All The Good Things

Chapter 2 - "Cut to the chase."

The quad of Fayetteville State University was the first thing Ash had ever seen of the college. There was a picture of it on the school's pamphlet for prospective students.

In the picture the trees and grass were a bright green, there were rainbows of tulips lining the walks, and students from every diverse background laughed as they walked to class.

The picture wasn't what had sold Ash on the college. She had been sold on the school's large amount of financial aid and extensive student-work program. But if it had been the picture that had enticed her to attend the fine establishment she would have been disappointed. In reality, the quad only looked like the picture for two weeks in the spring.

As Ash stood in the quad, scouting out students for her psychology assignment, she gauged from the buds in the tree and the stalks rising out of the ground that they were still a few weeks from the quad fulfilling its full potential. Thankfully the lack of tulips hadn't kept students inside and Ash had a plethora of subjects to choose from.

She scanned the crowd from her perch on the stone wall, looking for the right target. She spotted them after a few minutes.

They were a pair of girls talking and walking together along the path. Their body language suggested they were good friends which allowed Ash to conclude that they most likely had similar views on major issues. It was just what she wanted. Two answers for the price of one question.

She hopped off the wall and moved until she was directly in their path. Then she stared. It took less than a minute for one of them to make eye contact with her and when the girl on the left met Ash's gaze, Ash smiled and waved.

She kept her smile in place as she took the last few steps to meet the girls and prepared to pitch her voice higher.

"Just the girls I wanted to see. Love that necklace by the way." She pointed to the charm necklace looped around one of the girl's necks. Ash watched as the compliment instantly earned her comfortability points with the girls. "I don't want to take up too much of your time on this beautiful day," she continued quickly without giving the girls a chance to talk. "Can you believe these amazing clouds!"

The girls looked up and Ash used their moment of distraction to confirm her initial analysis of them.

The charm necklace said 'I Heart Fluffy' and the other girl's earrings were paw prints. There was a cat charm hanging from one of their keychains and their clothes were colorful.

"I just have a quick question for ya'll," Ash continued, knowing exactly how to frame her question. "I'm doing a study on animal rights versus farmer's rights. Do you agree that the whole idea 'animal rights' is just a ploy to bankrupt farmers? Does it really matter what conditions cows live in?"

The girls' reactions were instantaneous as their expressions turned to shock as they shared a quick glance. Ash wasn't surprised to find the girl wearing the charm necklace as the first to speak. Wearing a charm necklace declaring your love for your cat projected an outspoken personality.

"Of course it matters!" the charm necklace girl said.

Her head was tilted slightly up to allow her to look down her nose at Ash. "Those animals are living, breathing, beings!"

The second girl moved closer to her friend, standing just behind the charm necklace girl's shoulder. This was a defensive formation. The charm necklace girl continued to lay out her argument and after a minute Ash noticed that the girl puffed her chest out.

Another minute and the girl pushed her shoulders back. She felt confident in what she was saying and her friend mimicked her movement. They were in agreement on this subject.