by Sara Summers
“Seriously?” Leah checked.
“Seriously.” I nodded. “If I announce it, they’ll spread the news at least through the entire U.S. People will want to come from everywhere to go to the university.”
“Would there be, like, classes about different types of shifters?” Ty lifted an eyebrow.
“Yeah, and classes about shifter history, along with all the normal college classes. People would totally want to go there.” I exclaimed.
“That sounds cool.” Leah nodded. “Jazz graduates in a week or two with her degree in architecture. I bet she’d love to design it.”
“I’ll call her.” I nodded, then breathed out and shook my head. “I actually have a chance at doing this. I don’t have to die.”
“It’ll be great.” Leah agreed.
“Alright, I’m going to go figure out some stuff. You get back to cooking or flirting or whatever you were doing.” I smiled again and dashed back to my room.
I spent the next hour researching requirements and licenses I would need (there were a ton), along with the government approval aspect of it. I’d have my hands full getting it all planned by the end of my three months, but I knew I could do it.
I’d been planning on calling Jazz the next morning, but when I realized that she was in Massachusetts, at Harvard, I realized that she was in a different time zone. Looking it up, I learned that she was three hours behind me. That meant I could call her.
I couldn’t hold back my grin as I clicked on her contact picture.
She answered on the last ring, barely catching it in time.
“Hey girl, what’s up?” She sounded a little out of breath.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, just had to run out of the study room to answer. If you talk in there, someone will murder you.” She yawned. “What’s up?”
“I’m going to start a shifter university.” I put it on the table.
“For real?” Jazz sounded surprised. “That’d be epic. I’d totally go there, Harvard sucks. I haven’t slept in weeks.” She yawned again. “But then, I guess any school would be like this if you did what I’m doing.”
“You’re going to graduate with a masters in architecture, right?” I checked.
“Yep, and I’ll be back in Poulsbo as soon as the semester ends.” She agreed.
“Would you be up for designing the school?” I bit my lip.
“Heck yes! Recent graduate designing a frickin university? Count me in. You can wait two weeks, right?”
“Yep.” I sighed in relief. One problem solved, only 7,000 more to go.
“Sweet. I’ve got to get back to studying, but I’ll see you soon. Oh, and if you need someone to help with anything else, I’d call Brooke. She’s been doing fast track for communications, and she’ll graduate a few days before me.
“Plus, Merla’s going to school with her… I think for psychology. She might want to be a counselor, you could call her. Anyway, gotta go. Love ya girl.” Jazz said, always quick to get in and out of conversations.
“Thanks! Love you too, see you soon.” I hung up the phone, then dialed Brooke’s number.
“Sav! It’s been ages, how are you?!” Brooke exclaimed. I smiled.
“Things have been better, but I’m okay. Listen, I’m going to create a shifter university.” I began.
“No way!” Brooke shrieked. “That sound awesome. I’m totally in. What do you need?”
“Uh… everything but an architect.”
“Oh, this is going to fun.” I could hear the smile in her voice. “I can deal with admissions or PR or whatever you want really—I’ll have my degree in a week and a half. If you come to Poulsbo then, we can bust out all the paperwork and whatever else we need. Gosh, this is going to be great.”
I smiled.
“Thanks for being on board. See you in a week and a half.”
“Ah! See you, love ya!” she hung up the phone, and I shook my head.
I had the best friends in the whole world.
Chapter 22
I dedicated the next week and a half of my life to paperwork. That was it; just paperwork.
I had never hated trees so much.
But, when Leah drove me down to Poulsbo to meet Brooke, everything seemed worth it. We mailed the paperwork in and got to work planning the fun stuff: how the university would run. It doesn’t sound like it would take a long time, but believe me, it did.
We weren’t even halfway done with our plans when Jazz arrived, clutching her diploma in her hand.
“Ready to rumble?” She wiggled her eyes as she walked in the room.
