Freshmen Dorms

"Fuck!" Jake shouted after the door impacted with his face, he could feel blood pouring out of his nose, and he could hear Nova barking. His eyes stung and he opened them to see Evelyn and Ashlee.

Ashlee gasped covering her mouth with her hand, not really moving.

"Are you kidding me?! What the fuck!" Jake shouted in disbelief that would be just his fucking luck, to run into her.

Nova bit Evelyn's finger, and before she could escape he tumbled out of her bag, and bringing a few of her things out of her bag along with him. Evelyn's phone had fallen out of her bag and Nova sniffed it a couple of times picking up Evelyn's scent on the phone he picked it up in his mouth and took off down the hall back towards Jake's suite.

Jake wanted a few more things to say to Evelyn but he had seen the dog pick up something in his mouth and take off the down the hall a few people, "Fuck, fuck, fuck!" He shouted chasing after the dog, "Nova basta! " People moved out of the way since Jake looked kind of like a psycho with a bloody nose chasing after a puppy.

"This is not happening! Why do I associate with psychos like him?" Evelyn demanded of no one in particular. She hastily scooped up the contents of her bag and took off after Jake and Nova. She was more afraid Nova would be kicked out than that he'd taken her phone.

Seth was watching all this with a mildly entertained look on his face. He glanced at Ashlee. "Does this mean we have to screech and rampage around too?"

The puppy dodged around people exceptionally well, twining between their legs and Jake and Evelyn had a hard time following in the crowded hallway, as more people returned from classes and headed out for lunch.

And then, when Evelyn rounded a turn and spotted Jake down the hallway, Nova vanished out of sight completely amidst a group of people who had emerged out of a large suite.

Please tell me he didn't go in there! she prayed, slowing down to a careful walk as she approached Jake.

Ashlee snickered, "Not unless you paid me, or if I was really drunk."

Jake should have just trademarked FML for the rest of his life, this would happen to him when he was bleeding out of the ears. Jake stuck his fingers in his mouth and shouted, "Nova! Parar! Ven aquí ahora mismo!" He sounded like a crazy person chasing after the dog, he saw a blur of brown fur between people's legs and shoved past a few football player looking guys.

"Hey watch it jack ass!" One of them shouted shooting Jake a dirty glance.

"Ew is that a dog get rid of it?" Some Barbie girl said.

"I assure you he's got less herpes than you," Evelyn shot at the girl in passing, thoroughly annoyed as she followed the trail Jake was blazing through the crowd. Nova had, it appeared, disappeared inside the suite.

And Jake was now aggravating a huge number of people. In particular, a bunch of muscly frat boy-types who had just been shoved out of his way.

"Jake, stop!" Evelyn snapped, reaching between a burly pair of boys and catching Jake's sleeve before he charged headfirst into the suite and bled all over its floor. "I'll go in there and get him! They'll freak if they see you."

Seth had ambled down the hall toward where Jake and Evelyn had gone. He figured running around wasn't going to help anything.

But a diversion so no one noticed that dog might be necessary.

He fumbled in his pockets and found his lighter. Taking advantage of the momentary rush, he snagged a piece of paper from a passing guy, checked it to ensure it was empty, grabbed another because the first had notes on it and, ignoring the guy's angry protest, lit the page on fire.

He held it up over his head to the smoke detector.

A resounding BEEP BEEP echoed through the hallway and instantly, water rained from the ceiling sprinklers.

Chaos erupted from all around him. Doors flew open as students poured out in lazy groups, and he lost sight of Ashlee instantly as the flame was washed out and he crumpled up the paper in his pocket. He looked around, caught sight of her again and grabbed her wrist. "C'mon, we need to find that damned dog!"

He yanked her down the hallway Evelyn and Jake had turned into.

Ashlee yelped being dragged yet again down the hallway of these dorms to look for Nova, she really needed to move in here although at the moment she didn't like that she was soaking wet, she kept her eyes open for the puppy, "Nova!" She called to him.

Jake yanked his arm out of Evelyn's grip, "This is your fault let me go!" He snapped at her.

***

Nova walked around in the unfamiliar suite trying to recognize the new scents he encountered but he just gave up, the two girls who had occupied it had left and he wandered around it going into the bathroom which the girls had left the door open he grew tired of holding onto Evelyn's phone in his mouth and dropped it on the toilet seat, hearing it splash into the bowl.

