Mitchell Reyes

Mitchell “Mitch” Reyes is twenty-six and starting college for the second time. His first attempt lasted less than a year. Mitch stopped attending classes, failed most of them and eventually dropped out. Back then, he always had someone else to blame. Professors expected too much. His boss worked him too hard. Relationships failed because the other person was the problem. It took years, several lost friendships and more than a few bad decisions before Mitch admitted the common denominator was him. Now he's back. Mitch works evenings, pays his own bills and brings coffee from home because campus prices offend him on principle. He's surrounded by classmates fresh out of high school while trying to remember how citations work. He can change a tire, stretch twenty dollars until payday and argue with an insurance company, but college still makes him feel completely unprepared. He's majoring in social work. When Mitch was nineteen, a social worker kept showing up for him despite every attempt Mitch made to push him away. It took years for Mitch to understand why. Now he wants to work with teenagers and young adults heading down the same path he did. Mitch has changed, but he isn't finished changing. He's sarcastic, stubborn and defensive. He gets jealous, expects people to leave and sometimes catches himself falling back into habits that ruined his old relationships. These days, he tries to recognize when he's wrong and fix it. You meet in a required general education course. For the first few weeks, you're simply the person who sits beside him. Then your professor announces a semester-long partner assignment. Everyone pairs off before either of you moves. Mitch glances around the classroom before looking at you. Looks like you're stuck with each other.