University Story - Chapter 1
Chapter 1: The Street that lies ahead
Everything looked bigger here. The buildings, the books, the people, the sky above them all; University looked nothing like high school. Alex was thrilled to be there, as he walked up and down the main street, marveling at what was around him. He had gone through so much stress last year, between university prep, and making sure he had good grades and enough extracurricular just to get out of his old school. All that didn't matter though, now that he was there.
He really didn't need to worry all that much though. He was a bright kid, even if he found it hard to admit. Thinking back on high school now, it wasn't the stress of education that lingered in him. It seemed that he became paranoid over all aspects of his life, as the fear of just one secret had to channel its way out somehow. He was smart, athletic, and not bad-looking, but he worried about all these things, because what really terrified him needed to be his fear and his fear alone.
Alex shook those thoughts out of his head, he should be happy! His first day in a whole new world! It's natural to be nervous though, after leaving so much behind. He was one of the few kids in his high school to leave to go to university. Lots of kids either went right into working, or went to the local college. Alex had to be sure that he got out though, even if he would miss the comfort of his familiar small town. It was a tough choice to leave, but he had a yearning to be the best. This feeling didn't show itself that often though, considering how self-conscious Alex was. He didn't like standing out, and he hoped he wouldn't live like that here. He realized his reason for wanting to get away. It was for a fresh start, as his high school life was far from perfect. He liked the idea that no one knew him, and that he could be any kind of person he wanted to be! It was within this freedom that he knew he would find himself.
He walked by the main building on campus, the place where he had to register. The building looked pretty crowded, but he had heard at orientation that it was always like this. He ran up the stairs, darting past lots of upper year furs, a bit of a bounce in his step! He would be getting his schedule and his room assignment! Most schools gave out roommates to first years during the summer, to give the two time to acquaint themselves, but Duke University waited till the first day for some reason. No worries though, Alex was in too good of a mood to fret! He was about to run in line when he ran right into something big and solid. He had run into the person in front of him in the line. The guy in front of him was well over a foot higher then Alex, and built too. He was wearing a football jacket, but Alex didn't know the team. He didn't keep up with sports as much as he would like to. Alex started blushing from embarrassment. The big Wolf turned his head.
"Watch out man," He said, seemingly unfazed by what happened. He was so big, he probably barley felt Alex run into him.
"Oh...s...sorry..." Alex replied after coming to his senses. It was in vain though, as he had moved up in the line. Alex felt a little embarrassed as a few people giggled in the other lines. Alex was always doing clumsy things at bad moments. He tried to brush it off though; the larger fur didn't seem to care. Alex had to move his whole body from one side of the Wolf to the other just to see how big the line was. The name on the back of his jacket said "Keith", in big red letters. Keith took a few steps forward and started talking to the guy at the desk. He obviously knew him as they began to talk casually as the guy at the desk rummaged for Keith's papers. Alex assumed he was an upper year, and that his jersey was his new school's team.
"Dude, it's about time I saw ya here! Look at you in your jersey acting all cool already!" The large leopard said.
"I know man, I'm stoked for football! Gonna be nothing like High school," Keith replied.
"You know it wolf! Alright, I'll see ya on the field then, there is a line ya know!" the big cat joked.
"Alright, later!"
Alex stepped forward after Keith hurried off, talking to a few more guys in line before he left. Alex read the leopard's name tag, "Hello, my name is Shane". Shane was sitting down, but looked like he could be just as tall as Keith was, and easily as ripped.
"Name?" Shane asked.
"Umm, I'm Alex"
"Which Alex? There's more than one ya know," Shane joked with him, realizing Alex was clearly a first year.
"Oh, ah, Alex Mackenzie. Sorry..." Alex felt himself blush already. He felt like such a new kid, and he was still pink in the face from what had happened with Keith. It didn't help that the leopard was wearing such a tight T-Shirt...
"No worries little buddy!" Shane smiled at him, revealing his sharp white teeth, but still making Alex feel a little more comfortable. He flipped through a file folder, and pulled out Alex's papers.
"Here ya go! Enjoy! You doing any sports?"
"Dunno, maybe..." Alex was so excited to be here, he hadn't thought about anything like that.
