“I can’t believe I gave in,” she said, smiling at her friend. “But I’m glad I did.”
“Me too,” Yvonne said. “Now we can study together all the time.”
“If we ever have anything to study,” she said, looking around the room. “I wonder what’s going on.”
“I’ll find out,” Yvonne said, leading her over to a group of students. “Hey you all, what’s going on? Why aren’t we having class?”
“Someone from the administration came in and said that we should just stay put for a while,” Jarod, another pre-med student, said. “I guess things are still a mess around here. I shouldn’t have come back.”
“A lot of people didn’t,” Megan piped up. “I heard half the student body is gone, and some of the professors quit. A few even got arrested.”
Yvonne looked over at her, then back at the others. “I didn’t think it was that bad,” she said. “What do you think they’re going to do?”
“Reorganize, I guess,” Jarod said. “But they had better do it fast. I’m paying good money to go to this school.”
“Right,” Megan said. “They should be paying us to stay. My parents nearly had a fit when they found out Dean Thomas was running a prostitution ring out of the college.”
“I heard there was illegal gambling going on in the frat houses,” Jarod said, shaking his head. “I bet they were dealing drugs too, they have some wild parties.”
Shocked, she looked over at Yvonne. “I didn’t know about any of this,” she said. “I knew that something happened in administration, but…”
“Girl, you have to get out more,” Yvonne said, shaking her head. “Come on, let’s go sit down, and I’ll fill you in.”
CHAPTER 2
***JACKSON***
As the minutes ticked by, Jackson began to get more and more anxious listening to the rumors circulating around the room. Finally, he turned to look over at Harry, who was scrolling through his phone, completely unconcerned. “Aren’t you worried?” he finally asked. “The whole pre-med program could fall apart while we sit here.”
“I don’t think it’s that bad,” Harry said, not bothering to look up from his phone. “They won’t dismantle the program; if anything, this should be good for us. Smaller classes mean more attention from the professors. We’ll come out of this just fine; we have to be patient, that’s all.”
“That’s easy for you to say. You have other options, but I don’t,” he said. “If the school closes down, my scholarship is gone. I’ll never be able to finish my degree.”
“Just relax, it’s going to be fine,” Harry said, looking over at him. “You said yourself that Dean Proctor will get everything straightened out.”
Just then, there was a commotion out in the hallway, and everyone quieted down, their attention on the door. A fewseconds later, however, it wasn’t the professor they were expecting who walked through the door. “I’m sorry we’ve kept you waiting so long, everyone,” Steven Proctor said, heading for the front of the room. If everyone would please take a seat, we can get started.”
There were looks of confusion around the room, especially when more students came pouring through the door. “What’s going on?” he whispered to Harry, who just shrugged in shoulders. “This is supposed to be senior biology, Dean Proctor can’t be thinking about teaching this class. They must be really desperate if he is.”
Before Harry could say anything, Dean Proctor cleared his throat. “I know there have been a lot of rumors floating around campus about the events of last spring. Some of them are true, some aren’t,” he said. “I think right now, the most important thing is that we find a way to move past what happened so that you all can still receive the kind of education you deserve.”
He looked over at Harry and rolled his eyes. “He sounds like a Dean now,” he leaned over and whispered. “I never thought I’d see the day.”
“We’re going to need your cooperation over the next semester to make sure that happens,” Dean Proctor continued. “We’re a bit short-staffed right now, and I’m afraid a small portion of your classmates have decided not to come back this year, so we’ve been working on reorganizing the program. After shifting some staff around and taking into consideration the much smaller class size, we’ve decided to adjust the schedule to reflect those needs.”
“What does that mean?” someone piped up behind him. “How many professors did we lose?”
“The pre-med program didn’t suffer that much, but we’ve had to pull a couple of your professors away to teach otherclasses, which leaves the program a little short,” Dean Proctor said. “To fix the problem, we’ve made some adjustments and moved students around so that you’ll now be split into four groups. Those groups will take the same classes together every day, so I hope you like one another.”
There was a smattering of nervous laughter around the room. “Most of you only have the four classes left, but for the few of you who are missing other credits, we’ll talk privately after class to make arrangements so you can get them done,” Dean Proctor finished. “Does anyone have any questions?”
He was greeted with silence but waited a few seconds, looking around the room at all of them with an expectant look on his face. “Well, that was easier than I expected,” he said, a smile finally appearing. I just want you all to know how pleased I am that you’ve chosen to finish your education with us. I promise you won’t be disappointed, and if you have any problems, please don’t hesitate to come see me.”
“Now, with all that behind us, I’ll turn things over to Dr. Simmons, who has graciously volunteered to take over your senior biology class as well as the anatomy lab,” Dean Proctor said, earning a groan from most of the students. “I know he’s tough, but he’s one of the best teachers we have, and we should all be grateful that he’s chosen to stay.”
“Great, I’m in big trouble,” Harry said. “Dr. Simmons hates me, and he’s going to make my life a living nightmare.”
“I don’t think he hates you. He’s not really that bad, a little tough on us maybe, but he’s just trying to prepare us for medical school,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. “I’m sure everything will be fine.”
