Wheels of Steel, Book 1 (7 page)

Her face burned as the attention fell on her. It was a large auditorium and she calculated that there was close to seventy bodies there…all focused on her. And then Jason wheeled inside, and they one-by-one dismissed her as they recognized a routine.

A tall, white-haired man looked over his glasses at Jason and continued his lecture. Jason moved to the front of the room. Robin would have definitely moved to the back, but the back was up on risers…

He locked his wheelchair in place directly in front of a long table that looked like it was used for nothing more than to hold books and other things that no one needed. No one else sat at the table and it awkwardly positioned Jason at the front of the class; away from the rest of the students. But, she supposed he needed the space for his laptop.

He gave her a look and she jumped into action, grabbing his heavy book bag that had been hanging behind his chair. She put it on the table in front of him and waited for him to unzip it and retrieve the laptop. He handed her the power cord and gestured where she should plug it. Once that was done he ignored her. Another student gestured to a spare chair and she smiled her thanks and pulled it up next to Jason.

Robin listened quietly. But she had no idea what was going on, or what the teacher was talking about. She heard phrases like ‘analyzing diversity’, and ‘rational argument’. She wondered what those things meant in connection with the types of classes she was familiar with from High School. She just watched Jason typing up his notes; his fingers pecking out quickly. The teacher talked a lot but so did the students, including Jason. He was a constant contributor to the conversation, but again, the topic was completely out of her realm of understanding.

Was she really expected to sit through his classes with him every day? Not to mention the fact that she was hungry. She’d only had coffee all day, which led to her next dilemma; she had to pee! And what was she supposed to do if Jason had a seizure? He would have two a day. Maybe he wouldn’t do that until after her shift was over. She prayed that she could end this hellacious day without any further embarrassment. Then she intended to get her shift changed back to some little old man or lady where all she needed to do was give them medicine and maybe make them something to eat!

No bell rang, but about twenty minutes later the teacher dismissed the class, reminding them about an upcoming writing assignment. After unplugging his laptop she replaced his backpack behind the wheelchair. He led them out of the class and several students high fived him. He ignored her as he took a few minutes to joke with them. They looked at her curiously, if they looked at her at all, and when he was done with his friends he just moved on towards the next class, never introducing her.

She was quiet for a while as she followed, but then curiosity got the better of her.

“Jason?”

“Yep?”

“What class was that?”

“That was a humanities class.” He said blandly. “Western philosophy.” He looked at her. “How old are you?”

She hesitated. “Twenty-one.”

“You never went to college?”

“No.” She fidgeted with the sleeve of her sweatshirt. “How old are you?” She asked as an after-thought.

“Nineteen.”

“Is this your first year of college?”

“Second.”

“So, what’s the next class?”

“Business.”

“Um, Jason, I need to use the restroom.”

He didn’t respond for a moment and she was just about to repeat herself when he finally spoke. “You’re going to make me late for class. You should have said something earlier.”

Yeah and he should have introduced her, and he should accept the fact that she did have biological needs! “I’ll be quick, I promise.” She craned her head searching for the facilities.

“Follow me.”

They rounded a corner and she saw the female facilities and hurried to it. “Be right back!” She yelled over her shoulder.

She didn’t dally and when she returned he was listening to his headset again, bobbing his head to the beat of some unheard song. When he saw her, he began wheeling down the hall, forcing her to hurry in order to catch up.

The business class was incredibly boring, but at least there were several good looking guys that she could peek at since he wasn’t positioned at the head of the class. After that, they could finally stop for lunch. Her stomach was a big empty hole!

The cafeteria had a smoking and non smoking area, and then further there was an upper and a lower level. It was huge. He went right to the hot food line while she tried to take in everything to decide what she wanted to eat. She caught up with him. Man was he good at ignoring her. She reached for a tray and he looked at her.

“Are you going to eat?”

“I was planning to, why? Am I not allowed because I’m on your time?” She replied sarcastically.

“I don’t use a tray, too hard to maneuver a wheelchair if I’m carrying one.”

“Oh.” She said sheepishly.

“But since you’re carrying one then just put my things on it, too.” He pointed out things that he wanted; ham sandwich, potato chips, pudding, and a fountain coke. She got a cheeseburger and fries and a fountain drink as well.

She was sliding the tray down the aisle and reaching into her purse. “I got it.” He pulled out a wallet and then withdrew a card with the UC logo on it. She thanked him; surprised at the kindness.

“What’s up, Top?” A girl with punk hair was working the cash register. “Got any new mixes?” She asked while ringing up their order.

“I’m working on something.”

“Oooo.” She scanned his card. “What is it?”

“And you know I don’t tell anyone what I’m working on-”

The girl looked at Robin. “You can tell me, I won’t blab.” The request was directed at her and not him. Robin gave her a confused look.

Jason just chuckled and rolled away, leaving her to follow behind with the tray. What in the hell were they talking about? Top? She’d called him Top. Was that his nickname?

He wheeled up to a table with other students and Robin’s step faltered. Normally at lunch she would find a corner where she could be alone and read a book. Being around crowds had always caused her to clam up. She ignored the knot forming in her stomach and followed her client. She saw another student in a wheelchair but he didn’t seem to have any problems controlling his muscles the way Jason did. He was joking and talking loudly without any slurring.

