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Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2016 8:05 pm
The line was so long.
It should not have been this difficult to get a single textbook, Nathaniel thought, as he stood somewhere in the middle of the queue, craning his neck to peer around the people in front of him. It felt like he'd been standing there for hours, even though he knew it couldn't possibly have been that long, and yet the line seemed, if anything, to have grown even slower.
Why was there only one cashier checking people out? The eternal question asked yet again.
Nathaniel let out a long sigh. The campus bookstore wasn't exactly his optimal choice when it came to purchasing books for classes - the prices alone always sent his heart into a panic, enough to make his head spin at how outrageous they all were. But one of his classes required a book that was only sold at the campus store, leaving him little choice. Nathaniel had painstakingly budgeted for it, and still felt the agony of sacrificing the part of his paycheck he'd intended to go into his pitiful savings account.
He reached out and tapped the shoulder of the boy standing in front of him.
"Excuse me," said Nathaniel politely, "but do you happen to know why we haven't moved in a while? Can you hear what's happening or anything?"
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Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2016 8:16 pm
The small youth hadn't noticed the line's lack of progression. Kaleb had six textbooks hefted in his arms, enough to force his weight backwards to keep from falling over. He had browsed the campus bookstore like others browsed through novels, selecting not only the required texts for his upcoming courses, but some additional books that piqued his interest. One of the latter was open on top of the stack, even the first dry chapter of physiology keeping him entertained enough to be startled when a hand tapped his shoulder. He jumped, and scrambled to close the book before the entire pile toppled out of his arms. "I'm sorry, I hadn't noticed..." Kaleb admitted, looking a little embarrassed as he glanced towards the stranger who had asked. "Maybe they are short staffed today?"
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Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2016 8:32 pm
Nathaniel hastily reached out a hand to try and stop the enormous stack of books from toppling over, his own bag swinging against his hip. He'd thought he was a book nerd; apparently he was wrong - or maybe this boy simply took a million subjects in school.
"Short staffed means we'll be here forever," he said, with a touch of dryness as he shuffled the topmost book back into its place. A frown of thought touched Nathaniel's lips as he glanced at the titles of each book.
"This is a lot of books - are they all for the same course?"
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Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2016 5:49 am
"It's not so bad..." Kaleb offered hesitantly, trailing off nervously. Then he quickly added to clarify, "I mean, we could be in line at a grocery store, or... a clothes store." He murmured a sheepish thank you as the taller man finished fixing his pile of books, his chin tucked downward as though wishing to hide behind the monumental stack. His glasses slid a bit closer to the end of his nose. "No, they are... Some are for a friend," he lied, badly. Kaleb nudged his glasses back into place and avoided making eye contact. He had the standard textbooks for the gamut of first year sciences, but also more advanced physiology, biology and physics. Paying for them all at the counter would certainly be painful, but Kaleb treasured the knowledge more than anything else he could have bought.
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Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2016 7:54 am
Nathaniel wrinkled his nose a little.
"A clothing store would be much more frustrating," he admitted, glancing around at all the racks of books that surrounded them. "I don't really like buying new clothes. At least, with books, it's much easier to find what it is that I'm looking for, at any rate."
Nathaniel's eyes flickered down the list of titles, over the shy way the boy turned his head away. He couldn't say he didn't understand; making contact with anyone was hard, and the last thing Nathaniel wanted was for people to feel pressured into talking with him.
Plus, well...he could hear the lie in the other's voice. The corners of Nathaniel's mouth twitched as though hiding a smile.
"I love science," he said amiably. "I'm a Calculus major myself, but I always liked biology the best."
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Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2016 8:28 am
"Me neither," Kaleb muttered, a shy, lopsided smile crossing his face. That seemed to be a safe thing to agree on, a mutual dislike for buying clothes. If he was out of the public eye most of the time, what did it matter how he was dressed? The youth missed the hidden smile, but looked up when the topic turned to science. "Me too, it's really amazing how many science courses there are after high school, especially at the higher levels. There are so many different specializations..." As of yet, Kaleb had not picked a specific field of study. He had merely taken a look at the myriad of options and crammed as many of them into his calendar as possible, but the thought of revealing this broad and aimless path made him feel a great deal of discomfort. He glanced down once more, trapped awkwardly between the societal expectation of offering personal information in return, and his own insecurity. "I-I like biology too," he finally said, very quietly.
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Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2016 12:23 pm
Clothing was always something stressful to Nathaniel, who had struggled for years to buy things that were respectable looking enough for him to feel as though he actually fit into society. Books were easier; books didn't make him wish as though he was someone else, as he had for most of his life.
"Ah, yes!" he said, the smile widening a little, Nathaniel adjusting the strap of his bag. The boy seemed very shy - shier, even than Nathaniel himself, which was saying something."I've always liked seeing the specializations. I like biology the best, as I mentioned, but I also like geology; I used to take a Natural Disasters class last year, which was great."
