Page 53 of Chasing Headlines
Rivers snorted. “Good one, Mrs. P.”
I somehow managed to lock down my overwhelming desire to groan and kick Rivers in the shin. “Fine. But I still believe the founding family is a story that will interest people.”
“I agree. But find the angle. Needs to be tighter. You're giving me broad, general research paper material. I want a narrow, punch in the gut kinda story.”
I sighed. “I'll try again.”
“Bring me a winner, Liv. I know you can do this.”
I'm sure she meant it as a boost or whatever, but it just made me want to curl in a ball and drown out the world. But I didn't have time to wallow. I wasn't giving up!
I hoofed it from the Journalism workroom to the other end of the building, exiting on the side nearest the main quad. Next period was economics, a course we all had to take during undergrad. It was the largest class I had the misfortune of attending, with a couple of hundred students in each section. Even my world history class, which had seemed like a sea of people when I first walked in, was only half the size of ECON 1101.
And our professor was so incredibly dry. I fought to keep my eyes open. And I wasn’t the only one. At least a half dozen of my peers were sacked out on top of their desks.
The worst of it was that unlike a lot of other classes that gave us a series of assignments, this blasted ECON class gave us two projects and two major exams. The rumor was that a third of the freshman class every year had to retake the course. I really couldn’t imagine a worse torture. Except maybe having to spend five more minutes with Rivers Reyes. I hoped he choked on the bits and bytes of his cyber beat.
Why was that something to report on year-round and Baseball wasn’t? I’m sure Cathy could give me some rationale, but I wasn’t really in the mood. I needed an angle on the founding family.
The problem was, it’s not like I could get a quote or an angle through interviewing someone. The university being founded in the early 1930’s meant that pretty much anyone alive during the “birth” of this place wasn’t alive now. Only maybe grandkids. Or great grandkids.
I wonder if any of them still lived nearby?
“Your projects will be due next Friday.” The bland, almost robotic voice of Professor Wiggins with the impressive combover spoke from his podium. He pointed. “Yes, in the back row.”
“Isn’t our midterm like the following Monday?”
“Yes,” he replied.
A chorus of groans erupted from the class.
“You have until the end of the week to withdraw without impacting your GPA. On behalf of all the faculty of Texas State Tech: welcome to college life.” And with that, he picked up a stack of folders and walked out of the class.
“Guess it's over.” I clicked the cover over my tablet. “I'd say time flies, but not inside these walls.”
Some girl I didn't know turned in her seat and looked at me with wide eyes. “But if I drop ECON, I won’t have a full load and I'll lose my scholarship.”
I winced. “Sorry to hear . . . that really sucks.”
She wrung her hands. “Yeah, thanks.” She grabbed her stuff and walked away.
I sighed and shoved my tablet into my backpack. Welcome to college life all right. Except I was going to have no life for the next two weeks.
Chapter Fourteen
Olivia POV
La Reunion Dormitory
“How did anyone do this before the internet and Ancestree.com free trial subscriptions?” I said out loud as I typed “Vachon” into the search bar.
Cathy giggled. The tap of keys on her keyboard. A pause and another giggle.
“What are you up to?” I glanced over at my friend in her corner of the room. A small pile of Star Struck cans littered the table around her multiple laptop setup. “Clearly not suffering over our ECON homework.”
“Chatting with a new friend.” She tossed her red curls and pulled her headset down to her neck. “Do you need me to find someone for you?”
“I need a name first, then, yes.” I looked at the whirling circle in the middle of my screen. “I'm sure I'll need help tracking them down.”