“Do You Have To Know Everyone On Campus?”
It is Tuesday morning at 8:00 a.m. The alarm is going off and Jairus is up. He doesn’t have class until noon, but his mother told him to get up in the morning and go have breakfast. Being the mama’s boy he is, he listens. He gets into the shower for about twenty minutes and makes it to the caf by about 9:30 a.m. Today is his light day of class; he only has two classes on Tuesday and Thursday. He still doesn’t know that many people, so he eats breakfast alone. He enjoys the food and as he is leaving sees someone walking ahead of him that he assumes is from the same general area as himself, or as he puts it “from the area.” His first thought is to keep to himself; he doesn’t know him and can’t just walk up to him and start talking. As Jairus passes the stranger he hears someone say with a strong accent “You from PG or D.C.?” Jairus turns and looks, then replies, “I’m from Southeast. What’s up, I’m Jairus. You?” “My name is Ducron but you can call me Duc. I’m originally from Northwest but I stay in Maryland,” answers the stranger. Duc has a caramel brown complexion, is a clean-cut young man standing about 4 inches shorter then Jairus at 5’7,” and looked a bit more put together then most of the lost freshmen wandering alone around campus. Even though he is on the shorter side in height he lacks nothing in confidence and is as extraverted as anyone you will meet. They talk briefly, joking about how different their new environment is, then begin walking in the same direction for a while and decide to sit in front of the bookstore and chill for a while. It is only about 10:30 a.m. and neither of them has class earlier than noon. They talk about what they have in common, both being from the metropolitan area, both being freshmen and both being engineering majors. Jairus is beginning to feel like everyone he meets is an engineering major at this point. Their conversation starts off as mostly swapping stories about where they frequent back home trying to find things they have in common. Then they speak of what they think of their new school and new home in Atlanta. Duc stays in the freshmen dorm and talks about how most of the guys in his dorm look lost. Jairus talks about how most of the people in his dorm look drunk or high. They talk about how funny everyone who isn’t “from home” dresses and how boring it has been at the school so far. And Duc talks about the women...a lot. It gets close to noon and the fellas part ways and make plans to hook up later at dinner where Duc would introduce Jairus to more people from D.C. and Maryland, or as he put it “from home.”
Jairus’ first class is Health class, which is a freshman requirement. He walks into the class directly in front of his teacher but because his teacher is so young, he doesn’t realize it. The teacher’s name is Mr. Carter, and he starts the class with an introduction of himself. He tells the students that he doesn’t believe in giving out D’s and F’s and that he is there to teach and not fail. Mr. Carter says, “I believe that teachers who pride themselves on failing the most students are really failing themselves.” The students in the class like him already. He explains that his class is a very liberal class and that they will cover a lot of topics that people may feel strongly about. “If you can’t stand to hear a little cursing you need to get the hell outta my class,” says Mr. Carter. He feels like any student should feel comfortable coming to him if they need someone to listen to or help them through their problems. He has each of the students stand up and introduce himself then he gives them a brief overview of what he’ll do next class and lets them go.
