Never Be The Same - A Charlie and Nick Story

Chapter 2 - Orientation Groups

Charlie's POV

After my nap, I spent the night organizing my room. I set it up kind of similarly to at home but with a few tweaks. I added string lights to the ceiling and put up more pictures of my friends and family. That's kind of the only difference. Tao and Isaac ordered pizza and we had a movie night in the common room. I guess no one wanted to spend the night in their own room so we all slept on the floor with a film only Tao likes.

"Charlie, can I use your shower? Tao is taking too long." Isaac asks while I fluff my curls in my bathroom mirror. "Yeah, go ahead. I am just messing around." I smile and get out off the way.

I go into the kitchen and make myself some tea and grab a small slice of the leftover pizza from the fridge to eat. Today is going to be a really long day. I see we have about an hour before we need to be on campus to find our orientation groups, so I make another 2 cups of tea for Tao and Isaac. I stand at the kitchen sink and look out the window. The view isn't that great. We just overlook the campus. If we lived on the exact other side, we would be looking at the surround city which I would have preferred. I look down at the parking lot and I can't help but think back to yesterday with my Mother. Why did she have to handle it like that? I didn't yell at her or anything... I feel my hand brush over my upper arm and I have to physically force myself to grab the counter to not pull at my long sleeves. "Do you think we will be in the same orientation group?" I am broken out of my thoughts.

"Mmhm?" I say and turn around from the window. Tao is wearing loose fitting pants that have a paint splatter patter on them and a black loose fitting, maybe even silky, button up polo. "Do you think we will be separated for our orientation groups? I really hope not. I do NOT want to be away from you guys." I grab one of the tea cups and hand it to him. "I think we probably will. I think I remember seeing that we have about 200 students in our Year. So I assume there would be multiple groups... I am sorry Tao." He sips his tea slowly, staring at the liquid before speaking again. "Thats not fair! Do you think we can have an option?" His words are getting closer together, his tone getting full of concerned. I just walk over and rub my hand up and down his upper arm and shoulder.

"Is that for me?" Isaac asks as he comes into the kitchen. I hand him the cup as a response. He takes it with his open hand, the other has a book with a few chapters started. I don't recognize the cover but the colors on it pop. "We need to go grocery shopping after orientation today. That okay? We can take the school charter bus to the local store. I looked into the routes already." Isaac asks. "Sounds great to me! We have nothing in here besides this pizza." Tao says, his face in the fridge. I shrug my shoulders and nod my head. "I can't wait to have a car next year!" Isaac says and claps his hand on the back of his book.

I look at my watch and see if I have notifications on my phone. "We should probably walk to campus now. It takes about 10 minutes to get there." I suggest. Tao chugs his tea and Isaac takes one more sup before we place the cups in the dishwasher. I grab my book bag off the kitchen table chair and sling it over my shoulders.

The walk to campus is not too bad, its kind of noisy with all the cars whooshing by. I think I need my headphones whenever I walk to campus for forms. We get to campus and follow the signs to the giant field in the middle of the campus. Thankfully the campus is in a circle so you really can't get lost. The field is called "The Green" and its the place you'll see the athletes play on for fun, people will just sun bathe when the weather is nice, if there are school events they will have them here as well. It's a nice area. It's about the size of a soccer field.

We walk to the table associated with the letter of our last names and are handed a packet by very pleasant students. Their name tags say what year they are and most of them are Sophomores or Juniors. Isaac and Tao make their way to a spot on The Green that has the fewest and I shortly follow. "What group are you in?!" Tao nervously asks us. "I am in Group E." Isaac says. I rip my packet open and scan the top paper. "I am in Group C." Tao doesn't answer us so we just stare at him. "Shit. UGH!" He shouts defeated. "I am in Group A."