Evelyn opened her mouth to answer irritably - something along the lines of "fluff for brains" and "idiocy" - but then a torrent of rain descended on them both, leaving them soaking wet and plastering Evelyn's bangs to her cheeks.

She didn't bother wondering why the fire alarm just had to go off that damn second. She shoved past Jake, whose bleeding nose was now streaming with water too - and headed into the suite, shoving the door closed behind her in his face.

"Venir, Nova!" she said angrily. An answering whine led her to the bathroom, where Nova stood peering into the toilet.

Evelyn froze in her tracks. "Oh my God...Nova, you didn't!" she wailed, seeing her beloved iPhone in the toilet bowl. She yanked open the bathroom cabinet and pulled out a rag, wrapping it around her left hand.

There was no way the hand she ate with was going in there.

Nova dropped back on four legs and whimpered confusedly, clearly not understanding what he'd done wrong.

***

Seth headed down the hall, fighting against the crowd rushing the other way. He caught sight of Jake's tall frame ahead and saw a door nearby swing shut as Evelyn's dark hair disappeared behind it. "There!"

Jake went up to the door but it was locked, Ashlee and Seth had caught up as Jake pounded on the door.

"She's not going to answer you." Ashlee informed him, she knocked on the door.

"Ev its me Ash, open the door!" Ashlee said knocking on the door.

Evelyn, busy as she was with building up her nerves in what she was about to do, ignored the ruckus.

"You're a dead puppy when we get out of here," she snapped at Nova and he whined, tail between his legs. "You don't throw things in the toilet bowl, Nova!" she went on lightly, feeling slightly bad. He was widening those puppy eyes up at her like she'd just stolen his last dog biscuit.

The suite door wasn't locked, she'd only shoved it closed and it stuck, and Jake would realize that if he pushed it hard enough.

She inhaled sharply, and dunked her hand in, swiping out hr wet iPhone and taking it over to the sink to rinse it off, not daring to touch it with her uncovered right hand.

She dropped some soap off the soap dispenser on it and used a wet tissue to wipe the soap off, not daring to put it in anymore water. The screen was blank, but it might be either dead or asleep, she couldn't tell yet. She lifted it up when it looked clean enough - she'd Purell it later - and then dropped it into her bag with a wad of tissues.

***

Seth kicked at the door quickly - and it unstuck with a loud bang as it hit the wall behind it. "We need to get out of here with the crowd, get the damn mutt and Red before I get caught," he said to Jake. "Yes, that diversion was my fault."

Jake didn't even bother to question Seth's motive, as far as he was concerned at least Nova went unseen for another day, since this had happened.

Jake turned to leave with Seth and he looked down at Ashlee, "Tell her to hurry up."

Ashlee walked into the dorm, and saw Evelyn standing in the bathroom, Nova sitting down beside her looking like how her dog Rocket would when Ashlee would scold him.

"Hey Ev come on, Seth kind of triggered the alarm and we need to get out of here before security questions us."

Evelyn pulled the rag off her hand, bent and scooped up Nova into her arms. She looked over at Ashlee, whose bag was bigger. "Ash, um...I need you to hide him. Please? I'll carry your books because those can actually be seen and he can't! Where're the idiots?" She hastened toward the suite door as she spoke.

"That dog better not get me screwed over," Seth muttered, turning toward the stairwell - he had the feeling he was going to have to dye hsi hair again if that kid remembered Seth had stolen a page from him. But the corridor had been crowded then.

There were still people around now because no one had taken the fire alarm seriously. It was usual on campus.

Ashlee picked up Nova shoving him into her bag, "Its fine, and they left. Seth didn't want to get caught since he created this disaster." Ashlee said turning on her heel and walked out.

Jake patted Seth on the shoulder, "Don't worry I doubt that they'll stick around since you pulled the alarm."

Evelyn followed after Ashlee and they spotted the boys still lurking in the hallway, about to exit through the stairwell. The girls sped up and Seth glanced over, relief breaking out over his face.

"Finally!" he exclaimed, hurrying down the stairs. Evelyn didn't reply - she knew he'd had a hand in their sudden diversion and she could only be grateful. They met a crowd of people on the floor below and managed to merge in, Evelyn staying near Ashlee and Nova while Jake and Seth stayed a couple feet ahead. Jake's nose, she noted with a pang of guilt, was still trickling blood a little.

