Jasper dragged his last suitcase in to the dorm room and slumped against the wall, wishing he had more coffee. A nice tall cup of espresso would have dulled the pain of dragging boxes up four flights of stairs. A nice tall cup of coffee would have been a great reward. It would have made the whole rotten afternoon almost worth it.
There was no coffee in the room. There were four walls (awfully close together for a two-person room, Jasper noticed) and a small window with dirty glass that obscured the outside totally. There was a closet—already full of clothing—and two beds. One bed was already made up, and there was someone sleeping in it, underneath the blankets. The other bed was sort of hidden by piles of boxes, books, suspicious looking glass jars, old containers of food, dirty clothing, papers and some unidentifiable metal things. The whole room was in shambles.
Jasper's boxes were stacked in a corner. There were only four of them, plus the suitcase, plus a lamp and a pillow he'd brought from home. They were an insignificant dent in a room full of... Stuff.
The hall RA popped his head in briefly. He was a senior, tall and brawny who'd tried to recruit Jasper for the rugby team three times so far that afternoon. "Everything ok, kid?" he asked cheerfully.
"Uh... Is that my bed?" Jasper pointed to the mound of stuff on one side of the room.
"Yeah, looks that way. Hey, don't worry; Steve is a cool guy. Aren't you, Steve?"
There was no response at all from under the blankets on the other bed.
"See?" the RA said, grinning. He slapped Jasper on the shoulder, probably trying to be encouraging. Jasper managed not to say "oww!" out loud. He smiled back shakily and rubbed his shoulder.
"You and Steve will get along great. Don1t worry. Hey—don't forget; rugby practice starts at 6am sharp! Am I gonna see you on the field, buddy?"
"Uh..." Jasper-s smile faded. "Well, you might not see me there..."
"Fabulous! I knew you were a stand-up guy. A real sportsman. I can tell." The RA grinned again.
Jasper gave the RA a flat look of disbelief. "Really," he said. He looked at himself for a moment and considered. Girl's flared jeans. Sneakers. Tight T-shirt. Long curly hair. Under-average height and build. "Ummm... What kind of rugby players are you looking for?"
The RA burst in to laughter, which startled Jasper because he hadn't made a joke. "That's the spirit, kid! Good for you!" He slapped Jasper1s shoulder again and disappeared.
Jasper rubbed his shoulder more. It stung where he'd been hit. He wanted very much to just sit in the corner and wait for someone else to come and tell him this room assignment was a prank, and he was really on a hall for music-majors where no one ever, ever called anyone else 'buddy' or 'kid' and where his bed would be... Well, was somewhat accessible too much to ask? Apparently.
He walked over to the bed and began systematically moving things off it and creating a pile on the floor instead. When that pile got too high to be stable he started another. And another.
Halfway through the fourth pile there was a noise from under the blankets on the other bed. Jasper turned and saw his roommate1s eyes glaring at him. They were bloodshot. "Don't. Touch. My. Stuff."
Jasper froze. He forced himself in to a big smile and said cheerfully, "Hey, you're awake! You must be Steve— I'm Jasper, I just moved—I just transferred here, I'm not—It's nice to meet you, the RA said you were—"
"If you touch my stuff, I'll rip your arm off."
"—nice," Jasper finished awkwardly.
"And don't talk. You bother my sleep." Steve had a deep growly voice reminiscent of a large predator.
"Well, but..." Jasper started again. "I have to put my stuff somewhere."
"Then find somewhere else," Steve replied.
"But this is the room I was assigned to!" Jasper protested.
There was a long pause. Then Steve sat up. It was a frightening event. He was pale and skinny, with short black hair that had never been washed sticking out at random angles across his head. He had a dog collar on around his neck, and a T-shirt that said "LIMP BIZKIT RULZ." His eyes had more red than white in them; he looked sort of like a photograph taken with no flash, so that the victim1s eyes come out looking evil.
Only, it wasn't a photograph.
