The Writer

Chapter One

"Come on guys, I'm sure you can walk faster!" Halimat yelled, turning so that she could wave to the people who'd fallen behind. They groaned but made to catch up with the rest of the floor members. It was about midday, and the sun was shining brightly, making everyone have a permanent frown on their face as they squinted.

"If this is hard for you, wait till two of your lectures are on each end of the campus. Get used to walking folks," she said, making her partner, Shaun, laugh beside her. 

"Listen to her, she's saying the truth," Shaun said, smiling at Halimat who'd decided to so a mini spin before she continued leading us about campus. 

We were taking a campus tour. Other floors were doing the same, and the whole place was flooded with people in their base camp T-shirts. I didn't think the school would be this big, considering it was a school focused on one faculty, but I had been wrong. Each department seemed to have its own building, and I was sure to forget where everything was once we headed back to the residence building. 

Shaun ran up to Halimat half an hour later. She paused in her tracks, making everyone else stop since we were following her. She looked a tad ridiculous holding on to the tour sigh as well as the pamphlets she had tucked under her arm. She talked to Shaun, and after a while, they both turned to us.

"Hey, guys!" Halimat said, waving her hands in an indication that we should look towards her. We did, most of us turning our pamphlets into sun hats. "It's twelve in the afternoon, so if you want to grab lunch you can head to the student union building I showed you, there's a food court there. Alternatively, you can follow me and Shaun back to the residence building and eat at the food court there. Anyway, we should all meet back here at two PM, okay?"

Everyone started muttering to themselves, and I noticed that some people had already gotten attached to others. I always wondered how people made friends so fast. 

"Hey," I heard Ollie's voice say as a hand touched my shoulder. I turned to me met face to face with him. He smiled, looking from me, to Halimat. "We should go to the student union building together," he said before looking down at his phone. 

"To be honest I've forgotten where that is," I said, earning a small laugh from Ollie. 

"That's why google maps is a thing," he said, waving his phone in front of my face before turning. I smiled, huddling close to him as I watched him look for the directions. 

Soon, our group split up into unequal halves. one half followed Shaun and Halimat, and the other half split up as we tried to find where the student union building was again. After walking around for what seemed like ages, Ollie's GPS eventually lead us to the building. It was a red brick one, but it had an upper layer with wall-length windows that made everything going on inside visible from the outside. 

"Come on," Ollie said as he made to jug to the building. I followed him, and we both headed inside. Finding exactly were the food court was located was another hassle on its own, and when we did find it we discovered that it was crowded. 

"Oh my God," Ollie laughed, shaking his head as we looked at the lines in the food court together. "I thought only first years were back, why is it so crowded?" he asked no one in particular as he let out a short whistle. 

The food court was large, with about ten eateries attached to it, and a largish cafeteria to eat at was attached to the center. 

"I think we should find a spot to sit down first, then we can worry about actually getting food,"  I said, watching as Ollie nodded before looking around the sitting area in the food court. 

"That sounds like a plan. I can keep our seats while you wait in line," he said, making me nod in agreement. He told me his order, before heading into the crowd of seats, tables, and people while I attempted to join the huge line at one of the many eateries positioned in the court.

I waited in line while going through my social media on my phone. I had two of my journals stuffed into the male sling bag I was carrying with me. The line moved like once every ten minutes, and at the rate, it was going I wasn't too sure we'd be back at the meetup spot by two in the afternoon. I sighed, looking up when the line moved again before putting my phone away. The crowd was making the space stuffy, and I began to regret not heading back to the residence to eat. Sure, there weren't enough options to choose from there, but at least I knew I'd be eating now instead of waiting in line. 

"Xander?" The voice made me freeze as I looked away from the menu displayed on top of the eatery's stand to looked at who'd called my name. I felt my heart rate increase when I saw who it was. I was right in front of me in the line, and I hadn't noticed. 

Maxwell. 

He was staring at me with what seemed like a mix of interest and confusion. I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. The sight of him sort of blew my mind away. It seemed like he'd let his ginger hair to grow a little longer, so it was now sitting on his shoulders instead of chopped around his neck in messy curls. He chuckled a little, his brown eyes shining as he shook his head. 

"You're still as quiet as ever," he said before looking away from me. I found my face heating up, but I couldn't say anything — I never could say anything, and it was both frustrating and embarrassing. Most people read silence from other people as snobbishness, or fear, and I couldn't help wondering if Maxwell thought about me in any of those ways.

I stood behind him until he got to order and left, and it was only then that my heart beat slowed down. I ordered my food and Ollie's before heading to the two-person table he'd reserve for us.

"Hey, you don't look too good, did something happen?" he asked, frowning a bit at me when I passed him his food on the cafeteria's black tray. 

I shook my head as I began to dig into my food. "Nothing really, the line was long and it was a bit crowded," I said in reply, making Ollie nod in understanding as he began to eat his food. It was true to an extent. The place was crowded, and the noise people were making coupled with the smell of all sorts of food made me a bit queasy. 

My mind started to calm down a bit as I ate. I knew Maxwell would be at this school, and I wondered why was I so shocked at seeing him. I hadn't been surprised per say, just shocked that I'd run into him so soon. The fact that he was already around meant he was probably living on campus, and maybe even in the first year residential building it was in since that was the most common option for first-year students. 

"Ollie."

"Hmm?"

"Can you remember where the center for writers, and where the music building was?" I asked, making him shake his head. 

"No, but I could check it on the school map now," he said, picking up his phone that he'd placed on the center table before going through it. 

"They're just a street's walk from each other. Do you want to go there?" he asked, making me shake my head as I felt my cheeks warm up even more. Ollie must be confused as to why I was asking, or why I was blushing even, but I guess he'll just have to get used to me being a mess, and overly emotional

"Oh, thanks,"I said, picking up my fork again to continue eating. 

"Was there a reason why you asked?" he questioned me, making me look up from my food to him. He had a frown on his face, and the all black clothing and accessories he was wearing sort of suited his glum look.

"Yeah, sort of," I admitted, picking at my food as I looked away from him. "There's someone from my high school who's in the music program here."

"I see," Ollie said. It was obvious he wanted to ask more questions, but he didn't say anything after that and I was thankful. 

"Are you going to the club convention tomorrow?" Ollie asked, making me look up at him. The club convention was the optional activity on our base camp schedule, and it didn't seem most people were planning to go tomorrow since club sign-ups were opening throughout the first two weeks of the university's new semester. 

I nodded. "Yeah, I want to see if they have any writing groups, you?"

"I want to see if they have a dance club or something, and maybe a GSA or just an LGBT+ group. I'm trying to transfer my medicals over to the hospital here, and I need all the help I can get," Ollie said, making me nod at him.

When we were done eating we texted Halimat that we'd be there a bit late before searching for the exact spot she and Shaun had asked us to return to after lunch.

We found it soon after, and were a bit surprised to find out that we were even back a bit early. It seemed most people were still out eating. 

"Where's everyone?" I asked, looking around. 

"Some got lost, and some are still eating," Halimat said with a sigh, making Shaun laugh beside her. "It might sound funny now, Shaun, but from what I'm seeing we might have to look for the lost ones."

Halimat and Shaun started talking to each other, leaving everyone else to their own devices. Most people went on their phones. Ollie sat on the sidewalk, and I joined him soon after as we waited for our other floor members to get back. Eventually, when the group was whole again Shaun and Halimat led us to the quad where we were going to receive a welcome speech from the vice chancellor. 

The rest of the day went by, but my mind was still on Maxwell, and just knowing that he was wandering about the school as well made me feel both happy and a bit uneasy.