Jake was silent most of the way down, he was grateful though that Seth had pulled the fire alarm otherwise Nova would have been reported by other people.

"Hey your nose is bleeding." Some jock said as they went downstairs.

"Really I didn't know?" Jake said sarcastically, the jock throwing him a dirty look. Jake figured he should tone it down a bit otherwise he'd be on every guys hit list on their floor, not that he cared he could take most of these frat idiots. He wiped at his nose and pulled his hand away and saw the blood smear onto his hand, he figured it wasn't as bad as earlier since the water had washed most of it away, it still hurt a little but he knew it wasn't broken or anything.

"You've still got..." Seth gestured at his own nose to indicate to Jake that his hadn't stopped leaking completely. Probably just a slight internal bleeding. They headed with the crowd down to the lobby and a few more people shot curious looks their way.

Evelyn tensed a little as they exited the lobby filled with firemen. She glanced at Ashlee's bag, where Nova's tiny nose poked out just a little. "Let's speed up." She grabbed Ashlee's arm, juggled her books with her other hand and sped up past Seth and Jake. It occurred to her that Jake's smudged and reddish nose might cause some attention.

When they stepped outside, Seth felt a little panicky. He was gazing at a huddle of firemen - and that kid he'd stolen the page from was standing nearby.

"Fuck," Seth swore. He'd been reckless, distracted about getting Nova out and he hadn't been careful to check for witnesses. The firemen glanced over at them and Evelyn swallowed.

"We should probably run," Seth muttered. Evelyn gritted her teeth and let go of Ashlee to plunge her hand into her clutch bag. She pulled out the wad of tissues she'd dumped in there and slowed down, stuffing them all into Jake's hand. "Here, Leaky Cauldron, clean yourself up before they arrest us by association."

Seth was keeping an eye on that nerdy kid he'd taken a page from, who was now saying something to the firemen. "I can see another dye job in my future," Seth moaned, steering them on away from the subway and to the streets. Hopefully, they'd get lost in pedestrian traffic.

Jake snatched the tissues from Evelyn's hand and tilted his head upwards to prevent his nose from bleeding further, he felt blood trickle down his throat a little and he hated that feeling he coughed a little and kept walking lowering his head so he wouldn't walk into another telephone pole, but angled slightly to try and clot, "Seth I doubt that nerd will say anything."

"Ya think?" Seth said, glancing behind them as they reached the street. He was walking a little ahead of Jake and Evelyn, using Jake's height as a cover.

Evelyn looked over out of curiosity. The kid Seth was talking about was still standing by the firemen.

"Um, I think he's talking to them," she said, feeling guilty. This was essentially all her fault - well, maybe if Jake hadn't pissed her off, she wouldn't have nicked Nova but....

Seth swore again and led them down the street, weaving in and out of passers-by until they reached an alleyway. He paused and looked behind him, resting his back against the alley wall so he was out of sight of the firemen all over campus. He normally wouldn't have worried but false fire alarms weren't a petty crime on campus, what with the bomb threats people so often set off. Seth did not want to be associated with that shit.

"I have a useful hideout up there," he told Jake as Jake reached him. Seth nodded his head up at the fire escape ladder across the alley. "Runs into these tenement apartments all over Greenwich, pretty good for staying low."

Evelyn moved over to Ashlee. "We can let him out now." She figured it best not to tell her that Nova wasn't fully housetrained. Not that that would matter right then but...she'd rather he get out of Ashlee's bag before anything occurred.

Ashlee took Nova out of her bag and let him down on the alley and as she did he went to use the bathroom on one of the dumpsters and she was lucky that she had taken him out when she did. He trotted back over to them and sat in between Evelyn and Ashlee looking up to see what they were all observing.

"Good thing you didn't do that in my bag pup, otherwise I would have turned you into gloves." Ashlee said staring down at Nova, who just whimpered at Ashlee's threat.

Jake looked up at the fire escape and memories of sneaking Frankie up the damn thing came rushing back and all of sudden his back hurt again, but he figured that Seth did need to lay low and he did owe him, "So can you reach the ladder or do you need me to like lift you onto my shoulders and we can just go up there and hang out until it all clears out?"

Seth was about to answer when he caught Evelyn's horrified glance. She was sending Jake a look between "can you get crazier?" and "I'm gonna have fun watching you make a fool of yourself".