"Maybe you don't get it," Steve said. He reached in to a pile beside his bed and pulled out a lighter and a pack of cigarettes. He lit one and took a long drag. "I don't care who told you to move your stuff here. This is my room."
"But I—"
"I have four throwing knives in this drawer." Steve gestured to a pile of laundry which might very well have obscured a desk. Or a small animal. Or both. "If you talk again, I'm gonna throw one of them at your head. If you're lucky, I'll miss you, and just graze your face a little. But usually I'm a pretty good shot. And I'll aim for your eye."
Jasper opened his mouth. Steve frowned and took another drag on his cigarette. Jasper closed his mouth again. He edged back toward the door. Steve watched him with a long contemplative stare. Jasper started to explain about the bed, about his stuff, about the room assignment, then kind of shrugged instead. Steve reached in to a pile beside him and pulled out something that glittered in the artificial room light.
"Sorry," Jasper said finally. "I didn't mean to wake you up." Then he ducked out of the room and shut the door. There was a thud. Jasper looked back at the door and saw the tip of something metal and shiny poking through. The tip of a knife. His eyes got very wide and he half-ran down the hall to the RA's room.
The RA's door was covered in pictures torn out from old issues of Sport's Illustrated. Mostly of them were football pictures, with some baseball, some basketball, and a couple of swimsuit issue pictures. Jasper knocked on the door.
"C'mon in, buddy!"
Jasper swung the door open hesitantly. "Umm. There's a problem with my roommate," he said hesitantly.
The RA's broad face wrinkled slightly. "What?" Some of the jolly-ness had disappeared.
"Well, Steve, my roommate? He's... He's a little... He's scary."
The broad grin was instantly back. "Oh, you just have to get to know him!" he proclaimed. "Don't worry about it."
"He threw a knife at my head."
"He's joking. Steve's a funny guy."
"He threw a knife at my head."
"Isn't he a riot?"
There was a pause.
"Look, buddy," the RA said in a quiet, patronizing voice, "no one gets along instantly. Just give him a chance. Take a deep breath and try to see it his way."
"He threw a knife at my head!" Jasper yelled.
"Calm down now, buddy."
"Don't buddy me," Jasper snapped. "There has to be something you can do. Can you... Can you move me, or move him, or—what do I have to do to get reassigned? I can not live with someone who—he threw a knife at—he's not unfriendly, he's insane!" The RA took a deep breath. He was frowning. He stood up and began pacing. "Look," he said. "I'm sure everything here seems a little weird to you. You just got here; you haven't adjusted yet. But if I let every kid who doesn't immediately click with his roommate just change rooms, I'd never get anyone settled in."
"But-"
"No, I'm sorry; you tough it out, ok little soldier? I'll even make you a deal; if at the end of the month you still haven't really gotten cozy with Steve, I'll consider moving you. But you've only been here ten minutes. It's way too early for you to start asking to be transferred. That takes paperwork."
"Right," Jasper snapped. "And in order to do paperwork you have to be able to read, so I guess you're out."
"Don't make me snap you like the twig you are." The RA stopped pacing and gave Jasper a Very Dark Look. He crossed his arms over his massive chest. His unibrow scrunched together in anger. "Don't think I couldn't crush you with one of my fingers. Do you see my bicep?" He held out one arm, flexed it. "I could turn you in to applesauce with just this bicep!!"
Jasper held up his hands defensively, backing toward the door. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, ok, I'm a jerk, I'm a dumb new kid, I'm some idiot on the hall who doesn't know what's going on, I love my roommate, whatever you want me to say, ok, just don't-"
"Good. We've got that settled." The RA was smiling again, but this time there was definitely a hint of threat under it. "So I'll see you tomorrow bright and early for rugby? Good. Have a good night."
Jasper backed out the door and took off down the hall like Speedy Gonzales.
*
Felix was playing bass in a practice room when Jasper burst in. Eric was typing and Calvin was noodling on his guitar, and they all looked up, saw Jasper and collectively sighed.
"I thought you were busy moving in," Felix said.
"I was. Only then, my roommate was evil." Jasper put his hands on his hips. "Seriously. Evil."
