Four Makes One (Book 1)(Completed)

Chapter 2-Let the Classes Begin

Frankie

The days leading up to when classes start are busy. Making sure that I have everything I need, sends me to the store more than once and I see a small dent in my bank account. I start my new job next week, so I should be able to replenish some of it. I know that I won't be able to work as much as I did before I came here, so I need to be super careful with my money.

I walk into my first class and I look around for a place to sit. I notice Rand waving me over. I walk over and slide in the seat beside him. "Hi. How are you today?" I ask.

"I'm doing pretty well. This is a second year class. Not to be rude, but what are you doing here?" He inquires.

"I did all of my classes towards college credit last year. Even though I have a full scholarship, I need to graduate as soon as possible." I lean down to get my books out of my backpack and feel a slight twinge in my side and wince. Another reminder of why I'm happy to be gone from there. I know in a couple of days, I won't feel it anymore.

"I'm glad that you are here with me then." He gives me a brilliant smile. I glance in his eyes and I can feel myself getting lost in them.

The teacher walks in and we give him our attention when he starts speaking.

"I'm going to give you all an engineering one-o-one assignment. It will be fun. You will pick a partner and I'll give you two weeks to finish it."

I feel Rand grab my hand. "You're my partner!" I nod in agreement, relieved that I don't have to pick someone that I don't know at all. I don't know Rand, but we have had a conversation and if I admit it, I do feel very comfortable around him.

After everyone picks their partners, our professor continues, "I'm going to have you design a bridge. You can pick any bridge in the world and redesign it in a way that will make the structure better than what it actually is. I will not let you pick a bridge that was built before the year nineteen ninety-nine."

"I will also need a research paper describing the current bridge and its structure and then a second paper that describes the improvements that you put into the structure and how it was implemented. Again, this will be due the week after next. You can go to the library now and start."

Rand and I start to get our things together like everyone else in the class. We leave the building and walk towards the library. "I know what bridge we can use!" Rand says excitedly.

"Which one?"

He goes on to tell me and I'm excited about the bridge he picked and now that we have a bridge, more excited about the project. We reach the library and I head towards the computer center that's set up.

"Come over here and we can use the wifi on our laptops," Rand directs me.

I look down, "I don't have a laptop."

"Okay, to the computer center it is then." I follow him over to a corner desk and we sit and pull out our things. We send a quick email to our professor advising him which bridge we picked. He approves it immediately so we start our research.

After getting our notes together and needing to get to our next class, we get our things together and leave. When we reach the door, I turn to Rand, "How about we meet here tomorrow at the same time so we can continue our research and figure out what supplies we need to put together our bridge."

"I don't know if I can meet you tomorrow. If so, it may not be until later in the day. Give me your cellphone number and I'll call you tomorrow and we can set up a time." He pulls out his cellphone and starts putting my name in it.

"I don't have a cellphone." I admit.

He looks at me in surprise before schooling his features. "Let me see your schedule." I pull out my class schedule and hand it to him. He takes a look at it and tells me, "We have all of our classes together except for one. We'll figure out something by the end of the day." He hands my schedule back to me and then takes my hand, pulling me to our next class.

The week is going by pretty quickly. Rand and I figure out a schedule for our project and he talks me into coming over to his house on Saturday to work on it. I agree because I have nothing else to do. I may as well do homework and work ahead since I start work on Monday evening. If I'm being honest, I am looking forward to spending more time with him.

Rand

I'm sitting in the living room thinking about Frankie when Dylan and Cam join me.

"What did the background check turn up?" I ask Cam.

He opens the drawer to the end table and pull out a file. "Francis Murray from Rock Hill, SC. Eighteen years old. She graduated from Rock Hill High School in May with a four-point-two GPA. She did this while working two jobs. One of them full-time. She received a scholarship here for her academics. She was in the chess club and the engineering club at school as well as running track and playing basketball."

He passes us the file so we can look at it while he's still giving us the background information on her. "Her parents are Stan and Mariel Murray. I didn't get much on them, but I did find doctors records on Frankie. She's visited the hospital for stitches and broken bones on a few occasions and her school files also speak of suspicion of abuse. They tried to get her to admit to the abuse, but she wouldn't. That may explain the wincing. She was probably attacked before leaving for school."

"If you look here," Dylan points to a paper in the file, "It says that she became emancipated at sixteen. I wonder why she didn't move out of her parent's house."

I cringe and get mad thinking about the abuse that she must have endured up until she left for school. I look at Cam and Dylan and they both have frowns on their faces also.

I remember and speak up, "Dylan, you have a class with her that starts next week and you all will meet her this weekend, because she's coming over to study. By the way, she doesn't have a cellphone or a laptop. I know that she won't accept one from us, so we need to come up with a way for her to get those things without knowing it's from us."

Cam strokes his chin with his forefinger and thumb, "I know a way."