The most dangerous thing about her was that she woke him up inside.
-John Mark Green
I got back to our overly crowded office where Jose was already shifting through the many stacks of papers. We're PhD candidates, which means life is hard. For years we've been trying to get enough funding for our archaeological expedition, but capital was in short supplies. And money for our project wasn't the only thing we were short on.
"Here we go! Hi, Jose!" "Hey, Anny! Get the food?" Jose called from behind a pile a mile high. "Yup! Two big mac meals with Coke, and one happy meal." "You could just get a regular meal, babe. We'd eat whatever's leftover," my dear partner emerged from Book Mountain. "But happy meals come with a toy, and besides, we save money," I countered as I set the greasy MacDonalds bags down onto my messy desk. With a smile, Jose came over to my side; he took one of the bags and began rummaging through it.
"What's left over from the food budget this week?" My darling friend asked while shoving a burger into his mouth with gusto. "Not much. Looks like we're eating peanuts and toast until Saturday." "That's more than I thought," he gave a shrug. I was the one in charge of managing our food budget, which we divided into weekly allowances. Since our collective funding was so small- once you take out the cost of all three of our tuitions- we were left with roughly twenty pounds a week each for food. Suddenly all alcohol and dining out disappeared. If we wanted something fancy, we went to MacDonalds in the train station. Gotta love being a starving student.
And I know what you're thinking. 'But Anastasia, you're all adults. Why don't you just get a part-time job while you're going to school?' You're about to see why.
"Damn, mother fucker!" Jose and I turned the office door, only for it to burst open moments later. A fuming yet exhausted Paul stood in the threshold, visibly struggling to keep his temper. "God damn, this stupid… idiotic…!" "Reviewing our request didn't go over too well?" Jose nervously ventured to ask. "You can say that again! Damn it all! How does this department expect us to write our thesis and graduate if we never get to do any field work?! Not one of them could explain that to me! Oh no!" "What did they say?" I also inquired cautiously, unsure if I wanted to hear the answer. Though I'd be lying if I said I wasn't expecting, albeit dreading this.
"Oh! You wanna know what they said? They said we either wait until next year's applications open up or we find other viable sources of funding!" Paul's poor arms flung up high into the air. Jose and I simply looked at each other, not saying anything; what was there to say? That's the exact same thing we were told last year, and the year before that. We were going on our fourth year and still waiting for the money to go on our trip. No field study means thesis. No thesis means no graduating for any of us. Not like our supervisor was extremely helpful either.
Angrily, my other beloved co-student stomped over to my desk where he snatched the brown and red paper bag; we watched sadly as he began chomping down onto his burger and fries. Oh Paul….. I felt so sorry for him; he had been at the dean's office all afternoon with nothing to show for it. And we worked so hard on that application and proposal too.
"I'm gonna go have a word with Professor Grinds tomorrow," Paul spat out with his mouth still full. "Well, thank you for going today, Paul," I quickly joined his side. "Yeah, thanks dude. That couldn't have been fun," Jose was soon right at his other side. "It wasn't; I hate the way they treat us. I'd exchange out of here so fast if it wasn't for you two."
This made me smile, and my hand gently rose to rest on Paul's back. That's how it's been from the start; we're a team, the three of us. It helped having two such close friends in this department too. It was mostly male; like over ninety percent male. But Paul and Jose would never let anyone get away with sexist remarks or discriminating against me based on my gender. Oh god, I can't imagine what Paul would do if anyone dared…. No, we're a team and that's how it's going to stay- at least until we graduate. If we ever did graduate, that is. I love being so close to them every day- and I do mean every day- but none of us wanted to stay on the pitiful living budget we had for the last two and a half years.
Paul gulped down half of his pop in one go. Then he blinked over to Jose with calmer lines on his face. "You ready for your meeting with Christian Grey tomorrow?" "Uh… I can't go tomorrow," Jose sheepishly replied. "What?" Paul immediately looked like he was about to blow a blood vessel. "I got another fundraiser in the next city over. I won't be back until tomorrow night- late." "Oh, great! Then what are we supposed to do?! I can't go either! I got a meeting with the board tomorrow morning," once again, his long arms flew up all upset. That's when a lightbulb seemed to go off inside his head, judging by the way Paul's eyes dashed right over to me.
"You go, Ana." "What?!" Me? Go beg for funding from some billionaire CEO downtown? Yeah, cause that's a good idea. "You go meet Grey tomorrow. We need the cash wherever we can get it," Paul continued, obviously not deterred from my alarmed reaction. "But…. me? No, I can't do it. I've never met a CEO, never mind asked one for money." "Come on, Anny; it has to be you. Paul and I can't go tomorrow and we really need his support." "Grey's already expressed interest in our project. All you have to do is make him want to invest." "I have no idea how to do that, Paul. I've never done anything like this before. What if he doesn't like me? What if I make our trip sound stupid? What if….?"
"Ana! You won't mess this up- just go. You just need to go; we need you to," Paul's voice was starting to raise. "But I'm afraid of Christian Grey," I retorted honestly. "Who isn't? But he's not some old stuffed-shirt bureaucrat. He's a young entitled billionaire!" I don't think that was encouraging as Jose wanted it to be. I gave Paul a pleading look; you know, doggy eyes and all that.
"Paul, please. I don't think I could convince him to give us funding. It really shouldn't be me; can you reschedule? Pretty please?" This lovely man gave the world's longest sigh, kind of like he was at war with himself. But my heart sank when he eventually gave me a stern stare. "You're going, Ana. You need this as much as we do." "But I don't even know what he looks like." "Google him, and get ready for your meeting tomorrow. In the meantime, let's finish eating together. Tomorrow's gonna be a fun day," Paul sighed with another eyeroll.