The Outsider (Outsider #1) ✔️

Chapter 6 : Tough Life Coming Up

The Dean's attitude was very different from the others she had encountered. Ms. Cralx was also much more patient with her in the Dean's room than she was before. The student counsellor was young and strange. She was too bubbly (as if she had multiple doses of stimulants) and kept praising Dusk's scores, her previous work, how she was going to be an important addition to the student body, she could stand for election to student council and be the president of the student council ...

"As If!! Who is going to vote for an outsider as a Student Council President! What's wrong with this female?" Dusk thought to herself.

The counsellor seemed to be finding it difficult to even sit still. She stood up while talking, walked to one end near the window and stood with her back against it. Then she moved from there to the chair and then went and stood against the other wall which had security monitors playing out scenes from all over the school... She just wouldn't sit!!! Dusk felt she will get a stiff neck by craning her head in all directions to listen to her

"We have such a beautiful campus here! It's nothing like anything you have seen before! Even Regis does not have a university like ours. You know, there are 14 gardens, 3 forest zones, 1 bio-diversity zone and 3 artificial lakes within our campus? You will love it. You can spend hours there!" she continued

"We have the best of the professors in the country, there is flexi learning, computer-based learning, AI Assistants ... Research AI Bots and Sub-Minds ... one of the largest libraries. It actually has paper-based books in it! The library is designed for 18,000 students to study at the same time. Out of the 18,000 seats, 12,000 are sound-proofed rooms, singles, couple rooms and quad-seat rooms. The rest are community rooms. Many students like a noisy environment to study in" She talked with more enthusiasm.

"The best feature I like is that you don't need to go to class to attend your lectures. You can sit in the garden with a large pad and get live stream of the lecture that the professor is taking. If you want to ask a question, your Holograph is projected before the teacher! It's so much fun. I spent most of the lectures in the garden when I was studying."

Dusk felt that the Dean was not paying attention what the counsellor said, but Ms. Cralx was getting more and more irritated. Finally, she said "Ms. Susco, why don't you take Ms. Dusk around the campus to get her acquainted with all the features instead of trying to describe the unnecessary things here! Please tell her the more important things. When will she have so much time to spend in the 14 gardens anyway?"

"Oh! First Year Students do not have to study much. They have so much free time. And the first-year exams are also so easy!" Ms. Susco was not supressed by Ms. Cralx.

The Dean was paying attention to them apparently and looked up from his computer screen. He interrupted Susco, "I do not think Ms Hale will have much time. She is a month late and has to take 'catch-up' lessons. She will have to review all the lectures she has missed in the last 15 days since the academic year has started. You have to get the various professors to give her personal lessons to help her understand what she has missed. By the next 4 weeks, she must be brought fully up to date so that she can join the rest of the students in the actual lectures."

He then turned to Dusk "Please do not make the mistake of trying to attend classes sitting in the garden, it rarely works. We designed that feature to help those who are unwell and not able to come to class, those who are not in the campus and for some special cases who are remote students."

He turned again to the Counsellor, "Please check the schedule before you give further hopes of easy campus life to Ms. Hale."

Susco opened her communicator and read the longish but crisp message. She paled a little and then turned back to the Dean "But sir, how can one student do so many credits in a single semester? I had put that against 3 semesters, with options for her to add some additional modules that may take her fancy. Its cruelty!"