Morbid

Arnold stood in the line for chemistry and he was only a few people back. His meeting at the registrar's office had been a bit longer than he had planned and he only managed to get the class schedule for his main required classes and labs. He had raised his eyebrows when he saw that his biology class and the lab were allocated for the third year course for both the study and practical work portions.

When he reached the front of the line for chemistry, he discovered that it was the same and he was set for the third year class instead of the first. The teacher's assistant filled in his schedule with the classroom assignments and then added the labs.

“There you go.” The okay-looking brown haired girl with thick glasses said as she handed back his schedule. “You can pick up the required books at the college bookstore.”

“Is Professor Power here today?” Arnold asked. “I want to know why I'm in the third year class.”

The teacher's assistant smiled. “It's because you received private tutoring from her over the summer. She tested your knowledge and gave you course credits to advance you to the proper class.”

Arnold was about to ask if that was possible with the college's current policies when someone bumped into his backpack.

“Hey, watch it.” The guy said and Arnold turned around to look at him. “You're lucky I don't pound you for bumping into me like that.”

“Give it back.” Arnold said and ignored the guy's threat.

“Give what back?” The guy asked with a snarky smile and his friend had the same look.

Arnold punched him square in the jaw, to the shock of everyone in the line and every line around them. The guy was knocked out immediately and dropped to the ground, unconscious.

“HEY!” The guy's friend yelled.

“ARNOLD!” The teacher's assistant yelled at the same time and stood up from behind the table.

Arnold ignored them and bent down to pick up his old dissection tool case from behind the guy's back. “Don't steal from me.” He said and stood up to look at the guy's friend. “You can tell him that when he wakes up.”

“You can't go around punching people at random!” The teaching assistant said loudly as she walked around the table to check on the guy on the ground.

Two campus security guards came over and one spoke. “What's going on here?”

“That guy just punched my friend for no reason!” The guy's friend said and pointed at Arnold.

“He stole from me.” Arnold said. “He took my dissection tools and my small box of rubber gloves.”

“No, he didn't!” The guy's friend exclaimed. “It was a completely unprovoked assault! He bumped into us!”

“My box of rubber gloves is still underneath him.” Arnold said.

“We're going to have to take you to the campus jail to get this sorted out.” The other guard said.

“Are you taking them, too?” Arnold asked.

“No, you were the aggressor here.”

“Then I refuse.” Arnold said and rolled the unconscious guy over and picked up his squashed box of rubber gloves. “I don't trust you to actually look at the evidence in front of you.” He said and stood up.

“You can't refuse a legal order.” The first guard said and reached for his baton.

“It's not a legal order.” Arnold countered. “As a campus security force and not actual police, all you can do is detain me, right here, and call the real police to see if they can come here and handle the case properly.”

“Why you...” The guard pulled his baton out of his belt.

“I am performing a citizen's arrest on this man for stealing, that man for lying about a crime, and you for brandishing your lethal weapon at a college student unprovoked.” Arnold said in a calm voice and everyone froze, especially the guard.

“You can't do that.” The second guard said.

“You can't interfere in this situation, unless you want to be charged with interfering with an ongoing police investigation.” Arnold said and took out his cell phone.

“You can't call...”

“Nine One One.” A woman's voice said loudly and the speaker option on Arnold's phone cut through the silence.

“My name is Arnold Strickland. I am currently involved in an altercation at the college campus that involves a robber that committed petty theft, his accomplice, and the campus police. I request an officer of the law be sent out and I would like advice on to how to proceed until they arrive.”

Everyone stood there in stunned silence, especially the campus police.

“Please describe the situation.” The operator asked.

Arnold described it exactly as it had happened. He didn't exaggerate, or embellish his part, or even made the campus police seem unfair in their treatment of him. He just relayed the truth to the operator.

“Stay right where you are. I will have an officer there in ten minutes.” The operator said.

“Okay.” Arnold said.

“As for advice on how to proceed, don't do anything else and tell the campus police to also not to anything else. A higher authority will be there to sort the whole thing out.”

“You are on speaker mode and they heard you.” Arnold said.

“Good thinking. That makes my job that much easier.” She said. “Everyone remain calm. This has gotten out of hand and you are not to escalate it further. I will stay on the line and will listen to everything until the police arrive.”

“Thank you for your help.” Arnold said. “I would kiss you if you were here.”

