It’s Kylie again. I’m going to keep posting chapters until you’ve met all the narrators. Matt is the last one and he’s in England right now. But in another chapter or two, you’ll get to meet him. Until then, enjoy all this free reading!! And definitely send this to friends who you think might want to read it too. I’m almost done with polishing Part Three of the novel. I should be finished by the beginning of September. And after that, we shop for publishers. My goal is to be finished by the time school rolls around. I really don’t have time to write when I’m teaching.

Chapter 6

Honor Student

(KYLIE)

“Okay. Sounds good. So, I will courier those dossiers to the other campus and you want me to stay and take minutes at the department meeting?,” I dutifully asked Professor Barnes. He didn’t seem to realize how late I was.

“It’s not an official department meeting, Kylie. It’s a meeting of a few key chairs and Dean Truman and his…cronies. Take especially good notes for me. I have to be hosting a symposium today. We finally got Michael Sky to come for a talk.”

That meant I would miss the talk with Michael Sky—one of my favorite poets. But, I needed to stay on Phil Barnes’s radar if I wanted to matriculate into this Accelerated Master’s Program CSU was piloting. It started next semester. Actually, I was already taking my first graduate class, George Bernard Shaw and his Contemporaries, on Friday afternoons. It was only two months in and already I was wrestling with idea of defying my mother’s demand that I go to grad school.

“That’s great. I hope I can be back in time to catch some of that talk,” I fished. It was amazing how I was basically leading two lives—one where I run my uncle’s business and I’m the center of attention and one where I was lil’ Kylie Baines, wide-eyed undergrad hoping some top notch professor will remember her name when admissions rolls around.

“Doubtful. It should be great though. It better be for what he’s costing.”

“Well, I’m sure the freshmen will appreciate it,” I regretted saying that as soon as it came out. It was true though. The freshmen had to read Sky’s newest book of poems about his time in Ethiopia. CSU arranged for the talk thinking it would engender some love of learning in the newbies and impress the parents who were indirectly footing the bill. Thankfully, most sarcasm was lost on Dr. Barnes. Unless of course it was an esoteric joke about 19^th century American literature. Then he laughed the loudest.

“Yes, I think they will. Sky is apparently a gripping orator. So, email me the minutes from the meeting by tonight if that’s okay. You don’t have class tonight, do you?”

“I have your class tonight Dr. Barnes.”

“Of course you do. Yes, well, it’s cancelled. I sent out an email. You know, because of the talk.”

“Well, then I guess I can get you the minutes by this evening.”

“Great. Thank-you so much, Kylie. You’re a great help.”

He meant it too. And I was just paying my dues. My mother wanted me out of the family business so she pressed this program whenever she got a chance. My uncle wanted what my mother wanted—well, kind of. He wanted me safe and doing something normal but he also wanted his affairs running smoothly. And me? It was my senior year of college. I had no idea what I wanted.

So, I traveled back to the elevator pushed the call button. I hesitated and decided maybe it’s better if I take the stairs. The elevator had been oddly eventful that day.

As I walked down the hallway of the first floor of Darcy Hall, I looked in the classrooms again—this time doing a sort of reconnaissance for Ben and Taylor. Those names! They just opened floodgates. I couldn’t stop thinking about them. I barely even remembered my what Professor Barnes told me to do when I got downtown. My uncle had been arrested today, I could be arrested at any moment and Ben Carrick and Taylor Butler were the biggest cause of my anxiety? I was a little disappointed in myself.

But I couldn’t stop. And part of me didn’t want to stop thinking about them, our random meeting by the elevator. I kept thinking about Ben, Taylor and Matt. And Matt wasn’t even there. I walked a little faster and held my bag closer to the side of my torso. I broke through the double doors of Darcy Hall. Autumn air battered me, instantly cooling my face and neck and drying out the skin on my knuckles. I headed back to the car. This was not an auspicious start to a day.