August 27th, 2015 (12:13AM GMT+10)

 

Sitting at my desk littered with a few opened textbooks, my Mac laptop, and a few looseleaf notes, I fiddle with the small flyer that I received two days before from a lady in a polka-dotted dress. It's not the first time that I've received such a flyer from random university students before but this is the first time I've pondered about joining a club in university. Usually, I would just trash the piece of advertisement. Somehow, this feels different.

  I hear a knock from my open dorm door and I turn my head towards it to see my friend, Jake, standing there in khaki shorts, a Flash the superhero shirt and no shoes. He waves and motions for an invitation to come inside, to which I quickly grant with a nonchalant wave back. Jake happily enters my room with a giddy skip in his step.   "What are you doing?" Jake asks while plopping himself on my single bed. I swivel around on my chair to face him, looking at his bare feet then to his face.   "Firstly, why aren't you wearing any shoes?" I ask back, chuckling at his odd behavior that don't cease to amaze me. After making himself comfortable, he lifts his left foot to my eye level and wiggles his toes appreciatively, much to my distaste.   "Like them? They're special shoes. Only the worthy ones can see them." Jake jokes, referring to the classic children's story of an emperor's new clothes that were actually all fake. We both laugh, with me shaking my head at his awful joke.   "Seriously, Jake."   "What? I can't walk around barefooted? The floors here are carpetted and there's nothing like the good feeling of new carpet on your toes." He puts his foot down and wiggles his toes again with a huge grin. "It's awesome how we're the first students to get a room in these new dorm halls."   "Yeah. Everything's clean and the building looks very modern, unlike the last hall we lived in." I say, remembering how the previous hall Jake and I stayed in were pretty old and a little dusty and moldy in some areas.   Our current accommodation, in comparison, is brand new and modern in architecture which is very appealing to the eyes, especially to young university students like us. Plus, aside from bathrooms of our own in each dorm room and a small kitchenette, there are also huge kitchens and dining rooms, a theater to watch movies or TV, as well as a games room complete with a pool table. There are even tables and benches outside that are bolted to the floor for picnics and hanging out.   "So, what are you up to?" Jake intervenes my train of thought and pulls me back to reality. I look at my books scattered on the desk, to the flyer on my hands then back at him.   "Studying... Sort of." I grin sheepishly.   "Right. Studying." Jake laughs while air quoting with his fingers. "Looking at that flyer again, I see."   "Yeah. To be honest, I'm nervous."   "You shouldn't be. Clubs are run by university students. No need to be nervous about professors showing up." Jake assures me with a sincere smile and I smile back. I swivel back to face my desk and place the flyer under a textbook with my friend sitting quietly on my bed, observing me.   "Shouldn't you be studying, too? Don't you have a test tomorrow?" I suddenly ask while typing away on my laptop. I hear him shuffle around to get comfortable on my bed.   "Yeah but I got bored studying so I came by to say hi." I swivel back around to face him with a playful roll of my eyes and a smirk playing on my lips.   "Okay then. Hi, Jake. Now go study." I half-jokingly say, getting up and lightly pushing him off my mattress. "Get up and study, man!"   "Geez, is this how you treat your guests?" He asks with a laugh, trying to push me back with gentle force.   "You're a different case. Now go or grab your books and study here. No loitering." I stick my tongue out, pulling his arm again for him to get up, but to no avail. Even though he appears quite lanky, Jake's actually a little stronger than I am. Either that or his desire to not move is driving his weight to heighten just a little.   With a groan, he finally stands up on his own, mumbling, "Fine. I'll get my books." Then he leaves my room for a few minutes to take his things from his room and into mine. As I wait, I sit back down on my chair and tap away on my laptop to try to finish my work for submission in the next two days.   Another knock resonates from my open door but this time the knocks are subtler and gentler than Jake's overly excited and loud knocks. Looking up from my laptop screen, I see Samithi, a