Jairus goes back to his room to meet up with Nat and they go to lunch. As they are having lunch Jairus tells Nat about the class with Mr. Carter and asks him if he has had his class. Nat has nothing but praise for the class and especially for the teacher. Saying that Mr. Carter is the first teacher that will actually make you think about things or talk about topics you may usually keep to yourself. Mr. Carter is known for caring about your mental and social health as well as your physical. They sit around a little longer in the caf and Nat spots Tina having lunch as they are leaving out. They go over and Nat says, “Grandpa always said that when you keep running into someone it means they have something for you.” “I have already seen what you have to order, Nat” Tina quickly responds stopping him. In the brief awkward moment of silence Jairus rushes off to his next class as Nat shakes it off and slowly makes his way to the dorm room. After his second class of the day Jairus goes back to his room to relax for a while. While he’s in his room Jairus gets a call from his mother and she asks him about his first day of class. Does he like all of his teachers? Did he meet any new people or make any friends? Is his roommate okay? Are there any pretty girls? That’s when the conversation goes bad because Tania comes up in the conversation again. “You know I can’t stand that trifling little girl. I don’t see why you waste your time anyway. You can’t trust her. Her fast tail don’t do nothing but run around the streets,” says Bernice. Jairus replies, “Why do you always have something bad to say about Tania? I’ve been with her for over a year. It's about time to let it go, Ma. It’s not changing the way I feel about her.” He pauses and hears only silence. He knows it means his mother has nothing positive to say so he says, “I gotta go. I’m supposed to meet my friend at 7:30. I’ll talk to you later. Love you.” He hangs up the phone and heads to the cafeteria to meet with Duc. On his way there he passes a group of guys outside smoking, giving everyone who passes by dirty looks. As Jairus walks by the group of guys he hears one of them mumble something about people from D.C. thinking they’re hard. He ignores it and continues to the caf thinking to himself, I see why everyone from home sticks together.
When he gets to the caf he sees Duc and three other people. “What’s up Jairus. This is Rob, Paul and my roommate Mike. Everybody, this is my man Jairus,” says Duc. Jairus instantly notices how Rob and Paul seem to scream “D.C. area” with everything about them from the accents they speak with to the clothes they wear. Rob has a very dark complexion and Paul is more of a peanut butter complexion, but otherwise they looked to be copies of each other in the way they carry themselves, dress, and even their slim build and height between 6’ foot to 6’2.” Mike on the other hand is much more reserved than his three companions and if not for being Duc’s roommate he probably wouldn’t end up with this group. He has a much stronger southern accent and different way of dressing but with broad shoulders and just over a 6-foot stature he definitely didn’t seem soft or weak amongst the group. He is actually built very similar to Jairus with a chocolate brown complexion although the facial features are much different and Jairus being slightly shorter. They go into the caf and wait in line to get food. While in line they compare majors and talk about being from D.C. or Maryland. Except Mike that is; he is from Atlanta. They compare stories about some of the women they’ve seen since they got to the school and talk about some of the girls they‘re seeing at the moment. During the conversation Lisa walks by and Duc and Paul begin to comment on how good she looks, and Mike makes the comment “That’s one of the finest girls I’ve seen yet. Somebody is gonna snatch her ass up quick.” ”I met her the other day” Jairus says. Instantly they all turn their heads and look at him waiting for something more before Duc says, “And what happened?”
“We talked. She cool. But I got a girl back home.” Jairus replies. Which is met with trash talk from everyone about him being scared to get her number. All except for Mike, who is more inclined to mind his own business. Then they make their way to the first open table they see. As they start to sit down about three fraternity brothers approach them and tell them they can’t sit at the table because it’s for the frat. Rob and Paul then begin to tell them where they can take their frat and what to do with it when they get there. The argument becomes loud, and more frat brothers approach the group of guys to join in. This doesn’t intimidate Rob or Paul at all because Rob is the type who doesn’t like to back down, the kind to get everyone else into a fight for what he believes. Paul just stands up glaring at their confronters gritting his teeth without saying a word. Clearly, they don’t intimidate him, and he looks ready to prove it. Their personalities go hand and hand with each other, always looking for or accidentally finding trouble. The best type of guys to have your back and the worst type to take out in public. As the cursing and yelling gets louder, Mike and Jairus just sit and wait for something to happen. Neither of them is the type to start a fight or the type to run away from a problem. Duc is the only one in the group trying to play mediator, but he can barely get a word in over all the cursing and yelling to calm down Rob or Paul. “They probably wouldn’t listen to you anyway,” says Mike.
