The Institution

Chapter 9: Richard the Lionheart

Arthur and I got dinner for the first time together at Commons a few days later. It was strange, to say the least, to be eating in the dining hall with somebody who wasn't yelling at me or calling me names. Well, I suppose there was a little name calling.

"Hurry up, you idiot, I haven't got all day," said Arthur as he tapped his foot. He had already gotten his burrito from the burrito station. Arthur has very little patience, but it really couldn't be helped this time; sometimes my O.C.D. kicks in and I need to make sure I have an even number of meats, vegetables, and carbs. I calmly served myself three more beans.

Commons was really crowded today. We walked about three laps around the room before we found a free table at the back and sat down to eat. We didn't say much; Arthur was too busy stuffing the burrito into his mouth to be able to form words and I was having difficulty thinking of a proper topic of conversation that Arthur wouldn't think was stupid or weird.

I was just digging into my meat casserole when there was a loud shout to our left; I looked around. One of Arthur's football teammates had entered the room and spotted Arthur.

"McCorvey!"

Arthur stood halfway up from his chair and fist bumped the teammate. With an unpleasant jolt in the pit of my stomach I realized that I recognized him- it was the same guy who had slipped his arm around Freya's shoulders at the party. Under the florescent lights of Commons I could see now that he had mousy brown hair and dark eyes- so dark they were almost black, like deep tunnels. He was also really tall; I had to crane my neck to see his face.

"What's up, man?" said the guy. "I didn't see you at practice yesterday."

I cast Arthur a surprised glance. I didn't know he'd skipped football practice.

"I had a pass from Coach," Arthur explained. "I had a big exam today and I needed to study."

"Ah," said the guy knowingly. "The good ol' exam excuse. Don't worry, I won't tell him the truth." He winked at Arthur and smirked. There was something about the expression on his face that I didn't like. I found myself wishing that he would go away.

"The truth?" said Arthur.

"Weren't you out last night? Thirsty Thursday? I thought a bunch of the guys went."

"Oh," said Arthur. "Yeah, I totally was."

I ducked my head and took a large bite of my casserole, and proceeded to choke on the rice. Arthur gave me an angry thump on the back. The guy turned his gaze to me and his eyes narrowed.

"And who are you?" he asked coldly.

I tried to introduce myself but I was still out of air, and only succeeded in hacking up some more rice.

"This is my roommate Ethan," said Arthur grudgingly. "Ethan, this is Luke Wellington."

Luke gave me a look that spoke volumes in and of itself; I've been on the receiving end of the same look from Austin the bully more times than I can count. It's the kind of expression that suggests I might have rolled in something dirty and was stinking up the room.

I decided then that I really, really didn't like Luke Wellington.

"It's nice to meet you," said Luke, but I could tell that he most certainly did not find it nice to meet me. I nodded my head in response, if only to be polite. Then he turned back to Arthur and asked, as if I wasn't sitting right there next to him, "You busy this weekend? Schaeffer and Matthews are coming over for a beer pong tourney. And AGD is having a highlighter party tomorrow night- Mackenzie Dobbs' house, you know, that hot brunette chick with the tramp stamp? She works at Hooters? She was all over you last weekend-"