The woman was quiet for a moment. “That wouldn't be necessary.”

“I'm the kissing bandit.” Arnold said, to everyone's surprise.

She let out a short laugh, coughed, and cleared her throat. “I'll keep that in mind.”

Everyone stood there and waited for the ten minutes for an officer to show up. Surprisingly, two of them did and one was a woman. She was very short, barely five feet tall with short blonde hair, and was full of attitude. She tried to hide it as she and her partner approached the scene, and she only scoffed at the campus police and at the weapon in his hand.

Their job is to keep the peace, not make things worse! She thought and looked at the young man with the cell phone in his hand.

“The police are here.” Arnold said.

“I want to stay on the line to see if this gets cleared up properly.” The operator said.

“Okay.” Arnold said and then he described the scene, once again exactly as it had happened, as if he had rehearsed it. Later on, when the dispatcher listened to both recountings of the story, she wouldn't be able to tell the difference, and decided that he would be the best witness to have for a crime.

“So, you're admitting to assault and to punching first.” The female cop said, her face in a frown.

“I am admitting that instead of a long and drawn out tussle that could have damaged my property more, I took the initiative and struck an incapacitating and non-harmful blow to end the conflict as soon as possible.” Arnold said. “The shock of it also stopped his accomplice from retaliating and escalating it further.”

The woman gave him her best cop stare. Compared to Arnold's normal one, it was pathetic. “You have an answer for everything, don't you?”

“If I know the answer, yes.” Arnold said.

“I don't like your attitude.” The female cop said and took a step forward.

“Officer!” The operator's voice almost shouted from the phone in Arnold's hand. “You will remain impartial and do not escalate things.” She said and the female officer took a step back as her frown deepened. “He does not have an attitude. He is speaking calmly and concisely and telling you everything you want to know.”

The female officer managed to not huff in frustration. How was she supposed to rattle the suspect when she wasn't allowed to try and intimidate him?

The police stayed there for half an hour, until the guy woke up. He started to yell and berate Arnold for bumping into him and falsely accusing him. He must have thought that if he yelled loud enough, no one would listen to the truth, because he kept protesting his guilt and claiming innocence. That is, until Arnold spoke in his calm voice.

“If you didn't take my things, then your fingerprints won't be on them.” Arnold held up the box of rubber gloves. “This box is especially susceptible to fingerprints because of its glossy surface. A simple dusting for fingerprints will prove that you had it in your possession, which could only happen if you took it from my backpack without my permission.”

“All of this drama over a box of rubber gloves?” One of the campus police asked in disbelief.

“He took my dissection tools, too.” Arnold said and put the other box in his backpack and took out the wooden case. When he opened it, everyone saw the expensive and well maintained tools. “He could have hurt himself or someone else, or sold them.” He said. “I've had them for years.”

No one questioned his reaction over defending his prized possession.

“Unless you both drop the charges, we're going to have to take you both in.” The female officer said and both her partner and the operator on the phone sighed.

“Yes! I want him charged for punching me!” The guy said, satisfaction in his voice.

“Don't be stupid.” The other officer said and he didn't glare at his partner for cluing the idiot in about reciprocating charges. “If we take you to the station, you'll miss class registration.”

“I can just...”

“It's only for today. If you skip it, you won't get put into any classes.” The teacher's assistant said. “You'll be wasting all that money for tuition and won't be able to attend.”

The guy had his friend whisper to him and he sighed. “All right. I'll drop the charges.”

“Good. Now that that's settled...” The officer started to say.

“Do you have the authority to cancel my citizen's arrests?” Arnold asked, knowing the answer.

“Mr. Strickland, if you don't stop this nonsense, you won't be attending classes, either.” The teacher's assistant said.

“I already have my main course schedule for the Masters in Biology and I was only assigning the electives to my schedule.” Arnold said. “Advanced Chemistry, Physics, Quantum Mechanics, Calculus, and Geometric Progression of Civilization. The last one is only a half credit, since all it does is give me a general direction of where the biology of the planet is going to evolve to.”

“Those are your electives?” The teacher's assistant and several people around them exclaimed.

“My course already has a prerequisite relaxation course in the arts building.” Arnold said. “I don't know what it's about, though.”