"All roommates seem evil at first," Cal shrugged. "Don't let it worry you. I mean, I live with Eric."
"Yeah, but he-" Jasper began, and was cut off by Eric's black glare.
"Not right now, Jasper." Eric frowned. "The cast list is going up soon."
"Already?" Jasper squeaked. Then he bit his lip. "Not that I think... She hated me, and I'd hate me too, if I was her, because then I1d have thrown coffee on myself, not just her, but both of us, although I threw the coffee, even though I didn't mean to, and it's like-"
"Jasper!" Eric snapped. "Seriously. Could you stop talking for like a minute?"
Jasper looked hurt and sulked over to the other side of the room, where he hopped up on the radiator and crossed his arms. "S'not'm'fault'm'roommate's'vil," he mumbled grumpily.
"None of us are going to get good parts," Calvin predicted. "You'll see. Madame Blanche is mean that way. Why oh why do we try out year after year, only to be treated so shoddily?" He paused, and frowned. "No, seriously; someone get the authors. I think we have a serious plot breach here. How come—"
Just then, before Calvin could finish his thought, the door burst open. Lisa, Eric's younger sister came bursting in. She was out of breath and her face was pink. "List. Up. Come. See!" she gasped. Then she saw Jasper and sucked in a deep breath, smiling brightly. "You want to see this especially!" she crowed.
"Me?" Jasper asked uncertainly.
"You!" she said. She ran across the room, grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the room and down the hall at a dead run.
"That was abrupt," Felix said.
"Yeah. Almost like someone was afraid I was asking too many questions," Cal said darkly.
"Umm, dude? Paranoia? That's my shtick," Eric pointed out.
"Oh. Right. Sorry," Calvin apologized.
"Well, I am curious about what rotten parts we got," Felix said, pointedly changing the subject.
Cal just shook his head. He and Eric and Felix followed Jasper and Lisa down the hallway and downstairs to the main bulletin board by the theater. There, in big red marker was the sheet that said "Jesus Christ Superstar! Cast list:"
It was surrounded by a crowd of people, mostly oohing and aahing, a couple of girls crying and a few disgruntled looking seniors, one of whom was yelling "it's rigged! This drama department is rigged!"
Lisa dragged Jasper through the crowd and right over to the bulletin board. "Look!" she yelled. "It's me! It's me on the list! I'm Mary! I'm Mary and Eric's not Jesus! I don1t have to sing a love song to my brother!"
"Ah," Jasper said awkwardly, trying to read the rest of the list around everyone else. He finally found Eric's name, down near the bottom, listed as "citizen of Jerusalem and member of Herod's posse." Cal was listed as "Minor disciple." Felix was apparently "Roman, member of Herod's posse, citizen." Jasper looked around their names for his, and didn't see it anywhere.
"Oh. Damn," he sniffled a little, swallowing hard. "I knew she didn't like me. But..." and he pictured long afternoons, waiting for the only other students he knew to get done with rehearsal while he... Sat around? Listened to other people performing? He bit his lip.
"What are you talking about?" Lisa demanded. "You're right there." She pointed near the top of the list.
"Oh. My. God." Jasper said faintly.
"Isn't it great?" Lisa asked. "I'm so happy. No love songs to my brother! No love songs to Eric!"
By this point Eric, Felix and Cal had pushed their way forward. They looked at the list, looked at Jasper and then looked back at the list. Jasper looked very pale.
"Judas..." Felix said uncertainly.
"That's me," Jasper replied in a small voice. "But she spelled my name wrong. Maybe it's not me?"
"It's you," Eric said grimly. "I knew the coffee incident would come back and get you."
Jasper just looked vaguely stunned. "Umm... I didn't mean it?" he offered. Then he looked at them and said, a little panicky, "You aren't mad at me for getting a big part, are you? Because I didn't mean to, and if I'd realized you weren't going to—I mean, I wouldn't have tried so hard—no, I mean, you guys deserved bigger parts anyway, and I—"
"We're used to it," Felix said. "Oh. The Rock is playing Jesus?"