“AHH!” Brooke grinned, jumping up and racing to the door. We were in Marley’s house, of course; none of us felt at home anywhere else in the town. “Jazzy!” she threw her arms around our friend.
“Brookey!” Jazz mimicked her, but she smiled as our bubbly friend threw her arms around her.
“I’m so glad we’re done with school.” Brooke smiled as they sat down on the floor, back to the nest of pillows and papers and notebooks we had created. “If you ever leave me again, I’m going to sue you.” She pointed her pen at our Cheetah friend.
“Yeah, yeah, you’ve told me this about 8 million times.” Jazz waved it off.
The two of them had always been extra close, like me and Leah.
“So what do we have already? What are you working on?” Jazz analyzed the situation, her eyes drifting around all the different papers.
“Well, each pile is for a different class, major, or office in the school.” Brook explained.
“Oh jeez.” Jazz shook her head. “This is a mess. Can I…?” she grabbed a pile, looking at me for permission. She was the one who had a master’s degree barely two years after she graduated high school. If anyone knew how to get work done as quickly and efficiently as possible, it was Jazz.
She organized the piles into smaller piles, then put one of the smaller piles in between us.
“Alright, now we can think. Nothing’s set in stone yet, right?” she checked.
“Nope.” Brooke and I shook our heads. “We’re doing our best, but I don’t think 20 year old girls were ever meant to open their own university.” I smiled wryly.
“Eh, people said the same thing about a 20 year-old female architect.” Jazz smiled devilishly. “We’re going to do this, and it’s going to rock. Go team shifter.” She pumped her fist in the air, and all three of us laughed.
And then we planned for 9 hours straight.
“Alright, my stomach is eating itself. If we don’t get some food, I’m toast.” Brooke stood up.”
“I’ll run to the store to get Monsters.” Jazz volunteered. “We’re going to need as much artificial energy as we can get.”
The 9 hours of planning had only proved to us that we had a lot more on our hands than we thought. We still hadn’t come up with a complete list of all the departments we’d have or how many staff we’d need, and we hadn’t even looked at any of the tougher questions.
“I’ll come too. Let’s just get subway or something.” Brooke decided.
She and Jazz left, and I went downstairs to grab some water.
Marley was sitting on the couch, her eyes glued to the TV on the mantle. I sat down next to her with my cup of water, taking a second to study her. There were dark circles under her eyes and she looked skinnier than usual. She had never been fat, but she used to look strong. Now, she looked pale and weak.
“Hey, Mar.” I smiled.
“Hey.” She sighed, pausing whatever was on the TV. “How are you doing?”
“Eh. It’s good to have something to focus on, rather than the fact that my mate and niece are prisoners of the mafia.” My smile fell a little. “But that’s beside the point. How are you?”
“Been better.” She admitted, leaning her head back against the couch.
“What’s going on in your head?”
“It’s just dark.” She frowned. “Ever since he moved on, I just feel… empty. My dad was like the s
un that my life revolved around. And now here I am, leading this pack all alone, trying to play Alpha and Omega while my mate is nowhere to be found.” She shook her head. “I mean, it could be worse. Maybe.” She closed her eyes.
“The Creator will send him to you when the time is right.” I assured her. “He’ll fill the hole inside you.”
“But what if he doesn’t?” She whispered. “Everyone says that, everyone thinks that, but what if it’s different for me? What if this darkness never leaves me?”
“Then you’ll keep fighting.” I grabbed her hand, surprising her. “You’re strong, Marley. You can do anything, even lead this pack all by yourself. When your mate does find you, he’ll be so in love with incredible woman that you are.”
“I hope.” Marley sighed again, closing her eyes again.
“Are you sleeping okay? Eating right?” I already knew the answer, but I had to ask.
“No. How could I be? My dad’s gone.” She sat up and forced a smile. “It’s all going to be fine, I’m just recovering. You don’t need to worry.” She promised, though I could read the truth in her eyes.
Marley was anything but fine.