The commotion calls attention to the cafeteria director who quickly comes and puts an end to the argument before it becomes more serious. His small amount of authority and the threat of losing caf access is all it takes. Rob got his table and the frat brothers got to keep their label as being the big men on campus. The fellas laugh and talk about their classes and as they eat, they notice many people looking at them in amazement. Nat comes up to the table and introduces himself as Jairus’ roommate and then explains how the frat does the same thing to freshmen every year and not one person ever stands up for himself or herself. He tells the guys they will make a name for themselves quickly if they keep making scenes like that and drops some deep quote about the changing of the guard that goes over everyone’s head. He talks a little more, telling Mike that he reminds him of someone, then leaves to continue his dinner. As he walks away, Jairus notices the group of guys that tried to mess with him with the comment about people from D.C. He tells his friends about it and Mike says he knows one of them. Mike says “I can’t say anything about New Yorkers as a whole but that muthafucka thinks he is the shit. I guess he thinks we are all country once you get below Jersey.” Duc replies, “That shit ain’t even worth worrying about unless they say somethin’ to you directly. Otherwise, fuck it!” Paul makes the comment “Them bamas ain’t trying to see me anyway, young. I really don’t think they want it.” The other fellas laugh, agree with the comments made and drop the subject. A little while later Lisa approaches the table and introduces herself to everyone. Rob immediately tries to lay on some charm and Lisa smiles, but she came over for someone else. She jokingly calls Jairus out saying, “I never would have guessed you were a troublemaker” as she flirtatiously batts her eyes “You know we like bad boys. Now I see why you don’t talk much. You don’t have to.”
Trying to mask his nerves as jokes he replies, “In that case I wish it was me. That’s Paul trying to get kicked out of school.” They laugh and he flirts with her a little more and they talk a little about class and realize that they have the same engineering major and some classes together. They end the discussion, and she leaves with her girlfriends. Once she’s gone Duc immediately says “Oh I guess we forgot all about your girl back home huh? And you still ain’t get the number!” He gets a laugh from everyone else who all claim she is waiting for him to ask, and he just sat there. “What the hell is wrong with you?” asks Paul. Jairus then goes back into his routine about not messing with anyone at school because he had a girl at home and the others just laugh. Rob says, “All these women on this campus and you’re worried about a girl all the way back home. Nigga we in Atlanta, let it go.” Mike seems to be the only one in the group that didn’t really give him a hard time about it. Of course, he got a few good laughs at the jokes, but he made a point to state that he respects what Jairus is trying to do with his long-distance relationship. Jairus appreciates that about Mike and that endears him to Mike more than Paul and Rob.
The guys walk out of the caf and it is dark outside. Along the main street through the campus all you can see are cars and people standing along the sidewalks. They begin to walk a little then the group splits. Paul and Rob go off into the shadows to smoke a blunt and Duc, Jairus and Mike go back to Duc and Mike’s room to play video games. As the three of them play video games they talk more about the situation in the caf and realize how Rob really started the argument. They talk a little more about some women they just met or want to meet, and they talk about their classes tomorrow. They realize that the three of them have the same English class and Duc and Jairus have the same pre-engineering class. It is beginning to get late so Jairus says goodbye to his new friends and makes his way back to his dorm room where he gets ready for his next day of class. Nat comes into the room about two hours after Jairus. He doesn’t make a fuss over the first day of classes like Jairus does. Jairus assumes it’s because he has already done it so many times before. They begin to talk, and Nat brings up Mr. Carter again. Nat tells him when he had Mr. Carter also and how he is always there for you when you need him. Nat says, “Somehow that dude just always knows what’s going on with the students and will know your dirt personally if you get tight with him. Don’t think he won’t call you out either. The boy got connections.” Jairus then tells Nat how he ran into Lisa again but was surprised this time because she came and talked to him for a while. And once again the jokes about Jairus being scared begin. Nat says to him, “Oh so you excited to talk to girls now? No disrespect to the high school girlfriend though,” in a sarcastic tone. Jairus just laughs it off and changes the subject, making sure he knows how to get to all his classes and talking about everything else Nat felt like preaching at the time. Jairus is glad to feel like he and Nat will actually be friends instead of just roommates. Once they get done with the conversation Jairus sets his alarm and goes to sleep.
