Chat with Charmaine before Seminar

When you wake up on Wednesday morning, you half expect another revelation to drop out of the sky and shake your world. Then you notice a loud buzzing noise that won’t stop. Is this a sign of the end times? Are these the Revelations you’ve been half expecting? But no, it’s just your alarm.

After a quick stop at the dining hall and another Calculus class with your charming classmates and a Professor Luck that’s looking more tired than usual, you head over to Writing Seminar. Annalise, Lisa, and Charmaine are all there early, and as you make your entrance, you catch Charmaine’s eye.

The black girl is chatting with Annalise, but she doesn’t seem to be enjoying herself very much. The scowl on her face quickly melts away as she sees you approach.

“Hey Charmaine,” you say, taking a seat next to her. “How’s it going? I got a call from my dad yesterday. We’re seriously considering your mom’s offer.”

“That’s terrific!” Charmaine says, perking up. “She really is the best. I know you wouldn’t expect me to say anything else, but it’s true. Once you’ve got her on your team, she’ll do anything, and I do mean anything to get you what you deserve. Want me to put you in touch with her?”

Charmaine’s turned away from Annalise towards you, ignoring the mildly affronted look that the girl shoots at her. Your sister, who’s busy texting someone on her phone, also angles her head ever so slightly towards your conversation, quietly listening in.

“Yeah, that would be great,” you say, ignorant of all that just transpired. “My dad didn’t pass me her info, but I had some questions for her.”

“Of course! Here, why don’t you pass me your phone and I’ll give you her number,” she says, so you hand it over to her. There’s a brief moment of electricity as your hands touch, and a smile quickly runs across her face. “I’ll also pass your number on to her so she can reach out, if that’s okay?”

“Sure thing,” you say, playing it cool.

It takes Charmaine a minute to get all the details in order, during which you ruminate aloud.

“I did find it weird that it was her of all people that reached out to my family. I mean, what are the odds that you would also be in my class?”

Charmaine chuckles, looking halfway endearing and halfway embarrassed.

“What a coincidence,” she says.

“And you didn’t have anything to do with it?” you ask her.

“Me? N-no way, my mom, she’s just really on top of things. She’s always scanning the newspapers for cases that might need her attention. She says that’s how you get the best cases.”

“Wow, she’s really dedicated to her job,” you say, and Charmaine beams at you.

“You can’t go wrong with her,” she says.

“Thanks! I’m excited. It would be really great to not have all these medical bills hanging over my head,” you say.

“Yes! Exactly!” Charmaine says. “She’ll get it all sorted out in no time, just you watch.”

It’s right at that moment that Lucille and Brooke come into the classroom. Lucille instantly spots the two of you and narrows her eyes, a snarky remark on the tip of her tongue, when the professor comes in behind her and says: “Big day today! We’re going to discuss the prompt for the paper due next week. So I want to hear it all! The Freshman 15, good or bad, let’s hear your thoughts!”

Charmaine +20
Lucille -10