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Without my laptop, I can’t check if there’s any other required reading for today, but I manage to catch a glance of Penny’s iPad and see the text with a link to a website where I assume the rules are listed. How did I manage to miss that? Praying there wasn’t more that I missed, I try to avoid eye contact with the professor for the rest of the class.
“This class is going to be tough,” Penny mutters after the professor has walked out of the room. “I didn’t realize we’d need to memorize everything we read. I’m sorry, I should have asked.”
“Asked what?” I say, sighing. “It’s my fault for missing it. I’ll have to be more careful in the future.”
“He is really hot though.”
I might not have gotten off on the right foot with this professor, but even I can’t deny the guy is good looking. He held the attention of most of the class for the whole lesson, and I’m sure it was mostly because the man’s features were so striking that you couldn’t help but stare.
“Shame he’s so old.” Penny slides her iPad back into her bag.
“Would you make a move if he wasn’t?” I ask, smiling. The guy is probably in his late twenties, so he’s notthatold. “Isn’t the bigger issue that he’s our professor?”
XIV
Tori
Although the dining hall manager, Doris, hasn’t replied to my email, when she sees me at dinner, she offers me the job.
“I need help with the food prep before breakfast, serving, and washing the dishes after dinner, ten shifts a week. Sundays are non-negotiable. Can you handle that?”
I have no interest in my social life while I’m here, so partying on a Saturday night and risking missing the breakfast shift isn’t an option anyway. Getting up early is fine, but not being able to get my studying started until after eight, and therefore, not being able to get out and investigate is a little problematic. But at the end of the day, I’ll have to make it work.
My first shift is the following morning. The first classes of the day are at 8 a.m., so breakfast starts at seven. And the prep shift starts at five…
Ugh.
Even though it’s the beginning of the year, it’s still quite late when I leave the library after finishing my homework. As I hate early mornings, I grab a shower before bed. It’s only as I’m drying my hair, checking my emails, that I get a notification through the school’s communication app.
JKUFacultyApp is an app built specifically for the university’s employees. Most of the features are for the faculty, but there’s one menu option which gets more use than others: the section that allows me to scan my app when I start and finish my shift, and of course, the roster.
The notification has changed my start time from 5 a.m. to 4 a.m.
Closing my eyes, I suck in a deep breath. Then I turn the hairdryer off and accept the change. A job is a job, and I need the money. An extra hour won’t kill me.
When the alarm goes off the following morning, and my room is still dark, I’m reconsidering that my stance. Dragging myself out of bed, I move around my room like a zombie, washing my face, brushing my teeth, and braiding my hair. Doris said there was a uniform to wear, and I’d be able to collect it and change when I arrive, along with a pair of black shoes. I just need to wear a black skirt.
The walk to the dining hall is eerie. Although it’s as dark as it was when I left the library last night, now, there are no people around. A few of the dorm windows have flickering lights, like the occupant is still up, watching TV, but outside, it’s deadly quiet.
James Keyingham University is in the countryside, so the drive stretching down to the entrance leads to a road which has the campus gates at the end of it. Aside from the quiet hum of the few air-conditioning units that are whirring away on top of the buildings, the stillness of the night has me wrapping my jacket tightly around myself.
Doris gave me instructions to report to the back entrance where the staff enters. Only, when I get there, the doors are locked, and the lights are off. The small parking lot is empty.
I’m early. While the job is hardly the most important thing to me right now, I’m still unable to show up to a class, never mind a shift, without being at least ten minutes early. With a sigh, I lean against the building and pull my phone out to check the app, but the thing keeps giving me an error message and crashing.
The phone, like my laptop, is the one I had back in high school. It’s an iPhone, so it doesn’t look out of place, but it’s definitely past the upgrade date. The battery, like the laptop, lasts about eight hours—if I don’t use it. I’ve also got the cheapest pay-as-you-go in the world, which means virtually no data. For most places on campus, there’s wi-fi, so it’s not an issue. But back here, I’m either out of range, in a dead zone, or they have intentionally turned the routers off as the dining hall is closed.
As I don’t want to risk going back to the dorm and checking online in case I end up being late, I sit down on the step and wait.
I’m not scared of the dark, and I’m not scared of being alone, but the longer I sit here, the more angsty I get.
Finally, after nearly an hour, I hear the low grumble of an engine and a car pulls into the parking lot. Doris gets out, looking surprised to see me. “You’re early, Ms. Tori. I like the eagerness.”
Instead of correcting her, I just nod.
Doris unlocks the door, switching the lights on, and leads me into the small staff room. At the back are lockers, one of which is already empty and waiting for me with the JKU dining hall uniform hanging inside it. After showing me where the bathroom is, she leaves me to get changed.
The navy blue fitted shirt of the uniform proudly boasts the university crest embroidered in silver where the left breast pocket would be normally. Along with the black apron, it doesn’t take too long to change into.