Jairus wakes up at 8:00 a.m. in the morning on Wednesday but today he decides to skip the cafeteria. He couldn’t force himself to wake up any earlier. His first class is at 9:00 a.m., and it is one of his classes for his major. He gets ready, and then heads out for his walk across campus. On his way he sees Mike talking to some people from Atlanta, so he stops and speaks then continues his walk across campus. On his way he is thinking about what the teacher might be like and hopes most of the teachers at the college are like Mr. Carter. When he gets to his class he is in for a rude awakening. He walks into the class and the first person he notices is Lisa in the middle of the class. The teacher is already in the class, so he quickly takes a seat in the rear of the class. Immediately his teacher begins to lay down the laws of the land. He now realizes that Mr. Carter is an exception among teachers. During the explanation of the course and the syllabus, Jairus can’t help but look around to see the others that share his major. The teacher calls upon the students to introduce him or herself and they each do, starting on the right side of the class. During the introductions Jairus attention goes to a tall skinny, light skin kid sitting in the very back corner of the class. He wonders why the guy is sitting alone, not talking to anyone, staring out of a window in the class. He hears him introduce himself as Ovaughn Stover. Jairus thinks to himself that maybe he should introduce himself to Ovaughn, like Duc did with him, but he isn’t nearly as outgoing as Duc. In his attempt to go over and speak to Ovaughn, Lisa being polite as ever stops him. His attempt is then forgotten, and he leaves for his next class, which is a history class. After his history class he heads back to the engineering building for his pre-engineering class that both he and Duc have. When he arrives, he has to wade through a group of people just to speak to his friend. “Nigga, do you have to know everyone on campus,” Jairus says. Duc replies sarcastically, “No, not everybody, just most of ‘em. I’m sorry if I have charm, that’s just me.” The teacher enters and they go through the regular routine of syllabus and introductions. Jairus also sees Lisa in the front of the class and Ovaughn once again in the far rear. He can see that those who share majors have a lot of the same classes together. It’ll be a little harder for him to stay away from Lisa, especially since every time he sees her Duc has some smart comment to make about his fear with women. It pisses Jairus off when he hears these comments because he knows he doesn’t fear Lisa. The problem is he is attracted to Lisa but wants to do the right thing and stay loyal to Tania.
Jairus then points out Ovaughn to Duc thinking that he will go up to him and introduce them, but he is too busy flirting with a couple of girls in the class. Jairus finds it amusing to watch Duc at work. He just can’t stop introducing himself time and time again and running his mouth to people like he’s trying to sell something. Jairus can tell that Duc can hook people just from the first impression because everyone, male and female, seems to like him in the class. As they leave the class to go to the next, Duc stops Jairus and tries to make him speak to Lisa. The attempt fails but there are many other young men speaking to her as they pass bye.
At 11:00 a.m., Duc and Jairus arrive to an English class where Jairus once again notices Ovaughn in the very back of the class. The two of them go over and sit with Mike, who is already sitting in the classroom. The English class is the smallest class any of the three of them has had all day, and because of the size of the class the teacher allows the students to walk around and speak to each other for an introduction. Jairus has already met a few of the people from his other classes but he takes this opportunity to go over and speak to Ovaughn. “What’s up man, your name is Ovaughn, right? I’m Jairus. We had the same class before this one. I think we have the same major.”
“Yeah, I saw you in my first class this morning you were talkin’ to that cute girl in the front, right?” he says. “You the first person to come up to me since I got here. I feel like I stick out like a sore thumb.”
“I felt the same way until yesterday, but I don’t think I’m as quiet as you,” Jairus says. “If you want you can come over here wit’ me and my boys, we’re gonna hit the caf after class and you can roll if you want.” Ovaughn accepts and follows Jairus over. As they get to the seats Jairus says “fellas this is Ovaughn.” Duc immediately blurts out “What‘s up slim? You look ji’e familiar. We met already?” Jairus just shakes his head realizing Duc has been in his own world all morning. Mike then breaks the silence and says “what’s up Ovaughn? You not from D.C. too, are you?” Ovaughn grins and gives a “nah” in response, before they take their seats for class.
