Justin was sketching in the margins of a notebook when the door opened and Darren walked back into the room. He didn’t say hi, he didn’t even look up from his notebook, but the next thing he knew, a Styrofoam bowl of vanilla ice cream with blue sprinkles was being pushed under his nose.
“I thought you might like some,” Darren said, sticking a plastic spoon in one of the vanilla scoops. “Just because you’re antisocial, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get anything to eat.”
“I’m not hungry,” Justin muttered, pushing the bowl across the plastic green mattress.
“Oh, please. College guys never refuse junk food. What’s wrong with you?”
Justin chose not to answer him.
”Just eat the damn ice cream,” Darren went on. “And try not to be so depressing. Hey, what are you here for anyway. Do you sing?”
Justin shook his head. “I took a picture in high school and apparently it won some huge award. They enrolled me in photography classes, and I won some more awards. This school gave me a scholarship. My mom made me come,” he said, glancing up at Darren as quickly as he could.
The expression on Darren’s face was awe. “Wow,” he mumbled. “That’s the most I’ve heard you say so far. And you’re telling me that you’re at one of the most prestigious art schools in the country on a full scholarship and you don’t even want to be here?”
“Isn’t that what I just said?”
“So where are your sheets? And your blankets? Don’t you have a computer?”
“This is all I have,” Justin replied. “Would you leave it alone?”
“You’re just going to sleep on that bare mattress? Are you kidding me?”
Justin looked up to glare at him. “What the fuck do you want me to do? I told you, already. I don’t have any.”
Darren almost looked offended. “You don’t have to swear at me,” he said. “I have some extra sheets that you can borrow. And I brought a blanket for the futon.” He pointed over the beige couch in front of the tall windows at the end of the room. “You can’t sleep without sheets.”
“Why not?” Justin wanted to know.
“It gets cold at night,” Darren reasoned.
“In late August? I don’t think so. I’ll get a job, and I’ll buy my own stuff when I can afford to. It’s not a big deal.
Later that night while he was outside smoking a cigarette, Justin caught sight of a few guys coming down the sidewalk and approaching him. All three of them were lit up as well. Immediately, they approached him.
"Hey," the guy in the front said, adjusting his baseball cap. "You a freshmen?"
Justin nodded.
"I'm Carl. This is Jim and that's Brian," he went on. "We're sophomores. What's your name?"
"Justin," Justin replied. "You want something?"
"Whoa," Carl said as he held up his hands. "Take it easy. We just wanted to know if you wanted to come to a party our friend is throwing. Free beer."
Justin perked up at those last two words. Back at home, his mother had threatened to put him into treatment if he continued to drink, but with her gone, it really didn't matter, did it? "Sure," he said, falling into step with them. "I'm up for a night of partying."
Justin stumbled into his room around three o'clock the next morning. His head felt extra heavy and since he'd only had three drinks, he wondered why. He hadn't even felt this bad the first time he'd ever gotten drunk. Something wasn't right.
He tripped over something in the middle of the floor, and Darren sat straight up in his bed at the noise.
"Where have you been? Don't you know that orientation starts at eight in the morning?"
Justin waved his hand at him. "And who says I'm going to orientation?"
Darren flicked on a light by his bed, and Justin noticed his eyes widening in shock. "You look terrible," Darren said. "Are you sick?"
Justin sat down on the corner of his bed for fear that if he didn't, he'd pass out. "What the hell," he mumbled as his hand met with soft cloth instead of shiny plastic. "I thought I told you I didn't want to borrow your sheets!"
"For Christ's sake," Darren exclaimed. "Lie down before you fall over."
Justin hadn't realized he looked as bad as Darren apparently thought he did. "I'm fine," he insisted. "All I had were a couple of beers, and I'm not even drunk."
"You look drunk."