Jasper nodded miserably.
"I'm sorry," Felix said sincerely.
"Speak of an oily bohunk," Cal muttered. He pointed to Rock pushing his way toward the group.
"Hey Tulsi!" Rock hollered. Collectively the students standing around the cast list looked up and took a step backward. Except for Jasper, Eric, Cal and Felix, who just stood and glared.
"Yeah, what?" Jasper replied, putting his hands on his hips.
The Rock walked over to him, leaning down to sneer in his face. "You're Judas? That's funny. I'm gonna have a great time with you at rehearsal every day. You're gonna be so miserable... I'm gonna kill you. Slowly."
"That's funny, that's not how I remember JC Superstar ending," Jasper said.
"I'm gonna rewrite history," the Rock said. "I'm gonna write you right out of it." He chuckled to himself and turned away just long enough for Jasper to open his mouth and get ready to say something really nasty, and then turned back and shoved Jasper's shoulder hard enough that the smaller boy went sprawling backward.
"Hey!" Cal said. "That was totally uncalled for."
"You want some too, hippie?" Rock demanded.
"Leave him alone," Felix snapped. "Go jump of a cliff."
Jasper got back on his feet and rejoined them. "You're such a lame jerk," he said with a little sigh. "I'm gonna sing circles around you. I'm gonna make you look like the worst, most amateurish singer who's ever lived. I'm gonna make the audience cheer for your crucifixion."
The Rock snarled something incoherent and pulled back his fist. Jasper flinched out of reflex.
"Stop that!" Eric snapped at both of them. He turned to Rock. "You. Leave us alone now, or I'll-"
"What, go and get your Daddy?" Rock sneered.
"Yes."
There was a pause, as Rock considered the inarguable nature of that statement. Then he muttered something nasty to himself, gave Jasper another little shove, and stalked off.
Jasper watched him disappear around the corner and then sank to the floor. "Oh my God," he wailed. "I'm going to die! He's going to kill me! Did you hear what I said? Oh god. Murder. Destruction. Mayhem. Death!"
"It won't be that bad," Felix said.
"Really?" Jasper asked.
"Well..." Felix considered. "Probably not murder. There's always destruction and mayhem when Eric's around. So, maybe just death."
"Great. Thanks."
"I'm tired," Eric announced suddenly. "Is it almost time for bed?"
"Funny you should mention that," Felix replied. "Yeah, it is." Then he checked his watch.
"Oh come on," Cal snapped. "Let's get a little continuity, people! Even if it's obvious that you're saying something just to move on to the next scene, let's not insult everyone with editing straight out of an Ed Wood movie!"
"What?" Lisa and Jasper chorused.
"He... He checked his watch after... Never mind," Cal said grumpily. "Let's just go to bed."
"Do we have to?" Jasper asked hesitantly. "I mean... I mean, isn't there like... I don't know. Some kind of traditional Thing To Do That Doesn't Involve Going Back To My Room?"
"There is," Eric said darkly, "but it's illegal in 49 states."
"Sorry, Tennessee," Felix added.
Jasper looked frightened. "Oh," he said. "I guess... I guess I'll just go back to my room then."
"Good choice," Cal said. "Builds tension."
"Stop that!" Felix snapped. "Honestly, Cal, let a few of them go without breaking character!"
Cal looked apologetically at them. "Sorry, guys. It gets kind of addictive. Tell you what, for the rest of this scene I'll totally respect the fourth wall, ok?"
"Thank you. Now, weren't we all being heartless and sending Jasper back to his room?"
"Yes." Eric snapped his laptop shut. "Let's get to bed, guys. We need to be up early in the morning."
"Why?" Jasper asked.
Eric shook his head.
"Don't ask things like that," Felix said. "He might answer. Anyway, see you tomorrow."
"Bye." Eric said.
"G'night," Lisa said, batting her eyes, and walked away.
"Yeah, bye," Cal said. The three lads started walking off. "Wasn't that good? I didn't break the fourth wall at all there!"