I wished I knew how to help her, but I had a feeling that the only one who could really make a difference would be her mate, whoever he was. Wherever he was.
“Alright.” I gave her a little smile.
When she turned the TV back on, I texted Brooke to get a few extra sandwiches, so we would have enough for Marley and plenty of leftovers.
I scrolled through Pinterest for the next twenty minutes, waiting for the girls to get back. When they finally did, Brooke was laughing.
“What’s so funny?” I smiled, as Marley and I migrated to the kitchen to sit with them.
“Oh, we were talking about fictional characters as our soulmates.” Brooke laughed, flipping her hair out of her eyes. “I said I could see myself with King Arthur, as long as he’s hot. She told me if we were going back in time, she’d want Robin Hood.”
I chuckled, waiting for the part that would really be funny. Jazz shook her head, a smile pulling at the corners of her mouth.
“And I’m just imagining Jazz walking around in her ripped jeans and high-tops, holding the arm of this guy with a cheery smile and green tights.” Brooke burst out laughing again and had to sit down. “And then, I just see him singing the songs from the movie, that old Disney one where Robin’s a fox.”
She was crying when she finally straightened up, wiping happy tears from under her eyes.
Her laugh was contagious, and soon we were all laughing, even Marley.
“And he would do the arm-swing.” I joked, swinging my arms like Robin Hood the fox from the cartoon movie.
“Don’t forget the whistling.” Brooke pointed to me, laughing harder.
“Alright, alright. Brooke would be the Guinevere who refused to leave Arthur for Lancelot, and I’d be Maid Marion. That’s enough.” She shook her head at us, though she was grinning. “Here’s the sandwiches, one for everyone.” She passed out sandwiches to each of us, but Brooke got a black bowl.
“You don’t like sandwiches?” I checked.
“I love sandwiches.” She sighed. “But gluten makes me sick, so I get salad. Yay.” She made a face and twirled her finger.
“What doesn’t make you sick though?” Jazz wrinkled her eyebrows, sitting down next to Brooke and opening her own sandwich wrappers. “Have you kept track like I told you?”
“I took more health classes than you, Miss Architect.” Brooke pointed at her with a fork. “I’ve tried everything. My stomach just doesn’t like me, and I have to deal with it.” She shrugged.
Huh. I had never known Brooke was sick all the time. That made her constant optimism even cooler. She always seemed to be enjoying life.
“That sucks.” Jazz grimaced.
“It is what it is.” Brooke shrugged, popping a mouthful of salad. “Some of us have physical problems, some of us have mental problems. Speaking of which…” She pointed her fork at Marley. “Have you seen a therapist yet?”
Marley’s eyes widened and her face reddened.
“I don’t need to see a therapist.” She mumbled, hurriedly taking a bite of her sandwich.
Brooke definitely could’ve asked the question more gently, but then again, that just wasn’t her. She wasn’t afraid of saying what she was thinking.
“It’s natural to be depressed when you lose someone so close to you, Mar. I’m not trying to judge you or anything, but you look really sad. You could really benefit from talking to someone.”
Marley looked down at the table, chewing her sandwich quietly.
“If she goes to a therapist, someone might question her ability to run the pack.” Jazz bumped her shoulder against Brooke’s. “Even if she wants to go, she can’t. Her family has been running this pack for a hundred years, you know that.” Jazz definitely spoke more carefully than Brooke.
“Oh, well that stinks.” Brooke wrinkled her nose. “Shifters suck.”
Me, Jazz, and Marley all burst out laughing.
“Honey, we are shifters.” Jazz pointed out.
“Well we don’t suck. Shifters suck if they think being sick, mentally or physically, should stop you from being in charge. Everyone on the planet has issues.” She stuck another mouthful of salad.
“You tell ‘em.” Jazz teased her, and Brooke rolled her eyes while she chomped through lettuce and veggies.
“And if that’s a rule,” She said through a full mouth, “My King Arthur would get dethroned, or deAlphaed.” She giggled at her own made up word, and the rest of us laughed along with her.