Something was definitely wrong. The room seemed to be getting darker and darker, and every time, Darren opened his mouth to say something, it sounded as if his voice kept cutting off between words. The sounds kept getting closer and closer together until all he heard was a loud, continuous buzzing sound. Suddenly, he knew what was wrong. He'd heard about this before from some of the guys back home. Upper classmen that liked to mess with the new freshmen... he'd been drugged.
He didn't know what they'd put in his drinks, but it was unlike anything he'd ever tried before. His heart rate quickened and he clasped his hands over his ears. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Darren stand up.
"He went to some sort of a party last night... said he only had a few drinks, but obviously, it was more than that."
"You say he just passed out?"
"Yeah, it was really weird. I've never seen anyone's face whiter. His eyes just rolled back in his head and fell over."
Justin rubbed his eyes and looked around. Darren was standing over him... and so was a woman who looked to be about forty years old. "What the hell?" he mumbled. The second he went to sit up, blood rushed to his head, and it hurt so badly, that he was forced to lie back down.
"He's awake."
"Lie down."
Justin felt hands on his shoulders, pushing him flat to the bed. He groaned as he pressed his fingers onto his eyelids. Someone had rudely turned all the lights on.
"Tell me how you feel," the woman demanded.
"Annoyed!" Justin told her. "And what the hell, Darren?"
"Does your stomach hurt?" the woman went on. "How about your head? How much did you drink last night?"
"Who are you?" Justin wanted to know.
"I'm a nurse. Your roommate called and said you'd passed out. He was worried."
This time, Justin sat up despite the pain and looked straight at Darren. "You TOLD on me?!"
"I was worried!" Darren exclaimed.
Justin covered his ears at the level of Darren's voice.
"Sorry! You said you only had three drinks, but then why would you fall over like that? I thought you were dying or something!"
"I'm obviously not dying," Justin insisted, and then turned to the nurse. "And I'm fine, so you can leave. What time is it anyway?"
"Five in the morning," Darren mumbled.
Justin fell back to the bed and closed his eyes. "Ugh..." He opened them back up when he felt someone wrapping their fingers around his wrist. It was the nurse, and she had a needle in her hand. Terrified, he pulled away from her. "Just what do you think you're doing?"
"It seems to me that you've been drugged. Now, if you'd let me take some of your blood, I can take it back to the lab and--"
"No," Justin said sternly. "You don't understand. If my mom finds out that I have drugs in my system... on purpose or not, she's going to send me to rehab. And I'm not going there."
"I can't force you to, but for the safety of yourself and other students, I must suggest that you comply. This could have happened to other students as well. Do you want whoever is responsible to get away with it?"
"It doesn't matter," he told her. "Nothing like that is going on my medical record. I can't go to rehab. I'd rather be here."
Both Justin and Darren watched as the nurse packed up her things and walked to the door.
"Thanks for coming anyway," Darren said as she went to leave.
She turned around. "Not a problem. And Justin," she said, looking him right in the eyes. "Be careful next time you go out. Trust me when I say that those parties can be really dangerous. You wouldn't believe the things I've dealt with."
Justin stared at the door after she'd gone. "Thanks a lot, asshole," he told Darren. "I could have gotten expelled."
"Not if you were dead," Darren muttered. "Hey... were you telling the truth when you said you only had a few drinks? You didn't take... anything else, did you?"
"I swear I only had three. I don't know what happened." Justin closed his eyes and pulled the blanket from Darren's futon over his shoulders. "Can you turn out the lights? My head is killing me."
The lights went out, and Justin heard Darren getting into bed.
"Hey, Justin."
"What."
"Do you want me to wake you up around seven thirty for orientation?"
"Are you kidding me?"
"Never mind..." Darren sighed.
Darren stared at his sleeping roommate from across the room. Whatever was bothering him, it wasn't something small, and Darren wondered what kind of life he'd led to make him behave in such a way.
Chapter 4
Metamorphosis
Justin Fiction
I'll Never Stop {Fiction}
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