Chapter 6: Befriending the Judson Brothers

Verena Layton

Orlo looks at Lorcan and waves his hand like an excited child, sitting on a solid concrete block on the roof floor. His other brother is sitting on another block. Amara flashes a big smile of relief, waving her hand lightly. Julia is sitting with her chin resting on her palm, looking as uninterested as Lorcan was in the medicine class. Her eyes light up as soon her gaze meets mine. 

“Rena!” She springs up from her seat and rushes toward me. “Is everything alright? You are fine, right?”

“Yes, I am.” I smile assuringly, nodding readily. 

“I was so worried, thinking that Alan might have caught you,” Amara joins. 

“That's why I told both of you not to associate with the newcomers!” Julia whispers though it seems like it doesn’t go unheard by the Judson brothers. 

Eh? Where does this come from?! 

“Shh…Don’t say such things. Why are trying to connect the things that are nowhere near to each other?” I quickly glance at the brothers, before turning my face to her Julia. “They might feel bad if they hear you.”

Julia snorts. I again glance at Lorcan who seems to frown and snort before looking away. 

I can’t figure out the origin of Julia’s hostility towards the Judson brothers. Why does she even hate them when she never met them before? And then there is Dylan Judson, who appears like a cousin brother of Julia, having the same aloof type of body language. He avoids Julia’s gaze for some reason. 

“Thank you for bringing my brother safe and sound.” Orlo interferes out of nowhere. 

I look at him. I have heard about him from Amara but I didn’t expect him to be this straightforward when it comes to socialization. 

“You are-”

“Oh! Forgive my manners, I just forgot to introduce myself.” Orlo flashes a goofy smile as he runs his hand through his hair. “I am Orlo Judson, a third-year student, and my major is Physiotherapy. I’m a newcomer along with my brother Dylan Judson, who is in the same department as me, and Lorcan Judson, who joined the Department of Occupational Therapy. I guess you already know my brother Lorcan, given how you helped him to flee from the situation.”

He glances at Lorcan then his gaze returns to me along with a mischievous smile plastered on his lips. I feel flustered by his strange gaze and his smile. I can sense he is trying to hint at the double-meaning interpretation. 

“Yes, I do know him.” I smile, flashing my general thirty-two teeth-showing smile. I extend my hand, intending to shake hands. “Pleased to meet you, Orlo. I’m Verena Layton, a third-year occupational therapy student and classmate of your brother.”

Orlo shakes my hand. He looks at Dylan who appears kind of agitated. Orlo holds his hand and almost drags him to me and introduces him. I chuckle lightly at Orlo’s tactics, trying not to be too loud to embarrass Dylan, and later, shake hands with him.

“Uh…The beautiful lady over there didn’t introduce herself yet.” Orlo glances at Julia who just averts her gaze to meet his eyes. 

“Oh…She is Julia Boone, my darling best friend.” I pull her by her arm and side-hug her. 

“Nice to meet you, Julia.” Orlo greets her cheerfully. 

Gosh! I should admit his cheerfulness is contagious. I wonder where he gets this level of energy.

“Mn. Nice to meet all of you, Judson brothers.” Julia nods as she stretches her lips into a small fake smile. 

Ting!

“Shiya! Verena, the whatsup chat is flared up!” Amara squeals as soon as the notification sound rings in her phone and she checks it. 

“Our dead department group chat?” I squint, as someone hardly sends any texts in that group unless something big has happened. 

Generally, physiotherapy kids aren’t included in Occupational therapy group chat. But, I sneakily added her to our department group chat to keep track of all the gossip. Likewise, she added Julia and me to her Physiotherapy group chat. Thanks to that, she notices the sudden change in the group chat gossip. I wonder if this all roots to the incident at the canteen. 

.

I put my hand in my pocket. Abruptly, my blood runs cold when my hand doesn't touch the rectangular object. 

“I seem to leave my phone in the canteen!” I panic. “What should I do now? What if someone steals it?!”

“It won’t happen,” Amara says, in a relaxed manner. “Even if that happens. I’ll buy you a new one.”

“That isn’t the issue here. The P*F version of all of my books is there on my phone,” I sniff, trying to hold back since I cannot afford to lose all the notes that I created by staying up countless nights in the form of PowerPoint presentation slides. “All those will be lost if…”

Julia immediately puts her hand in her pocket and fishes out a phone.

“Here’s your phone.” Julia hands the phone with a girly butterfly phone case to its rightful owner, me. “You forgot it on the table. That’s why I always tell you to keep your phone in your pockets, not randomly on any surface.”

“Thank God that it’s with you!.” I smile in relief while small drops of tears cling to the corners of my eyes. “Thank you so much, Julia babes.”

“There there.” Amara gently pats my back. 

“I don’t take thanks.” Julia shrugs. “I accept cash.”

I click my tongue and snicker as she never changes. She wiggles her eyebrows playfully before checking her phone. 

“It seems like Lorcan Judson became the hero as soon as he arrived at our university,” Julia comments, scrolling on her phone. 

“Which groups are you talking about?” Orlo again speaks when I am about to check my whatsup group. 

“You guys are new, right,” Amara chirps, holding her phone. “Let me share the link to the university and department groups.” After moving her fingertips on the phone screen, she suddenly glances at Lorcan. “Uhm…Lorcan, I don’t have your number. So, would you mind if Verena sends you the group links instead of me since both of you are from the same department?” 

“Erm…I too don’t have his number.” I scratch my neck. 

“That’s no problem.” Orlo laughs. “I’ll give you his number.”

“Thanks!” I smile.

Mission accomplished! Well, to be honest, I wanted to get Lorcan’s number since his appearance is 100% my type. This level of aloofness and coldness isn't what I prefer, but those looks are exactly what make me squeal and fangirl. I guess we may get on better terms once we get to know each other…of course as friends. 

My eyeballs almost pop out of my sockets as soon as I open my whatsup account. The dead students’ OT department group which has been dead for almost 6 months, suddenly comes to life. There are more than 500 messages, begging me to open the group and check the chats. And I give in to the temptation. 

Goodness, heavens! All I can see is praises of Lorcan Judson. Even the guys are on his side. Well, let's not talk about girls who will swarm over him as soon as he enters the class tomorrow. Some texts are so hilarious that I couldn't but chuckle internally. I’m so engrossed in reading the chats that I ignored the notice that slipped into our official OT group where the professors are also included. 

“Shit! Rena, our HOD has asked for Lorcan’s and your presence in the HOD’s room before 3 pm!” Julia blurts out, looking completely taken aback. 

“What!?” My jaws slack. 

“Check the official group,” she says, sounding stoic but somehow nervous. 

I violently tap on the official group and to my dismay, I can vividly read that our HOD, who is well known as Lady Hitler, has ordered us to meet her in her room before the deadline.  

“We are done for!” I look at Lorcan who seems annoyed. 

Well, who would like to get entangled in such a mess on their first day of college?

“Verena, I guess you should meet her as soon as possible.” Amara looks sorry as she suggests. “You know her wrath.”

I avert my gaze at Julia, asking for any alternative to escape my fate. Anything is fine as long I won’t have to stand in front the Lady Hitler. 

“I’m sorry, Rena.” Julia shakes her head in dismay. “I can’t help you in this case.”

“Lorcan…” I glance at him, feeling guilty to drag him into this mess. “When should we go? Well…You can stay here if you don’t want to go. I can manag-”

“That will do no good,” Lorcan says, straightening his posture. “At least I need to show my face to the HOD, don’t I?”

He looks at me. The corner of his lips curves up slightly. Did he just smirk?!

“Then…shall we leave?” He suggests, walking towards the door.