Joanna was trying to get through her homework, which was like trying to wade through molasses when she heard a pair of voices squawking and squabbling outside. They sounded like children and, no matter who it was, it was disturbing her concentration. She pushed her textbooks and coursework to one side, got up and walked to the front door.
"HEY YOU TWO...CAN IT!" Joanna yelled. The two girls looked shocked at being yelled at by a strangely dressed woman in enormous boots. They went silent, looked at each other and immediately ran away.
"Ah, peace at last..." said Joanna, returning to her desk. She hadn't realised there'd be so much reading and writing involved in studying for her psychology degree and now it felt like she was going to get cramp in her hand from all the scribbling she was doing.
Today she was doing a paper on the effect of natural medicines on the human nervous system and the history of mood altering drugs throughout history. Now she knew a fair amount about what drugs did to people...including herself...but only in recreational use or in those who were addicted. This paper, and the research material, was more about prescription medication. Still, she couldn't help but remember people in the San Myshuno ghetto tripping out on everything from weed to heroin. The higher up the chain of mind altering substances people went, the deadlier it got. Again, she felt grateful to have escaped that life...
By midday the paper was finished and she headed off to Britechester campus to hand it in to her professor; Jing Fen. If the difference between the Spice Quarter in San Myshuno and Willow Creek was huge, then it was off the charts when compared with Britechester. Even the gulf between the Creek and it was astounding.
"Someone sure had a lot of money to build this place!" she mused when stepping off the bus and onto the campus.
The sense of awe soon turned to a feeling of being an outsider once she stepped into inside the Darby building; a common area used by students to eat, study and relax whilst some professors had their offices there. One of them was Professor Fen, her main tutor, and it was to him that she had to hand her coursework to.
But the Darby building was imposing, not for it's architecture or interior decor but for the way the students and staff carried themselves. She noticed students gathered there in small groups all chatting, laughing and getting on whilst she was the newcomer, the loner, the outsider. She had met a few students but didn't know any of them well enough to have a conversation with. Growing up in a tough neighbourhood she had to be assertive but that wouldn't cut it in a place like this: The students were in cliques, they stuck by who they knew and were oblivious to anyone who they didn't recognise.
She walked right through into the main hall, trying to locate Professor Fen's office and it was like she was invisible to everyone else. A young male student brushed passed her as if she wasn't there. Joanna had a gnawing feeling in her stomach that the others could see straight through her; that she wasn't at Britechester because she had a good education or was destined to be a college student and therefore she was a fake. It was a feeling that the student body was rejecting her like the human body rejecting a transplanted organ.
But Joanna was not one to appear frightened or awed so she internalised her feeling of otherness. As she left the common room area and headed on to the academic offices she happened to run into Professor Fen.
"Yo...prof?" he replied with disdain in his voice. "I am not 'prof' anything and I do not respond kindly to 'yo' either. And you are?"
"Ya, sorry...prof-essor. I'm Joanna Thompson, I'm in your psych class."
"You mean my psychology class?"
"Yeah, what I said. Anyways, I have my assignment here. It's about plants and herbs found in nature that have mood altering properties." She handed the folio to him and he took it, gingerly, as if he were handling a bomb.
Professor Fen said nothing but inspected the outside of the folio and turning the page to the introduction to give it a quick glance.
"Ah yes...Miss Thompson. I remember you now. Such a...distinctive...writing style" he said, in a deadpan manner.
"Is that good or bad?" Joanna replied with a puzzled look on her face.
Professor Fen opened up the folio she had just handed to him and read a page at random. "St. John's Wart'...oh, and by the way 'wart' should be spelled with an o, not an a. St John did not have boils. 'St John's Wort is well useful in treating depression and shit'...now whilst I agree with the premise that St John's Wort is a useful herb in treating depression, I'm going to need a better descriptor of its other properties than 'and shit'."
"So you want me to go into more detail?" asked Joanna.
"Better detail, and hold off from using profanities. You are a bright student from what I've seen of you so far, Miss Thompson, but this is Britechester, not the ghetto. I shall read this with interest later..."
"Thank you, Prof...essor" she said, correcting herself in mid-word.
Professor Fen took the folio and wandered off leaving Joanna alone once again in an environment she wasn't comfortable with. The groups had thinned out now as most had a class to get to leaving her almost alone in the study area with only a couple of students frantically scribbling away at desks left in the room. Now she didn't feel like people were either looking disdainfully at her or else blanking her socially she relaxed a little and wandered around, checking out the place.
As she was scanning the room her eyes met those of a fellow student who was working at one of the desks. The student had pale, white skin, short blonde hair and was wearing a peppermint green dress. Joanna had never met this girl before but she recognised her by sight as a fellow psychology classmate. There was an awkward moment of silence between the two as each had a flash of recognition of the other but neither had ever met before.
The other student looked intently at Joanna before answering, as her brain searched her memory to make the same connection. Finally she said "Oh yes, I think we do share the same class."
