THE ALUMNI WHO LOVED ME

AVA’S POV

“Ouch,watch where youare going,Loser.”A red haired mean looking girl said to me when our shoulders touched. I wanted to apologise but she walked away,and I turned back to look at the magnificent school building that stood in front of me. Getting in College,New York University,for that matter,had always been my dream and I was going to let a mean witch who looked like she was having a bad hair day,ruin my first day of College. I stood in front of the Administrative block hugging my books,and then I sighed heavily and entered the block.I looked at my right and I saw a table with a woman,in probably her mid forties sitting at the table.I emboldened myself and walked to her. “Good morning,ma'am.” I greeted cheerfully,but she didn't respond to my greetings.I sighed internally again and tried greeting again. “Good morning,ma'am.” I greeted again,though not as cheerfully as before but she didn’t reply again. I wondered what it was I was I doing wrong and wondered if everybody at this college was crazy. First it was a rude by passer,now a rude secretary. What next was I going to see or meet? This wasn’t going in any way I expected. I sighed exasperatedly and tried to greet her one more time. Lord Knows,if she ignores me for a third time,I was gonna yell in frustration. Please dear lord,let her answer me this third time I’m about to greet,cause you know I have been patient and nice enough. I prayed internally as I took another deep breath. “Good morning,Ma’am.” I said in a louder and Firmer voice that I had greeted before.She then raised her head from the computer and peered at me from above the rim of her glasses.She looked at me,like as though she were accessing and looked back at my face. “Yes. How can I help you?” She asked with a very cold voice that made me wonder if she had woken up from the wrong side of the bed. “I am Ava Sanchez,a-” I started to stay when she glared at me again.The look made me feel very uncomfortable,and I shifted in my shoes. “Young lady,I didn’t ask you for Your name. All I want to know is what I can do for you.”She said sternly. I nodded my head slowly. “Well,I want to know where the office is for the proper enrolment for the department of Economics.” I said slowly and she pointed to the left from where I was standing. “Go to your left,climb the stairs there and you will find yourself on the Floor of the Faculty of Social and Management sciences. You’ll see each department office in the hallway of the Faculty floor. Look for department of Economics and do your registration there.”She said and went back to typing God knows what on her computer.I resisted the urge to say something about her nasty looking make-up,and instead muttered a”Thank you.” As I walked towards the stairs she had pointed me to,I heard her pick a phone call and I stopped Pretending to be tying my shoe laces,so that I could eavesdrop on her conversation. Don’t look at me judgementally now come on,I was only being curious about who or what was putting her in a bad mood. “Tyrell,you’ve done enough. You skipped school yesterday,and now the police? Really?You give me a lot of trouble all year round,boy.” She said angrily and now I understood her reason for her grumpiness. She had a son that gave her headache all year round,that’s enough reason to be grumpy. Still, she didn’t have to transfer her aggressions on me. I stood straight and walked to the direction she had pointed me into,and I was walking,I felt somebody tap me. I turned around,and with the speed I used to turn around I hit her cup of coffee she was holding and its content spilled on us both. “I’m so sorry,I didn’t mean to turn around with such speed. Oh my God,now I’ve stained your shirt.” I said apologetically,not caring about the scalding sting I was filling,for the coffee was hot and it poured on my bare arm. “Oh no,no. I’m perfectly fine.I should be the one worrying about you,Your skin is scalded because of my hot coffee. Even your shirt is stained too.” She said with worry,and then I looked at my arm and saw my skin folding in a burn and I sighed. My skin was a very sensitive skin and this was gonna leave a scar for sure. Nothing was going well on my first day at the university,and it seemed all of the negative luck was falling on me today.I sighed again and apologised to the lady again. “I’m sorry for hitting your cup. I can’t afford to pay for your shirt right now,but maybe you can give me a call later.”I sighed and brought out a piece of paper and wrote down my number. “Please,I have to go do my clearance. Once again,I apologize.”I said bowing my head slightly and then I started to walk away. She stood there looking dumb founded but right now I had to get my clearance done and get my dorm assigned to me before hostels space finishes. Then I felt a gentle tap on my shoulder and I turned gently this time around to avoid hitting somebody’s coffee or tea,when my eyes met the face of the lady whose coffee I had just spilled. “I had tapped on your shoulder to apologize on behalf of Christiana.” She said with a very soft voice. I wondered who Christiana was and the look of confusion must have been so imminent on my face,for she continued. “The secretary at the receptionist table.” And I nodded. Oh so the rude unhappy grumpy mother of a stubborn kid’s name was Christiana? A nice name for someone with an angry face,I thought to myself. “So the point is,I’m not gonna feel okay,if I don’t take care of your burn,so follow me.” She said and took my hand. I looked at her,wondering if I was ever gonna get my clearance done at this rate with all this side distractions. I looked at the direction she was taking me into and realized that it was the same direction that Ma’am Christiana had directed me too. I followed her quietly as we climbed the steps. We got to the floor