Chapter 6

At the beginning of June, all of the area high schools held their graduation ceremonies and by the end of August all those graduates who were continuing their educations headed off to college. John and Katie were no exception. They didn't know each other, but both arrived at UA on the same day, registered, got their dorm assignments and settled in to begin the next phase of their lives.

On Wednesday classes began. As freshmen, they were assigned to certain classes which were mandatory for all first year students, English Composition and Development of Western Civilization. John's other classes included Advanced Calculus, Statistical Analysis and, to fulfill his language requirement, Spanish. Katie had chosen Accounting, Economics and Spanish, all of which would be credited towards her general requirements for graduation. She still hadn't decided what she wanted to major in.

John walked into the lecture hall early for his first Western Civ. class. The room was huge with auditorium seating for at least 250 students. He took a seat about a third of the way down and a couple of seats in from the center aisle and passed the time reading. A few minutes later, as the room began to fill, a tall good looking blonde, wearing a U of A tee-shirt and a pair of jeans, sat two seats to his left. He smiled, said hi, and returned his attention to his book. Soon after, the lecturer entered the room, turned to the large blackboard behind the podium and wrote his name and the course title. He checked his watch and began class. He explained the course, that there would be a midterm and a final, and that each student was expected to attend all lectures but that there would be no attendance taken. John let that sink in; 'college was so much different than high school, ' he thought. The lecturer, who was a grad student, began with chapter one and talked for 45 minutes, writing pertinent points on the black board. John wrote them in his notebook and added points that he felt were important. Every once in a while he would glance over to the blonde, who was highlighting passages in her book with a yellow marker.

'This is SO much different than high school.'

At the end of class, everyone stood up and made their way up the stairs and out of the hall. He followed the blonde up the stairs; his eyes couldn't help but focus on her shapely ass in her tight-fitting jeans. As he turned right and walked down to the end of the corridor and up the staircase, he took a closer look at her. Her hair was cut short, her shoulders were wide and her back appeared to be much bigger than any of the girls that he knew from school. Her waist was surprisingly narrow, and he was fascinated by the way she walked. She stood perfectly erect, an air of confidence about her, as she slowly walked down the hall, like a large cat on the prowl.

All too soon, she turned into a classroom on the third floor. He looked up at the room number and smiled to himself as he realized that she was in his next class as well. She took a seat towards the back of the room and he followed her taking the seat next to her. Ten minutes later the professor, a short, very distinguished looking gentleman walked in, closed the door and began speaking in Spanish. The students started looking at one another, most not understanding a word that was said. Then, he switched to English.

"I told you my name is Professor Sanchez, that this is first year Spanish and that I was very happy to meet you all. Spanish is one of the romance languages and I consider it one of the most beautiful."

Once again the professor gave a quick outline of the course. There would be a midterm and a final. But in addition there would be quizzes, and homework assignments that would be graded. There was also going to be an oral exam at the end of the semester. Growing up in Arizona, you come in contact with the Spanish language almost every day. John had no illusion that this was going to be easy, but he felt sure he could handle it.

Before he realized it, the class was over and they all left the room. John's next class, English Comp, was in the next building, so he headed down the stairs and out into the hot mid-day sun. He crossed the open area and entered the other building. His class was located on the second floor. He took a seat in the back and was again pleasantly surprised when a couple of minutes later, the tall well-built blonde once again entered the room. This time seeing him, she smiled and sat down next to him.

"I have a feeling that we are going to be seeing a lot of each other this semester. My name is Katie," and she stuck out her hand.

"I'm John, nice to meet you; I think you're right."

Her hand seemed to surround his and he was surprised at the firmness of her grip.

"You from Arizona?"

"Yes," he replied, "Glendale. You?"

"Peoria; we're neighbors."

Just then, the classroom door slammed shut and the room became deathly silent. There was clicking of heels on the vinyl floor as a petite woman in her forties with dark hair and glasses marched to the front of the room.

"My name is Ms. Barron and this is English Composition 101. If you're not supposed to be here, I suggest you leave now."

John looked over at Katie, raised his eyebrows and muttered, "Uh oh."

"Today, you are going to write a paper on what you did over the summer. I want you to give me your best work, as this paper will determine if you belong in this class or even in college for that matter."

She handed a stack of small blue booklets to each person in the front row of seats.

"Take one, pass the rest back. You may start when you have a booklet."

To John, it seemed like a childish exercise, but he did his best, even though English was not one of his favorite subjects. He looked over at Katie; she was still hard at work.

"Five minutes"

That gave John just enough time to wrap up his final thoughts. He had just completed the assignment when Ms. Barron exclaimed,

"OK. Pens down. Please drop your booklet off on my desk on your way out."

When they got into the hallway John turned to Katie,

"She's going to be a tough one."

"Yeah, I knew she would be. My roommate was telling me that English Comp is the main cut course for the freshman class. They use it to weed out the students that have no business being here. I just hope I can maintain a C average."

"When's your next class?"

"Not until 2:00. How about you?"

"Mine is not until 3:00. You want to stop for a bite to eat at the Student Union?"

"Sure, let's go. We can drop our books off on the way and pick up what we need for later."

When they reached the SU, they got in line in the cafeteria. John took a slice of pizza and a soda; Katie, a salad with grilled chicken, two hard-boiled eggs, an apple and a banana, and a bottle of water. They found a table off to the side of the room and sat down. Katie looked over at his tray,