Stutter Boy

Nate's POV

"M... Michael Clark," I said to the tired-looking secretary sitting behind the computer. I had finally reached the front of the office line at Westview High after standing in the enormous queue for nearly an hour.

The secretary looked up, her fingers hurrying across the keyboard. "Michael Nate Clark?" she asked a moment later.

I nodded.

"New admission?"

I nodded again.

"Dorm B, 69," she called out to another woman standing by the cupboards, who was rummaging through boxes of keys. Soon enough, the woman expertly tossed a key onto the secretary's desk.

"Michael, you'll be staying in Dorm B, room number 69," she said hastily.

"Oh... o... okay." I nodded, matching her hurry. I quickly took the key from her hand and hastened out of the line.

I retrieved my suitcase and bags from where I'd left them outside the office before joining the queue. Then, I walked in a direction I didn't actually know. I was new to this boarding school and had no idea where I was going. I was supposed to be finding my dorm room now. After that, I just had to unpack and rest until tomorrow morning. Tomorrow was my first day.

If you were wondering why I was at this school, it was because, unfortunately, I had written a scholarship exam last year. I was one of three people selected for this highly qualified boarding school in Texas called Westview High. I would be studying for free, along with a scholarship for the next year, now that I was enrolled as a senior student. But I certainly wasn't looking forward to this new high school experience.

At one point last year, I had honestly thought about dropping out when things became too difficult. I barely survived my previous high school, which was only a few blocks away from home. I had no plan to enroll in this school, which was five hours away from my home in Oklahoma.

It was my parents and my older sister, Anna, who forced me. Of course, I tried to protest, but there was no use. The fact that I would get a good sum of scholarship money every month didn't help my case either.

My life had always been trouble. It was never easy for me. Well, to a little extent, it was. But that was until Alex left.

Alex had been my big brother. He was nice, caring, and protective of me. He was always there for me. He once even punched a boy from my middle school and broke his nose for making fun of me. Alex loved me so much. I loved him too. But he left me alone all of a sudden. I was fifteen then, and he was nineteen. It was a car accident. It had been almost three years since then, but I was barely out of shock.

I was always called and referred to as the stutter boy, and it made me feel sick. I couldn't get used to it or stop minding it. It really hurt me. Okay, I agreed I stuttered while speaking. I tried hard to stop stuttering. But I couldn't do anything about it. It worsened after Alex's death. I didn't really know what to do about it anymore. But I wasn't stupid or anything. Why did I have to be called the weird boy that stuttered?

Only a few people in my previous high school knew my real name. I was like a toy to all those bullies in school, who would call out, "Hey, stutter boy, c'mere. Go buy us a soda and some snacks from the vending machine," or "Stutter boy, have you finished the assignment I gave you yesterday?" or mimic me, "M... m... mi... Michael... w... w... what's up?"

Now you might have an idea of how horrible my school life was. But I didn't actually stutter that much. I didn't really know what satisfaction they all got by making fun of me and following me around, fake stuttering. Sometimes I even got punched and kicked. But still, after everything, I managed to somehow maintain my grades.

Anyway, I had made a decision for this new high school. I wasn't going to talk to anyone. I was going to stay mute so that they wouldn't find out I had this speech deficiency and wouldn't call me stutter boy again. I couldn't take it anymore.

I was here just to study, and I wasn't going to indulge in anything else. I didn't look at this school as a place to start anew or a place to make some nice new friends. Because I knew that wouldn't happen. I knew that, in the end, I was just going to make a fool out of myself. People weren't nice.

Hmm... now I needed to go and find my dorm. But where was it? I looked at the key in my hands and the number written on it. I wasn't even going to make a dirty comment about the room number, but looking at it, I felt like I was walking my ass into some new trouble.

After walking around for about ten minutes, I was finally able to find Dorm B. I walked up the stairs, struggling with my big suitcase and bag.

Finally, I reached the front of room 69. I took a deep breath before pressing the key into the hole. I only had one wish: that my roommate was someone nice. After taking one more breath, I slowly pushed open the door.

But there was no one inside the room. The room was almost empty. I mean, there was furniture, but there weren't any other luggage bags or anything. It seemed like my roommate hadn't arrived yet. Good! I could unpack my stuff in peace and afterwards rest peacefully.

Or it would be really good if I didn't actually have a roommate. But I had another big problem. I was afraid to be alone in the dark. At home, I usually slept with my bed lamp on. But if there was someone in the room, I was okay to sleep without light.

This fear also came to me after Alex's death. We used to share one room, and I used to sleep hugging him. When suddenly he was gone, I was scared to be all alone. Anna moved to my room and stayed with me for a year. But then she got married and was gone.

I started panicking unnecessarily if suddenly the lights went off. But it was okay. I could quickly reach for my phone and turn on the flash. Besides, I had a lamp and a lot of candles with me. So I didn't mind if I didn't have a roommate.

I looked at the black clock sitting on the wall opposite me. It showed 5:10 PM. I looked around the room, and it looked not bad. It was actually larger than I expected. And it looked pretty elegant and fresh. The floor was tiled white, and the walls were also a clean white. I guessed they painted every year.

There were two beds, both wrapped with clean white bed sheets. There was a little space in between the beds, and a small bedside table sat at the end, leaning against the wall. I could place my bed lamp there, I guessed. In the left corner was a big black table and two black fiber chairs. On the other side, there were cupboards and shelves to place our things. I smiled, looking around. I actually liked the room.

Then I walked towards the bathroom. It had a cheap black fiber door, but it actually looked good and matched with the black and white theme of the room. I opened the door and inspected the bathroom. It was really clean and nice for a dorm bathroom.

I walked back and started unpacking my stuff, one by one. I guessed I could take the cupboards and shelves on the right side as my roommate hadn't arrived yet. Hopefully, he didn't mind taking the ones on the left.

It took me about two hours to unpack and arrange everything. I did it slowly as I had enough time and I didn't have anything else to do. After I was satisfied arranging the things, I placed my empty suitcase and bags in a corner and took a t-shirt and shorts from the cupboard, walking towards the bathroom to finally take a shower.

I closed the door and looked at the bathroom mirror, smiling at my reflection. I had long, slightly curly light brown hair with baby blue eyes, a dimpled smile, and prominent cheekbones. If I didn't stutter, I think people would have called me cute or handsome. But I stuttered, and I was nothing but a weird nerd to people.

But my Mom still said I was cute. And Alex used to call me cutie. Like when he came back from school, he would yell, "Hey! I'm home. Where's my cutie?" and I would run down the stairs, giggling. I really missed it all.

I stepped into the large stainless steel shower after taking my clothes off and turned it on. I shivered a little as cool water flowed down my hair, forehead, chin, and down my bare, untanned chest with barely noticeable abs.

After about twenty minutes, I stepped out of the shower and threw on the t-shirt and shorts I had earlier taken from the cupboard. I stepped back into the room and looked at the bed on the right. I had already picked that bed, and my phone was lying on it. So I walked to it and sat on the edge. I took my phone in my hands and lay down with it, deciding to watch some movie on Netflix as I had nothing else to do. And I ended up watching Avengers again.

Sometime later, a bell rang out of nowhere, almost startling me. I looked at the phone and saw the time was 8 PM. That might be the mess bell for dinner. Anyway, I wasn't going. I wasn't hungry.

An hour later, I was bored. I put my phone aside after setting the alarm for 6. I turned my night lamp on and the lights out before lying back again and pulling the cover up, shifting to my side and curling up, waiting for sleep.

Tomorrow wouldn't be that bad. Maybe it was actually time for new beginnings.