toward him and sat near the hospital bed. The room was actually really nice, everything was right in order, the window had a great view and a lot of light could come in. It was a lovely room for a hospital and the TV was also quite big, maybe too big. My eyes were grabbed by the blue hospital bracelet on his right arm. I turned his hand around and I read his name - Troy Parker. Troy was quite the handsome guy; despite being obviously sick he still looked like he just got off a photoshoot or the runway. He wasn’t that tall but he still looked handsome, he probably hadn’t shaved in a while because I could notice a slight beard forming - it suited him. I imagined that he would look great with a small beard, it really suited some guys and he was probably one of them.
His eyes were starting to open and I didn’t want to seem like a complete weirdo, so I let go of his hand and took a step back away from his bed. He was slowly waking up and I could finally see him awake for the first time. His eyes were a beautiful dark brown and he had long lashes. It is so unfair when guys have perfect long eyelashes - they don’t deserve it.
He looked at me and I felt a sharp feeling in my stomach, are those the butterflies that people talk about all the time? Was I feeling butterflies thanks to a complete stranger’s eyes being on me?
He seemed confused so I tried to calm him down as much as I could despite being a stranger who is randomly sitting next to him in a hospital room and acting like she knows him.
“Hey, you’re ok, you’re at the hospital, I found you lying on the ground in some lab, I called an ambulance, everything is okay now” I tried to be comforting.
“Who are you?” he asked and I could see the fear in his eyes. They were wandering around the room as if he was looking for something.
“I’m Lana, I’m a new master’s student, it’s my first week” I tried to explain.
“Why are you here? There are bad people coming.” He said and grabbed my hand really hard.
“What?” I had no idea what he meant.
“They will get to us eventually.” He said while holding my arm really strongly and not having the intention to let go.
He wasn’t making any sense, you could see in his eyes that he wasn’t a hundred percent okay, he was probably drugged and I felt bad for being there in that moment. He didn’t know who I was and it probably seemed scary to him. Or maybe he was just crazy or maybe he had hit his head, I was wondering whether I should call for help or not.
I could see his eyes starting to tear up and before I got the chance to call for a nurse he grabbed my hand, looked at me (I felt those butterflies again) and said “I’m so sorry, please forgive me”
“Sorry for what?” I asked as he had sparked my curiosity to a crazy amount.
He got quiet, he was just holding my hand so tight that I thought he would break it. I must admit I was scared in that second. What could he have done that is so bad that he is talking about it right now? People say that when you are unconscious you’re more honest than ever, could this have been the case?
“I’m not a bad person, I’m sorry.”
“What happened?” I insisted on knowing. I now realize that it was probably wrong to ask for information from a heavily drugged person but I couldn’t help it. I’m pretty sure you would have done the same thing.
He looked so scared I felt like I just wanted to hold him and tell him that everything was going to be okay. I was worried about him even though I didn’t even know who he was.
In that moment I saw his eyes roll and his body started shaking, he was having what seemed like a seizure. I called the nurse as soon as I could and then I was forced to go home and get ready for the beginning of my semester, I had a feeling it would be a long one.
I had no idea how much my life had changed by this one interaction with Troy, I couldn’t have known how important he would turn out to be. It’s funny how we never realize how important some strangers can turn out to be.
Chapter 3
Back to school. I was trying really hard not to think about what had happened but it was not that easy. I wanted to focus on my studies, be productive and show people how great I can be, but I was thinking about it all the time, I was worried about him. Could it be true what he told me, or was it just something random that he said because he was under the influence of drugs? I was seriously hoping that it was random because otherwise he would have a lot to deal with and I really wanted to know. The thought wasn’t leaving my head, I even had a dream about it. Every time I am really worried, excited, scared or just any strong emotion that a human can experience, I end up dreaming about it and not just once, but all the damn time.
I was in class and my lecturer kept talking about the consequences of cheating on exams. Everyone was just rolling their eyes because we knew that nobody really ever got caught cheating these days and suddenly my lecturer was Troy... my attention was suddenly drawn to him. After a few seconds I was talking with him and he leaned forward and kissed me. His lips felt amazingly soft and were a perfect match for mine, then my mother was shouting from the kitchen that food was ready… dreams are definitely weird.
Anyway, it is safe to say that I couldn’t really focus my attention on anything else and my friends were also quite sick of it, which I don’t blame them for.
“Sounds like you have a crush on the sick dude” my friend Jonas could sound a little rude sometimes but he was a great guy. He always helped me when I needed it, never even once turned his back on me.
“Don’t call him that…” I still felt like it was kind of rude even though I knew he meant no harm.
&
nbsp; “So you admit! You do have a crush” he punched my shoulder slightly.
“No, I do not! I don’t even know him, we only talked when he was unconscious so that means he doesn’t know me at all.” I explained and grabbed my books from the desk. I considered having a dramatic storm out of the room
“Are you coming to lunch with me and Amelia?” he asked. Amelia was his girlfriend and only the smartest person in the whole world. She studied Biochemistry and could solve a Rubik’s cube in seconds. I love talking with her because I always learn something new and I gotta say, for such a smart chick she is also incredibly easy on the eyes. Jonas was a lucky guy to be with her. Don’t get me wrong - Jonas is also attractive and smart with his deep sea blue eyes and Scandinavian tall body and blonde hair. But Amelia was a whole different level - she was a Goddess in all different ways you can imagine. She was also incredibly funny - any time we talked I ended up laughing at her stupid jokes, they were funny because they were often very stupid and illogical, even senseless at times.
“Yeah, I’ll be there in about half an hour, I got something to do first” what happened that day made me completely forget to actually get my card which meant that I had been accessing the buildings by asking people to please open the door for me. Luckily everyone was nice and believed that I was a student there - lucky that I looked super young for my age so there was no doubt there.
“Are you going to see the guy?” He asked and gave me a smile that made me want to hit him in the face. I felt like he was making fun of my silly crush and I really did not want to admit that I had one.
I had told them all about what had happened, I hated keeping secrets for them, I was used to telling them everything and I think that is how it should be. They wouldn’t really be my best friends if I had to keep secrets from them.
Romance: The College Bad Boy: A Young Adult Romance Page 108