“Tiff, before we go in here, I just…want to let you know I had a lot of fun,” I sighed. “I didn’t even know you played this game and…I really like playing with you. Do you think if we lose our characters here we could still play again sometime?”

“Audrey, honey, of course we can play again, and we’re NOT going to lose our characters,” She reassured me.

“He’s down to 15% health, Tiffany, use something, ANYTHING other than your base attack! Hit him where it hurts!” I watched Tiffany, out in front of me swinging her sword wildly as she tried to take down the third boss. We were almost there. We’d been down here for three hours and I didn’t know how much longer I could keep it up. The Tri Pi’s would be back soon and they’d want to...do whatever it was they were going to do. They said there would be low carb muffins tonight.

“Shelby where’s today’s paper?” Zeke asked as I sat down at the table in front of a white ceramic soup bowl.

“In the god damn living room where you left it, by the phone,” Shelby said, her voice stretched and irritated.

“Now don’t be mouthin’ off with me,” Zeke said angrily as he raised the spoon to his mouth and sipped the broth.

“Shut it old man,” Shelby took a seat. “If I leave whose gonna make your soup for you?”

“How do the Garrons even have a million dollars to donate to Woodcrest?” Tiffany asked me as I took exit 78 onto the freeway. I’d brought her with me for emotional support, and for directions. Mostly emotional support; I could have used my GPS to get to Derringer Inc., this place where I was supposedly going to be landing a new job.

Dad kept looking in the rear-view mirror. He was nervous for some reason and I could see the beads of sweat on his forehead as he turned his head.

‘Daddy, what's wrong?’, asked Suzie who was sitting behind me on the back seat.

[At a second floor flat in Chelsea around 21:00 on a Monday evening.]

“Hello?”

“I’m sorry, there is no Roy Meier on this number. I’ve only just moved here so he might be a previous occupant.”

“Yes, I am sure that he does not live here.”

“No, I won’t give you my name. I don’t know who the hell you are. You could be a serial rapist for all I know.”

“Goodbye.”

I put the phone down. I was shaking like a leaf. I had been named this Roy Meier but in a previous life. If the caller really had put 2 and 2 together then I was well and truly up shit creek big time.

“That’s it, right there,” Tiffany pointed from the driver’s seat. “It’s Sakiya’s car.”

I hovered my mouse over the ‘call’ button for a good minute before I finally closed my eyes, sighed, and worked up the nerve to click. It took a second for my laptop to register what I’d done but soon enough the familiar ringtone broke through and I could see the word ‘connecting’ on the screen. I waited for ten, twenty seconds thinking they weren’t going to pick up. I think I was hoping they weren’t going to pick up; my parents were never pleasant to talk to and even less so since I’d unexpectedly changed my major.

“I’m afraid there’s really nothing we can do for you,” Sherry, the financial aid officer told me, closing my folder and pushing it back across her desk toward me. “The best I can do is give you until the end of this week to come up with the money.”

“It’s a lot of money,” I said, quietly protesting.

“Well college is expensive,” Sherry said. “And this is only a fraction of your actual tuition; your financial aid helped out quite a bit.”

Raben made several decisions concerning the future of the Clan Corvo. The massive continual influx of people into Senegal from neighboring areas was too great for a smooth assimilation. For the last 18 years an average of 120,000 neighboring people per year were joining the Clan Corvo from adjoining tribal areas due to the ever escalating tribal warfare in search of slaves. The Clan Corvo represented peace, stability, and plentiful food. The Raven Raiders fielded 25 divisions who patrolled the ever expanding Senegal borders. Any armed incursions were met with overwhelming force and the utter destruction of the antagonists with most going into the Clan’s 3 year slavery. As tribes joined, they brought their land with them into the Clan Corvo, thus expanding the Senegal borders. With security and plentiful food, by 400 CE the birthrate soared to 3% while the infrastructure struggled to keep pace. By 411, the population in the African colony had soared to 5,095,711 people meaning the 3% population growth equaled 139,403 people. Raben decided that for the next 5 years to relocate 140,000 people into Barmaz while Barmaz raised their emigration to 63,000 people.

“I’m sorry Ma’am,” The voice on the other end of the phone said. “We can’t accommodate a transgender individual at our shelter. While I’m sure he’s a great…person, we can’t house him with the women.”

“You can’t house her with the men either!” I said angrily. “Do you know what could happen?”

“Did you try the shelter over on Bradbury?” The woman asked. I wanted to jump through the phone and strangle her.

“Of course I tried them,” I snapped. “They said the exact same thing and this is INSANE! You can’t just turn people away! Hello? Hello?!”

CHAPTER 71
Afterwards, as so often in my life, I was able to talk with my lover. I couldn’t imagine how I would ever be able to cope without him there to take the load at least partly from my shoulders, but I was certain he felt the same way about the support I offered him.

“Blake?”

“Yeah?”

“Might need some help A few cracks showing”

“Someone get Audrey a pair of sweats!” I shouted as I ran upstairs. Our war with Tri-Pi had apparently escalated for some reason. I rushed into our room and threw on a pair of gray GAT sweatpants and a tight blue GAT top with the sorority letters written across the chest. I loved these shirts, they really made my boobs perk up.

I ran back downstairs found everyone else dressed the same, including Audrey who looked very, very confused.

Chapter 22 Buffy's POV

Gabi knew something was up. She had written the question down so I had no choice but to tell her something. I hated lying so I told her that it was a surprise, a pleasant one, but she was going to have to be patient. She accepted that, but we were now on a countdown. I also had to visit the kitchen to find out what we were going to be fed for dinner and work out if any of the food was prohibited for pregnant women. The fact that I had asked for the menu was out of character, so again, time was running out.

“Hey, cheer up Audrey,” I said as I turned onto Main street and into a row of back to back restaurants, all lit up and making my stomach growl.
“Aleah please,” She said. “I just…couldn’t I just stay at home tonight?”

“You’ve been cooped up in your dorm for three days,” I said. “You needed to get out. I’m getting you out.”

“It’s really creepy that you know that,” She said. “Don’t you guys have anything better to do than watch me?”

“Uh…yeah,” I said. “Lots of things. Lots and lots of things but…yeahhhhhh.”