Authors: Casey Elliot
A Semester to Remember
*****
“Did you hear? There’s a new transfer student!” Becky Baranski enthusiastically told their group over lunch.
Felicia sighed heavily, fogging up the mirror of the compact she had looking into. There had been rumors of a new student transfer with important ties going around. Not that housing international students with embarrassing amounts of sway was very uncommon at Spencer University, but each one seemed to bring in a fresh bout of drama.
“I hear he’s from
France
,” Courtney S. whispered scandalously.
“
Ooh la la
,” Courtney D. said. The whole table erupted in laughter.
Felicia was much less amused. While any other student at Spencer could kick back and enjoy the short-lived buzz of a new student, she was not so fortunate. Being the go-to girl for the Dean usually meant she had to play babysitter for whatever foreign exchange student wandered into their halls.
“Aren’t you excited, Fe?” Becky asked with a tilt of her head.
Felicia sighed again. “Hardly. You guys just know that Dean Warren is going to make me this guy’s personal tour guide or something.”
Courtney S. sipped her latte and shrugged. “I don’t see what the big deal is. You get to hang out with rich guys with hot accents all the time. Your life must be
so
hard.”
The girls giggled. Felicia took a deep breath and suppressed the urge to snap at them so hard that their fake lashes would fall off.
“Okay, first of all, I’d say only like
thirty-five percent
of the guys are hot.” She held up a perfectly manicured pink finger on one hand. “Second of all, you’d be amazed at how hanging out with hot guys loses its charm when you have to explain basic American concepts over and over again, third of all, I hate being forced to hang out with some rando just because they come from money. I’m like the world’s most boring prostitute.”
Her phone buzzed on the table and she picked it up, knowing full well who it would be. As expected, it was a text from her father.
Jerk Face
: Meet me in my office ASAP
She rolled her eyes and shoved the phone in her purse with more force than necessary. She stood up from the table and smoothed her skirt down. No use meeting whatever schmuck Dean Warren wanted her to kiss up to looking like a wreck.
“Well, ladies, I’m off to babysit,” she said. She grabbed her purse and slung it over her shoulder. “Wish me luck.”
“
Bonne chance
!” Courtney D. called back.
Felicia rolled her eyes. One year studying abroad in France and the girl thinks she’s fluent.
Felicia didn’t bother knocking on the door to the Dean’s office. Most students cowered in fear when it came to the Dean, but not her, and it wasn’t only because he was her father’s golf buddy.
“Sweetheart, by all means come in,” Dean Warren said sarcastically, as she plopped down in the seat.
“Do I really have to knock on my own dear godfather’s door when he’s the one asking me for a favor?” She replied back equally as sarcastic.
He frowned and leaned back in his chair. He folded his fingers over his bulging belly and asked, “What do you mean?”
She rolled her eyes at his gall. “I mean the foreign exchange student you so clearly called me in here to shadow.”
The Dean, at least, had the decency to look sheepish. “Ah, so you’ve heard about Mr. Mathis then.”
“Try keeping a secret in this school,” she murmured.
“Mr. Mathis is a bright young man from Nice, Paris, who will be studying here at Spencer as an opportunity to broaden his horizons.
Felicia crossed her legs and inspected her nails in boredom. “And by ‘bright young man’ do you mean ‘filthy stinking rich’?”
Dean Warren frowned. “I mean his enjoyment of this school has very optimistic implications for this year’s budget, and the budget for the next five years.
“Can we cut to the part where this involves me, please?”
“I want you to show him around. Guide him through all of what Spencer and Lexington have to offer. I thought the brightest, most notable student at Spencer should have the honor of being the face of our beautiful city.”
Felicia rolled her eyes at the sad attempt at sucking up. “Fine. How long do I have to be said face?”
“For, oh, six months or so.”
“Six months?” Felicia balked. He couldn’t be serious!
“Calm down, Miss Monrovia.” Dean Warren held up a placating hand. “It’s not the end of the world.”
“That’s easy for you to say!
You’re
not the one that has to babysit a stranger for six months!” She accused angrily.
“No, but I am the one supporting your efforts to get into graduate school, am I not?” He raised an eyebrow in challenge.
That, unfortunately, was true. Dean Warren had a lot of influence when it came to schools and admissions. In fact, he was the only reason she’d gotten into Spencer with her dismally average grades in the first place. Her father’s money definitely didn’t hurt though.
Still, she wasn’t ready to back down just yet. “So, what, I’m supposed give up my personal life for six months, so some rich guy can cut you a check? That’s bull!”
Dean Warren pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath. “This isn’t up for debate, Miss Monrovia. When I agreed to help you as a favor to your father, you implicitly agreed to help me as well.”
Should she have even bothered pointing out the fact that favor was the key word there? She supposed not. Dean Warren was as stubborn as he was money-hungry. Arguing with him would only waste her time.
“What am I supposed to do with this guy for six months?” She pouted.
“Show him your favorite spots on campus. Introduce him to your friends. Take him shopping. Hell, whatever it is you kids do. Just do it with a
smile
.”
“So, that’s it? I have to pretend to enjoy having my entire social life uprooted for your sake?” She stared at him icily.
