Getting answers

Surprisingly enough, meeting the dean was as simple as the gaggle of girls galivanting straight into her office. She was sitting behind a thick mahogany desk, looking very much like the dean of a preppy girls school, even with four very non-preppy girls all sitting in front of her. Thankfully for everyone, the rather well-spoken Huguette explained the situation, and the dean tutted a bit, not yet replying. She searched through her computer, seeming like she looking for something, finding it.

The printer started running shortly after, and the dean got up, walking over in very smart business attire. She handed each girl a piece of paper. Joshua didn't know what the other girls said, but his was email correspondence between the school and his parents and the school.

FROM: [email protected]

TO: PARENT.EMAIL.LISTING
TITLE: Request for replies.

Saint Margaret's is beginning a program for parents to voluntary enroll their girls into a quad-room living situation. Please reply if you are interested, otherwise, most girls will live with one roommate.

1 hour and 37 minutes later, Joshua's dad replied....

Please enroll my daughter, Alexa Venefica, into this program. Call me on my work cell for any questions or need any paperwork. Thanks - Mr. Venefica.

***

Elsewhere, Alexa lay in bed, enjoying the solitary room she'd be given at Joshua's school. Life could be pretty good sometimes. Hopefully Joshua wasn't having a bad time of it.

***

"So you see." The dean said with a smile, popping a mint into her mouth. "Your parents all enrolled you voluntarily. First and only quad situation, funnily enough. Four needed, four found. Now, I'm sure you all need to get settled in."

The dean's fake smile, hiding a smirk, belied her genuine contempt for the four rabble-rousers in front of her. The girls seemed defeated, ready to raise hell, but not knowing how the hell to do it. Just as they readied themselves to leave, the dean did her usual tut.

"All four of you have a uniform violation. Disappointing, especially on day zero." The dean turned to Ethene first.

"Ethene Crimswell, you need to wear a proper skin-tone covering on your neck if you have tattoo's past your collar."

Ethene squeezed her fist tightly. "That's untrue. I read the rules before I came here, and it says nothing of the sort!" She was trying her best not to scream, but was clearly indignant.

The dean scoffed. "The rules? I wrote the rules. Come back to me tomorrow morning with a print-out showing what you say is true and then we'll talk. Now, onto the next..." She turned to Nahual. Joshua was sweating a bit. Please don't mention the short skirt, please don't mention the short skirt. "Ms. Nahual..." She spoke with a bit more respect than with Ethene. "You may not have beads in your hair. This is clearly outlined in the student regulations."

The now bored looking Nahual smiled. "Thankfully enough, my father actually got a religious exemption to your policy on this campus Miss."

That threw the room off for a second. Clearly, the dean hadn't been expecting pushback from the girls. "Right. Well, I will be contacting him regarding this then..." She paused and turned to the short British bookworm. "Your tie, Misses Green, is not the regulation on this campus. You'll have to wear our black, not the colors of the London campus."

As if by design, Huguette pulled out a piece of paper, handing it to the dean. "Actually, your regulations state the opposite. If I did any time on your campus as a student, I can wear it across all campuses. I was a student assistant for a week long event. I'd be happy to call my mother if you insist on pressing the issue."

The dean clenched her teeth. "As you were then. Now, Alexa Venefica." She said with a dramatic pause. "Your skirt is too short. Don't roll it up like so, and you'll be fine." Clearly the dean was reaching, and wanted a win.

Joshua felt all eyes on him in the room, the girls seeming only to have egged each other on. He thought of how to explain the measurements, and the sweat was only beading more and more on his forehead.