The line moved forward an infinitesimal amount.
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Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2016 2:40 pm
Had the line done anything more than inch slowly forwards, Kaleb would have been inclined to make motions towards polite resuming-customer-behaviour silence. His natural escape mechanisms were still put on hold. Not that he found the taller young man to be unpleasant, it was just getting harder and harder to converse without giving away any of himself in the process. He wanted to talk about science, and biology, and how he hadn't enough room in his first year lineup for geology or earth sciences... but some things were just not possible quite yet. "In your second year, or third?" Kaleb asked timidly, at a subconscious level he knew people did enjoy talking about themselves, and it was a great distraction from his own life's story. And maybe he did want to hear about what courses were available... There was a summer semester offered as well, it would be a good opportunity to investigate some electives.
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Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2016 7:41 pm
"Second," Nathaniel replied lightly, not minding the tentative voice. He wasn't exactly the shyest person in the world; reserved was a better word for it, really, but this boy seemed a lot more of the former, rather than the latter. Curious, though, if the books were any indication.
"I'm looking forward to the new school year, though," said Nathaniel, which was perfectly true; he enjoyed learning a great deal, even if the monetary stresses and the tests and the homework all sometimes made him want to tear his hair out all the time. "I'm taking too many credits, as usual, but there were too many subjects I wanted to take."
He smiled at the boy.
"What year are you?"
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Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2016 6:12 pm
"First year," Kaleb offered shyly, forgetting that his books were betraying his scholarly ambitions. There might have been one or more textbooks in his arms that were most certainly required for higher levelled courses. He hugged the stack of books a little tighter, perhaps protecting himself from his own words. "There were a lot of courses I wanted to take too, I think I'll have to take courses over the summer. Some of the third year and fourth year sciences looked really good." His voice grew softer towards the end, even though it was probably safe to admit his geekery to this other student, it was a step that surprised and frightened him.
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Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2016 8:41 pm
Nathaniel's eyes strayed to the books, a brow raising. For a first year, that was an awful lot of texts; he wasn't even sure that it was possible to take that many credits, which meant that maybe this boy was somewhat like Nathaniel, in that he simply enjoyed reading for reading's sake.
Too bad Nathaniel couldn't afford the ones he wanted, but there was always the library, he supposed.
"I wish I could have taken a few more courses," said Nathaniel, somewhat wistfully, in agreement with the sentiment of the upper classes looking good. "I tried to take Advanced Biology 411, but they wouldn't let me. They said I wasn't allowed to take the prerequisite and the class at the same time, which I think is a lot of nonsense."
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Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2016 3:54 pm
Thankfully Kaleb missed the expression of appraisal, and a moment to mistake it for passing judgement, the glance down towards the safety of his books saved him from what surely would have shaken his growing confidence. "What about next semester, or is the prerequisite a pair of courses?" The scrawny youth asked, still avoiding eye contact for the time being. "There are a lot of those in first year, it will take two semesters at least to just get through the introductory courses... The opportunity for branching out will be larger by third year, but the time constraints involved in advanced projects might be more significant. Maybe online courses would do the trick, with no credit component?" For a minute his tone held a slightly more introspective note, as though talking through a problem in his mind, and then he glanced up upon it's conclusion to see if the other student was still following. Kaleb had never considered online courses while he had books available, but then again, he had never attended post-secondary schooling before. He might end up preferring it.
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Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2016 6:27 pm
"That might be a better idea," Nathaniel mused, tapping a finger against his chin thoughtfully. "Introductory courses can be kind of...well, I mean, I like learning about a lot of things, but general education classes can be tedious if they're still basic. Maybe online could work..."
Though, since he didn't have a laptop, it might be difficult constantly making time to come to the library in between all of his jobs.
He wasn't going to think about that.
Nathaniel smiled at the boy and said, as the line shuffled minutely forward, "Thanks for the help with that. Are you taking any online courses as well, or are you sticking to normal classes?"
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Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2016 7:21 pm
"It hadn't occurred to me before now, taking online courses, I'm pretty used to learning from books," Kaleb replied, his expression sheepish. "And there have always been an abundance of those..." It reminded him that he had not yet visited the campus library yet, it would surely be a trove of knowledge far beyond casual reading. He did have a map with it's location marked, printed inside a colourful college brochure from when he moved in, but expanding his exploration radius was a slow process. One step at a time, today's bookstore trip would provide him with enough reading material to keep him comfortable in the meantime.
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Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2016 11:07 am
"Books are easier to handle, I think," said Nathaniel. "I'd rather have something physical in front of me than read something online, it's a little easier for me to handle if I can have it, you know, right then and there."
Not to mention the fact that books were just more satisfying and he didn't even have a computer. Nathaniel cleared his throat, trying to segue elsewhere in the conversation as the people in front of them shifted forward as one, the line moving so slowly it was a wonder they were even moving at all.
"Is this your first or second semester?" Nathaniel asked. "Did you take summer classes at all?"
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