A sudden pang for her big sister pushed a lump to her throat. This was not how she’d envisioned her college experience.
Drumming her fingers on the table, she looked around. It was easy to see the students had divided themselves up. The filthy ones sat together, as did the clean, yet scruffy-looking ones in tattered flannel shirts and denim overalls. In one corner of the room, a large group of very attractive, very clean, very well put together students in name-brand outdoor wear sat with their noses in the air. She guessed those to be the Pre- Med students.
Except for the filthy freshmen, she couldn’t tell the difference between the students of geology and ParaScience.
In the back of the room and also at a table by herself sat a clean student with long gray hair. Her head was bowed, and it looked like she was reading something. The other students gave the gray-haired girl a wide berth.
Hello fellow outcast, Hailey thought as a murmur ran through the crowd. A few students began a chant, which grew into a roar with some of the larger men standing and clapping in time.
“O-SHEA-O-SHEA-O-SHEA,” they cheered, and they all looked toward the door. Hailey glanced over her shoulder to see what the hubbub was, and her jaw dropped.
Swaggering into the room, freshly showered and wearing a victorious smile, Fin high-fived almost everyone he passed, and the hall erupted.
Chapter eighteen
Welcome to Bear Towne
"It is not down on any map; true places never are." - Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
Fin joined the group of large men, who took turns clapping him on the back and hugging him.
Trying hard not to stare, Hailey wondered what else she didn’t know about her favorite bartender. Clearly he’d left more than a few things out of their conversations in Pittsburgh.
A microphone crackled through the hall.
“Is this on now?” a man with a bow tie said as he stood at the front of the hall. “Uh, I see the last of our ParaScience freshmen have finally sloshed inside.”
The Pre-Med group tsk’ed and shook their heads while the flannels chuckled.
“Let’s all extend to them a warm welcome; I’m sure they’d appreciate it. By the looks of them, it was a lake landing again this year, am I right?” The man looked at Fin, who pressed his lips together and nodded. “Well,” the man said, “no drownings, then?”
Fin shook his head. The man clapped his hands together.
“Wonderful. The food will be out shortly. Welcome to the Terquasquigenary anniversary of Bear Towne University’s move to Alaska. Freshmen—be sure to pick up your welcome package from the tables on the west wall. Inside you will find your room assignment and orientation schedule for the week ahead as wellas a campus map, a can of Yeti spray, some tree repellant, and a canister of fuel for your dormitory room ghost trap.”
Hailey hoped there’d be a written explanation of all this inside her welcome package as well.
“And here’s dinner,” said the man, as a troop of uniformed ladies carried tray after silver tray of delicious-smelling fare to the buffet table.
It was then Hailey noticed Asher standing next to the man with the bow tie, leaning toward him and speaking. The man with the bow tie nodded, and Asher stepped away as the man picked up the mike.
“Uh… Please help yourselves, everyone, and if I could just see Miss Hailey Hartley up here quickly, please…”
Her face flushing yet again, Hailey dipped her head.
Oh crap, why?
As Hailey tentatively stood, Asher spoke to the man again, watching Hailey’s every move, which only made her more self-conscious. Thankfully everyone else was far more interested in the food than they were in her, and none of the students seemed to notice when she stubbed her toe on an empty chair and doubled over. When she righted herself, Asher was gone again.
“Ah, Miss Hartley,” said the man with a bow tie, holding his hand out as she approached.
Hailey extended hers expecting a handshake, but like a gentleman of old, he bowed and kissed her hand.
“I’m Professor Simeon Woodfork, and it is a delight to meet you.”
“Likewise, Professor.”
“Well,” he said, stepping back, “let’s see your flail-beat.”
