Vultures

Humans are vultures, they pick at everything. Mother always said so. Never trust anyone fully, give me 3 reasons why that was even an option. I study persons to pass the time, instead of actually paying attention to the lecture. Dr. Sadhu moves too quickly for me to be very honest. I just show up to see if I can learn anything at all. It’s a continuous loop of not learning and trying the exact thing again. Einstein’s definition of insanity. But then again I have never met anyone truly normal. Yet, people ostracize for minute reasons. If you have anxiety, they laugh making things infinitely worse. Then they move on and you think about that horrifying moment from every angle under a microscope dissecting it and making it caustic with each recall. Not that I would know, I dropped all those memories and its associates in a tub of acid to be eroded away. No need to lug those insecurities around.

Do you know that 60% of people cannot sit still? Don’t look it up I just think it seems about right from my observations. The girl in the seat below me keeps tapping her foot and the boy? man? next to her is only spinning his pen. Sorry it’s difficult to call people in their early 20s men and women they still look like their teenage selves. The class group chat dings every few seconds and most people are on their phone probably looking at it. The convo is about Dr. Sadhu’s resemblance to some tv show character. Then someone sends a sticker of him in the chat which I save because that’s what you do with the good ones. My friends Michael and Lilly are whispering about something so I lean over and insert myself by saying , “What was that?”

  “We’re talking about lunch, there’s a special with a discount based on the number of push ups  you do.” Lilly responds.

“Yeah so I want Lilly to record me doing it.” Michael continues.

“Ah,” I just say with a nod.

We became friends after a group project in the first semester. The three of us mostly did the work and met up in the library so we just vibed afterward. Like a salad, you know healthy and balanced lol. The group of girls behind us are doing their own judging of the class. One is speaking about how Remi wore the same t-shirt yesterday and how Michael is creepy because he said bless you to a stranger that sneezed. Like I said vultures. Michael heard them because his posture stiffened a little.

“And Nitric Oxide was named molecule of the year in 1992 because of its role as a vasodilator. That’s how Viagra works.” I think all the lost souls refocused with that one.

“Did you hear that Jacob and Annie broke up? She caught him cheating.” they continue.

“Waw and she failed a course last semester too.”

“Yeah I heard her say last week that he was the only thing right in her life and keeping her sane at the moment.”

  “Well watch him put her on the one way trip to being a nervous wreck.”

The same girls above me are gossiping at the moment.

  “Wait how did you know that she failed?”

  “I took a screenshot of the student ID numbers and names when that lecturer accidentally posted it. Thank God I cheated of you then.”

  “Bitch, thank God I studied that was supposed to be a team effort and you were sinking the ship.”

And then I hear the other girl literally cackle I kid you not.

Annie is nowhere in sight; she is probably crumpled up somewhere. Relationships are trash.

I zone out for the rest of the class not even paying attention to the people in the room anymore and all of a sudden, it’s lunch. Remind me not to do this while driving.

The three of us go to the push up place and order our food. Only Michael does his discount push up exhibition while Lily records. He does 35 so that was 35% off. He was getting weary at 33 but preferred a number that could be considered a set if he was working out in the gym.  

At the lunch table, Lilly begins by saying that she’s ready to graduate. She says that everyday and we’re only in the 2^nd semester of our 1^st year. Which means that by saying this it will go on for seemingly forever. Jacob waltzes in the food court with ‘not Annie’, who is stunning by the way. The things that having parents with money can get a barely average looking guy.

  “Why weren’t my parents rich business owners?” Michael says echoing my thoughts.

  “Annie is dumb for investing so much into him. Clearly he thinks that he is the be all and end all. The hottest thing since sliced bread. Which means that anyone associated with him is disposable. ” Lilly sneers.

  “Wasn’t Annie your friend in school?” I ask.

   “I told you that?”

We both nod.

    “The things that I know about that girl.” She starts and then stops herself. “Anyways, she never learnt or listened to anything that said so I gave up. We were never there for each other when we needed it, sadly.”

We all stayed silent after that statement and continue eating.

 “Do you all believe in love?” Lilly starts.

  “Do you believe in magic?” I quip.

   “Parental love or one from a dog probably.” “Weren’t you just saying that Annie was stupid for trusting Jacob so readily?” Michael adds in.

She sighs at this. “Yea.” “But then I want my David and Victoria Beckham story.”

  “Victoria’s hot.” Michael and I say at the same time.

   “I would throw this sandwich at you but I don’t like to waste food.”

Michael was right about the pet love. My dog will follow me to the ends of the world. But I am biased toward dogs, cats seem to be a little too much like humans. They are independent creatures. Something in my periphery makes me stop my internal monologue and I realise that Jacob is glancing in our direction, particularly at Lilly and then it dawned on me that she was stealing glances at him for a while now as well. Interesting.