Page 21 of The Bishop

I stepped out in front and turned to face them. “How about I talk. I actually believe the dean will be more receptive to this idea coming from a woman.”

Deacon and Bishop looked at one another, shrugged, then back at me.

“Okay,” they both said.

We reached the dean’s office. I knocked and opened the door before he could respond. Startled, he looked up from his desk.

“I did not invite you in,” he said sternly.

“Dean Hofstetter,” I said in my softest, most innocent tone. “I’m sorry for barging in on you like this, but I really must talk to you.”

He smiled at me then quickly frowned at Deacon and Bishop.

“What about them? What do they want?”

“Please, sir,” Bishop said. “If you’ll just give us a moment to speak to you.”

The dean looked at his watch, set the timer and looked up at us. “You have ninety seconds.”

“We know that with Rhode Union being expelled and his family’s significant donation to SAU being pulled, the Saints Fraternity House feel responsible for this deficit to SAU. We heard the Winter Ball might be cancelled. If so, we feel this will further pull valuable donations away from SAU,” I said. “Because Rhode Union was our President and most of the donations to SAU came from the House of Saints, we would like to work to help bring in the funds for SAU, through hosting the Winter Ball. We’ll put in the time and the money needed to get everything in order.”

The words came out of my mouth so quickly, I wondered if he’d understood me.

“No,” he said flatly.

“But, sir,” I said. “We’ll volunteer. We’ll take care of everything, from the flowers to the napkins. We’ll take care of the music, the food, the drinks and…”

“No,” he said again as he got to his feet. “Your fraternity is on probation. I cannot let you get involved with the preparations for the ball. This is the most prestigious night of the year. The answer is no.”

“If you’ll allow me, sir,” Bishop said. “Forcing us to volunteer to do this on our own time and on our own dime could appear to the outside world as a punishment in conjunction with our probation.”

Impressed with Bishop’s quick thinking, Deacon and I looked at him and smiled.

The dean sat back down and leaned back in his chair. “Punishment, heh?”

“Yes, sir. Atonement, as it were.”

“Of course,” I said. “You’ll tell everyone that this was your idea.”

“Right,” the dean said with a thoughtful nod. “I’ll admit that your timing couldn’t be better. All the other fraternities have signed up for other activities.”

“And I can assure you, sir,” I said, “that we are going to make this the best Winter Alumni Ball the campus has ever seen.”

“Top-notch,” Bishop said.

He looked up at us. “Fine. Get on it.”

“Great,” Bishop said.

Floating on a cloud, we walked out of the office. Once outside the door, we turned to one another and smiled.

“We did it,” Bishop said.

Chapter8

Brook

As Deacon and Bishop went over the plans for the Winter Alumni Ball, I slipped out of the house and wandered around the campus.

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