Chapter Six: Guide to Getting Started:

-Present Day-

Wallace sat on the floor. He still had to prepare for other things. His classes were one thing. He needed to get textbooks. Plus, Wallace needed a part-time job. On top of that, he had to look for Julia.

“Hey!” someone spoke up. Wallace lifted his head. Rocky stood over him with his drink in his hand.

“Yo!” he said. Wallace kind of waved at him.

“Mind if I join you?” he asked. The new guy shrugged. Rocky sat down next to him.

“Having fun?” he asked. Wallace shrugged.

“This is not really my thing,” he admitted. “I’m not a big party guy.” They looked at all of the people partying in the empty apartment. Wallace remembered what he needed to ask.

“Say,” he said. “I could use a little help getting set up for classes.”

“What are you taking?” Rocky asked. Wallace thought about it for a moment.

“Computer graphics,” he said. “Basic to theatre, American Literature I, and History of Film.” Rocky took a moment to think, nodding.

“Those sound like good classes,” he said. But I noticed him narrowing his eyes at me.

“What?” I asked. He leaned in close to my face.

“You don’t strike me as the art-type,” he said. “What brings you out here?” Wallace shrugged.

“I just wanted to get out of my hometown,” he said. Rocky frowned at me.

“Dude, you do not want to say that here,” he said. “You will come off looking like a fake.”

“But it’s true,” Wallace said.

“Still, don’t say that,” the other resident said. The new guy lowered his eyes.

“Okay,” he said.

“Very good,” Rocky said. “I suppose you want to know everything around campus like where to get good prices on books and stuff.”

“And to find a job,” Wallace said. The other guy grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him in.

“Gah!” Wallace shouted. Rocky flashed a huge grin at him.

“Leave it to me, buddy!” he said aloud in his ear. “I will have you becoming an art butterfly before the semester is over!” Wallace gave him a strange look.

“Art butterfly?” he asked. Rocky finished his beer.

“Yep!” he said. “You will soar high, high into the sky.” He moved his hands around like a bird in the sky.

“Pew! Pew! Pew!” Rocky said. Wallace nervously laughed.

“Um… I’m just going to go over here and get around drink,” he lied. The country boy jumped to his feet and walked over to the kitchen area. Rocky waved him off.

“Cool, man!” he shouted. Wallace made it over to the sink. He turned on the water and grabbed a cup.

“You sure that’s okay?” someone asked next to him.

“What the...?!” he asked. The country boy jumped back. A tan-skinned girl stood behind him with her cup in her hand.

“You okay?” she asked. Wallace stared her for a long moment.

“Uh… Yeah, yeah,” he said. “Where did you come from? And what did you mean about the water?”

“Oh, I came from back over there,” the girl said, pointing around the crowd behind her. “And the water can be iffy at times.”

“Iffy how?” Wallace asked.

“Oh, sometimes they don’t clean out the filter or the tank,” she said. “One time, all of the water in the building poured out brown sludge for like two weeks.”

“Oh…” he said with a grim look on his face. The girl waved him off.

“Oh, don’t worry. That happened like three years ago,” she said. She stuck out her hand.
I’m Tessa by the way. I am a sophomore and I live next door.”

“Wallace,” he said, taking her hand and shaking it. He tried to laugh so nervously. Who were these people? Tessa held eye contact the whole time as she grinned.