Okay, Who The Hell is That?

Freshmen year is as confusing as your favorite reality show, the characters are all crazy and they come and go sometimes at random. The storyline can be confusing as there really isn't one, but that is just known as real fucking life. Madeline too was becoming a bit more jaded as the weeks of the semester rolled by. She knew who she hated, whose existence she can tolerate and who she actually wanted to spend time with. Despite having a relatively sheltered existence, Madeline had a keen sense of what is right for her and otherwise, and made sure to follow her instincts. she had taken a liking to her roommate, an Indian Muslim by the name of Aaliyah Memon, who came from a wealthy family in Mumbai. She had some experience of American life as she did a year in high school as an exchange student. She was quiet and reserved, which appealed to Madeline.

One day after class as the two were relaxing and catching up, there was a knock on the door. "Come in," shouted Madeline.

The door opened and in came this boy with jet black hair parted to the side. He had nice broad shoulders and a scruff, and from the t shirt that he was wearing, it was pretty evident that he loved to go the gym. "Yo what's up Ali?" he said as he gave her a hug.

Madeline was fixated on this person. He was definitely attractive, with a chiseled jawline, but she had seen many a men like this. What was it that caused her to be so aroused, to the point of being moist? She could not figure it out, but was it a raw sexuality and a confidence she so badly in men? Perhaps. Her heartbeat quickened and her mind went blank. "Alright, see you around," he said, before leaving.

"Okay, who the hell was that," said Madeline. She found herself shaking a bit but quickly composed herself. To her relief, Aaliyah did not notice.

"Oh that was Raj. I met him when I did the exchange program in high school. He was just helping me with some computer issue. He is something of a genius," she said with a smile.

Raj Singhania is in fact something of a genius. His parents are both successful professionals, his father being a neuro surgeon and his mother, a highly regarded scientist in molecular biology. They had hoped he would follow their footsteps and get into the sciences, but Raj had other plans. "Computer science also has science," he had said, as he declared his intentions to his parents upon gaining acceptance into Malchester.

He was always somewhat of a maverick. He preferred to play football and wrestle for his high school, earning a position of the starting quarterback in his sophomore year, much to everyone's surprise. The starting quarterback was caught smoking weed and got cut from the team, a cruel irony, according to Raj who indulged in cannabis smoking himself, albeit much more discreetly. There were also a slew of women whom he called upon for his voracious sexual appetite, from cheerleaders to women he'd meet on the road he would go on debate competitions. After an affair, he was famous for telling them they were the only one, and would call, only to ignore them and then later on tempt them with a salacious picture or two sent over text or the app called ImageChat, where one sends pictures for a brief moment of time.

Over at Malchester, he had made himself quite useful to various fraternities by hacking into personal emails of professors in order to obtain exams and selling them to students for a price. Those he liked, or whose favor he wanted, he would give for free. These were students in popular fraternities, especially those that were in high positions, who would in turn, invite him to their parties, and who treated him like a VIP.

That night, after leaving Aaliyah and Madeline's room, he made his way back to his own, and ate his sandwich with a protein shake, before hopping in the shower. It was a night of freedom for him, a party at Omega Theta Delta, one of the most popular fraternities. He'd show those arrogant "frat punks," as he referred them who really is the boss. He secretly reviled those people, who pay a due to be in that club, essentially paying to make friends. He considered himself to be socially, academically and physically far superior, and he was for the most part. But he needed their connections and parties, and it was the best way to score, he thought.

At the OTD house, Raj quickly found himself surrounded by the five brothers of the fraternity that he had helped pass the Introduction to Computer Science midterm. He had simply found a version online that was floating around but had pawned it off as some sort of a genius hacking attempt. Those five did not even question the legitimacy and quite frankly, did not even care. "Bro, Raj, get your ass over here, and take some fucking shots. This guy right here, is the fucking man," hollered Bryan the President of the fraternity.

"What a bunch of fucking tools and pussies," Raj thought. They were lucky to be to the manor born, whereby their parents and their grandparents had attended this university, so they got legacy admissions. Without these privileges, he knew these people were toast.

After his few minutes of forced socialization, he made his way around the party, greeting one or two students that recognized him. As he made his way to the front porch, he took out the joint that was in his pocket, and lit a smoke. He needed to relax he felt like. The cool October breeze hit his face and the effect of weed made him feel a sense of calm and equilibrium. From the corner of the eye, he noticed a girl by herself. She seemed very out of place there, as if she did not want to be there. Being his confident self, he walked up and said "not having a good time?"

"This really is my first party in college, I came with my friends who I have no idea where they are. To answer your question, yeah, this sucks," she said.

"Oh okay, a fellow freshman I see. Well I actually do agree with you. I am Raj by the way." he said.

"I am Amy, and yeah it's nice to finally meet a freshman that can actually stand on his feet and isn't puking his guts out," she responded.

After making some small talk, Raj suggested they go back inside for a little bit and see what was going on. Despite not wanting to, she found herself following him. It felt strange, usually Amy was someone that did not give into peer pressure, but this was not that. Was it his charisma? His charm? She just could not put a finger on it, but Amy knew she wanted to spend more time in his presence.

A few minutes later, the two found themselves on the same beer pong team playing a fraternity brother and a girl whom Raj had slept with earlier, and who the other person wanted to be with for the night. Raj had instantly realized who she was, but due to the alcohol flowing nobody seemed to mind and no awkward comments were made. Raj taught Amy how to hold the ball and flick her wrist, as it was her first time playing. He even offered to drink the drink after the opposing team had made the point. But Amy turned out to be quite a natural and the ambiance of the party made her trash talk, despite her being quite sober "you guys would lose even if we got blindfolds on. You suck!" she jeered.

Raj was shocked by the sudden outburst. Amy had been quite reserved, even nervous, but for some reason she felt more confident, outgoing, even secure around Raj. After the game, the two decided to exchange information and leave. As they were leaving, Raj felt a tap on his shoulder. "Your friend is really cute, who is she," said a girl in a slurred voice.

"Uhh, hi, Molly, this is, uhh," stammered Raj.

Before he could finish his sentence, Amy interjected "my name is Amy," she said.

"Wow Amy you are really good at pong. I am Molly. Isn't Raj sooo cuteee," she said while giggling, causing Raj's face to turn red.

"How do you two know each other?" said Amy.

"We have class together. But hey let's get going," said Raj quickly.

The two left and walked back to their dorms, which were next to one another. On the way back, they spoke about campus life and where they were from, but Amy had Molly at the back of her mind. Why did she ask whether she thought Raj was cute. Not to mention, why was Raj so awkward around her? Maybe he was shy, she thought. But she took one look at him and her gut told her that this was not the answer. A mix of emotions was going through her. But that was the Raj effect on women, he knew how to reel them in, and disappear, only to make dramatic entries from time to time to confuse their feelings further.