บท 2: one hundred twenty-eight days before
The hot and humid air barely effected the Young twins as they pulled their stuff out of the back of Blue Citrus. What had sucked was the fact that they were on almost opposite ends of the dorms, as they'd always been.
Austin looked around the room she'd grown accustomed to. Thick white paint, green-and-white checkered linoleum flooring and furniture attached to the walls to prevent creative floor-planning. That had always bothered her.
"Let's go find the Colonel." Alaska suggested, walking into Austin's dorm room.
"He's not here." Austin replied to her sister.
"Takumi then." Alaska rolled her eyes.
"He might be." Austin agreed, heading out with her sister.
"See him?" She asked as they made their way outside.
"Why don't we wait in your room?" Austin suggested. "They'll come for cigarettes, by the very least."
Alaska nodded, leading Austin back to her dorm room. The two sat on her couch and waited.
"Life's library stayed here?" Austin asked.
"We only went home to check in and grab more of your shit. I didn't need to drag it if I weren't moving anywhere." Alaska replied.
"Neither of us were. Why don't we request to dorm with each other?" Austin asked.
"We're twins. We need separation, we've been attached our whole lives." Alaska replied, laughing at her sister.
"But have we?" Austin asked.
At that moment, the Colonel knocked, silencing Austin. Alaska had a single this year and didn't want to be with her sister? Austin didn't really care to know who her roommate was, she thought Alaska would be all for rooming together.
"Oh my God come in you short little man because I have the best story." Alaska screamed through the door.
The Colonel walked in followed by another guy, who had turned to close the door. Chip stopped him.
"After seven, you have to leave the door open if you're in a girl's room." Chip told him.
Alaska started her story. "So first day of summer, I'm in grand old Vine Station with this boy named Justin and we're at his house watching TV on the couch- and mind you, I'm already dating Jake- actually I'm still dating him, miraculously enough, but Justin is a friend of mine from when I was a kid- when we were- and so were watching TV and literally chatting about the SATs or something, and Justin puts his arms around me and I think, Oh, that's nice, we've been friends for so long and this is totally comfortable, and we're just chatting and then I'm in the middle of a sentence about analogies or something and like a hawk he reaches down and he honks my boob. HONK. Much-too-firm, two- to three-second HONK. And the first think I thought was Okay, how do I extricate this claw from my boob before it leaves permanent marks? and the second thought was God, I can't wait to tell Takumi and the Colonel."
The Colonel and Austin laughed at her story; the tall guy Chip had brought just stared at Alaska.
"Who's the guy not laughing at my very funny story?" Alaska asked.
"Yeah, did he miss the joke?" Austin added.
"Oh, right. Alaska, Austin, this is Pudge. Pudge memorizes people's last words. Pudge, this is Alaska, she got her boob honked over the summer and this is Austin, Alaska's twin." The Colonel told 'Pudge'.
Alaska walked over to him, her hand extended before moving quickly to pull his shorts down. Austin laughed from her seat on the couch.
"Those are the biggest shorts in the state of Alabama!" Alaska exclaimed, turning to her sister.
"I like them baggy." Pudge replied, pulling them back up.
"So far in our relationship, Pudge, I've seen your chicken legs entirely too often." Chip deadpanned. "So, Alaska. Sell us some cigarettes."
Austin watched as Chip talked Pudge into buying $5 cigarettes. He asked Alaska if she wanted to join them, but she turned him down.
"I have to find Takumi and tell him about The Honk." She said. "Have you seen him?"
Pudge shook his head at her.
"Austin?" Chip asked.
"Sure." She answered, standing from Alaska's couch to follow them out. "See ya, Las." She called.
"Meet ya at the lake in a few minutes." Chip added.
At the edge of the lake, just before the sandy (fake) beach, we sat in the Adirondack swing.
"Don't grab my boob." Pudge joked. Chip laughed before offering him a cigarette.
"Is it safe here?" Pudge asked.
"Not really." Chip answered, lighting the cigarette and handing it to Pudge. Austin reached into her own pocket, pulling out one of her own. She listened as Pudge inhaled. Coughed. Wheezed. Gasped for breath. Coughed again. Austin and Chip were beyond entertained.
"Smoke much?" Chip asked. "See that?"
"Oh, God." Austin mumbled.
"Yeah." Pudge answered. "What is that? A bird?"
"It's the swan." Chip answered.
"Wow. A school with a swan. Wow." Pudge replied.
"That swan is the spawn of Satan." Austin told him.
"Never get closer to it than we are now." Chip added.
"Why?" Pudge asked.
"It has some issues with people." Chip answered.
"It was abused or something. It'll rip you to pieces." Austin added.
"The Eagle put it there to keep us from walking around the lake to smoke." Chip finished.
"The Eagle?" Pudge asked.
"Mr. Starnes. Code name: the Eagle. The dean of students. Most of the teachers live on campus, and they'll all bust you. But only the Eagle lives in the dorm circle, and he sees all. He can smell a cigarette from like five miles away." Chip answered.
"Isn't his house back there?" Pudge asked, pointing to it.
Austin nodded. "Yeah, but he doesn't really go into blitzkrieg mode until classes start." Chip answered.
"God, if I get in trouble my parents will kill me." Pudge replied.
"I suspect your exaggerating. But look, you're going to get in trouble. Ninety-Nine percent of the time, your parents never have to know, though." Chip said.
"The school doesn't want your parents to think you became a fuckup here any more than your parents want you to think you're a fuckup." Austin added.
"Anyway, when you get in trouble, just don't tell on anyone. I mean, I hate the rich snots here with a fervent passion I usually reserve only for dental work and my father. But that doesn't mean I would rat them out. Pretty much the important thing is to never never never never rat." Chip finished.
"Never." Austin added, taking another puff of her cigarette.
"Okay." Pudge agreed.
"All right, Pudge. We have reached the point in the evening when I'm obliged to go and find my girlfriend. So give me a few of those cigarettes you'll never smoke anyway, and I'll see you later." The Colonel said.
"And I am going to find Takumi." Austin announced. "You'll be okay here, Pudge?"
"Yeah." Pudge answered.
Austin walked out with Chip, walking down the familiar path before they had to split up.
"You and Takumi?" Chip asked. "That a thing yet?"
Austin shook her head. "No."
"I'll get on him about it." Chip promised before heading in the opposite direction of Austin.
สถานะพลังงานรายสัปดาห์
-- การจัดอันดับด้วยพลัง 
-- หินพลัง