“Hey, Top.”

“What’s up, Link.” They slapped hands.

“You got one hundred thousand eight hits on the More Love mix!” A guy with hair as long as Jason’s spoke.

“I saw that this morning!” Jason said in excitement. “Dude I’m hyped!” He looked at Robin and his eyes were bright and happy. “Put the tray down and pull up a chair.”

She placed his food in front of him and no one paid much attention to her. She just wanted to stay out of the way. They were young, animated white kids that didn’t even look at her. She ate her burger quietly and tried to pay only enough attention to Jason so that she could be sure that he wasn’t choking.

There were a total of eight people present. Link was in a wheelchair. She didn’t know the name of the other guy, the one with the long hair. Then there were two girls; one had the same disorder that Jason had but she wasn’t in a wheelchair. She didn’t have an aid either. The other girl was very butch and it was hard to tell that she was even female. The other students left one by one; their vacant chairs filled with different butts. However the three original people seemed a bit closer to Jason; almost like they were in a club.

They talked music and beats and mixes and not much of anything else. They surprised her by bringing up names like J Dilla and Common. Obviously, they were heavy into hip hop. He looked at her for the second time in twenty minutes. “Ready?”

She nodded and gathered up their trash, dumping it in the bin. He then led her out of the cafeteria. “Robin, it’s time for the bathroom.”

“Ok.”

When they reached the facilities her mind was already in a blank place. Would she need to go into the men’s room with him? “Just stay out here.” He said. “If I need you, I’ll call you.”

“Ok.”

“I’ll be a while. I’m not super fast when it comes to cleaning myself but I can do it.” He seemed to be waiting for a response so she nodded, not offering to help if he didn’t ask for it.

“Ok.”

He snorted and then rolled into the restroom. He was right. It took forever; almost as long as lunch had. She checked the time. It was almost one pm and she was really tired.

When he returned he took in her slouched posture. “What’s wrong, college doesn’t agree with you?”

That comment had hit so close to home that she was momentarily speechless. Then her green eyes flinched and she looked at him coldly. “I’m fine. What’s next?”

He didn’t say anything immediately. “One last class; computer science.” This time he had his own table, as did everyone else. His was empty while others had computers. She set up his laptop quickly and then sat down in the chair next to him.

He put on headphones, but so did others. She watched him pull up YouTube and navigate to an account; the name of which she was unable to catch. His head began to bob as he began moving around the screen. Everyone was quietly working and the teacher hadn’t even told them to do anything! She couldn’t hear anything since she didn’t have headphones but at least she could tell that he was building a web page. He was pulling images and music from other sites, moving confidently around the web.

Robin didn’t have much interest in it and she began to zone out again. Soon her eyes closed without her realizing. She was in a place that was next to sleep and probably would have been in the middle of snores, but for the constant and irritating tapping sound that woke her up from her dazed state. Her head popped up and she looked over at Jason to see if he’d caught her napping.

Jason’s eyes were rolled to the top of his head. His body was taut and stretched. It was his hand that was drumming rhythmically against the table creating the low tapping sound. Robin jumped up in alarm and everyone in the room looked at her. For a second she was near to panic. For a moment she forgot everything she knew. She wanted to call for help, except that she was the person that was supposed to be helping him.

His head was thrown back and his adam’s apple bobbed as the tendons in his neck stood out. He was making a low guttural sound and she placed one hand on his chest and rubbed him there lightly. The other was placed against the side of his face. Her heart still hammered in her chest and she glanced up at the class instructor who quickly averted her eyes. Why wasn’t she doing something?!

Robin continued to rub Jason’s chest. “It’s okay. I’m here, Jason. Everything is ok; you’re ok.” She continued to murmur reassurances and after what seemed like forever, his body suddenly relaxed. He hadn’t opened his eyes yet, but he was taking in deep breaths. Her body relaxed some, as well, but she could not completely relax until he opened those mean green eyes and stared at her with his usual coldness.

Oh my god, he wasn’t moving! Was he unconscious? She was about to panic again when his eyes opened and stared at her. It took him a moment to focus and he blinked repeatedly. He had lashes longer than any man should be comfortable with. Of all the thoughts that she could have, that one was surprisingly at the top of the list. She moved back, realizing that she was in his personal space. Then she realized that she was still rubbing his chest and cradling his face and she quickly moved her hands from his body. No wonder he was staring at her.

And his muscles weren’t jerking. He was just staring at her calmly.

“Are you okay?” She whispered.

He smiled slightly. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost. You’re as pale as a sheet. Bet you haven’t heard that before.”

She chuckled softly. He was very strange. But at least she felt better. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“I bit my tongue; pretty bad this time…but at least I didn’t fall out of the chair and break my nose.”

Her eye grew large. “Are you serious?”

As if in response to her disbelief a bit of blood appeared at the corner of his mouth. She quickly reached into her purse for tissue.

“Let me see your tongue.” She demanded.

Jason slowly opened his mouth. It was a bad bite, blood was coming up out of the torn flesh.