"Well I made sure to put a sheet in there for extracurricular stuff! There's tons to do, don't get lost in the books, k dude?"
"Sure, I'll check it out," Alex felt warm knowing that someone he didn't even know could be so friendly. Maybe it was just who Shane was, but Alex enjoyed the moment where someone like Shane could talk to Alex without feeling awkward.
"See ya little buddy!" Shane waved as Alex headed out, feeling better about university!
He looked at the extra sheet Shane had given him; on it was a list of all the sports, activities, and clubs that Duke U. offered. At the top of the list was football, in slightly larger letters. He knew the school was pretty known for their team, and he laughed to himself at the thought of him playing with guys like Keith and Shane. Alex was a small Husky, no more than 5'9", with a pretty slim built. His fur was black, excluding his chest, the top of his curly tail, and the sides of his muzzle, all white as snow. Unfortunately this meant it was pretty easy to see when he blushed, which he did quite often. His fur was fairly short as well. It was just short enough to show the definition in the small amount of muscle Alex had. He was nowhere near Keith, but Alex was just as far away from being out of shape. He had played soccer a bit in high school, and it kept him pretty fit. Alex's mind trailed off to the thought of Keith's body. He was just south of seven feet, and looked rock hard. He looked like football was his life, and went to great measures to make sure he was the best. Alex remembered the faint smell of sweat and his cologne when he ran into Keith...
Alex caught himself day dreaming in the middle of the sidewalk just in time to get out of the way of a group of guys.
"Watch out kid!" A large tiger said, "Frickin first years man." The group of jocks chuckled at his comment and they walked on, looked like there were jerks in every school. No big deal though, Alex quickly forgot about the small encounter and headed down the street to his dorm building.
"Darby Hall..." Alex read the sign that hung over his new home. He walked up the steps, and went inside to see a decent sized common room. It had lots of couches, a TV, pool table, all sorts of stuff was packed into that room. There were already tons of people there, sitting around just talking. Alex walked through a door on the other end of the room that said "Stairs". His room was on the third floor of the five story building. He walked past a few people on the stairs, but didn't have the nerve to say high to anyone. A female rabbit did smile at him, but he looked away quickly, the white fur on his face turning pink. Alex got to the third floor and started walking up the hallway looking for room 21. He noticed that all the doors had little signs on them with the two people's names that would be living there. He assumed it was to avoid confusion.
His room was at the end of the hallway on the left. Alex didn't notice it though and turned down the right to the next hallway over. He must have been too struck by the view he saw to notice his room falling behind him. The hall was entirely windows on one side, with the many hallways on the other. He could see the entire campus, all the buildings he would have classes in and all the dorms that held people who could be his friend! His face beamed with the thought of having a normal life here, but he also wasn't afraid of something extraordinary happening! He hadn't been there long, but Duke seemed more and more like home.
He turned right down the next hall, his eyes were darting to the name plates on the doors, and not the numbers so when he came across one that said Alex, he took a deep breath and went inside. There was already someone in there, an otter, only slightly taller than Alex stood there. A huge smile was on his face when he saw Alex, and he moved towards him.
"Hey roomie! Names Jeff!" He stuck out his paw and Alex took it, and found a surprisingly strong grip awaiting him. The otter was probably almost 6 feet, but pretty lean. Alex could tell through Jeff's blue t-shirt that he was all muscle though, definitely an athlete.
"Hey, I'm Alex," Alex removed his hand from the otter's vice-grip. The otter looked a little confused when he heard his name, but shrugged it off.
"So which bed you want? Guess it doesn't matter though, there both just as uncomfortable!" Jeff joked. Alex was happy his roommate was so friendly.
"Well, I'll just take this one," as Alex pointed to the bed closest to him. Jeff's stuff was already on the other bed, "you didn't give me much choice." Alex joked while pointing to the otter's bags.
"Ha-ha sorry bout that!"
"It's ok," Alex put his duffle bag on his new bed, and set his papers on his desk.
"Oh, what classes you taking?" Jeff snatched the papers and found the one with his classes. "That's weird..."
"What's up?" Alex was scared he had got the wrong sheet or something.
"It's just, you're taking all first year courses..."
"Well yeah," Alex said, stunned by something he thought was obvious. "It IS my first year."
