How to Survive College (or your teenage years)

I lived in a dorm room during my first year of college. It was a great experience overall, and I met a lot of interesting people. <br><br>One such person was my roommate, named Jack.<br><br>One night, Jack and I were hanging around and chatting as we usually did. We had been discussing all sorts of things, and I decided to ask him about a book on his bookshelf. It was leather-bound and looked old.<br><br>“What’s that book? I noticed you have a lot of books from your high school psychology and history classes, so I’m guessing this one is too, right?”<br><br>“That one? Nah, not really. It’s… how to survive college. I guess, how to survive being a teenager.” He laughed. “Sounds insane, I know. But I assure you, it’s not.”<br><br>I laughed too, but stopped when I saw Jack’s expression turn serious. He looked at me dead in the eyes.<br><br>“Not kidding. How to survive college. It’s an actual book with actual survival tips.”<br><br>My laughter returned, but this time more nervously. Why was Jack being so serious? I hesitated for a moment before shrugging, but my curiosity got the better of me.<br><br>“Okay, sure. How to survive college?”<br><br>Jack pulled the book off the bookshelf, and I noticed it had no title on it. Just a green leather binding. It didn’t even look like there was a title on it at one point. Jack opened the book, and flipped through the pages until he found what he was looking for.<br><br>“Okay, so the first one is: ‘Don’t look at your roommate’s phone without permission.’”<br><br>I laughed. This was obviously a joke. <br><br>“Seriously? That’s the first one? Not to do drugs or not to drink too much or anything like that?”<br><br>Jack was still staring at me dead in the eyes, stone cold serious. “No. Don’t look at your roommate’s phone without permission. My freshman year roommate didn’t listen to me when I told him about the book, and he thought I was joking. One day I was taking a shower and he looked at my phone. I don’t know what happened, but the next day he was gone and I had a new roommate.”<br><br>I didn’t really know what to do. I could see that Jack wasn’t joking, but I just couldn’t bring myself to believe him. I tried my best to have the same serious tone as Jack.<br><br>“Well, did you check his phone after he disappeared? Maybe you should have followed rule number one yourself.”<br><br>Jack’s stare never wavered. He pulled out his phone and placed it on his desk, open to his home screen. He did the same with his computer.<br><br>“Feel free to look through my phone and laptop. Just don’t do it when I’m not in the room, or I’ll think you’re trying to steal from me, and who knows what will happen to you.”<br><br>My mind was being tugged in two completely different directions. I didn’t want to seem like a paranoid schizophrenia patient, but at the same time I was really starting to believe Jack. He was totally serious. I decided not to risk it and told him, “No thanks, dude. I have better things to do than browse through your porn tab. What’s the next rule?”<br><br>Jack put his phone away and flipped through the book. He stopped, and cleared his throat to speak. “Don’t ever accept a drink from a stranger.”<br><br>I thought about this for a second. It seemed like a good idea. I’d seen the news. I’d seen other students do stupid things after drinking too much at a party. I had done stupid things after drinking too much at a party. I believed this one.<br><br>“How did you learn about the book?” I asked.<br><br>“I got it from my senior advisor when I was a freshman. It’s been passed down for who knows how long. I think he got it from his senior advisor, and so on and so forth. The book is magical. Every year, the seniors who have the book are required to give it to an underclassman. Whichever underclassman they choose, they have to give them the book. They can’t keep it for themselves.”<br><br>I was all in at this point. Anything was possible, and I wasn’t about to start questioning things now. Jack flipped through the book again, and stopped at another page.<br><br>“Don’t take any classes in the clock tower.”<br><br>I looked around the dorm room as much as I could while still looking at Jack. This was a college dorm room. There’s no classes held in a dorm room.<br><br>“I thought the classes were held in the other buildings?”<br><br>“They are. This is just advice for anyone who goes to a college in a different state or region of the country (or world). So if you transfer or something, you know.”<br><br>I thought about this for a moment. It made sense. Then another thought occurred to me.<br><br>“One more thing about the book. Is this an actual book, or just advice in a book?”<br><br>Jack thought about this for a moment before answering. “It’s both. There’s a physical book, and it has advice in it. Each book is different, and you can’t really use anyone else’s. I think the actual advice changes depending on the person who reads it, or the place where the book is. I don’t know enough about how it works to tell you the specifics, but just be happy that it works.”<br><br>I nodded, and Jack flipped through the book again.<br><br>“Don’t fuck the RA.”<br><br>I laughed out loud at this one. My dorm didn’t have an RA in the building, but rather a desk assistant on the first floor of the building. I turned to Jack.<br><br>“Noted. But what’s the reasoning behind this? Why is it in the book?”<br><br>“Open a door, and you might find treasure and riches. Open a wrong door, and you might find dragons and death.”<br><br>The wording was strange, and it sounded like it was some sort of quote. It looked like it was some sort of quote. Jack flipped through the book again.<br><br>“Don’t look at the paintings.”<br><br>I laughed. “Okay. Anything else?”<br><br>Jack looked reluctant to talk about it. <br><br>“There’s one more page. I want you to see it, but you have to promise not to do anything after you see it.”<br><br>I was intrigued. I had to know what was on that page, and Jack was starting to make me promise not to do something. I had to do it. <br><br>“Okay, fine. I won’t do anything.”<br><br>Jack flipped to the last page. It said, in black letters: “Burn this book before anyone else can use it.”<br><br>I looked up at Jack, and before I could say anything he had already grabbed the book and thrown it in the garbage can.<br><br>We didn’t discuss the book again until we had to move out of the dorms at the end of the year. The garbage can had been emptied many times during the year, but I couldn’t help but think that the book was still out there, and that I had helped the inhabitants of that book by not burning it. I was finally alone with Jack as we were packing up the last of our things, and I brought it up.<br><br>“Hey Jack. Don’t think about this too much, but do you think we should have burned that book?”<br><br>He stopped packing for a moment, before responding. “What makes you think we didn’t?”