Chapter 30

I must've looked confused, 'cause Kaitlyn just glared at me and said "Yes, you heard right! I've been informed that I won't be graduating, because of some unpaid bills and unfinished credits!" Then she stomped off to the bedroom and slammed the door.

Suzy looked just as pissed off as Kaitlyn, and she said, "She got a text from someone in the financial aid office telling her to report there this morning. Got there and this dude waves us over to the end window, like he was expecting her. Said they were doing a routine check on all graduating students' records, and found out they'd had some sort of mixup. She was missing a course credit, had several unpaid parking tickets, a bill for some damaged lab equipment, and a lost library book. The doofus who was giving her all this good news seemed a little confused, but insisted that it was all valid."

Kay came storming out of the bedroom and said, "No way any of that stuff is valid!" She dumped a couple of folders on the table and ruffled through them. "Here's the grade sheet from my first sophomore semester, and there's the credit he said I'm missing. And here's the receipt for the only parking ticket I ever got, and it's stamped PAID. I never lost a library book, and any labs I ever took? No 'equipment' to damage!" She took a breath, "Now what the fu" -- She stopped for a minute and took a deeper breath, "Sorry, what the hell is going on here?" She looked at Suzy, "Did you get a close look at any of that stuff?"

Suzy shook her head, and said, "I picked up one of the parking tickets, but he grabbed it back out of my hand before I got much past the date."

I asked, "Do you remember what that date was?"

"Yeah, it was dated September 26, 2010."

Kay made a noise, sounded outraged. "That's before I even had a car on campus! Like I said, what's going on?"

The doorbell rang, and Suzy looked out, then opened it, and Richelle and Laurel walked in. Well, Richelle walked, but Laurel stomped in, acting extremely pissed. She slammed her book bag on the floor by the hallway, and turned to face us. Kay held up her hand and stopped her.

"Let me guess. Not eligible for graduation because of some kind of administrative thing. Parking tickets? Deposit? What?"

Deflate one Laurel. "Yeah, you too? What're we gonna do? I can't spend another week here, let alone another semester!"

"Okay," I said, "let's think this through. I would imagine that you have a right to copies of all the paperwork they claim supports their case. I'd be interested in seeing the originals, but we can work with the copies. The parking ticket Suzy saw had what date?"

Kay sounded exasperated. "September 26, 2010, which is before I even bought the car, let alone had it registered on campus."

"Did you say anything about that then?"

"No, I didn't see the date myself, didn't know that part until Suzy just said it. He just told us it was an unpaid ticket."

"Okay, so whoever planted that ticket doesn't know we've got them cold on this one." I looked at Laurel, "Did you get hit with the 'unpaid parking ticket' thing too?"

She said, "Yeah, but I didn't notice any date on it. He never really showed it to me, just waved it at me."

George broke in, "Hold on, just who is the "they" that's giving you all this hassle about graduating? And by the way, Rob, you'd make a hell of a cop!"

Kay said, "One of the admins in student accounts. I got a text saying to report to the financial aid office at ten sharp this morning, and he was there waiting for me." She flipped her phone open, "See, here it is. Sender was one of the school numbers."

"Wait," I said, "Kay, do they have students helping in the financial aid office, and in student records? And did you ask for copies of their claims?"

"Yes, and no. There's a pool of work study students who rotate through the different offices as needed. I worked my freshman year in the financial aid office, filing paperwork. And no, I didn't ask for copies of any of that -- omigod! Are you saying that stuff is all just bogus?"

"Makes sense," said Laurel. "He's the one that showed me my stuff too. Only my appointment was at 1030. Brad something, I think. Told me the decision is binding, whatever that means, and there's no recourse until the formal appeal period in June. He was very apologetic."

"Yeah! He apologized to me, too," said Kay. "He had me come to the private counseling section at the end of the counter, so we wouldn't disturb other students and the regular staff. You're thinking it's not real?"

"Yes, girls," said George, "I think you're being bluffed. Somebody is messing with your mind, most likely out of plain meanness. I don't see how it could be anything else. Just like Rob's bank thing this morning. I wonder if any of Todd-boy's friends have worked recently in those offices?"

Kay said, "I have no idea, do you, Laurel?" She looked at me, "What bank thing?"

"I'll tell you in a minute. Laurel, what about Todd's friends, any of 'em get student jobs in either of those offices?"

"Yeah, I heard one or two of them talking about that stuff," said Laurel, "at a party or something, I tried not to get to know them any more than I had to."

"Okay," said George, "here's what we do..."

Kay's turn again:

Grrrrr! Why would anybody do something like that? Doesn't make any sense at all. He must be totally unhinged! Got the text message and reported to the office just like it said, and this Brad guy laid those forms on me. Sounded all official. Really messed up my day, and it was all just out of pure meanness. Then he did the same thing to Laurel.

But then Richelle said, "Was a good thing we were still with y'all. No tellin' what might have happened if either of you had been alone." We hadn't even thought of that, but the possibilities did shake us up some.