"That's so weird! They never have first years rooming with upper years," Jeff said.
"Wha-"Alex started but was cut off by the door opening. It seemed Jeff's real roommate had come in. A large Grizzly Bear stood between Alex and the door. He had a shocked look on his face. Alex remembered him as one of the jocks that pushed him off the sidewalk earlier.
"Hey, who are you?" the bear demanded from Alex. Alex's curly tail began sinking between his legs. He said he did clumsy stuff like this all the time...
"Umm, ah...sorry...wrong roo-"Alex was cut off again by another figure entering the room. It was Shane, and Alex's heart leaped a little. He remembered how nice Shane was, and he was still wearing that awfully tight shirt. Alex began to blush even more when Shane shot a confused face at Alex.
"Hey little guy, whatcha doing here?" Shane asked Alex.
"Ahh, well..." Alex started.
"This freshman is trying to take my room," the increasingly intimidating bear growled.
"Wow, calm down Zac!" Shane said to the bear, stepping farther into the room.
"I was wondering why the sign had a different name on my room, but still," Zac said
"I thought it was weird when you said your name was Alex," Jeff finally stepped forward. "Cause on my room assignment it says my roommate is named Zac Ursus."
"Ya, that's me, not you, so get out!" Zac said as he poked Alex in the chest. For just a poke, Alex found himself being pushed back.
"Alright, don't freak Zac!" Shane said as he started mediating the problem, "I recall you losing your way in your first year too!" The Bear grunted and pushed past Alex to get to his bed.
"Come on Alex, I'll make sure you get to your room," Shane stepped out of the room and Alex grabbed his stuff and quickly followed. He didn't want to be anywhere near Zac.
"Don't worry about him. He's a jerk. I've been playing football with him for a while now, so I know you just gotta give him his space," Shane said while leading Alex back down to the first hallway. Alex felt good to be away from Zac, and to be back with Shane.
"Here ya are! You must have walked right by it," Shane said with a laugh.
"Oh man, I must have spaced out...stupid moment eh?" Alex said, blushing in front of the upper year, who seemed to know so much about what can happen on your first day.
"Don't sweat it man! Happens to everyone," Shane said as he slapped Alex on the back, pushing him forward quite a bit, "I'll see ya round little guy! Good luck!"
"Th...Thanks," Alex said as he moved to his room.
He noticed the signs had been taken down off the front door. He assumed his roommate was already here, and had taken them down for one reason or another. Alex put his key in the door, and went in his room. He almost jumped right back out when he saw who was standing there unpacking. Keith was putting his clothes away, his jacket hanging on his chair, wearing a tank top, which left little to the imagination. Alex blushed like crazy to see the hot wolf in his room, but also was embarrassed as he thought of how they had un-officially met.
"Oh, it's you again," The wolf said with a smirk.
Alex was speechless. Here was the wolf that he had run into so shortly before standing right in front of him. Alex's mind wandered, as did his eyes. They moved from Keith's toned and powerful chest to the bed that lay next to him...
"Hope you're not always so quiet," Keith said, interrupting Alex's daydream, "because we're probably going to be seeing a lot more of each other...roomie."
Keith talked about it so calmly that Alex began to come back to his senses.
"How long you been here?" Keith began again.
"Long enough to get lost," Alex laughed a little, but was afraid of the idea of rooming with Keith. Keith seemed calm enough, and almost friendly. There may be jerks everywhere, but there are surprisingly just as many kind people.
"I can't believe they put me with a guy like you though," Keith grunted. Guess Alex was wrong about the kind people thing. "I thought they tried to put people together who had common interests and shit like that. Guess they made us take that personality test for nothing. Whatever just stay outta my way, ok kid?" Keith said, seemingly oblivious to the fact that they were the same age. Although looking at them, you'd easily assume Keith was in his late 20s, where Alex definitely looked younger.
"Ah...sure Keith," Alex stammered. He was beginning to regret leaving Jeff's room.
"Alright, I'm heading out. I wanna check out the campus, and find out where the gym is." Keith said while putting his jacket back on.
*SLAM* and Keith was gone.
"Great..." Alex said to himself, "I knew I should have been more specific in that personality test..."
TO BE CONTINUED...very soon :D