Disclaimer: These characters are Stephanie Meyer's. Also, Seattle University is a real university. However, I am only using the college's name. These events do not reflect the schooling of Seattle U. in any way.
At this very moment, I was sitting in the waiting room of the Admissions Office of Seattle University. I was the only one in here, except for the secretary at the other end of the room, whose desk said her name was Jessica Stanley. She was busy typing on her computer, but every so often I noticed her staring at me with a strange look in her eyes. She didn't seem to hide the fact that she was staring at me.
After about 20 minutes of my waiting, she finally called out, "Mr. Coolin?"
"Yes? And it's pronounced Cullen."
She rolled her eyes and said, "The board will see you now."
I walked quickly over to the entrance of the conference room, almost ready to run in order to escape from this idiotic secretary, who was still staring vividly at me. Just as I reached the door, it was opened by an elderly looking man.
"Ah. Mr. Cullen. Come in," he said.
I was now seated in front of five board members, with a table between us. Each was staring blankly at me, as if they were expecting me to start performing circus tricks. We sat like this for about three minutes before the person in the middle, an elderly woman with blue-rimmed glasses, spoke up.
"We understand you would like to join this college," she said slowly.
"Yes." I responded simply.
"Well, it's the middle of the semester, so we cannot accept you until next year. You can submit an application then." She said.
"Well, that's what I wanted to talk about. You see, I was hoping to join this semester. I realize that it's the middle of the semester, but I really would like to continue my education."
"Impossible!" she said. All four other people at that table were merely taking notes, while this woman and I continued our conversation.
"On a completely different subject… if I wanted to give a donation to this university, whom would I talk to?" I asked.
She squinted her eyes slightly, as if suspicious. She could obviously see that I was attempting to give a bribe, but she also seemed curious, so she asked me, "How much are you considering giving?"
"$200,000," I said bluntly.
She seemed surprised at first, but then continued talking. "I see from your application that you attended Dartmouth for… 2 and 4/7 years?"
"Yes," I said, smiling. I loved the fact that my unusual fraction confused her.
"So you would start in the middle of your third year, if you were to attend college?"
"Yes."
"Why did you drop out in the middle of the year?"
"Family emergency," I lied.
The woman considered it for a few moments, then said, "Would you give us a moment to discuss this situation?"
I nodded then went to the door. When I opened it, Jessica fell inside the room, as if she had been listening with her ear pressed against the door.
"Miss Stanley!" yelled one of the men who had been taking notes. "What do you think you're doing?"
She looked up at him, horrified, then jumped up and apologized profusely. "I'm terribly sorry, Mr. O'Donnell!" She started sobbing and ran out of the room.
Unfortunately, I had to follow Jessica into the waiting room. The moment I closed the door behind me, she came up to me and pressed me into the wall.
"How did it go in there?" she asked. Her face was a very normal color, as if she hadn't been crying at all, which I suspected was the case.
"Uh… it went well, I think." I told her, while trying to step around her. She was too close for comfort, standing barely six inches from me.
"Great!" she said perkily. She smiled so big that I could see her molars. I gave her a weary smile, but then I finally managed to get around her, so I walked over to where I was originally sitting. However, Jessica followed behind me, like a lost puppy, and sat next to me.
Just as I was about to sprint out of the building and forget about getting into this college, the five board members walked into the room.
"Mr. Cullen, we accept your application. Of course, this depends on the fact that you will give us a donation." said the man that had originally opened the door when I first entered the conference room.
"Oh. Thank you very much!" I said and shook each of their hands. I quickly wrote the check for $200,000, and then I rushed out of there without another look at Jessica.
My plan was working perfectly so far.
First of all, I would like to apologize for taking SO long to write a new chapter. I've been busy… I'll try to write more often.
Secondly, I would like to thank my amazing, marvelous, fantastic beta reader, mykeymo.
Third, I would like to thank the wonderful reviewers. The reviews were so great!!!
Fourth, everyone who is reading this is a great person in my world!
Please review!!!
