First day of School: Part One

It was my first day in Technical School. I'd taken a year off between high school and college working as a full time maintenance man at the Anders & Goodwin Department Store Chain. Now I was back, going for a degree in Business. I was going to Tech School because it was cheeper. Looking around campus at the student body I could see why.

My first class was "Art and Popular Culture." Surprisingly the lab designed was full of people when I arrived. The teacher was a bit of a control freak because there was a seating chart. Jackson (me) was placed next to "Samantha." I dropped my backpack on the floor next to my chair, pulled out my laptop, and dropped my windbreaker over the back of the chair. As I sat I noticed there was no chair in the spot next to me. The rest of the students filed in and I bent over my textbook when a voice spoke next to me. "Could you move your backpack?"

I jumped. Next to me a woman, about 20, was seated in a motorized wheelchair. She had brown curly hair, a nice round face, enormous breasts, and a small round belly. I said "Sure" or something, bent over, and looked at her legs for a fraction of a second. She was wearing yoga pants and there were braces pushing out under the fabric. I moved the backpack and she parked in the space next to me. I barely noticed first half of the class. The professor droned on and I kept trying not to look over at "Samantha."

The Professor called break and I headed out. I used the bathroom and then came back to the classroom. Samantha's car was empty. Then I saw her. She was on forearm crutches coming back from the front of the room. Her butt, I couldn't help noticing, was large, pushed out at the sides, and jiggled up and down. She collapsed into the chair which had been turned sideways, took a folded piece of paper out of her pocket and spread it on the table. The professor was nowhere to be seen. I walked toward the shared bench and she said "Jackson right?" I nodded "We're supposed to grab one of those papers from the table." I picked one up, found a list of modern artists along with their "School" and walked back. I sat down and felt something crackle through my windbreaker. I turned and saw a note leaned against my chair back. I'd been so busy NOT looking that I'd failed to see it. I unfolded it and read "Meet me after class. Also is that modern art in your pants or are you happy to see me?"

I looked down then over at her. She was grinning.

After class we walked down the hall toward the elevators and she said "Let's head over to the cafeteria." So we did. We took the elevator down to the second floor then the skyway over to the Student Union building. We got Pizza, soda, and jello at the cafeteria and I sat at one of the table which had lost a chair, probably to the crowd of people who were gathered around a table playing games on their phones. I sat and she rolled up. She started "You want to know what is 'wrong' with me. I have spina bifida. You know what that is?" I nodded. I had been a devotee for years without knowing it. I didn't know it for sure at the time. I just knew that I had spent hours on the internet one day with a hard on researching various disabilities. "Well anyway my legs are paralyzed from just above the knees down. I used crutches when I was younger but after Elementary School and distances got longer I got a wheelchair. I gained some weight and didn't work my arms out enough so I got a motorized wheelchair. I still like to use my crutches because they don't require as much tight control as a wheelchair."

She finished and I said "Why me?"

"Because you have been the only person, male or female, not to stare at me for the whole class period. So I think you are attracted to me. Is that so?"

I looked deep into her brown eyes and nodded. She smiled. "Good. Because I'm attracted to you."