To Be Made Whole (A Christian Romance) (On Hold)

Chapter 12: Watched

I rushed towards the back of the campus building, racing against time. It was 7:05 and there wasn't a soul in sight. We were meant to show up at seven in the morning for early morning clean up. Yet I had woken up at 6:45. I had to rush to do the bare minimum within ten minutes, which was entirely too long and so, now I was late.

"Hi, Professor Hadrick!" I called when I saw him standing nearby one of the gardens outside. His hands were firmly planted on his hips as he looked back and forth. Probably searching for me, I thought.

He exhaled in relief once his eyes landed on me.

"Finally." He began. "Two down and now many more to go. Why are you late, Carpenter?" He interrogated.

"I'm sorry, sir. I overslept and woke up about twenty minutes ago." I explained hastily. He nodded in response. Seeming to accept the overused excuse that had been abused by many students in the academic world, although it was the truth.

"Fine, we're just waiting for one more student and a few more volunteers and then we can go." He stated. I quirked a brow and looked between the door and him.

"We're not going in there?" I asked while pointing towards the small building. The volunteer work focused on picking and prepping fresh ingredients for the soup kitchen. The early morning crew did the picking and we did the prepping and cooking.

"Nope, our morning crew is comprised of twelve students, nine of which called out and will not be getting a second chance for their papers." He said with a merciless smile on his face and I knew that he was very bit serious. They probably realized how much work it actually took to do this and thought they could skip out on one day, if only they knew Professor Hadrick wasn't one to give third chances. I was surprised that he had given us a second chance to begin with.

"The other two carpooled and were injured on the way here. They showed proof of their accident, they're okay with little bruising, but they can't work with those injuries and I wouldn't ask them to. So we'll all being picking and prepping together today. I can't leave Sven to do it all by himself."

I nodded in understanding. It would be impossible for one person to do it all of that work on their own in the time they were allotted.

"I can see why sir, but will there be enough of us?" I asked. "The prep group has only had four people since I started last week."

"Yes- There they are!" He called and clapped. His gaze brightened excitedly behind his small glasses as he watched the crowd of people walk into the space we had been standing in. Sven, the quiet blond haired man, had exited the building to stand by Professor Hadrick and even he seemed relieved by the extra help too.

I turned around to see a few familiar faces. Some of which, I had already worked with before. Jenna, Clark, and Pete all returned and were later than me which made me feel little better. Behind them were two more people. Ben and Jessica?

Jessica didn't go to school here, I thought. Yet there she was.

And the influx of people did not stop there and I could see why Professor Hadrick had said we were waiting on a few more volunteers. To my surprise, I recognized many of them because they were members of my church. Kevin walked forward with Pastor Nick beside him and a few other familiar faces from church including Laura and John who were wearing more casual attire, flowed in behind them. I stared in shock and then looked back at my Professor.

"How?" I asked.

"I called the churches in my area. Or we'll, I called one church in the area. Pastor Nick responded so quickly that I didn't have to call another. He said that he'd bring folks with him. Never considered myself to be a spiritual being... but seems tempting if they're this kind." He said with a smile.