“Hey, has Bree had her baby yet?” I asked.
“No, she’s overdue though, so it should be coming any day.” Brooke said.
“Gotcha.” I nodded.
“Soooo are you going to tell us what happened with your brother and your sexy mate?” Brooke checked.
I sighed.
“It’s a long story.”
“We have time.” She scooted to the edge of her seat, ready to hear.
“Okay…” I agreed, then told them my story.
Chapter 23
“Ladies, we are one heck of a team.” Brooke beamed, looking around the floor of Marley’s guest room. We’d all been sleeping on couches since our plans were more important than our beauty-rest.
Since we had no one to look beautiful for around there, we didn’t need much beauty-rest. That was a good thing, since we slept an average of four hours a night the whole two and a half months we lived there.
“Where are you going to build this?” Marley scratched her head. The campus we had envisioned (and made a full, to-scale model of) was rather large, even compared to a normal university. We had big plans for the place.
“Ooooh.” Brooke lifted her eyebrows and widened her eyes. “Good question.”
Jazz studied the campus she’d sketched, and I frowned.
“I know I don’t have any say in this,” Marley began, “but if I were you, I’d put it in Glacier. Leah turned it into shifter central, and it’s not very big right now but I’d guess it’s going to grow.” She said.
“You totally have say in this if you want say.” Brooke protested. “And I agree with you. Shifters are gathering in Glacier, and if we put it there, it’ll definitely work in our favor.”
“I think so too.” I agreed.
“I guess we can put my masterpiece in that tiny town… but not in the forest. Whatever edge isn’t forest, you’d better put it there.” She decided.
“Deal.” I smiled.
“This is going to be great.” Brooke’s smile lit her eyes. “Let’s celebrate with ice cream.”
“Ice cream makes you sick.” Jazz pointed out.
“Shush.” She said. “We’re getting ice cream.”
Chapter 24
“Hey, ladies!” Brooke lifted her hands up and down like she was raising the roof or something.
We were skype-calling the other five shifty
chicks since none of them knew what was going on. It had been a struggle to find a time that worked for everyone, but there we were, at 2 AM, on skype.
“We have news for youuu.” Jazz sang. “Oh wow, I should not be talking this late at night.” She rubbed her eyes.
“Who’s that with you, Leah?” Brooke squinted her eyes. I didn’t recognize the girl either; she had long blonde hair, with the side of her head shaved.
“This is Skye.” She gestured to the blonde girl. “I have adopted her to the Shifty Chicks.” Leah announced.
“Woohoo!” Brooke clapped. “Welcome to the team.”
“I like your hair!” Cosette called out, then yawned.
“Cozy, you are the only person in the world who compliments when you’re tired.” Jazz shook her head. “I can’t believe you’re still doing it.”
“Anyway,” I took over. “So, long story short, my dad threatened to kill me if I don’t change the world somehow. I came up with the idea of building and opening a university called, “Shifter University”. We want to set it down right at the edge of Glacier.” I explained.
“Good heavens.” Ava, our mermaid shifter, raised her eyebrows. “Will people actually go to it?”
“Heck yeah.” Jazz leaned back and folded her arms. “I would go to it, and I just became a 20 year-old with a master’s degree from Harvard.”
“Boom.” Brooke snapped, then made a face. “Okay, that was weird. Pretend I didn’t just do that.”
“Who’s going to run the school? And teach at it?” Merla checked.
“Actually, that’s what we wanted to talk to you guys about. We want to run it with some sort of a shifter council, with one person technically at the head. But we want them to be someone who understands college students, not someone who just wants to make a bunch of money.
“Jazz will be head over the architecture department, but she’ll be teaching a bunch of classes. Technically, she’s the only person we have at the moment who will be educationally qualified to teach at a university, so she may even end up head over the shifter department, who knows. Brooke will be over admissions, and Marley may or may not take charge of campus security.” I explained, and then Jazz took over.
