That evening I walked down to the cafeteria. I was early for dinner. At the orphanage we ate early. Actually, we did everything early, including waking in the morning and going to bed at night. My new college schedule would take some getting used to. I waited for the cafeteria’s doors to open. My mind began to wander. I wondered what my first day of classes tomorrow would be like, what college life in general would entail, if I would have trouble with any of my courses.
Eventually my thoughts turned away from the future and back to the only two friends I’d ever had, Kelly and Brett. I missed them so much. I had tried to call them a couple of times before they left but was never able to get a hold of them. Maybe it was for the best. Talking to them would have probably just made me sad and tearful. I supposed it was good to cut ties when we did. This way I would only be reminded of them when I was at MIQ or St. Matthew’s. The college campus would be my sanctuary, free from any sorrowful memories.
When the doors finally opened, I walked in. Looking around, I was shocked. St. Paul’s cafeteria was the single largest room I had ever seen. I picked up my dinner tray and went through the line, looking at all the meal choices. They had a large variety of fried foods and loads of carbs. At MIQ we were always taught to eat sensibly, less for flavor and more for nutritional value. I had never acquired a taste for rich foods. I settled on a chicken breast and the salad bar. Pleased with my choice, I took a seat at a secluded table in the far corner of the dining hall. I wanted to eat in peace without drawing attention to myself. Perhaps I would be able to do a little uninterrupted people-watching as I ate. There were so many different types of people at St. Paul’s, and I wasn’t quite sure what to make of them yet. For the time being, I thought the safest thing for me to do was to blend in.
I was almost done with my meal by the time the dining room started to fill up. I sat quietly in my corner watching as students walked by, never noticing my presence. Then I heard the voice.
“Well, oh my goodness. If it isn’t little Miss Hit and Run. How ya doing, girl?” Lucy asked, equally peppy as before.
“Oh, hi, Lucy.”
“Hi yourself, darlin’. I see you managed to feed yourself okay. There weren’t any major accidents, were there?” she asked with a big smile.
I smiled back. “Nope, no accidents to report.” It was genuinely nice to see Lucy. I decided I liked her.
“Well, good for you. See, college life isn’t all bumps and bruises.”
“No, no, it’s not.”
“So, tell me about yourself, Liz.” Lucy took a seat next me. “It occurred to me after you left that I had done all of the talkin’. And that just wasn’t polite.”
“There’s not much to tell. I’m from Chicago. This is my first week at college. And it’s taking some getting used to,” I said, trying to sum up my pitiful existence in a few normal-sounding statements. No need to tell Lucy all the gory details of my less-than-average childhood.
“Ooooh, tell me in a second, darlin’. See those boys over there about three tables over? Those are the ones who ran you over earlier. Just look at those idiots. They act like Neanderthals.” Lucy’s attention focused on the crowded table across the way. There were eight guys sitting on or around the overburdened cafeteria table. Their area was a cacophony of noise and laughter. Some were busy intermittently punching each other, while others ducked and dodged the flying fists of their so-called buddies. All proudly displayed blue-and-gold tracksuits.
“Are they on the football team?” I asked, watching the two guys from earlier glance in our direction. I tensed up, only to realize there were two incredibly well-built girls standing next to our table, waving at the tracksuit guys. The two guys motioned for the girls to come over.
“No, honey. That’s the track team. They’re the real stars of St. Paul’s. Our football team stinks,” Lucy replied, watching the two girls strut off like they might shake something loose.
After dinner, Lucy and I walked back to my dorm. When we reached the doors of St. Augustine, Lucy squealed. “Oh, no way. Don’t tell me this is your dorm!”
“Yeah, why?” I asked, confused, like she knew something that I didn’t. “It’s mine too. Can ya believe it?”
“Wow, that’s great. I’m on floor three.” I was a little surprised to find I really was glad that Lucy and I would be living so close to each other. She was really nice, and I didn’t know anyone else at St. Paul’s. I found the idea both comforting and fear-inducing. Lucy was a talker, and she expected me to talk too. I wasn’t quite ready to tell anyone about where I came from.
“Well, I’m on floor four, room 418. So you come on up any time ya want, okay?”
“Okay, that’d be great. I’m kind of tired tonight, though. I think I’m just going to head up to my room. I still have some things to unpack.”
“Oh, sure, honey. Maybe I’ll see ya tomorrow.” She waved as she walked off down the hall to the stairs.
My first day of classes went off without a hitch. Calculus was a little too much math for my taste, at least that early in the morning. My literature class was interesting, albeit a little simplistic, but it was only the first day. I was still holding out hope. After being raised in a Catholic orphanage next door to a Catholic church, my Catholic traditions class was, well, predictable. But I knew it made Father Brennigan happy. For lunch, I went back to the cafeteria. Although not very busy, at least this time it was open when I arrived. Lunch was fine—nothing sensational, but a welcome break from my morning classes nonetheless.
