Couldn’t she have warned me earlier that the thing was so incredibly loud? And if it woke me up even once, I would personally kick it off the ceiling.
While Mum cleaned up the mess in the kitchen, I sat back at the table to unwillingly read through Vanderwood’s letter.
Dear Miss Adams,
We are hereby pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to our Department of Linguistics for the winter semester and welcome you to the Vanderwood University.
We expect to see you on our campus on September 5th. There, you will be provided with a room that you will share with the following students.
Julie Blair
Emely Copeland
Ruby Sanders
Mode of study: Standard Double Bachelor
Major: Literary Studies (Bachelor of Arts) with 120 credits
Minor: Philosophy (Bachelor of Arts) with 60 credits
Instructors: Basic English (Prof. Alarik Copeland), American Studies: Literature (Prof. Isabella Marten), Literary History (Dr. Prof. Gina George), Ethics (Prof. Alarik Copeland).
If we have made a mistake in the assignment of seminars and lectures, please appear in our Registrar’s Office on September 5th.
You will find your book list and student card, which grants you free access to our library as well as the canteen and sports facilities, in the envelope.
We wish you a successful start to your first semester at Vanderwood University.
Sincerely Regards,
Your Vanderwood University Selection Committee
Wait a minute. I took another look at the list of girls I would be sleeping under the same roof with for an entire six months starting next week. Then, I looked through the list of professors.
Emely Copeland...
“Mum?”
“Yes?”
“Does your doctor, Dr. Copeland, happen to have a daughter and work as a professor at Vanderwood?”
The coincidence made me laugh.
“Yes, quite possibly.” It came hesitantly from my mother. “Why do you ask?”
“Because I’ll be sharing a room with a girl named Emely Copeland, and one of my professors’ last names is Copeland.”
Abruptly, Mum let the pan she had just been scrubbing so vigorously slide into the sink. She came over to me and literally snatched the letter out of my hand. Her expression darkened.
“What is it?” I asked cautiously.
She rubbed her forehead. Then she walked back to the sink and resumed her work as if nothing had happened.
“I want you to stay away from the Copelands as much as you can,” she replied to me hesitantly. “Your best bet is to switch courses.”
Dumbfounded, I looked at her.
What was wrong with her?
“Why? One of them is your doctor...”
When I didn’t get an immediate answer, I looked over at her.
Her whole body had tensed, and she was looking intently out the window as if she was thinking carefully about what to say next.
It had become so quiet in the house that you could have heard a feather fall to the floor.
“Mum...” I said, which snapped my mother out of her stupor.
“The professor and the doctor are related.”
“Okay, and why should I stay away from them?”
Mum seemed to realize that I had become suspicious. But what else could I be when she had been acting so strangely since we arrived, leaving me with so many unanswered questions?