When class is over, the four of them leave together and head to the cafeteria. In the cafeteria they talk about many different topics. They find it hard to get Ovaughn to open up so Duc, being the biggest extravert of the group, initiates some small talk with Ovaughn asking “We know you not from D.C. or P.G. And you not from Atlanta. So where you from?” Almost as if protecting Ovaughn, Jairus jumps in and says “What is this a Biggie interview?” referencing the skit at the beginning of the song Big Poppa. That gets a laugh out of Ovaughn which ends with him murmuring “NC” as he looks at Duc to gauge for a reaction. Mike then says “someone else from da south. Thank God.” From that point on Duc does most of the talking at the table, starting all the conversations. Ovaughn is mostly quiet when he isn’t asked a direct question. Duc once again brings up women and Mike begins to tell the guys about the women in the business department, then laughs at Duc complaining about some of the “monsters” in the engineering department. Mike then tells them “I have a theory that brainy women don’t care about their looks. Apparently, women in engineering are smarter than businesswomen.” This time Ovaughn bursts into laughter.
They finish their conversations and their lunches and leave the cafeteria. Duc goes back to the engineering building for another class, Mike heads back to the dorm room because he is done for the day, and Jairus and Ovaughn head to the math building for a Calculus class they both have. On the way to class, Ovaughn asks Jairus about the girl he saw him talking to in their other class. At first this catches Jairus off guard because it is the first conversation that Ovaughn initiates. Trying to hold back his frustration from everyone asking about Lisa Jairus says “She’s just a chick I met my first day here that happens to be in my major. It’s nothing.” Ovaughn picks up on the tone change and only says “She’s cute as shit. You should try to talk to her.” He doesn’t press the issue. He also mentions he saw her looking at a flier for a gym jam on campus Friday night that they all should go to. Jairus found it interesting that Ovaughn suddenly had so much to say about the Lisa situation even though he is so tight-lipped during lunch. He’s frustrated that even his newest friend has an opinion on what he should do with Lisa, which makes him even more intent on what he’s trying to do with Tania.
They arrive at the math building and once again Lisa is in the class with Ovaughn and Jairus. Apparently, the engineering department tries to place their students into very similar schedules. Likely to build the student networking relationships and support system. This time when Jairus speaks to Lisa, he introduces her to his newly found friend Ovaughn. Without much to say, Ovaughn takes a seat in the center of the class this time instead of the rear. Jairus wonders if it is because of the new friendship or just because it is next to Lisa. The teacher starts the class before Jairus can really give it any serious thought, but he is glad to see him let his guard down some regardless of the reason. The calculus teacher is an Asian man who can speak English but is difficult to understand with certain words. Even worse than that, he begins to go deep into a lesson on the very first day. Jairus and Lisa agree this will be the hardest class of the semester. Ovaughn just shrugs his shoulders when they ask him what he thinks. Jairus notices that it seems like he’s back to being tight-lipped again in class. They finish their last class and Jairus and Ovaughn begin to walk back to the dorms. They talk about the party being held on campus and Jairus starts to wonder about Ovaughn’s enthusiasm. He even says “For someone so quiet I’m surprised you’re so excited to go out. I mean, you’re shy right?” Ovaughn, seeming a bit offended, answers “I don’t think I’m that shy. I guess I just find it kind of overwhelming here. In North Carolina, I went to a school right outside of Charlotte where there were a handful of black people and a ton of white folks. So, all the black kids are tight, and we all know each other. I get here and nobody gives a damn about who you are or where you’re from and its so many people it doesn’t make sense. I guess that’s why I hadn’t met anyone yet and why I’m so quiet now.” Jairus realizes that calling him shy is a touchy area and decides to just accept it on face value to avoid offending him. They talk a little more about preparing for the party and Jairus tries to gradually bring up the other friends he, Mike, and Duc may bring along. Just like that, Ovaughn starts to reconsider and isn’t sure that he wants to go. He doesn’t know anybody and will probably just stand on the wall all night. Jairus tries to calm him and says “Young, just