Dean Warren sighed, pinched his nose, and sighed again. When he spoke again, his tone was firm and left no room for dissent. “This is happening, Miss Monrovia, whether you like it or not. Now, you can make this a pleasurable six months and see it as an opportunity to meet a new, exotic friend or you can wallow in your own self-pity and watch the months drag by you. No matter what you choose, you
will
guide this young man, and you
will
give the best possible impression of this institution. Do I make myself clear?”
She could see that he was absolutely serious about this. There really was no way of getting out of this. She was going to be stuck with some foreign loser who probably didn’t speak a lick of English like the last dozen foreign losers she’d been forced to hang out with.
But
, she thought to herself, if Dean Warren thought she was going to do it with a smile, he was sadly mistaken. Oh, she’d give the best possible impression of Spencer alright. She’d let this guy know exactly what he was getting himself into.
“
Crystal
, sir,” she said with a smile.
*****
Running late on his first day at a new school in an entirely new country wasn’t what Eliott had planned. He was used to dealing with jetlag, but his internal clock still needed time to adjust when he landed in a new time zone. He’d overslept through two alarms before he finally realized what the time was.
He sprinted through the Spencer University campus, weaving through the throng of bustling students to get through the double doors. He paused briefly to double-check the directions on his phone to get to Dean Michael Warren’s office, and then took off again.
When he arrived at the designated office, he was partially out of breath, but saw he was only five minutes late. Well, he’d done worse. Taking a deep breath, Eliott composed himself and rapped his knuckles on the door.
“Come in,” a gruff voice called from the other side.
At the center sat a fat, cleanly shaven man with serious eyes. His face lit up upon seeing him and he rose from his seat.
“Mr. Mathis! So good to see you. I’m Dean Michael Warren.” Dean Warren extended a large hand and Eliott shook it politely.
“Pleasure seeing you too, sir,” Eliott said. Dean Warren motioned for him to have a seat. “Sorry I am late. Still dealing with jetlag, you know.
He waved him off. “No, no! No need for apologies. These things happen, I understand.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“So, how do you like the school so far? We just put up that water fountain in the courtyard this year, you know.”
Eliott thought back to all the pretty girls in flowing skirts he’d passed on his way here. He smirked. “It is very beautiful here. I am blessed to be invited.”
Dean Warren leaned back in his chair and folded his hands over his gut, clearly pleased. “Thank you for the kind words, Mr. Mathis. We are very blessed to have you here.”
Eliott smiled politely and asked, “I will be seeing more of what your beautiful campus has to offer, yes?”
Dean Warren nodded eagerly. “Oh yes… yes, Mr. Mathis. I have already made plans to have one of our star students be your guide for the duration of our stay. We here at Spencer believe in hospitality to the highest degree!
The man was laying it on thick, but Eliott suppressed the urge to roll his eyes at the guy’s expense. Instead, he tried to be as conspicuous as possible when he said, “That is so very kind of you, Mr. Warren. If I may ask, who shall be my Spencer guide?”
“A Miss Felicia Monrovia,” he said. “She’s proudly been serving as Spencer’s active transfer student tour guide for nearly three years now. Don’t worry, you’re in capable hands.”
Eliott certainly
hoped
those hands were capable. It would make this experience a lot more interesting. “She sounds very lovely, sir.”
“I’ll call her in now, so you can meet her!” Dean Warren grabbed the phone and barked into it. “Miss Monrovia, please report to the Dean’s office immediately.”
It was almost twenty minutes later when there was finally a knock on the door. Dean Warren jumped out of his seat and went to open it himself instead of calling for them to come in. When he did open it, he had a quiet, yet physically expressive conversation with the person outside. Eliott tried to see who it was, but the bulk of Dean Warren’s body blocked him from view.
Finally, he stepped aside and a tall, beautiful woman entered the room with an irritated expression. Eliott stood up immediately, put on his most dazzling smile, and reached out to take her hand.
“Hello,” he said charmingly. “Am I right in assuming you are Miss Monrovia?”
She eyed him up and down with piercing blue eyes before nodding slowly. She took the offered hand in a loose, soft grip. “That’s right. Call me Felicia.”
“Call me Eliott, miss.” He took her hand, brought it to his lips, and placed a short, soft kiss to the back of her hand. She wrinkled her nose at him when he dropped it. He frowned. That usually works on American girls.
“Please, take a seat, both of you,” Dean Warren instructed. They both sat at the head of the desk before him. Eliott looked over to catch her eye, but she stared resolutely forward; one heeled foot tapping irritably against the floor.
“Right, so Miss Monrovia will be guiding you, Mr. Mathis; not only through our fine school, but across this beautiful and historically rich city. I’m to understand you’ve never been in the states before, correct?”
Eliott nodded. “I’ve been in the states before, but never here. I am eager to see all that it has to offer.”
“And, Miss Monrovia is eager to show it to you!” Dean Warren turned to Felicia and set her a stern stare, offset by his wide smile. “Isn’t that right, Miss Monrovia?”
