53 - Wait
Guess when I wrote this one! 8D
Set...uh...I don't know. After spring break sometime? I think the continuity of the plot is messed up in this one, but I'll figure it out later.
If there was one thing I hated about my college, it was the academic advising office. I was never smart enough to schedule a meeting before the week of signups for classes, so I was always forced to do a walk-in. And, trust me, there was always a long line.
I would be forced to sit in a rectangular room, drab taupe walls on any side of you. The carpet was relatively ugly as well: a foundation of grey shaded with flecks of contrasting colors-maroon, aqua, orange, and something that looked vaguely like cream. It was offset every now and then with large, thick lines of an unflattering teal. Filing cabinets and shelves lined the walls, making you feel more enclosed than you had been feeling before. The blue waiting chairs were set up in a half-square so you were forced to avoid eye contact with your classmates.
The reception desk was nearly in the center, the same two nearly-middle-aged, loudmouth women chatting on the phone and with each other, making the whole experience simply unbearable.
It made me want to jump off a building.
And it didn’t help that my three friends had different majors than I so we couldn’t even wait together. I was going into teaching at a university level-physics; Molly was going into journalism; Dorian was going into secondary education; and Steph was going into marketing. Molly continually tried to warn me about the long wait and make me go in a few weeks early, but it never seemed to work, mostly because I was too lazy and continually came up with excuses.
Technically, I had two semesters left of college and I needed to know what else to take. I wanted to get one of the remaining three classes out of the way over the summer so that my final semester would be as light as possible. When I entered the academic advising office, to my surprise, there were only seven students in front of me. That face was only slightly comforting; the academic advisors varied in how fast they worked with students. Three of them would take about ten to fifteen minutes with each student, but the fourth counselor took no less than thirty minutes with each student.
I was about to waste my entire afternoon in this goddamn office.
“James?” the advisor in the forest green shirt called out after an hour of impatient waiting on my part. I gladly jumped out of my seat and walked briskly over to the man, following him into his office. “Congrats on making it through the wait,” he said, grinning at me. I smiled back and let out a breathless sigh.
“Yeah, it could have been a little shorter,” I commented.
“Walk-ins are pretty terrible,” he agreed. “Well, let’s get down to business. What questions do you have?”
“Well, I just need to know what three classes I should be taking in my final two semesters.”
“Two? Oh-you mean you’re going to take a summer course?” The man seemed confused.
“Yes. I’d rather be here this summer than at home.” And have to deal with Gabby breathing down my neck every time I wanted to do something with Molly? I don’t think so. Plus, I think Molly was on the same level as me; she also did not have a strong desire to return home, even for a short amount of time.
“All right, well…” He pulled out a manila folder and flipped through it, extracting a yellow sheet of paper. “You still have a general education class to take: a foreign language. And there’s two more four-hundred level Physics classes you need to take…” He circled them on the sheet of paper. “Easy enough, right?”
“Right,” I agreed, wanting to leave his office immediately. “That’s all I’ve got for you, sir.”
“Well, that was easy!” he said happily. “I wish all the students were like you, James.”
“You’d get fed up pretty quickly,” I commented as he handed me the yellow sheet.
“Come back in sometime before graduation for a final evaluation and you’ll be all set to leave here,” he explained.
“All right.” Standing up, I gave the adviser one last smile before I departed his small office.
The hour-long wait was not worth the three-minute session.
-----
Continuity problem: I don't think James finds out about Molly being Gabby's best friend until June or so, and this is like...beginning of May-ish? So he needs a different reason not to go home...
Set...uh...I don't know. After spring break sometime? I think the continuity of the plot is messed up in this one, but I'll figure it out later.
If there was one thing I hated about my college, it was the academic advising office. I was never smart enough to schedule a meeting before the week of signups for classes, so I was always forced to do a walk-in. And, trust me, there was always a long line.
I would be forced to sit in a rectangular room, drab taupe walls on any side of you. The carpet was relatively ugly as well: a foundation of grey shaded with flecks of contrasting colors-maroon, aqua, orange, and something that looked vaguely like cream. It was offset every now and then with large, thick lines of an unflattering teal. Filing cabinets and shelves lined the walls, making you feel more enclosed than you had been feeling before. The blue waiting chairs were set up in a half-square so you were forced to avoid eye contact with your classmates.
The reception desk was nearly in the center, the same two nearly-middle-aged, loudmouth women chatting on the phone and with each other, making the whole experience simply unbearable.
It made me want to jump off a building.
And it didn’t help that my three friends had different majors than I so we couldn’t even wait together. I was going into teaching at a university level-physics; Molly was going into journalism; Dorian was going into secondary education; and Steph was going into marketing. Molly continually tried to warn me about the long wait and make me go in a few weeks early, but it never seemed to work, mostly because I was too lazy and continually came up with excuses.
Technically, I had two semesters left of college and I needed to know what else to take. I wanted to get one of the remaining three classes out of the way over the summer so that my final semester would be as light as possible. When I entered the academic advising office, to my surprise, there were only seven students in front of me. That face was only slightly comforting; the academic advisors varied in how fast they worked with students. Three of them would take about ten to fifteen minutes with each student, but the fourth counselor took no less than thirty minutes with each student.
I was about to waste my entire afternoon in this goddamn office.
“James?” the advisor in the forest green shirt called out after an hour of impatient waiting on my part. I gladly jumped out of my seat and walked briskly over to the man, following him into his office. “Congrats on making it through the wait,” he said, grinning at me. I smiled back and let out a breathless sigh.
“Yeah, it could have been a little shorter,” I commented.
“Walk-ins are pretty terrible,” he agreed. “Well, let’s get down to business. What questions do you have?”
“Well, I just need to know what three classes I should be taking in my final two semesters.”
“Two? Oh-you mean you’re going to take a summer course?” The man seemed confused.
“Yes. I’d rather be here this summer than at home.” And have to deal with Gabby breathing down my neck every time I wanted to do something with Molly? I don’t think so. Plus, I think Molly was on the same level as me; she also did not have a strong desire to return home, even for a short amount of time.
“All right, well…” He pulled out a manila folder and flipped through it, extracting a yellow sheet of paper. “You still have a general education class to take: a foreign language. And there’s two more four-hundred level Physics classes you need to take…” He circled them on the sheet of paper. “Easy enough, right?”
“Right,” I agreed, wanting to leave his office immediately. “That’s all I’ve got for you, sir.”
“Well, that was easy!” he said happily. “I wish all the students were like you, James.”
“You’d get fed up pretty quickly,” I commented as he handed me the yellow sheet.
“Come back in sometime before graduation for a final evaluation and you’ll be all set to leave here,” he explained.
“All right.” Standing up, I gave the adviser one last smile before I departed his small office.
The hour-long wait was not worth the three-minute session.
-----
Continuity problem: I don't think James finds out about Molly being Gabby's best friend until June or so, and this is like...beginning of May-ish? So he needs a different reason not to go home...