Dante.
He patted his buddies on the back to bid them goodbye and weaved his way through the stream of students towards me. "Hey! I for sure thought you weren't going to make it to class." He fell into step beside me.
"Yeah, thanks for the vote of confidence, man. Appreciate it." I grumbled.
"No problemo." He smirked.
"You freaking abandoned me dude. What the hell was that about?" I whispered furiously.
"Oh, come on. Don't take it personally. I had to save my skin. I had no business being there in the first place." Mateo replied breezily.
"Save your skin meant letting me take the fall for something you said?"
"Hey, you took the fall by yourself. Besides, what would you rather have had me do? Stand and fight a guy in his own dorm room?" Mateo raised an amused brow.
"No. Not really." I knew there was nothing Mateo could've done to salvage the situation. I understood what he meant by saving his skin, but that didn't mean I couldn't be pissed about it.
"And anyway, you're here. Unharmed by the looks of it. So, I guess it's all good." Mateo shrugged.
"I need you to change it, Mateo." I halted in my tracks, forcing him to do the same.
He blew out an exasperated breath as he turned to face me. "Change what?"
"You know what I'm talking about. The roommate arrangement."I pressed further.
"Dude, I already told you. I can't change it. It's against the rules." He insisted.
"Well fucking break them. You broke them for the party, didn't you?" I was sounding desperate, and I knew it.
"That's different because, for one thing, I'm not technically breaking any rules, and for another, even if I were, the punishment for that isn't severe. Heck, there's hardly any punishment at all. Compared to altering school records. Are you even listening to yourself?"
I sighed in resignation. He was right. It was unfair of me to ask him to do something as huge as this for me, a guy he only met yesterday.
"I know, I know. It's just…" I trailed off and resumed walking.
"Look, man, I get it," Mateo said sympathetically. I wouldn't want to be Asher's roommate either, but you know the cards have been dealt. And when life gives you lemons?"
"Life didn't give us lemons. They aren't naturally occurring fruits. It's a hybrid. A cross between a sour orange and a citron." I replied offhandedly.
"A good way to nerd up on me, bro." Mateo rolled his eyes.
"I didn't, never mind." I sighed again. "Why is he like that anyway?" I asked, feeling down and rejected as I mentally accepted my fate.
"Who?"
"Who else are we talking about?"
"I don't know. Lemons?"
"Mateo!" I groaned in frustration.
"Relax." He chuckled. "Pulling your legs a little. And I have no idea why. He just is." He shrugged. "Been that way since he came in."
"How would you know? What year are you?" I asked with interest.
"Sophomore year."
"So you haven't been here too long."
"Nope. And neither has Asher. We're in the same year."
"Really?" I furrowed my brows in surprise. I thought he was far ahead. Final year, maybe?"
"Nah. We came in the same year. Had a couple of classes together. Archaeology, I think. Professor Dunham and his boring classes. Asher used to just walk out." Mateo gave a small smile at the memory.
"I don't think I have the balls to do that," I said with a chuckle, remembering how much I wanted to leave the class, but years of being a good student kept my ass glued to the seat.
"Yup. I believe you." Mateo laughed. "How did you get out, though? I thought for sure he was going to give you a swirlie or something."
"A swirlie? That's so high school. I thought he was going to punch me in the sack. But he didn't do anything. Just kinda sent me out of the room. " I shrugged. I had been wondering the same thing.
"Oh. Well, not too bad, I guess."
"Yeah. Except I didn't grab my phone on my way out, and I had to take my bath here in school, so"
"Oh." Mateo frowned. He stopped walking and turned me to face him. His face was filled with concern.
"You know you can report this, right? It's the one way to get your roommate changed."
"It is?"
"The school has an anti-bullying policy. If he continues to treat you badly, you can report it, and I'll back you up. We could have switched him to another room. Or suspended."
"Whoa!" My eyes rounded in shock. "It wouldn't get that far. I'm not trying to get him suspended or into trouble with the school authorities."
"Why not? He'd deserve it." For the first time, I saw Mateo's face contort in barely contained anger. I had a feeling he wasn't referring to my situation with Asher at all.
"I don't know why he'd deserve it. If I report the situation in time, I'm sure it,"
"Oh, he'd deserve it, all right." He interrupted me. " It's about time he got what's coming for him." Mateo bit out, face still twisted in an angry scowl.
"Sounds like you've got something against him."
"It's Asher Lowell. Everyone's got something against him." Mateo sighed tiredly. "Besides, I have a feeling there's something he's hiding. Something deep and dark. Guys like that shouldn't be around normal guys like us."
"Got any proof?" I asked.
"No. But I will soon enough." He smiled at me, "I'd better let you get to class. I've got advanced chemistry in a few minutes myself."
"Advanced chem? Now, who's the nerd? " I teased.
"I'm looking at em." He teased back. "I'll see you when I see you, Dan." He gave me a wink and turned away.
" Hey Mateo!" I called and he turned, "Thanks, man." I said with feeling. He nodded and gave me a thumbs up and continued on his way.