Chatoyant College, Book 1: New Student Orientation

Chapter 8: Working Girls

When they got back from reading to the kids (it was a lot of fun, and since they were separated into pairs and sent to different classrooms, Corrie's ex didn't have a chance to bother them), Edie was tired, but Corrie wanted to go to the last half-hour of the job fair. "I don't really need a job, but if there are any good campus jobs I might get one, just because it would be nice to have some spending money." Edie shrugged and went along with it. Corrie's logic made sense, and maybe she would find a job for spending money too. When they got to the large, carpeted lobby of the administrative building where the job fair was being held, the first person they saw was Dawn.

"Hi guys!" she called, grinning widely and waving at them. They walked over to her, meeting by a window. She was dressed up a bit from the last time they'd seen her, in a knee-length black skirt and a light pink blouse that made her look very neatly turned out.

"What's all that?" Corrie asked.

Dawn glanced down at the sheaf of papers, all different sizes and colors, that she held in her hand. "Information on jobs. I'm going to go for the on-campus ones first, of course, but I want a backup plan if those don't work out. Are you looking for jobs too?"

Edie nodded. "Well, we thought we'd look around, anyway."

"Sure," Dawn said. "I'm done, but I may as well hang around with you guys--I've got nothing in particular to do after this."

The tables were set up in a circle, leaving a lot of empty space in the middle. Corrie and Edie walked around, Dawn trailing a little behind them, glancing at each table as they walked past. At the same time, Corrie and Edie said, "Oh, the library!" All three of them started laughing, as did the girl sitting at the table. Except for the bright red ends of her bobbed black hair, she could have been the stereotypical Asian nerd, with thick glasses, no curves to speak of, and a plain blue button-down shirt--possibly a men's shirt. Edie wondered speculatively if she were gay. Not her type, but it would be good to meet other queer people. Of course, because Edie thought she was, it probably meant she wasn't. That was the kind of history she had.

"Go ahead, take the information," she said, her voice slightly accented--Japanese, Edie guessed, though she wouldn't voice that judgment, since she didn't have a lot of experience with different Asian accents. There had only been two Asian families in the small town where she had grown up; one owned the dry cleaner and one ran a cheap restaurant. "A lot of the library workers graduated last year and we're always short-handed, so if you all apply, we may well hire all of you."

"That would be cool!" Corrie exclaimed. She took two from a stack of mint green papers with information on one side and a form to fill out on the other and handed one to Edie. "It would be fun to all work together."

"Do you all know each other?" asked the girl.

"We do now," Edie said with a laugh. "I mean, since last night when we moved in."

"Cool," she grinned. "Well, remember the library when you decide where to apply."

"We will," Corrie assured her as they moved on.

They each picked up a couple of other pieces of information, then headed back to Gilkey when they were done. "I'd better put these down somewhere," Dawn said. "Oh, and my roommate showed up this morning--you two can meet her. Do you want to go to lunch?" They assured her that they did, but when she returned to their room after putting away her papers and changing into black jeans, she was still alone. "Well, she was here," she said. "I don't know where she's gone now. I guess you'll meet her later."