The Meeting Goes Well(s)

"Ahhh, Mr. Tims, so good to finally meet you."

Despite whatever earlier drama had seemingly taken place in his office, the Principal of Blackhell- uh, Blackwell greeted me with a warm smile. He was a heavyset black man who looked to be in his early 50's, worry lines creased his face though, and I had a strong suspicion that overseeing this school had probably added a few years to his visible age.

Still slightly shaken from the flurry of activity out in the hall, I answered him. "Thank you Sir- uh, Principal Wells, right?"

"Yes that's right." He chuckled again. "I trust Sam has been a worthy guide through your first steps through the school?"

I glanced behind me at the mention of the Groundskeeper. The balding man stood with a relaxed, if empty expression, staring loosely in a direction completely unrelated to the conversation about him. I nervously turned back to the Principal, chuckling awkwardly.

"Ah. Ya. He's been- He's been fine." The Principal met my awkward smile with a knowing grin, then looked past me to Sam.

"Sam? You can go now, return to your duties."

Sam didn't respond, but I heard him trudge out of the room. The Principal looked back at me. "Bit of an odd fellow, but he steams a good ham, worth keeping him around for that alone."

I nodded hesitantly. Steamed hams? I've never heard of those.

We spent the next hour going through the various accommodations that had been put in place for my arrival. Thankfully, they'd had a disability fund saved up for the arrival of a disabled student, and had just been waiting for one to apply to specialize. Wheelchair ramps, accessible washrooms, specialized assistant staff, and more had been put in place for me and any future disabled applicants to Blackwell high. Overall I was pretty touched about the whole thing. This Principal Blackwell seemed like a stand up guy.

We finally wrapped up as the last school bell rang, interrupting our heart-to-heart about my failed football career.

"Ah, well if you'll follow me I'll take you to your dorm Mr. Tims."

"Lead the way."

He was definitely the best person to lead me through the throng of students, they seemed used to giving him a wide berth, even at the hallway's busiest. On our way to the dorms I'd managed to catch a few glimpses of some of the girls I'd met earlier that day, as well as many more that I hadn't. How was everyone in this school so good looking?

We finally made it out to the dorm circle, and Principal Wells turned with a grand gesture towards the ramps that would make my ascent and descent easier. "Voila! All yours Mr. Tims. Once you're inside you'll see a shiny new elevator that'll activate on your keycard as well. Not that your room is on the second floor, but just in case."

I nodded. "Thank you Sir... " His broad smile beamed my way again, a stark difference from the glare that had seen us through the hallways. With a mental shrug though, I bid him a last goodbye and made my way up the stairs. Hopefully my luggage had arrived in better condition than I had, I was already lamenting the choice not to bring my cane for my arrival.

I carefully trod up the stairs as Principal Wells retreated into the far wing of the dorms, and as I threw open the door to my new living space for the next several months, I felt a brief, sudden pressure at my chest, followed by a startled "Eep!" from the person I'd just bowled over.

Hold on.

The person I just bowled over? That's a change of pace.

I suddenly realized my incredible nonchalance about the matter and yelped myself, apologetically. As apologetically as a yelp can be I suppose? And looked down at the girl. She sat on the floor looking as frazzled as anyone I'd seen. Her hair sat in a messy bun, dirty blonde but light and voluminous, and her face was dainty, almost as delicate looking as a porcelain doll, though a touch less pale. Her slight frame was partly concealed by the navy blue jacket over her white blouse, but tightly held together knees coming out of her lower thigh length skirt proclaimed the true frailty of her build.

Immediately I felt awful, instinctively I leaned down to help her up, starting to say "Ohmygod I am so sorr-" When gravity asserted itself over my load bearing prosthetic and brought me down on top of her.

Another startled "Eep!" brought me out of the shock of collision, most notably, the fact that it was muffled and the hot air from it warmed my chest.

"AH!" With a shout I hurled myself off of the poor thing, now panting with the exertion. We both lay there for a moment next to each other, the two of us equally awkward enough to not want to be the first to say something. I finally relented. "Uh. I'm sorry about that. My bad. Uhm. It's the, y'know. I was excited, and the door- And, you know. My prosthetic it's just not the- I mean-"

A quiet giggle from my right side brought my head whipping sharply over. Did I imagine that? No, she's looking at me with a small smile. "It's okay..." Her voice was soft, but had a slight husky quality to it, no doubt inherited since 'husky' didn't seem like this girl's chosen style.

"Uhhhhh." It really wasn't okay, it was totally rude of me. I pushed myself up onto my elbows. "I'm serious, that was really careless of me, you don't need to go easy on me just because I'm-... y'know." I gestured vaguely towards my leg.

She glanced down, following the movement, then looked back up at me. "No it's-... it's really okay, I'm alright." I grit my teeth a bit. It's not... nice when people go easy on me cause of stuff like this, this had nothing to do with my leg. I took a breath. She doesn't mean anything by it, she just seems like a sweet girl who doesn't want me to feel bad.

"I'm Jake Tims, by the way." I tried. "I'm uh. New here."

She smiled back. "I'm Kate Marsh, I'm..." She paused for a moment before her smile grew a little snarky. "Old here, I suppose."

I chuckled at that, which then grew into a laugh at the absurdity of the situation. Casually sitting, sharing a joke with a chick I'd just sent flying on the floor in front of the main entrance to this school dorm without another soul in sight. She gave me a look, inquisitive but not perturbed.

"Oh, nothing." I said, waving my hand in front of me. A black glint on my wrist caught my eye. Right, the watch! "Hey, do you happen to know who's this is?" I asked, holding out my wrist to her.

She looked at it briefly. "Well, it looks like it's yours, isn't it?" She smiled at me sweetly.

"Uh. No. I found it on the grass outside earlier, I thought maybe someone lost it? It looks pretty expensive."

Kate cocked her head cutely. "Mmmm, no. I'm pretty sure that's yours."

I stared at her for a moment, waiting to be let in on whatever weird joke this was leading up to. She simply gazed back. I shrugged mentally. Arts students. "Riight. Well, anyway, I'm dead tired and I'd like to check out my room." I spied one of the hand rails installed expressly for my use on the wall and used it to hoist myself up. "I'll uh. Talk to you later, Kate?"

She stood in a smooth motion and smiled at me again, before a thought seemed to occur to her and she broke eye contact. "Uhm! Would you- I mean. If you'd like... maybe we could have tea together, some time?"

I blinked. A blush rose to her cheeks. What the fuck? Are all Blackwell chicks like, super into disabled dudes? Art. Students. I smiled back. "Sure thing Kate, I'd love to." She seems nice, and I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

We said our goodbyes and I made my way to my new room. It was on the first floor, and just a few doors down from the entrance. Sure enough, my luggage was dutifully waiting for me, my pair of canes, cameras, and assorted clothing and other belongings. I was dead fucking tired though, so with a brief thought towards unpacking in the morning, I pulled off my clothes, unhitched my prosthetic, and fell into bed.