Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 96178 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96178 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
“Is it going to do that forever?”
Turning, Ren found her roommate staring over at her. “Is what going to do what forever?” she asked.
“That clock.” Miriam lifted her chin to Ren’s desk. “That loud ticking.”
Ren’s stomach dropped. “Is that going to be a problem?”
“It sounds like a bomb. You know, they make digital clocks in this century.”
This time, Ren easily read her roommate’s tone, and her confidence wavered. “I’ll look into it.”
With a sigh, Miriam rolled onto her back. “Just order one from Amazon.”
Ren paused, sure she’d misheard. “Order a clock from the Amazon?”
Miriam barked out a disbelieving laugh. “It’s a shopping site.” She quickly tapped her thumbs to her screen and then turned the phone for Ren to see. “For like twelve dollars, it can be here tomorrow.”
Ren didn’t know how to tell Miriam that twelve dollars was about all she could spend in a month, let alone within her first twenty minutes on campus. “That’s a good idea,” she said with a grateful smile. “I’ll definitely order one.”
But for now, she opened the back of her clock and disengaged the mechanism from the hands. Luckily, she still had her watch—hand-wound by force of habit, and always reliable—which showed she only had a handful of minutes to get to where she needed to be.
Ren ducked to peek out the window, and, as if it was preening under the attention, the sky cracked with a roar of thunder and the clouds opened up in a downpour.
A laugh drifted over from the other side of the room. “Welcome to Spokane.”
“So I’ve heard.” Smiling, Ren rebraided her long hair, wrapping it into a twist that fit beneath her beanie.
Her roommate’s voice again rose out of the quiet. “Your hair is so pretty.”
“Thank you.” Ren had a strange relationship with beauty; to her mind, strength and capability were beautiful, but photographs in magazines on the racks at the Hill Valley Five and Dime often featured models who were fake tanned, emaciated, and staring idly out into the distance. Strangers had complimented Ren’s waist-long golden hair frequently enough that she had to believe it was objectively pretty, but as for the rest of her, she’d never had the faintest idea.
Miriam watched Ren slip into her big coat. “Where are you going?”
Ren looked over her shoulder as she tugged on a boot. “I have an appointment to meet another student at the Registrar’s Office in ten minutes.”
Miriam sat up, attention suddenly piqued. “Who are you meeting?”
Ren pulled the sheet out from her coat pocket, glancing down. “Doesn’t say.” To herself, she read the short letter from the dean again—
Ren,
We’re delighted to welcome you to Corona College. I am aware that this will be your first experience with school of any kind, but your test scores leave me more than confident that you’re up to the task. I’ve arranged to have a student meet you at the Registrar’s Office in the atrium of Carson Hall at 1:30 p.m. on January 31, the day before spring semester classes begin. He will give you a tour of the campus. Please stop by my office at some point in your first week here so that we can chat. I know our campus newspaper is very interested in speaking to you! Your story is quite unique.
Should you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Best,
Dr. Yanbin Zhou, PhD
Dean of Corona College
Her stomach tilted uneasily at the prospect of interviews with the school paper, but after everything Dr. Zhou had done for her, she would find a way to make it work within her parents’ guidelines…somehow.
“Does it say he or she?” Miriam asked.
“He.” Ren looked up. Her roommate’s expression had gone razor sharp. “What?” she asked. “Should I not go?”
“Definitely go. I think you’re meeting Fitz.”
“It doesn’t say Fitz here.”
“It’s Fitz. If the dean arranged it, it’s absolutely him. Dean Zhou loves Fitz.”
“Should I be scared?”
Miriam laughed. “Only if extremely sexy and charismatic men scare you.”
Ren immediately dove for this chance to play along: “Like John Travolta sexy? Or Patrick Swayze?”
Miriam burst out laughing. “Oh my God, Ren, you are a trip.” She slid from her bed and walked closer, typing something on her phone. “Have you ever seen Austin Butler?”
“Who?”
She turned her phone to face Ren. “He played Elvis.”
“Oh,” Ren said, frowning. “I only know Kurt Russell to have played the King.” Miriam stared at her, and Ren obediently turned her eyes to the screen, saying, “He is indeed very handsome.”
“If you took the raw confidence of Florence Pugh, the bone structure of Austin Butler, the charm of Jenna Ortega, and multiplied it by the effortless sensuality of Timothée Chalamet, you’d have Fitz.”
Ren had no idea who any of these people were, but agreed, “That does sound very sexy.”
“He’s a senior, and everyone falls for him. But it’s a trap, Ren.”