Page 56 of Forged By Sacrifice

“A fact I’ll be rectifying.” She picked up her phone and buzzed some assistant who was sitting in some office somewhere that I hadn’t seen yet. “Jean. I need you to get a student transferred into my practicum course for the fall term.” A pause. She looked over at me. “I’m sorry. Your name is?”

I could hear the woman on the other side of the phone laugh, and I couldn’t help but smile myself. That she didn’t even know my name but was already taking a chance on me. “Georgie Astrella. Georgia. It’ll be under Georgia.”

“Did you get that, Jean?” Another pause. “Of course she does.” Pause. “Fine. Georgia, do you want to be switched from Professor Collins’ class into mine?”

Did I want to be switched out of Collins’ class? Oh, yes. No doubt about it, and I was smiling and nodding all at the same time.

“She does.” Pause. “Jean, she’s sitting in front of me, nodding.”

She handed me the phone. “She refuses to do it without speaking with you.”

I laughed and took the phone. “Hello?”

“Young lady, my name is Jean, and I can absolutely, one hundred percent, switch your classes for you, but I want to make sure you are aware of what you are doing. Professor Sedgewick doesn’t go easy on anyone. Her grades are usually abysmal with a few standouts, whereas Professor Collins is, well, let’s just say that his classes usually do well. If you want me to switch you, I can, but it will likely cost you a few gray hairs and a few points on your G.P.A.”

“Is she telling you I’m going to fail you?” Professor Sedgewick grimaced.

I couldn’t help the smile that continued to grow on my face. “Thank you so much for the warning, Jean. But I think, after having met both the professors, I’d much rather take my chances with Professor Sedgewick than Professor Collins.”

Jean, whoever she was, chuckled. “Smart girl. I’ll email you a new schedule once I’ve handled it.”

“Thank you so much.”

“Don’t thank me, but also don’t come crying to me when she doesn’t give you the grade you want.”

My heart was happy as Jean hung up, and I put the receiver down.

“You’ve met Collins, then?” Professor Sedgewick asked as she eyed me up and down. It wasn’t uncomfortable but more assessing. “Did he give you the binder for his case work?”

I nodded.

“And what did you tell him?”

“That I had a boyfriend who needed me to pick him up because his car broke down.”

She laughed. It was beautiful in her southern twang, and it instantly relaxed me.

“Do you have a boyfriend who needed picking up?”

I shook my head ruefully. “No, but Mac would have played along if I had needed to provide proof of one.”

She assessed me again. “Mac?”

“He’s my roommate. He and his sister, Dani, work for Senator Matherton.”

“The Whittaker clan!” she said.

I looked at her in surprise. “You know them?”

“I know their father, the Vice Admiral, fairly well, and their grandfather, Robert, who is the chief of staff for Matherton.”

I stared at her. “I’m not sure what to say. It seems very strange that a town this big would have me finding two people in a matter of days who know each other.”

“Georgia, you’ll see, this town is smaller than a five-hundred-person town in the middle of the Appalachian Mountains.”

I laughed. “It’s Georgie.”

“Not anymore it isn’t.”

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