University

You come up on a wide, three-story building. Red brick walls decorated with white pillars, stairs leading up to the doors, thick shutters around the tall windows. A bronze plaque attached to the wall next to the entrance identifies it as Spruceville-Tyler University's main building, as does a redundant street sign in the shape of an arrow posted on the corner.

Ashley stops on the sidewalk to gaze up at the building for a few seconds before Tibby, impatient and still cold, pulls her to the doors. A wave of warm air hits you when the door is opened and you step in, letting go of each other as you do. Behind the doors is a small vestibule, on the other side of which another set of doors lead to a larger atrium from which several paths split off.

The atrium's walls are covered with posters and information boards about the various classes, resources, and activities on campus, as well as a directory with the different rooms in this building. Now it's Tibby who wants to look at everything, and Ashley who moves things along. After studying the directory for a moment, she makes a beeline to the office.

The office welcoming room is a simple rectangle with a row of padded plastic-and-metal seats on the left and a secretary's desk on the right, where the university crest adorns the wall. There's a door in that wall too, and two more on the far wall; one unmarked, the other bearing a red cross that identifies it as a nurse's station. Seated at the desk is a man in his thirties who smiles when you enter. "Hello! You must be Ashley Hoaka. Nine o'clock appointment with the dean?"

That's us, hi," Ashley says, returning the man's smile confidently.

"Great. The dean will see you in her office, right through here." He knocks on the door by his desk and turns the handle to open it. "Your appointment is here, ma'am."

You thought they might want to talk to Ashley alone, so you're relieved when all three of you are ushered through into the dean's office. It's a resplendently decorated room with everything you'd expect for a mid-sized city university: it's prestigious, but not arrogantly so. Nicely carpeted floor, bookcase full of leather-bound books, a mahogany desk, a couple of framed documents on the wall... but your eyes are drawn away from that and to the dean.

A conservatively dressed woman in her fifties with a bun of grey-streaked hair, she nonetheless projects a youthful, energetic aura. "Hi there! Come on in, have a seat please."

She gestures to the four wooden chairs in front of her desk, but stands up to shake your hands before you sit down. "I'm Dean Jessica Hyde, but 'Miss Hyde' will do. Can I offer you a drink?"

There's a fresh pot of coffee on her desk, as well as a bottle of mineral water, a carton of creamer, and several ceramic cups. Once Jessica is back in her leather-backed seat and everyone has their preferred drinks in hand, the talk begins.

"First of all, let me express my sympathy for how Baleview treated you, Ms Hoaka. It's saddening to learn how closed-off against new ideas many academics can be. Everything is unheard of until it happens for the first time after all! To react with disdain instead of curiosity is the sign of a small mind."

"About that," Ashley says, stopping her. "I appreciate your kind words, but I'm not here to be a curiosity. I'll hear your proposal about publicity, but to be honest I'm not excited about it. I'm not that special, I just want to study like any other student."

"I can understand your apprehensive. But you are special. Not as some specimen I want to put under a microscope, rather as a person who is breaking the mold and doing something nobody expects from a petgirl. I want to help you achieve your goals. And I want to use you to send a message of acceptance to other potential students of STU. I won't pretend this is a selfless endeavor, but my hope is that everyone will benefit."

Ashley nods. "Like I said, I'll hear your proposal. I'm not against the idea, I just don't want it to be too much."