Felicia straightened in her seat and grinned ear-to-ear; her lips pink and shiny with gloss and oh, so inviting. “That’s right, sir. It’s literally all I’ve been looking forward to my entire life!”
The sarcasm obviously didn’t go over well with the Dean, as he struggled to keep his face in a happy, upbeat expression. Eliott thought it was funny how Felicia so obviously wasn’t playing by the Dean’s rules. He enjoyed a girl who could speak her own mind.
Dean Warren took a breath, and then he smiled again. “I’ve given Miss Monrovia a copy of your schedule ahead of time, so she’ll be able to show you to your classes. I am confident you too will get along and enjoy yourselves these next few months.”
Eliott nodded his agreement. “I am confident as well, sir. And, may I say thank you for giving me a guide so beautiful and elegant as the Miss Monrovia.”
Dean Warren beamed. Felicia smiled politely, but he could see a darkness behind her eyes. He frowned to himself and wondered where he could have gone wrong. Those kinds of lines always worked, especially on foreign girls who enjoyed his accent and sense of romance. Was there something in his teeth?
“Well, I’ll leave you two to get settled in and know each other. I’ve given Miss Monrovia here the rest of the school day off to help you get acquainted with some things. This is an entirely new situation for you, and I hope you understand we mean this to be as enjoyable and as easy of a transition as we possibly can make it.”
Dean Warren stood up and offered his hand. Eliott stood up to shake it. “Thank you, sir.”
“What, no kiss for him?” Felicia remarked. Dean Warren shot her a warning glance. Eliott smiled.
When they left the office, Eliott had renewed reason to follow up with her and get a real, genuine smile from her. He had never struck out so much in his life, and though she was beautiful and he wasn’t too hell bent on getting her—after all, his run through campus had told him there were plenty of other fish in the sea—the idea of being rebuffed didn’t sit well with him. He did pride himself on being charming, after all.
“That guy is, uh, how do you call it, a bit of a kiss up,” Eliott joked, as they walked down the hall. Or rather, he walked down the hall. Felicia seemed to be power walking her way through the hall and weaving through rooms.
“That’s him,” she said over her shoulder without fully looking around toward him. “His full name is Dean Michael ‘Bit of a Kiss Ass’ Warren.’”
Eliott laughed and jogged until he caught up with her. “You are very funny.”
“Laughter is the best medicine when dealing with idiots.”
“It must be working for you,” he remarked. “Even when dealing with such idiocy, you remain beautiful.”
Felicia stopped abruptly. Eliott almost fell back on his ass as he tried to stop with her. She turned those icy blue eyes toward him and the pink edges her lips turned down in a frown.
She glared at him. “Okay, listen here Romeo. Dean Warren may have told me to babysit you for the six months you’re going to be here, but if he or you thinks that’s actually happening, you’re both crazy. I am not obligated to drop my social life just so I can hang out with you because you’re dad’s rich or your mother donated a building or whatever. I honestly do not care. got it? So, instead of following me around like a shadow or a lost kid, you take a hike and stay the hell out of my way. How does that sound?”
Eliott balked at her. He was confused. What had he done to deserve such ire from her? They had only known each other for a handful of minutes, and he hadn’t said much to her in that span of time. If she was upset at having to be his guide around the school, why did she have to take it out on him? It wasn’t like he had begged her to do this. In fact, realistically speaking, he hadn’t had a choice in the matter either.
He huffed and tried to remain calm. “That is incredibly rude of you to say, Miss Monrovia. I haven't—”
“Oh my god,
please
shut up.” She flicked her blonde ponytail over one shoulder and rubbed at her temple with a pink-painted hand. “I literally do not care what you have to say. You’ve got two working legs and a functioning brain, right? Show your own self around campus. I have one hundred and ninety things to do, and none of it — I repeat,
none of It
— has anything to do with you.”
She took off walking again in that same long-strided power walk. She didn’t look back at Eliott once. He stared after her, mouth open in shock, and felt a mixture of anger, annoyance, and embarrassment hit.
His first day at a new school in the states and this happened.
How was that fair?
He debated going back and talking to Dean Warren about her behavior, but discarded that quickly. If she was the kind of girl who threw a fit at having to take a little time out of her social life to show someone around, she would probably be the kind to blow up about getting punished for doing so. Besides, it felt a little childish to run and tell the teacher because someone wouldn’t play nice with him.
Still, it all left him in an awkward position. While yes, he did have two working legs and a functioning brain, those didn’t automatically make it so he could navigate around himself. Sure, he had reached the Dean’s office okay, but reading numbers on a piece of paper was a whole lot different from floating his way through a new and different city.
His English, while fluent, did not come naturally. He sometimes stumbled over words or forgot whole phrases completely. How was he going to express himself to others whom he met without a little guidance?
He dragged his feet down the hall and out of the building, feeling lost and annoyed. Felicia Monrovia, while undeniably beautiful, was a complete and utter bitch. Eliott appreciated girls on both an aesthetic and primal level. He liked them independent and strong, and a cute smile and flirty look definitely didn’t hurt. Felicia had seemed like his type right out of the gate, but she was obviously very spoiled and wicked. He just hoped that didn’t prove to be a pattern with other girls at the school.