loosen up some. Look...you drink right? My roommate is an upperclassman. I can get him to go to the liquor store for us so we can drink before the party.” Ovaughn seems to like the idea so they leave the rest of that discussion to talk out with Duc and the other fellas that might want to go in on some alcohol. They eventually head to Jairus’ room together because Ovaughn doesn’t like his roommate and isn’t interested in going back yet. In the dorm room, Ovaughn tells Jairus a couple of stories about when he used to go to the club on teen night in Charlotte with his friends and how they used to get so drunk and smoke weed. All of the stories Ovaughn tells start with “back home” because until now he has never left home. When telling the stories, he comes alive more than he has up until this point and in the stories, he always comes across as the center of attention, which is exactly the opposite of how he has been acting up until this point. Naturally it is hard for Jairus to believe the stories that he tells while they are in the room, but he listens. Jairus tells him how he spends most of his time with his girlfriend Tania and he never felt right when he would go out with his boys. They were all trying to mess with women, and he would just be there. As if he’s reminding himself Ovaughn says, “Right. That’s why you won’t holla at Lisa, you have a girl already!”
“Yeah, but most niggas don’t think that means shit so I always hear it when I go out.”
Ovaughn tells Jairus that he understands where he’s coming from, and they sit around playing video games and listening to music until they get the long-awaited phone call from Mike telling them to meet up at the cafeteria.
They get to the caf and find Mike, Duc, Rob, and someone neither Jairus nor Ovaughn has ever met. The new member of the group is a young man who looks a lot more mature than he actually is and reminds everyone of a cross between the rapper Nas or Carmelo Anthony, although he refuses to acknowledge any resemblances when asked by Jairus. His name is Chris Watts and he’s a high school friend of Mike from Atlanta. The guys get a table for dinner then head to the food line. The whole time they are in line all Rob can talk about is the frat brothers they encountered. Everyone else is trying to move past it but him. When they finally sit down to eat Jairus starts to tell everyone about the party at the gym this upcoming Friday night. He also tells them about the idea of getting Nat to buy them something to drink before the party. Everyone is up for it except for Mike because he doesn’t drink or smoke, and Rob because he only smokes, not drinks. Paul shows up as the guys laugh at the replies of Mike and especially Rob. Duc, being a natural leader, coordinates the time and place they will meet to give their money to drink and smoke before the party and they end that conversation. For the rest of the time in the caf, they either discuss what women they see or laugh at the jokes that Mike and Chris toss back and forth about incidents from high school. This allows Chris to quickly get acclimated to the group. Chris is very cool, calm, and collected, but has a wit to him that is only matched by Mike’s sarcasm and ability to get under people’s skin.
They leave the cafeteria and Duc, Jairus, and Ovaughn sit in front of the freshman dorm and look at all the people walking around outside. It is a warm, clear night in late August and it’s the first full day of classes since school started. Eighty percent of the students at the college are out just walking or driving around meeting people. Ovaughn sits back on the stairs and watches everyone, too quiet to approach anyone, he isn’t even talking to his friends at the time. Jairus isn’t as timid, but also isn’t the type to go running up to every girl or guy he sees. Duc, on the other hand, is in extravert heaven. He immediately goes to work speaking to as many people as possible, especially women. He has no fear just walking up to people and introducing himself. “I’ve never met anyone from...”. “Did I see you in the Engineering building?” “You’re an upperclassman. I know you have some advice for me.” He always finds something to talk about. He meets mostly women because they are easier to approach. Of course, he introduces his friends to everyone he meets, and Mike soon joins in and begins to approach women along with Duc. Watching Duc talk to any and every one, Jairus can tell that he is the type of person that knew all 500 people in his graduating class. Ovaughn assumes he is the guy who always has a new female “friend” and can probably throw the best parties. He is in his element being around all these people. He probably won’t remember half of the people he meets but with such a strange name and a forward manner everyone remembers him.
