Within Orbit

Chapter 1

TY'S P.O.V.

Walking up to the registration tent, I gave the worker my college paperwork. "Tyler Beckham, you have a question about rooming and board?"

I was already over this. The worker staring at me like I had three heads, the look on their faces.. I could be far off better doused in snacks on the couch in my house.

I looked at the man holding my paperwork and nodded. "They assigned me to Crown Hall. This must be some mistake, I requested to be living in my brother's fraternity house."

The college student worker sighed, "Dude, haven't you heard? Housing is final."

My ass they were final. Who did this dingy, glasses wearing, bad breathed nerd think he was?

I replied with a laugh, "yeah? we'll see about that." And walked off, straight-forward into the-

"Woah there, watch out." The dean said.

Straightening up slightly, I gave him a nod, not bothering to apologize for running into the guy. "Look- I'm moving in at the Kappa Sigma house and these guys are giving me a hard time. My brother's president,"

Damn, I sounded like a whiny bitch. Watching as the dean shifted his weight, almost questioning if he should hand it to me or not. Time for a little white lie.

"My parents are alumni, wealthy lawyers now. I'd hate for them to come in and see the awful way you've treated the students—new students especially. Surely, they won't give you a good review." I shrugged.

The dean nodded and left, leaving me to find the fraternity house myself. As I walked inside, I noticed my older brother and one of his friends shotgunning beers.

"Ty, you made it!" My brother, who goes by Beck exclaimed before coming over and giving me a hug.

The other guy stood, observing and seemed a little standoffish. Can't say I haven't seen that before.

"Oh! Eli— this is my brother, Ty."

Eli gave me a nod and walked over. "Like— short for Tyler?"

I went to speak, but Beck went ahead. "Kind of. He doesn't go by that though."

Beck was right. Tyler.

I still cringe at the name. I used to, like any other kid, not care what people called me. Ty was my nickname, with an occasional 'Tyler!' if I was in deep shit. Sooner than later, I realized how much I cringed hearing my own name. 

So, Ty it was.

Eli handed me a beer, and I decided maybe this guy wasn't going to be too bad.

The boys gave me a tour of the house and helped me move in. Once that was figured out, Beck informed me that there'd be an open party tonight and a greek fest tomorrow morning. Obviously, I was down.

•

After helping Beck prepare, crowds started to pour in. It was pretty sick being at a college party. Being at home for a year instead.. maybe not the move. As I watched people drink, talk, and gyrate, I decided it was my best bet to take a quick smoke break. As I walked toward the front of the house, a body clumsily tripped into me. The girl exclaimed over the music in attempt to apologize after detaching our bodies.

Not going to lie, it took me a second to figure out what the hell she said, but I'm going to say it sounded something like..

'Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! You're so sexy! Want to-'

No way is this...

"Chance...? What are you doing here?" I asked.

Chance was a senior in high school. Eighteen. Enjoyed pageants and ice skating. More recently, she also became a big customer of mine.

Surprise, i'm a drug dealer. But i'm not crazy.

Chance smiled at me, laughing a little as she noticed who I was. "Oh my— this is so funny! You go here?!" She had to be drunk already.

Nodding my head, I glanced around to try to figure out who she belonged to.

"Ty! Look at me!" Chance took my hand, giving it a little shake. After looking to her, she gave me a pleading look, leaning close to my ear.

"I need to be restocked. Do you have anything on you?" She asked.

Without a second thought, I nodded my head and let her know I had some items in my drug sack in the car. She took my hand and walked out the front of the house. I grabbed the pills from my car as Chance stopped moving.

Furrowing my eyebrows, I looked at the girl. "What?"

"I don't have money in my pocket— can you come with me to my car?" She asked.

Now to make a sale, you have to be nice to the customer.

Chance got to the car, climbing into the passenger seat. She leaned into the dash, looking for her wallet. A breeze crept in as I checked my phone.

"Bro! The party just started and people are already so shit faced." Beck had texted me.

"Wow, really? Can't believe people are already so drunk that they're practically falling down." I replied, turning my attention to a sighing Chance. "What?"

"...I was just thinking, I could do the drugs first. Then, I could pay you."

Something about Chance, she came from a world of money. Her parents throwing her into winning pageants definitely got her somewhere, not to mention winning ice skating competitions. Therefore, I trusted that she'd pay me back. She always did.

"Fine. Tomorrow, when you're not so tipsy." I agreed, turning to head inside.

"Wait!- Ty," Chance exclaimed. "Can I just smoke in my car? It's getting cold and I don't want everyone to see."

"Sure." I said, tossing her the white packet. She looked at the packet and then to me. "There's a lot here, do you mind doing it with me?"

Luckily for her, I wasn't enjoying the party much anyway. The two of us weren't that close, but it was something to pass time, I guess. Getting into the passenger side, I watched as she opened the packet of white, setting it on top the dash board in front of us.

"Do you have a dollar?" She asked, turning her head toward me.

I pulled a twenty-dollar bill out of my pocket, rolling it out and handed it to her. Chance smiled thankfully and sniffed the powder up. She scrunched her nose up after it, coughing slightly as she handed me the bill. Easily, I snorted it.

The next thing I knew, the driver-side door was swung open and I was thrown out onto the ground. "What the-"

"Get the fuck out of my car!" The voice boomed.

Sitting up, I was very confused.

"Eli!! It's okay, he's with me!" Chance exclaimed, looking between the both of us like she was debating whose side to be on.

Eli looked at Chance disapprovingly, "You better tell me you weren't doing drugs with this creep."

"What the fuck was that? I'm not the psychopath throwing people out of cars. She wanted to live a little. Maybe you could use some." I scoffed, standing on my feet. "What do you care?"

Eli scoffed, switching his gaze from Chance to myself. He took another step closer to me as I stood. "she's my younger cousin. I'm making sure she doesn't do something stupid... and I know this is definitely a new level of insanity you dragged her into."

I glanced toward the car where Chance looked like she had seen a ghost. Her eyes were filled with tears, like she wanted to interject but felt that it would not do justice for either party. Why was she lying about it being her car in the first place?

I narrowed my eyes at Eli, giving him a shove. "She's eighteen. You're going to tell me she can't make any decision for herself?"

This was all for a stupid drug deal. Personally, I did not care to hear the rest of Eli's commentary but sadly it treaded on with a threat about her. "You get away from my cousin and keep your brain to yourself."

"Got it, next time we'll do drugs in my car." I said with a slight smirk, clearly over taking the situation seriously. Eli went to say something but I just walked away, back into the party where I could get high on my own.