Chris and Jo by Desire Scheepers (books for 7th graders txt) 📖

He could swear there was something different about the expression on her face. She seemed less afraid.
She went to where her bags had been placed earlier and started hauling them one by one to her side of the room.
“Do you need some help with that? “ Chris asked.
“No thanks, I think I should be able to manage. I packed the bags myself so I should be the one to drag them where I need them.”
“Ok, if you’re sure.”
The unpacking continued for a couple of hours and by the time they finished with a take away pizza and some bad red wine, they were yapping away like old friends.
“You know, I have never shared so much with anyone in my life. I’m sorry if I’ve been boring you. It’s just that I have always been so self- conscious because of my freckles that I haven’t really made friends or gone out for that matter.”
Chris sat observing Jo while they talked. He could see a few things that she could do to boost her self- esteem. Growing up with his sisters and having been with his girlfriend for a year now, he had developed a sense of what looked good and what was better left alone. Like the outfit she had on was definitely better left alone. No way did black chunky boots with jeans that were miles too big and a sweat shirt that would’ve fit him, look good on anyone. She could’ve auditioned for a part as a gangster.
The main problem though, was how did he raise the subject and what would her reaction be if he did say something?
“I think I’m going to bed. It’s been quite a day and I’m exhausted.” Chris said, mentally shaking himself.
“A very good idea. I can honestly say that I have never experienced a day like this one.” She said and yawned.
While Chris left for a last bathroom break, Jo got ready for bed.
When he entered the room, he saw that she had already climbed into bed and that she was covered from head to toe in blankets.
“Don’t drown in there. Anyway, good night. See you tomorrow morning.” Chris said and switched off the light and got into bed as well.

By the time Chris finally surfaced from bed, Jo was extremely grateful. It seemed that she would be stuck with a wildly snoring roommate for two weeks. After the first hour she had given up trying to fall asleep and had simply lain awake hoping that the time would pass quickly. There had been a respite at around three o’clock, but just as she had started to drift away, the see-sawing started again.
She didn’t have the guts to confront him about the snoring so she decided to let it go and not tell him about it. And anyway, she was nearly running late for her first lecture and that would be an extremely stupid way to start the year. Be late on the first day.
She hurriedly twisted her hair up and stuck a pencil through it, grabbing her bag on the way to the door.
“I’m sorry I’m rushing like this, but I’m going to be late if I don’t go now. Enjoy your day.” She said and closed the door behind her.
She had no idea where to go, so she consulted the map she had received yesterday. The way she understood her schedule and the map, it looked like she would be having the bulk of her lectures in the main building, which suited her fine. That meant that she wouldn’t have to traipse through the whole campus from one class to the next.
She headed in the direction of the main building, her mission to be on time and to at least try to understand what the lecture would be about.
She arrived just as the last of the class filed into the room. As she entered she was almost overwhelmed with the amount of students in the hall. It was huge.
She headed towards the back of the hall, but most of the seats had already been taken, so she was forced to sit closer to the front than she would’ve liked. This would be part of her training in becoming less shy.
Finally the lecturer closed the door and strode to the black board.
“My name is John. You can call me John or Mr Bracken. Whichever. I’ve been trained to answer to both. I will be conducting this class for the rest of the year. Those students who don’t want to learn or think that this is just an excuse to have fun, there’s the door. I take my subject serious and I will only have people in here that can respect that fact. So, any questions?”
Amid the laughter and noise created by John’s statement, Jo looked around at the others and knew that she would enjoy this course.