It begins to get late and the amount of people walking around outside decreases more and more by the minute. Jairus decides that he is ready to leave so Duc, Mike and Ovaughn walk him up the street to his dorm before heading back to their own. The guys get back to the freshmen dorm and they all go inside. Ovaughn first goes to Mike and Duc’s room, and they talk for a little while. Duc finally gets his chance to learn more about Ovaughn. It’s almost like a very comfortable interview the way Duc leads the conversation through all three of their backgrounds so that he can get to know his new friend better. “I’m from PG, which is right outside of D.C. and Mike is from Atlanta. You from the city in North Carolina or one of the other parts?” Duc asks. Ovaughn lets them know he’s from Charlotte, which is the only city they know of anyway. Duc continues, “You know if you not a drinker you don’t have to worry about putting in this weekend. But I heard y'all be drinking down south so you probably can go! What y'all normally do for fun back in Charlotte?” Ovaughn is comfortable but keeps it short and pretty much rehashes the stuff he shared with Jairus earlier that day. He longed for some real friends on campus, so he is trying to be open. Duc has a way of doing most of the talking but still walking away with all the answers. After a while they all seem to conclude that the others are cool and don’t have much more to say for the time being. So, after rehashing another story he told Jairus earlier, about things he used to do back in Charlotte, Ovaughn decides that it’s time to head to his room. In part because he can tell by their looks that they don’t believe him or at least think he’s exaggerating and the more he notices it the more he feels like he’s defending himself. Once he leaves Mike asks what is up with Ovaughn and Duc says that he is cool, just reserved as hell. And he tells Mike that he needs to lighten up on him with the scary looks. Joking that Mike just looks like he is angry with people for no reason with his crazy facial expressions. Mike and Duc sat up playing a video game and talking about all their new friends, what they think of each person, until they get bored and decide there is nothing else to do but go to sleep. Back in Jairus’ room, Nat and Jairus talk about the plan he and his friends made to get something to drink and Nat agrees to go to the store for them, telling Jairus that he is starting off the year right. He also tells him how the first few gym jams are the best then they die down, but until he can make it to the clubs that’s the best thing he has. After a little PlayStation they put the night to rest.
That Friday once class is out, Nat, Jairus, Duc, and Ovaughn jump in Ovaughn’s car, which came as a surprise since they didn’t know he had a car, and make the run to get some alcohol. They get back to campus and after everyone has eaten and met up at the dorm they begin to drink. Everyone drank except Mike. Jairus, Duc, and Paul started drinking beer but Ovaughn and Chris start with vodka because Ovaughn claims that he doesn’t fuck with beer. Eventually everyone is feeling nice except for Rob so he leaves the room to go smoke and is closely followed by Paul and a stumbling Chris. Now it's only Mike and his three drunk friends with a half an hour before the party starts. Although they are still pre-gaming, he gets to see first-hand, with a sober mind, just how stupid his friends act when they drink.
Duc is the first to start acting crazy, grabbing bottles trying to make Mike take a drink promising him it will loosen him up and he’ll like it. “You won’t be mad at nobody no more, dog” says Duc. Mike thinks Jairus seems to be able to hold his liquor well. His demeanor doesn’t really seem to change and except for the color of his eyes and a slight slur in his speech, he is pretty much the same. Ovaughn, on the other hand, has done a complete 180. Instead of sitting there being quiet and throwing in an answer to some question every now and then he has diarrhea of the mouth and just won’t shut the hell up. Everything out of his mouth starts with “when I was back home,” and he is telling stories about anything he can think about. The bad thing about it is that no one is really listening to him but he just keeps talking and poking Jairus on the shoulder so he will listen to him. Mike all of a sudden starts to laugh out loud. Duc, who now loves and must hug everyone, stops and asks what Mike is laughing at and he replies, “Your touchy-feely ass and these other two drunk motherfuckers. This nigga won’t stop talking, and that nigga is trying his hardest to act like he ain’t gone. Your ass loves everyone in the dorm now and them niggas across the hall probably can’t walk by now.” Jairus stops him, telling him he is only mad because he isn’t feeling as nice as everyone else is and he chose to play chaperone. They talk and laugh a little more and eventually get a knock on the door from Rob, Paul, and Chris who are ready to go to the party.