When I arrived at my anatomy class, I took a seat near the back of the room. Anatomy was a lab class, so it was held in the newly built science building on the edge of campus. It was quite a trek from the cafeteria, but I welcomed this. I enjoyed walking and had never gotten to do enough of it growing up. That is, unless you liked walking in circles around a concrete courtyard. The science room was a standard lab room filled with twelve large black lab counters, complete with sinks and a bank of drawers for each station. Depending on the size of the class, each station held two to four people. I was the first one in the room and was quite curious to see how many students would be in the class. My earlier classes had all been pretty small, only thirty-five to forty students.
As students filed in, I waited for class to start. They entered in groups of two to three. Once the room began filling up, I opened my bag and pulled out my book. I started flipping pages, looking mainly at the pictures and trying to act disinterested instead of staring at every student who walked through the door. Suddenly the stool across from me was pulled out with a loud scraping noise. I looked up to find a blonde-haired guy wearing a black trench coat. He had a bright blue streak of hair running straight down the center of his head and more piercings than a National Geographic special.
“Hey, baby,” flirted the well-decorated stranger.
“Hang on there, Caleb. She’s with me. She’s going to be my lab partner, not yours.” I heard Lucy’s voice echo across the room as she walked closer, taking the seat next to me.
“Do you know him?” I asked warily.
“Yes. Don’t mind him, though. He’s harmless,” Lucy whispered conspiratorially, giving Caleb the evil eye.
“Well, Caleb, if you’re going to talk to the girl, you should at least mind your manners,” Lucy scolded.
“Fine,” Caleb snapped. “Let me introduce myself. I’m Caleb Price. It’s nice to meet you. May I ask your name, please?” he inquired, overemphasizing the politeness.
“I’m Liz.”
“Liz, if we’re bein’ dignified, you need tell the gentleman your full name.” Lucy glared snottily at Caleb.
“Yes, please, ma’am,” Caleb requested, mocking Lucy’s accent.
“Mary Elizabeth Queen,” I muttered, wishing this moment would end. I wasn’t having nearly as much fun as the two of them were. Maybe this was their idea of some kind of freaky foreplay, but I wasn’t good with tension of any kind.
“Well, it doesn’t get much Catholic-er than th
at,” Caleb teased, his mouth open wide with laughter and revealing yet another piercing.
The class started without a moment to spare. The professor informed us that due to the size of the class, the three of us would be lab partners. Getting his way seemed to please Caleb. Lucy didn’t seem to mind too much, either, making me suspect that their distaste for each other was more of an act than true loathing.
When class was over, Lucy and I walked out together. “See that wasn’t so bad, was it?” she asked.
“No, not at all.”
“Now you know two people. Caleb isn’t really a bad guy. He just likes acting tough, being sort of a rebel. Anywho, see how fast you’re making friends?” She chuckled.
“Yeah, it’s great, and I’m really glad that we have a class together.”
“Me too. Well, I’ll catch ya later. My next class is all the way across campus. I’m going to have to run if I’m going to make it on time.” Lucy took off.
My final class of the day was western civilizations, which was held in one of the classrooms on the main floor of my dorm, St. Augustine. It was very convenient. I could just run upstairs after class. It really couldn’t have worked out better. Once again I took a desk near the back of the room and sat quietly, waiting for class to start. I perused the required reading and was practically captivated by the time the professor began speaking. I heard the professor calling out names. For the first time today, I heard a teacher calling roll. I didn’t know they still did that in college. I sat patiently waiting for my name. Then there it was.
“Queen, Elizabeth?” the professor called.
My heart sank. Queen Elizabeth? This was bad, very, very bad. Before I could say anything, he called again.
“Queen, Elizabeth?” The whole class burst into laughter.
“Here,” I replied, sinking into my seat. Father Brennigan couldn’t have seen that coming. Surely he wouldn’t have done this to me if he had.
“Oooh, it’s Queen Elizabeth!” mocked a tall, dark-haired guy from the front of the class in his best Queen of England voice. “Let’s see, where is Queen Elizabeth?” He stood up and turned around.
I felt my face glow red with embarrassment, but seeing him stand up to look for me made me furious. It was that guy, that jerk from the cafeteria, that idiot from the bookstore, the one who’d shoved me down.
“Oooh, there she is,” he announced, still in his high-pitched British voice, as he pointed at me.
“Enough, Mr. Bartlett. Sit down, now!” demanded the professor. The guy, Bartlett or whatever his name was, turned back around and sat down. “There will be no more interruptions. Does everyone understand me?” The professor looked almost as furious as I felt.
The remainder of the class continued quietly. When it was time to leave, I got up and slipped out the back door and up to the security of my dorm room, glad that the day was over. That evening Lucy came down to my room and got me for dinner. The cafeteria seemed quieter than the night before. After dinner I went straight back to my room. I could tell that Lucy didn’t think I was as much fun as she had hoped I would be. I just didn’t feel like having fun. I felt tired more than anything. My whole life I’d been tucked away, living amongst less than a hundred people my entire life. Every day was always the same. There was no way Lucy could understand what a change this was. I just needed time to settle in and find a routine.