Then Rob filled us in on what had happened to him at the grocery store this morning. Somebody's really trying to mess with our minds! Rob says they must be just trying to throw us off balance, or distract us from something else – break our concentration, maybe, so we make a mistake and they catch one of us alone. Scary thought!

Richelle is still acting strangely, like she's trying to come to terms with something. Suzy's worried that she'll go off the deep end and get herself hurt, or in trouble. Someone said it's like she's on a mission. I hope she doesn't do anything foolish! We've all become like a family, strange, maybe, but I've never gotten so attached to a group of people as quickly as I have this bunch right here. And Renee, and now Jake. Except I've got a feeling it might not be just Jake, and just Laurel much longer. Jake and Laurel – sounds good!

Laurel's turn:

I couldn't believe what I was hearing! Not graduating because of some unpaid parking tickets and an overdue library book? And I don't even have a car! I was gonna argue and bring up that point when Richelle elbowed me and signaled me to shut up. She knew I didn't have a car too, so she must have realized something was up. Good thing, too! We've got something to hit 'em back with, except where and when are we gonna do that?

I'm just glad I've got this bunch to prop me up. Instant family! Never thought I'd ever have anything like this, after what happened with my own family. And now I even got another Jake, I hope! He just held on to my hand last night, and I felt safer than I ever have before. I mean, it's good with Rob and Kay, and the rest, but Jake? Well, he's different from any guy I ever met before. Only met him last night, but something clicked. I mean, I laughed at Kay when she told me about lightning striking out in the Gulf, and love at first sight, and all that. No such thing, really. Never happen. Nope. Then it did, I think.

But I can hear it all now, 'he's black'! People will talk. If we have kids they'll be picked on and bullied. We won't be welcome in "polite" society. Bullshit! The only people I care about are the ones in this room with me right now, and their families and friends. And they don't seem to even think about anything like that. Not even a little bit. So who cares if people talk? And if we do hook up like I'm hopin' we will, and decide to have kids, they'll be the most beautiful mocha-colored munchkins in the world, and people will "Ohhhh" and "Ahhh" over them, and we'll be the best parents a kid ever had, and we'll raise them to respect other people and get good grades, and...

"Laurel? It's for you." Gotta stop daydreaming right now! Rob just handed me his phone. Has a strange look on his face.

Back to Rob:

My phone rang, and I didn't recognize the CID, but I answered it anyway. George nodded to say the recorder had started, so I said "This is Rob, who's calling please?"

"Rob? It's Jake Hanford. Renee's brother, from last night?"

I was a little surprised, but said "Hi Jake, how can I help you?" Nodded to George that it was okay, and he could shut off the recorder for now.

"Rob, I, um," his voice trailed off, as if he was trying to think of what to say. I thought we might have a bad connection, and was about to tell him that, when he continued. "I, um, I know you're probably not the person to ask about this, but I gotta ask someone."

"Yeah, Jake? What is it you need? I'll do my best to help you."

"Well, Rob, um..." He sounded positively nervous as a kitten! "I was just wondering if it'd be all right with you if I asked Laurel to go out with me. I mean, she seems like she's special to you and Kay, and all, and I wasn't sure how..."

"Well, I'm not kin to her, except that she's almost like a sister to Kay and me, and we're trying to keep track of each other through all this flap with Todd." I joked a little, "Of course, Kay did mention something about adopting her, but..."

I looked over at Laurel, who seemed to be drifting between lost in thought and talking with Kay and the others. "How about I give her this phone and you ask her yourself? I've got a feeling you'll like the answer!"

I went over and told Laurel the call was for her, and watched her confusion turn to a smile that lit the whole room, when she took the phone and said, "This is Laurel, who's call..." Daydreams stopped just like that, and she jumped up and took the call into the bedroom.

Kay and the others looked the question at me, and I just gave a one word answer, "Jake." Got several squeals in response.

Let's listen in on Laurel for a minute:

"This is Laurel, who's call..."

"Laurel, it's Jake."

I almost dropped the phone! Jumped up and headed for the other room. "Hi Jake! I was just thinking about you. I had a great time last night, and really enjoyed meeting you. Hasn't been such a good day today, but I'm so glad you called. So how was your day, and I'm babbling aren't I? Sooooo..."

I heard the smile in his voice, "I enjoyed last night too, and I really didn't want it to end. So I called to see if you'd like to go someplace for dinner. Rob says it's okay, but I need to ask if it's okay with Laurel."

Couldn't resist, "Well, if it's okay with Rob, then I guess it's okay with me," then I added, "as long as it's okay with Jakey!" Yeah, I slipped and called him Jakey. Don't remember if I told him all about Jakey, but it's something he's bound to find out sometime.

He laughed, and said, "It's definitely okay with this Jakey. Rob said I might like the answer, and I purely do!"

"Rob said, huh?" All this time I was quivering like Jello inside, but still had to toss in a jab or two. "And what else did Rob say?"