Brushing off his curiosity, he nodded at Jake. "Just give me a boost. I can climb up with those pipes and shit. Done it before."

Evelyn gave a cough, her fist over her mouth, and then said quietly, "I don't think you should have Jake boosting you. Use those trash cans there." She nodded her head at a few empty, upturned bins nearby,

Jake glared at Evelyn and shook his head maybe he had dropped her because she had to be annoying all the time., "Those cans look like they can't even support Nova they're all old and rusted. Seth I won't drop you."

Before Seth could answer, Evelyn intervened, frowning at Jake across the alley. "Funny, don't you mean, I won't TRY to drop you but if I do, it isn't any skin off my back?"

Jake ignored Evelyn he wasn't getting into a freaking fight with her he had had enough of her damn arguments, "Shut up Red, in case you can't see Seth is taller than you he'll be able to reach better than you did when we tried it. Seth ignore her and lets just do this before we all end up in jail." He grit his teeth standing near the fire escape.

Ashlee standing there and sighing she looked down at Nova, "Your owners are crazy, I feel bad for you." Nova looked up at Ashlee and barked as if to agree with her, she just shook at her head at the nonsense that was going to unfold before them.

"Ev let him do what he wants its his friend, lets just get out of here." She said sounding annoyed, how come Evelyn couldn't go anywhere without picking a fight with someone?

Evelyn glanced down at Nova and then nodded at Ashlee. She still felt kind of guilty and knew she'd feel worse if Seth got screwed over for this but she had the feeling that bickering with his roommate wasn't going to get them anywhere. She bent and scooped Nova up, tugging her bag up on her shoulder. "Yeah, sure."

She paused, thinking of where they could go with a pet. The Park sounded like a good spot. "Central Park?" she said.

Seth, who was about to launch himself at the ladder, said, "Try the carousel, without sitting down." He stepped forward, placing a foot in Jake's cupped hands, and launching himself up to reach a sturdy pipe. He braced a foot on a bit of brick protruding out of the building, placed his other foot on another pipe and vaulted upward to snag the ladder.

He plummeted downwards. "Move out of the way!"

Evelyn, despite her reluctance to be around these two, couldn't help stoppling to see if Jake had managed to get himself squished yet again.

Jake hopped out of the way of the falling ladder which barely missed him and it crashed onto the ground with a rather loud clang he glared up at Seth, "Oy watch it!"

Seth had landed on his feet and wobbled. He held himself straight up against the wall and smirking at Jake, began climbing up.

"Let's go, shall we?" Evelyn said, ruffling Nova's head as she turned and headed out of the alley.

It occurred to Seth that she was taking Nova with her but he figured Jake didn't really care at that moment seeing as he was so annoyed at Evelyn.

[[FF to the next day]]

Jake woke up the next day, he stretched looking over his bed to Nova's empty dog bed, and remembered that Evelyn had yet again stolen the dog from him although she had said that she had given Nova to him, at this point he didn't care. He loved that dog but if Evelyn really wanted him, she could have him if it meant seeing less of her that was fine.

Jake refused to start the day off on a bad note because of her. He wasn't going to let that happen.

He got out of bed and went across the hall to shower and groom himself.

After he showered and took care of himself he pulled his boxers and sweatpants on, since he really didn't feel like putting in anymore effort to get ready for class. He walked back to his half open door, and stumbled a bit jabbing his foot onto the door, but it felt a little odd, like the part where he hit door was harder then the rest of it.

"Fuck." He swore quietly not to wake up everyone else, and he looked down with half open brown eyes and they were wide open when he saw the message Evelyn left him on his door with his Blackberry glued to the bottom of this.

Mood sufficiently killed.

I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL HER!!!!

How the fuck did he not notice this the day before!? Was he really that dense! He couldn't believe that Evelyn had glued his phone, his fucking expensive phone that he had to pay for to the damn door! What the hell was her problem!? She called him crazy? At least he wasn't gluing her phone to doors!

Jake lowered himself and tried to yank his phone off but of course it was stuck on there harder than it should be, because life loved him that much. He tried yanking it but it wouldn't budge.

He grit his teeth so aggravated with this whole phone situation that he went into the kitchen and pulled out a knife, and jabbed it into the back off his phone and began pounding at his door like a caveman trying to pry it from the wall.

"I fucking hate her... " He said between grit teeth.