"Dan?" I knocked slowly on the door of room 12. "Dan are you there?" I gave a final knock then entered the room pulling my case behind me. The space was different to the seven others I'd been too. In every room above each bed was a notice board to personalise with posters, and a small drinks shelf. But Dan's room remained the empty, lifeless layout that they'd all been found in. With just one exception. The mattress of the lower bunk bed had been pulled off and was left in the middle of the floor. 'I'll take the top bunk then...' I thought as I pulled my old Duckula duvet onto the bed.
"Yes, you take that one." Said a voice. I spun round kicking over my bag. A spindly boy stood by the window in the corner staring into space. He smiled uncertainly. "Made you jump?" He muttered.
I felt rage and humiliation trickle through my veins.
"Yes, well I prefer the normal 'Hello' and it's always useful If you answer the door of course!"I spat out bitterly. He didn't reply he just shuffled his feet.
"Duckula?" He said examining my duvet.
"Yeah; He's like a vampire Duck that's vegetarian..." I explained feeling suddenly stupid.
He looked confused.
"It's a cartoon." I muttered. Oooh- awkward. Miss Turner was right when she said this guy was a bit odd. You can see why the other lads avoid him. He looked at me like I was utterly insane. Then I decided to point out the obvious.
"Hey a vegetarian vampire duck's nothing compared to a mattress in the middle of the floor when there's a perfectly ok bed for it." I realised this was mean a bit too late. He left the window and squatted on his mattress his hands clenched.
"Yeah well; that was mean. Shall we come back to that later?" I asked annoyed with screwing up so soon. He nodded his dark brown hair flopping over his left eye his lips dark and toned.
***
It was a relief when the gong went for dinner. For the past three quarters of an hour not a word had passed through Dan's lips. I think I'd definitely upset him because as soon as the gong chimed he stormed out slamming the door behind him. I went through the possibilities in my head:
He slept on the floor for religious reasons
He was an extreme bed wetter
He sleep walked.
These were all valid reasons which would cause a reason for offence. None of them seemed likely but if reason two or three were true I'd be out of here like a shot. I followed him about 10 minutes later and entered the canteen.