"Umm... That was only twelve lines long. And you just did anyway!" Felix snapped.
"Oh. Right. Sorry."
Jasper watched them disappear and began feeling very sorry for himself again. But there was nothing to do about it but to go back upstairs. Maybe Steve would be in a better mood now. Maybe he was just grumpy when he woke up. Maybe Jasper would walk in and Steve would be totally glad to see him.
Maybe he'd already have left.
*
Jasper stopped by the cafeteria—open late on weeknights—to get a cup of coffee before he went upstairs. No matter how much he argued he couldn't get them to make him espresso or americano, so he suffered by merely having three cups of regular.
Fortified, he knocked on the door to his room. There was no reply. What am I doing? he asked himself suddenly. It's my room too. He straightened up and pushed the door open.
There was a small party going on inside. No, not a party—it just looked that way at first because there were four people in a small huddled group by Steven's bed. But the lights were turned down, and everyone was talking in quiet voices. Steven was awake—standing leaning on the wall in tight black jeans and a sleeveless black T-shirt. He didn't look much more awake than he had before, and his eyes were still three-quarters shut.
The other three people were... Well, scary. There was a girl with long, dry hair and pale, sickly skin. Her eyes were huge, but her arms were so thin you could see her veins. She was wearing black too. There was a boy who was short and wide and wearing mostly leather, who had everything pierced. And there was another kid, who would have looked remarkably normal, except his pupils were taking up his entire eyes, and his hands were shaking uncontrollably.
"Who's that?" the girl demanded, turning to Jasper.
"Some stupid kid," Steve replied.
"Your roommate!" Jasper protested. "Look... I live here too, so I-"
"He's a narc," the short kid said, growling. "You want me to break his neck?"
Jasper took a reflexive step back toward the door, then stopped and made himself stand up straighter again. "No," he said firmly. "That's not fair. It's my room. It's where I'm sleeping tonight."
"No you're not," Steven said flatly.
"Yes I am," Jasper said.
Steve reached in to a pocket and took out a knife. "Look, kid," he said with a nasty sneer and a little sigh, "you maybe don't get it, ok, I respect that you're stupid. Listen carefully; I'm doing business. I don't want you around for that. When I'm not doing business I don't want you around anyway. So next time I see your ugly face in here, I'm gonna cut it off. You get that?"
"But..." Jasper protested weakly. His resolve was weakening again, in the face of Steve and his knife and his scary friends. "Look... I have to sleep somewhere." He didn't end up sounding resolute. He ended up sounding whiny. "What am I supposed to do?"
"I don't care." Steven shrugged. "You have to the count of four to get out."
"But..."
"One. Two. Three." Steven was sharpening his knife on his thumb and his friends looked more than happy to help him pummel Jasper.
"Fine," Jasper said quickly, and backed out.
In the hallway, with a shut door between him and the Roommate from Hell, he sighed and slumped against the wall. He'd chickened out. Again. And now he had nowhere to sleep and no stuff because it was all still in the room. And no phone to call Felix or Cal or Eric.
He reconsidered that almost immediately. No phone to call Felix or Cal. But... He hesitated. They already felt like old friends, great guys he could totally rely on, but... He'd only met them that morning, and it wasn't like he'd made a perfect first impression. Showing up late at night with nowhere to stay wasn't going to ingratiate him to them. And he'd gotten a big part and they'd all gotten rotten ensemble parts. And they-
He shook his head. No. He wasn't going to impose on them further. He wandered down the hall and found the lounge at the end. It was a big square room with big windows overlooking one of the many manicured lawns surrounding the school dorms. The room was filled with overstuffed blue couches and chairs sprinkled around the room to give the students a place to study or hang out. There was no one there (who would be studying or lame enough to hang in the dorm the first week of school?) so Jasper sighed again and laid down on one of the couches. The coffee left him buzzed enough to wonder if tomorrow was going to be better or worse, but then he realized he couldn't decide if today had been good or bad or...
In a haze of comforting caffeine, Jasper fell asleep.
continue.... (back -- eplist)