"The name's Joanna"
"Mine's Chastity."
"Chastity? You don't hear that name around much these days. Your folks religious?"
"No, they're both Mediaeval scholars at Yale...that's why they christened me Chastity although informally I'm known as Chase."
Joanna nodded. "I don't know the origin of my name; no one told me why I was given that name."
"It's Biblical. It means 'God is gracious' in Greek" replied Chastity.
"You knows your stuff!" said Joanna, impressed.
"I'm majoring in history with an elective in psychology plus having two parents who are academics helps fill my mind with all kinds of details." replied Chastity, who had a naturally haughty tone to her voice.
"Yeah, I'm just majoring in psych but I'm doing a bit of biology as well...in as much as it relates to my major. I gotta admit, I'm starting from scratch with this academic life."
"I see..." replied Chastity, who took in what Joanna was saying and how she was saying it as she weighed up in her mind what kind of woman she was dealing with. Friend? Foe? Potential ally or annoyance? She looked more closely at Joanna for more clues and, like a lot of people, she had noticed her choice of clothes and especially the thigh length boots.
"Interesting pair of boots you're wearing. Who is your bootmaker?" asked Chastity.
Joanna defaulted to her stock reply because the truth was embarrassing to anyone who didn't know about her background. "I don't know who made these, but I bought them at a market not long ago."
Chastity nodded and noticed that Joanna had sounded evasive when giving her answer. That too went into her mental notebook.
The relative peace of the library was momentarily disturbed by the sound of the front doors opening and a shaft of light from outside illuminating the subtle gloom of the old room. Joanna turned around to see who was entering the room and saw someone who she'd recognised as another student who had helped her navigate her way around the campus and the night life in Britechester in the first week at college. His name was Pace Tye and other than he knew his way around the place, she knew precious little about him.
When he saw Joanna and Chastity his face broke into a smile and he headed over to where they were sitting.
"Ladies, what's happening?" he said. "Now I believe we met a few days ago...it's Joanna isn't it?"
"Yep, and you're Pace." she replied.
"Pace Tye...finger in every pie; isn't that right, Pace?" said Joanna, coolly.
"What can I say? I get around and keep my ear to the ground" he said in a poetical manner. "Say, Chase, I hear you were responsible for that ruckus down at Pepper's Pub last night"
Chastity had a sly grin on her face when he mentioned that. "I wasn't there" she said, softly.
"Yeah, but you fixed things so that your ex-General could give his speech somewhere else whilst you leaked information that he would be down at Pepper's. Well played, Chase. Well played. You know your opponents are pretty pissed?"
"Maybe they shouldn't be so aggressive when it comes to guest speakers in the future? They want to play rough whilst I prefer to play with cunning."
Joanna's head turned from one side to the other as she tried to follow this conversation. "Say what's this all about?"
"Don't you know that Miss Chastity Faulkner is the bigwig conservative on campus?" said Pace. "She had this guest speaker down to talk about the fight against the commies..." and when he said that he stiffened his stance and did a military salute as a way of parody. "...her opponents, the radicals, tried to shut down the event but Chase double bluffed them and sent them to the wrong venue. A few parked cars got graffitied in response."
Joanna looked to Chastity for her reaction. That smug grin was still there and Joanna used her burgeoning psychology skills to quickly assess Chastity as a person who saw people as chess pieces in a game of her choosing.
"But enough about politics" said Pace as he sat down on the couch next to Joanna. "How are you finding life at Britechester?" he asked.
"Still finding my feet but, yeah, OK" said Joanna, calmly nodding and smiling to him.
"You strike me as the kind of person who works things out quickly; I'm sure you'll be fine here" he replied.
Joanna did work things out quickly; she had to all her life but only a few minutes ago she was intimidated by all the social networks that were around her. Now looking at Pace and studying his body language she assessed that he was a man comfortable in his surroundings and in himself. Or was that just a facade he wanted to project? Well, she was only at the beginning of her studies so she couldn't say for certain.
"If you need any help finding your way around, Joanna, just call on me. Anyway, ladies, I have to head off to a class now..." he said, standing up. "Oh, and Chase...just be careful with your schemes: One day someone will work out you're trying to play them and they might not take kindly to it."
Chastity's eyes narrowed and she peered at him. "Pace...one day you might actually have to pick a side." she said.
"There's only one side I'm on..." he replied whilst holding up his fingers in the V shaped peace sign. "...Freedom. Stay cool, baby." and with that he turned on his heel and left.
Chastity packed up her books into a shoulder bag, stood up and went to leave as well.
"Nice running in to you" said Joanna, giving her a light wave.
"Yes, and you" replied Chastity, nodding briskly, as she left the building.
Joanna was left there with just a handful of students in the library, all with their heads down with their work. She had a lecture to go to in one hour so she found the psychology section and started to read one of the prescribed textbooks for her course...