“Good lord.” The teacher's assistant whispered and a lot of people shared her opinion. She stepped to Arnold and put a hand on his arm. “Please, let it go. I know he tried to steal from you; but, it's not worth causing a scene like this.” She motioned around and indicated all of the people looking at them.

“What would be worth it?” Arnold asked her, to her surprise. “When he attacks me later, or breaks into my room to rob me, now that he knows I have expensive things, will that be enough to let a scene be caused? Can I have him arrested then? Will he stay in jail or get out? It would be classed as his first offence against me when he's caught, because this incident won't be considered.”

Everyone just stood there and didn't say anything, not even the police or the operator that was still on the phone.

“Shall I hold you responsible when it happens?” Arnold asked her and her face drained of color. “Should I blame the officers for convincing me to drop it, or should I be angry at the system for letting things like this happen in the first place?” He asked and no one answered.

The guy that tried to rob him had a smug smile on his face, so he turned to him.

“Since nothing of this incident will be recorded, I want to give you a piece of information.” Arnold hung up the phone and cut off the operator. “Come near me again and I'll treat you exactly like they used to treat thieves in the middle ages.”

Everyone had confused looks on their faces.

“The internet is a wonderful thing.” Arnold said and walked over to the calculus class line. No one said anything as the girl in front waved for him to go first. He went right to the front of the line and got his class, then he went to each line that he wanted to go to. Each one let him go first and he had his weekly schedule half filled. Most classes were only once a week, except for the biology related courses, so he had a lot of free time during the day, even though he was taking so many courses.

Arnold left the main concourse and stopped when Pam and Janet came out of the registrar's office. It had taken them a lot longer to get their options sorted out, since they didn't have a set course curriculum and were flexible in their options. Especially Pam, since she had to juggle her classes, her ability to pay for those classes, and her work schedule.

“This is my course list.” Arnold said. “Are you taking any of these?”

Pam didn't even have to look. “The biology and chemistry, since we're both in the third year.”

“Maybe the arts class as well, since it's for relaxation.” Janet said as she actually looked at the schedule. “We'll try and get the same time slot for that and we'll be in three classes together this year.”

“Paying for the biology and chemistry books is going to be a pain in the ass.” Pam said with a sigh. “They are always the most expensive.”

“Don't buy the books.” Arnold said, to her surprise. “I'll get them and we can share.”

“But... no, we can't...” Janet started to say.

“We can pitch in and...” Pam started to say at the same time.

“No.” Arnold said. “We can do our homework together and won't need more than one book.”

“But... Arnold, you...” Janet couldn't tell him to not shoulder that burden.

“You don't have to do that; but, I'm glad that you are.” Pam whispered. “Thank you for being so considerate and saving us so much money.” She stepped close and put her ams around his neck. “Is it okay if I kiss you in public?”

Arnold nodded and Pam hugged him tightly as she gave him a passionate kiss. She broke it a few moments later and her face was flushed red.

“I want to suck you off so bad.” Pam whispered. “Janet and I will try to finish our class schedules quickly and then we can have the whole day to spend together.”

“Okay.” Arnold said and left.

Pam and Janet walked over to the lines for classes and were surprised when there were two officers and two campus police just standing there. They looked kind of at a loss at to what to do now.

“Hey, what's going on?” Pam asked the girl in front of them in the short liberal arts line.

“The handsome guy that just left had the cops and campus security all worked up over him allegedly being robbed.”

“WHAT?!?” Pam yelled and a bunch of people looked at her. “What happened?” She asked in a normal voice and the girl relayed what had happened. She got a lot of the details wrong, even though it just happened right in front of her, and both Pam and Janet resolved to get the real story from Arnold later.

Ida and Dalla showed up and waited in line as well. Neither of them took notice of the two officers or the campus police, since they just expected that there would be some kind of police presence in such a large gathering of people.

By the time Pam and Janet waited through three lines, several other people showed up to register for courses. Leann, her sister Nicole, Tanya and her boyfriend Richard, Sarah and her boyfriend Wayne, the guy and girl that sat at the end of the high school lunch table, Kelly and her mother, then Heather, Claire, and Eric showed up and went to the registrar's office.

Janet pointed them out to Pam as they passed and described who she remembered meeting. Pam nodded slightly and marked them mentally to keep an eye out for them. Especially Kelly, since she had a determined look on her face. For some reason, Pam had a feeling that she wasn't only determined to get the classes she wanted, because she looked like she was searching for something.