Chris was barely awake when he heard Jo moving around in the room. He had slept surprisingly well and felt ready to face the day.
He stuck out his head from underneath the blankets and saw her standing at her bed, fiddling with her book bag.
Her hair looked like something had attacked her from the back. Either that or she had been used during the night to mop the floors with. Her outfit also screamed for release. The green tights with the mid length blue skirt and red jersey and boots were a combination to make anyone reach for some sunglasses.
He mentally shook his head and once again thought about how to raise the subject of her fashion cluelessness with her. It would definitely be a challenge. Such a shame, because she was a wonderful person once you got past the shyness.
By the time he was ready to get out of bed, she was heading towards the door, sticking a pencil in her hair and grabbing the bag she had been fiddling with, saying something about rushing and being late.
Well, he hoped she would be in time, because it would present a bad first impression if she arrived late for her first lecture.
Speaking of which, if he didn’t get a move on, he would be in the same position.
Chris threw back the blankets and rose from bed, stretching and yawning.
He finished getting ready in record time and as he was about to close the door he remembered that he hadn’t taken his books. He went back to retrieve them and saw the time on the alarm clock. He grabbed the books, closed the door and dashed down the stairs, jogging very fast. He took the stiff jogging pace very well, because he was in peak physical condition. All the practice over the vacation period had really paid off, even though he hadn’t thought that he would be using the skills in running to class on his first day.
He made good time and arrived well in time for the class. As he entered, he looked around and headed towards the back of the room. He couldn’t have the lecturer calling on him before he had time to settle into the course.
Just as he sat down, the lecturer entered and waited for the noise to die down.
“Good day everyone. My name is Mr Sloane. I will be teaching you the basics of Psychology. I hope that we will all enjoy this class. Please find your places and open your books on page 1.”
Thus started Chris’ first year of college.

When Jo returned to the room after finishing all her classes, she found that the room was empty. It seemed that Chris was still attending a class. That suited her, because she wanted to have a bath and with a man in the room, she didn’t feel very free to flash around her underwear and bath products, so she enjoyed the little freedom that the empty room presented her with.
When she finished the bath and returned to the room she saw that he was back and was getting ready to go somewhere.
“Hi, how was your day? I must say, it was different to what I expected, but I enjoyed it.” He greeted her as she entered the room.
“Hi. It was good, thanks.”
“I was on my way to the movies and have had a cancellation. I don’t want to go alone, so if you don’t want to go with me, I’ll have to give the tickets away. It’s a comedy, in case you were wondering.”
She was so surprised by the offer, she was speechless. Go to the movies with Chris? She would love to go to the movies with Chris!
“Please come with me? I don’t want to beg, but I really want to see the movie.”
“Ok, I’ll come. But what about my work that I have to do?”
“Don’t worry about that. We’ll be back in plenty of time for you to do your work. I also have some stuff to do.”
“Ok, let me just get dressed, then we can go.” She said and grabbed some things from the closet and raced to the bathroom to get dressed.
She was so excited, she couldn’t get the buttons to close in order, so she ended up having the dress on skew, and the socks didn’t match up completely.

Chris nearly had second thoughts about taking Jo with him to the movies when he saw her coming back from the bathroom. Her dress wasn’t sitting properly and the socks she was wearing had a definite colour clash going on, but he could see her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were shining, which was difficult to do through her glasses, so he decided not to mention the fact that boots with socks and a summer dress don’t really go together.
“Ready? Ok, let’s go.”
As they walked, they chatted about the different things they had done and experienced throughout the day.
The street lights were coming on, because it was gradually growing darker. The street they were walking in was busy with the nocturnal student life inherent with college life.
“Here we are. I hope you enjoy the movie. Do you want some pop corn or anything? I don’t usually get anything, because it distracts my attention from the movie.”
“No thank you. I don’t really like pop corn, because the kernels get stuck in my teeth, then I have to spend the whole movie trying to get the things out of my teeth.” She answered.
They entered the cinema and found their seats towards the front of the room. They had barely sat down when the lights started to dim. The adverts and trailers continued for about fifteen minutes before the movie finally started
They laughed so hard during the movie, that when they eventually came out, they were both breathless and had aching sides.
“That was absolutely fabulous. Now, I don’t normally use the word ‘fabulous’ to describe anything, but I laughed so much I thought I would be able to launch a hot air balloon.” Chris raved when he had enough breath to speak.
“Yes, it was very good. I haven’t been to the movies in a very long time, so this has definitely been an outing for me. Thanks for inviting me.”
They started walking back to the dorm, discussing all the things they remembered from the movie.

They came back to the dorm about an hour later, after doing some window shopping and stopping for a coffee on the way.
“I am going straight to bed. I thought I would be able to handle the movie and the home work, but I enjoyed everything so much, I don’t have any more energy to stay awake.”
“I think I’ll follow your example. Luckily I only have to hand in my things by the end of the