...before grabbing a bite to eat from a vendor in the campus quad.
There was indifference when she entered, but that was because there was hardly anyone in the pub at all. There were only two guys; one she had seen at the library who was this bald guy wearing glasses and lounge suit with cravat and a youthful and cute guy who was dancing on his own, lost in the music that was playing over a loudspeaker.
It was a catchy song which she hadn't heard before but she decided to let herself go (given there was hardly anyone there to notice) and danced her way to the bar. Finally, the students there noticed her and didn't give her a disapproving look.
"You've got some nice moves there" said the cute blonde guy as he approached Joanna.
"I noticed you've got one or two of your own" she replied.
"Mind if I join you?" he asked, smiling.
"Go right ahead" she said, smiling back at him.
"Joanna...I thought Dwayne was a cowboy name?"
"I'm from San Francisco, so not quite" he replied.
"You sure do dance nicely for a California boy...you study here?"
"Sure thing, I'm a freshman so this is my first time out of my home state"
"I'm in my first year as well...but Britechester might as well be as far away as San Francisco as far as I'm concerned."
"A gentleman as well, I see" she said.
"Well, you dance so nicely it's the least I can do to show appreciation" he said.
Joanna checked out Dwayne. He had a cute glint to his eyes and his hairstyle was the height of fashion in young men these days. This guy had potential, she thought to herself.
"Yeah...UCSF didn't teach the course I wanted to study and I didn't fancy moving south to UCLA or USC. I'm not quite Ivy League material so Britechester liked my grades enough and I've ended up here. And you? You said you're from far away?"
Joanna let out a laugh before answering. "You misunderstood...I'm actually from San Myshuno but with my background Britechester might as well be as far as San Francisco even though it's little more than 5 miles away."
"I haven't checked out downtown yet. Anything you could recommend seeing there?" he asked.
"Not where I'm from but if you avoid the trouble spots there's plenty to see and do." she replied.
"I might need to call on a tour guide..." he said, making it clear in his intonation that he would like that guide to be Joanna; something she picked up on easily.
"I could assist in that." she replied, smiling.
"OK, let's do that sometime...cheers" he said, raising his glass and clinking it to hers. They drank some more but Dwayne looked at his watch as he finished his drink and his eyes suddenly widened.
"Shoot! I've just noticed the time...I gotta get to a meeting on the other side of the campus. Joanna, this has been great meeting you and dancing. I'm serious about seeing San Myshuno so let's do that sometime."
"Just my luck today..." she replied, shrugging her shoulders. "Every time I get into a nice conversation with someone, they suddenly have to leave. The student life, eh?"
"I'm down here at Pepper's most evenings...let's meet again and soon. OK, see you." he said, giving her a little wave before he rapidly headed out of the pub. Joanna looked over the remnants of her drink and wondered whether she would see Dwayne again or not. Her introspection was interrupted by a new arrival in the pub, but one who already knew her.
"We meet again" said Pace, as he approached her. "Is this seat taken?" he asked.
"Are you OK for a drink?" he asked.
"I am for now, but if you're buying..."
"I'm buying. OK, I'll let you finish that one first. So...anything interesting happen since I last saw you?"
"Just a couple of lectures and then it was down here...say, what's with that T-Shirt?" she asked, pointing at the loud yellow shirt with a picture of a head with speech bubbles and a logo on the front.
"Debate club. That's where I've been this afternoon."
"Debate club? I thought that was only found in high school!" she said with a chuckle.
"It's a serious business at Britechester!" he replied, earnestly. "We're defending our title against Foxbury next week."
"It's not about arguing like that: It's about being able to put across a coherent case for or against something in order to win over an audience. It really helps you think and work out your speaking skills." said Pace.
Joanna smiled and Pace noticed it. "What? What's so funny about what I just said?" he asked, confused by her reaction.
"Oh no, it's not what you said...I dig it. I was thinking about something that happened outside my home today: There were these two kids, little girls, having an argument and all it consisted of was them yelling at each other 'you are too!' 'am not!' 'are too!' 'am not!' over and over. You don't do anything like that at your debating club, do you?"
Pace laughed. "No way! But I've now got a picture of Chase and some other guy I know in the club having a debate exactly like that!" he said.
Joanna chuckled too but soon regained her composure. "Say, what is the deal with that Chase woman? To me she strikes me as an ambitious type."
"You got it in one" replied Pace, without hesitation. "To her, everyone and everything either advances her aims or is useless...and if she thinks it's useless she completely shoves it to one side. That includes people."
"I think she was trying to work out which category I fit in to." said Joanna.
"Most definitely" replied Pace. "I don't think she's quite worked you out yet and that intrigues her. I could see it in the way she looked at you."
"I've finished my drink" said Joanna, putting her glass down.
"But Chase is right about one thing..."
"What's that?"
"You are an intriguing kind of person. Let me get you another of those..."
