A Minor Rebellion

Elizabeth clicked her pen, over and over. The wait at the jail took forever, even after the bond had been paid. Finally she appeared. A thoroughly inebriated Harper Adams.

Elizabeth kept her composure until they got out to the car.

"Never, in all my years of running this program, have we had an incident like this. You're not a common student, Harper, you're an Al-Assaf scholar! What were you thinking?" The teenager started to cry.

"I'm .. I'm sorry, Mrs. Barre. I just ... I don't feel right for the program. I'm from the sticks. I wasn't meant for this ... any of this. I mean ... I don't know that I can excel here. I should just go back to where I came from and go to community college."

Elizabeth sighed. "Are you just hating it, or are you afraid, Harper?" The teenager considered.

"I'm ... afraid."

"That is natural. You're in a city. You're in a big program. You're away from family and friends the first time. And you've got these big foreign men around. I was scared of Yusuuf, a little. But you have to conquer your fears or be ruled by them. Take the weekend, and I'll introduce you to someone you may want to befriend. And then we'll go from there."