The next day started the same—calculus a little too early, literature a little too simple. I was expecting Catholic traditions to follow the same pattern and be a little too predictable, but it wasn’t. I sat near the back of class as usual. I was already settled in for ninety minutes of boredom when in walked the colorful and pierced Caleb.
“Hello, Mary Elizabeth,” he said as he took the seat right next to me.
“Hi, Caleb. But please just call me Liz.” I wiggled over, trying to put a little more space between us.
The professor walked in and started class. She was a tall, painfully slender lady, probably in her late forties, with extremely angular features. “We are starting today with a pop quiz. I want to stress, this is not a filler course. I expect everyone to do their reading nightly. This quiz is to reveal to me which of you are prepared for my class and which of you will be seeing me next semester.”
She quickly handed out the quizzes and instructed us to begin. I looked over the quiz, relieved at how straightforward it was. Growing up surrounded by Catholicism, I knew this stuff inside and out. Within a couple of minutes, I was finished. I glanced at Caleb, noticing that he was having much more difficulty. Without even thinking, I slid my paper over ever so slightly to give him a better look. Cheating was so unlike me. I didn’t even know why I had done it. I just really felt bad for Caleb. He looked like he was really struggling. We turned in our tests and Caleb gave me a knowing smile. When class was over, he followed me out.
“Hey, thanks for that.”
“No problem. You looked like you were having trouble.”
“Yeah, you can say that. It’s my third time in Ms. Battleaxe’s class. I don’t understand why my parents sent me to this damned Catholic school. I so didn’t sign up for this.”
“Oh!” I said, stunned. I had never heard anyone talk so ill of the Catholic Church, at least not where I had grown up.
“Yeah, but you looked like you knew what you were doing. Years of catechism?” he asked, catching the disapproval in my eyes.
“Yeah, you can say that.” I smiled, trying to lighten the mood by using his turn of phrase.
“Well, okay.” He smiled back, nodding his approval.
Caleb walked me to the cafeteria for lunch. I thought he was going to wander off, but he didn’t. He followed me through the line and back to my quiet, tucked-away table. As we were sitting there waiting for Lucy, I saw that Bartlett jerk pass in front of us. I could swear I saw him look over at us. I looked around to see if there were any more well-endowed bimbos standing beside us, but there weren’t. What was his problem? I had never met anyone I disliked so much except Sister Christine. Believe me, he was nothing like Sister Christine.
“Ugh, I hate him,” I accidentally announced aloud.
“Who, him?” Caleb seemed more than a little intrigued as he gestured to Bartlett.
“Yes, I hate him.” I gritted my teeth and gestured back to make sure there was no confusion. Caleb started to laugh, once again showing off his tongue piercing.
“What’s so funny?” I asked, feeling my anger rise.
“Why do you hate him?” Caleb was laughing even harder now.
“He’s a complete jerk,” I announced aggressively, confident in my position. “I mean really a jerk. Like the most awful person I’ve ever met. And technically I haven’t even met him.”
Caleb continued to laugh hysterically, becoming louder and louder. “Well, then, I guess that’s that,” he said, trying to control his amusement.
“I really don’t see what’s so funny,” I snapped, irritated by his ungentlemanly reaction.
“I know you don’t, babe. That’s what makes it funny.”
Lucy arrived and sat down beside me. She was rattling on about something in her morning classes. I tuned her out, too irritated to contribute to the conversation.
“Hey, I have to go grab something back at the dorm before class,” I said. “I’ll meet you guys there, okay?” I excused myself so that I could have a moment of peace.
I arrived at anatomy right before class started. Lucy and Caleb were already there waiting at the lab station.
“Well, if it isn’t Our Lady of Perpetual Wisdom,” Caleb joked.
“What?” I asked, completely befuddled.
“I just swung by class. You know I got an A on that quiz because of you. It’s like you know everything about being Catholic. If you know half as much about anatomy, I might actually pass two classes this term.” He laughed and looked at Lucy for agreement.
“Yeah, great,” I answered, only out of obligation.
It was lecture day, so
anatomy class flew by without any more unnecessary conversation. When class was over, I excused myself again. I really didn’t have time to talk. I had to be at MIQ in less than an hour. It was one of my work nights.
Being back at MIQ was odd. I felt like I had already been gone for an extended period of time. However, in reality it had only been three days. I felt relaxed in the familiar atmosphere. There weren’t any jerks knocking me over or any overly yappy girls wanting to chat. Everyone looked and acted normal to me. At MIQ Caleb would have been the abnormal one, not me.
I finished my chores and lingered just a little longer than I should have. It was getting late and I still had to walk the nearly three miles back to campus. I went upstairs to tell Sister Christine I was leaving. When I reached the threshold of her office door, I could hear arguing inside. The voices were difficult to make out. I was sure that one of them was Mother Superior, but I didn’t recognize the other voice. As I stepped closer to knock, I heard Sister Christine scream, “This has to stop!”
Sinful Purity (Sinful Series) Page 9
