Good Girl Gone Mad

Chapter 1 : Anna

She takes a seat in the lecture hall, her hands are cold against the notebook, October seems never-ending. Anna sits at the back, one spotlight is missing there, so the lights are dimmer, and she feels less aggravated by the 8 am class. However, she chooses to remain relatively close to the professor's desk. Unlike many of her classmates, she actively listens to the teacher's lecture, and she does not sit in the back so that she can sleep or play games on her computer and go unnoticed.

Anna is a first year student in Law School. She is a serious student; she has always been academically successful. She never had to put too much effort into schoolwork during middle school and high school, however ever since she got into Law School, she realized she was not, in fact, that brilliant of a student. It hurt her feelings to admit it, but the hardest part was adjusting to this new rhythm, and to actually study. She would find it hard to focus, and she would procrastinate, rendering it a long-term endeavor to complete the simplest schoolwork with peace of mind, and on time. Luckily for her, she aimed for perfection in any of her projects. It helped balance it out. And in fact, she was considered a very good student amongst professors and classmates.

"Good morning, everyone". It's 8 o'clock, Professor Nowak adjusts the microphone to his mouth and begins his lecture. Today's class is Financial Crime; last week they started a new chapter about Financial Law: fraud, money laundering, corruption, bribery... Anna surprisingly got interested in the subject. When she first saw the class on the syllabus, she was apprehensive of it, strongly disagreeing with capitalist ideology. But in the end, she enjoyed the classes, occasionally giving a sour laugh at the silliest techniques. How far are people willing to go for money? she wondered. She found it entertaining; she would daydream about how she would herself go about bribing a morally bankrupt CEO and getting away with it. Not that she would ever actually do it, but is corrupting a corrupted system really corruption? Anna grew up in a rather poor family; as a child, she was never aware of the lack of money luckily, but growing up, she realized her parents did in fact struggle. Even more so now that her mother was on her own.

"Good luck on your internships, for those of you who start on Monday" rounds off Professor Nowak. Anna gathers her stuff, goes down the stairs and heads towards the professor's desk. He is already smiling at her when she catches sight of him. She smiles back.

"Are you ready for Monday?" Asks the professor.

"I think I am, yes." She smiles nervously. "I wanted to thank you again Mr. Nowak, for having given me this wonderful opportunity. I never thought I'd-"

"Nonsense! You got this internship because you earned it, Anna." He assures

She wonders if he knows how much his words comfort her.

"Thank you. I'll see you in two months then."

"See you soon, I can't wait to hear Mr. Wright's feedback about your achievements in the firm" he says with kind eyes.

Anna waves him goodbye and leaves.

She has the afternoon for herself before working tonight. Had it been nice outside, she would have gone for a stroll to the park with a book. But autumn settles in, and local cafes, cinemas and indoor activities are chosen over parks now. She goes back to her dorm and prepares herself a burrito with leftovers in the common kitchen. She doesn't have any homework to do over the weekend since she will be starting her internship on Monday. Tonight is also her last day at the part-time job she has been taking on for the semester. She is glad she won't have to worry about doing an essay or read a 75-page long text about pre-emptive rights, nor make sure to display an all-time smile at the customers of the restaurant after tonight. She stayed inside and continued reading her book; a crime fiction novel. Later on, she had some sweet snacks and soon enough, it was time to leave.