The fellas leave and just as Mike predicted, Paul and Chris are having trouble walking to the gym and he is having a ball laughing at them. Rob who is laughing at everything takes a look at Ovaughn and says, “Slim, you don’t look much better than they do. You fucked up!” That leads to Duc and Jairus both staring at him and agreeing with Rob. About halfway there Ovaughn stops, yells “Holdup”, and throws up in the bushes. Mike then declares, “See! Shit like that is why I don’t drink. Not to be like that!” They still walk toward the party after Ovaughn has thrown up and even though they are almost dragging Paul and Chris along. When they get to the party, Jairus and Duc have forgotten their college identifications and must pay more than everyone else. They get inside and Chris runs straight for the bathroom. Rob takes Paul with him and plays babysitter for the rest of the night in between dances. Mike refuses to help them since everyone had so many jokes about him not drinking. He is repeatedly laughing at them saying things like ”Just lay them in the corner. They won’t remember.” or “You think I’m going to miss this party because he got drunk?” Duc and Jairus get into the party and go crazy trying to dance with every girl they see, as freaky as possible. Mike realizes that Jairus just needs something to do with his buzz. Ovaughn is sitting down on the floor against the wall in the gym because he is too drunk to try to dance. “That’s what you get for fuckin’ wit’ that hard shit,” Mike tells him.
Mike dances with a few girls but spends the night trying to keep an eye on his friends to make sure they don’t do anything too stupid or get into any trouble even though he is laughing at them until they leave the party and go back to the dorms.
The next day, Mike is the first one up and he purposely wakes Duc with loud music and video games in their room. Duc complains about it being too early and having a headache. Ovaughn pops up later followed shortly by Jairus, both complaining about horrible hangovers. Mike laughs at them all and they sit around making fun of how each of them was acting the night before. How Jairus was jumping on everything that walked, how Duc was running around like a chicken with his head cut off, and how Ovaughn couldn’t even walk but would not stop talking all night. Finally, after a week of school Ovaughn is finally starting to talk to someone other than Jairus. He finds it easier to open up to Mike and Duc now that they have seen him at his worst. They quickly realize that Ovaughn is more than willing to over-explain everything once he is comfortable with you. They talk for a few hours listening to music and playing video games. Jairus takes this time to bring up a topic that Mr. Carter talked about, in class on Thursday. The topic is peer pressure leading students to do things that they might not try otherwise. He tells them how Mr. Carter said the older and more self-assured they become the less peer pressure will affect them. He then asks them when they all started drinking and if they had tried anything else. They all have different stories about how they started drinking alcohol or smoking weed. Ovaughn’s story stands out because his claim is that he started much earlier than everyone else, having older siblings and nothing to do in N.C. Mike has been dry his entire life for personal reasons he doesn’t care to explain no matter how much they ask. Because of that Ovaughn makes a declaration to get him to try a drink, which becomes a reoccurring theme over time. Duc has a story similar to Jairus’ about eventually letting peer pressure get to him sometime during his senior year of high school. His friends discover that Jairus is the type of person who thrives on in-depth conversation and is good for bringing up hard topics or those that will make you think. That’s a big part of the reason why he likes Nat as a roommate. He is a constant source of opinionated knowledge. Eventually, Paul and Rob stop by to see if they all want to go get something to eat. And they all make their way to the cafeteria in one large group and spend the rest of the day talking about the night before.