Chapter 8 – The New Odd

Ulrich and Odd were both in deep sleeps. It was almost 6:00 in the morning. Silence was all around, except for a few birds chirping outside the window. Suddenly, the sound of an alarm clock broke the silence. A random tune sang out from the alarm clock speakers.

Odd, surprisingly, almost literally jumped out of bed. Ulrich sat up groggily, and rubbed his eyes. Odd began making his bed, and straightening out his pillows.

“Odd...?” Ulrich asked, yawning after.

“Hey buddy! Ready for another day? This is the first normal day I’ll experience since I lost my memory!” Odd said, strangely happy.

“Are . . . are . . . are you actually excited for the day?! Today’s nothing special!” Ulrich questioned, standing up.

“Yeah! I can’t wait for just a normal day! My life has been chaotic soooooo much lately!” Odd went to the dresser and stepped back in awe. “Man, this is so messy!” He began organizing the disaster that was his dresser. Ulrich blinked in shock.

“Odd? Are you actually cleaning?” Odd folded a pair of pants and placed them neatly in one of the drawers.

“Yeah! This dresser is so messy! I need to do some serious re-organizing later.”

Odd? Using the words “need to” and “serious re-organization” in the same sentence? Not normal! Ulrich thought, shaking his head, and walked to his own dresser. He pulled out his Kadic sweatshirt, a brown shirt, jeans, and got dressed. Odd folded three other pairs of pants, and five shirts, before getting dressed himself.

Odd took one last look at his side of the room, and then shook his head.

“What, Odd? What’s wrong?” Ulrich questioned, as he joined Odd in staring at his side of the room.

“I was such a messy person! Look, I mean, I’ve got shoes thrown under my bed, clothes spewing out of the drawers in the dresser, and papers everywhere! How could I live in such a pig sty?”

Ulrich shook his head with disbelief. He whished he just got what Odd said either on camera or on a tape recorder, because he guaranteed that if Odd ever got his memory back, that he would never hear those words again.

“Oh, Odd. This room has seen messier days.” Ulrich glanced at Odd, and they both started laughing. The duo walked out of the dorm, and headed towards Jeremie’s dorm before breakfast.

Breakfast was quite the opposite of what it usually is. Sissi, Herve, and Nicholas were not attending breakfast, for unknown reasons. Rumors had it that Sissi was furious that Odd was let out of the hospital so early. She apparently was begging her father to send Odd back to the hospital.

In the end of the line, he took his tray, and waited patiently for the line to start moving. Once he got to where Rosa was serving the food, he handed Rosa his tray. Rosa, thinking that Odd was going to be his usual self with his usual appetite, gave him five large pancakes. Odd raised one eyebrow in confusion.

“Why so many? Everyone else got three; I would feel bad taking more!” Rosa stepped back in confusion. “Plus, I’m not that hungry!” he added.

“What is up with you this morning, Odd? Usually you’re asking for about seven pancakes!” Rosa glanced at Ulrich and the group.

“Seven! Seven pancakes?!” Odd couldn’t believe what he just heard. “How can anyone eat that much?”

“You did!” the group chorused together.

Odd paused, and looked at all the food on his plate. He looked up at Rosa, who was still dumbfounded by Odd’s lack in appetite. “Um, Mrs. Lunch-lady?”

“Rosa, call me Rosa, Odd.”

“Okay, Rosa. I don’t need all this food, I think I’ll have two pancakes and a scoop of scrambled eggs, please.” He gestured to the food.

“Okay,” she replied, taking off five of the pancakes and plopping on a scoop of scrambled eggs. Odd smiled, and paid for his food, waiting for the others. The rest of the gang got their food, paid, and everyone walked to the table.

“I still can’t believe I ate so much food!” Odd said, looking at his food and everyone else’s.

“Odd, you wouldn’t eat just your food, either!” Sam said with a chuckle.

“What? What do you mean, Sam?”

“You would be like a vulture and take three-quarters of everyone else’s food, and eat it all. Then, you would sneak food back into the dorm to snack on later!”

Odd sat dumbfounded next to Sam. He stared into her eyes, unable to grasp what he wanted to say. He finally figured out what exactly he wanted to say, “I . . . I would take food away from your plate? Really? You’ve got to be kidding me! It’s so rude!”

The group sat shocked. Hearing Odd use the word ‘rude’ in that context of the sentence was unheard of.

“Yeah, you would take our food. It wasn’t so rude; we all got so used to it. Personally, I thought it was really cute.” She smiled, and Odd blushed a deep pink color.

“Wow, I was such a pig!” Odd took one of his napkins, and placed it on his lap. The group sat in silence. Odd doused his pancakes with sticky syrup, and took a bite. Realizing that he had a little bit of syrup on his mouth, he took his other napkin and wiped it off of his mouth. The group almost dropped their forks because they were so shocked.

Realizing that the group was staring at Odd while in mid-bite, he put down his fork. “Wha . . . What’s wrong, guys? Do I have more syrup on my face?” He grabbed his napkin and began wiping all around his mouth. Sam reached her hand up, and pulled his hand down onto the table.

“No, we just never see you use a napkin before! Not with a meal, anyway!” Ulrich said.

“Yeah, you would just lick the syrup away!” Sam said, as Odd sat silently.

“I would? That’s so uncivilized!” Jeremie almost fell of his chair upon hearing Odd use such a big word. “What?” The group erupted with laughter.

“You’re so different now! You’re almost not Odd!” Sam said.