where the Faculty of Social sciences had their offices and she led me to the department of economics. I looked at her face slowly wondering what all this coincidences were,and she just smiled and led me to a seat. “Sit here,I’ll go get the first aid box.” She said with a small smile and I nodded slowly. She walked into a small dark room,and my mind was occupied with the beauty of the office and the coincidence that had just happened. Could she be a staff here? Or the Dean herself? Or the Dean’s daughter? Or what? Maybe I might not be having the bad luck I thought I was experiencing after all. I thought to myself,when she emerged from the dark room with the First aid box. She brought a cotton wool with an Iodine solution and some rubber gloves to work with. “Here stretch your hand.” She said and I stretched it. “This Is gonna sting a little. Hope you aren’t a cry baby?” She asked teasingly. “No,I’m not.” I said and she laughed. “Okay if you say so.” She said and then poured a little bit of methyl spirit on a blob of cotton wool. “Oh,the burn has spread. You must have sensitive skin.” She said and then cleaned the burn surface with the methyl spirit soaked cotton wool. It stung a lot,but I held it in,in order to not be the cry baby. She then cleaned the surface with Iodine. Then she brought a plaster,that kind of matched with my skin colour.She put the plaster on my skin and then removed the rubber gloves that she was wearing. “All done.” She said with a wide smile and that smile was very contagious,as I smiled back in appreciation. “Thank you very much.” I said and she nodded her head and then looked at my coffee stained clothes and smacked her head. “Ah ha. One more thing.”She said and went to another corner of the office. “What’s your favourite colour?” She asked. “Red.” I replied simply wondering what she was gonna use that information for. She rummaged through a bag that looked like it contained T-shirts and brought a red coloured NYU shirt after a one minute long search. “I think this would size you.” She said facing me,and then she walked and motioned for me to stand up. She placed the T-shirt on my body,nodded her head in approval and then said,”Okay,you go into the bathroom,and then change your shirt.And don’t you worry about me. I always have an extra shirt.” She said winking at me and I smiled. I entered into the bathroom and then I changed into the shirt she gave me. The NYU was boldly written on it and somehow it gave the nostalgic feeling of being a student in a university. I really am a student of NYU. Dad,I made it. I said to myself,with tears in my eyes. My Dad didn’t live to see me graduate from high school,and now he was equally missing out on the chance to see me get into the university. I wiped my tears from my eyes and then I walked out of the bathroom to where the Lady was seated. “Thanks so much for the shirt,it fits very well.” I said and she smiled gleefully. “So have your seat now. What’s your name?” She asked as she stood up to go it behind the table. I looked at her and wondered if my suspicions were true. She looked at my face and understood the questions that were raving on and raging on in my head. “Oh you must wondering what my position is around here.” She said rhetorically. I didn’t say anything but I swallowed hard. “Well,I’m the personal secretary to the Head of Department,and my elder sis is the secretary to the Dean of this faculty.” She said finally and my heart leaped in Joy. I nodded my head,not knowing what to say. “So as I asked before,my dear,What is your name?” She asked affectionately and I smiled. “Ava. Avalon Sanchez Anna-Lorena.” I said finally,my face breaking into a one of a kind smile. She looked at me and smiled and typed in my name into her computer system. She really worked in this office. She was the personal secretary to the Head of department for my department. And hell,her sis is the secretary for the Dean of our Faculty. My day started off bad,but now its looking beautiful. It might not be a bad day after all. I thought in happiness as another smile broke out on my face. “Do hold on,I’ll need to print your information and get the Head of department’s signature on it and the Dean of the Faculty’s signature on it.” She said and walked out of where we were,into another door I had noticed was closed. She came out of it a few minutes later and then waked out of the office. Just then my phone rang and I checked the caller ID to see who was calling. It was my Mum.I smiled and swiped the receive button. “Hey mum.” I said and her soft voice came out of the receiver. “Hello Lani. How far have you gone with your clearance?” She asked. “I’ll be done soon,Mum. Hold on a bit for me,Okay?” I said. “All right.I prepared lunch and brought it to the shop,okay.” She said. “Okay mum.I have to go now. I love you.” I said,after the door opened and the secretary walked in and then I ended the call. The secretary smiled at me and handed me a file. “Inside that file,you have your student ID and your departmental and faculty information.” She said then stood up and went to another bag and brought out Red NYU jacket that was packaged inside a transparent nylon,and brought out a newly packaged NYU shirt,like the one she gave me to change to in place of my T-shirt. “The difference between the shirt I gave you and this one I’m holding is that the one you are wearing is a general NYU souvenir while this is a departmental shirt.” She said and then went back to another bag and brought out a freshly packaged NYU souvenir. “Here,you can have this too. Its all yours.” She said and arranged them for me on the table. I placed the file on top of them and smiled at her “Thank you very much.I have one more question. Where do I go to for Residence hall assignment?” I asked her and she smiled. “Can you come here tomorrow?I would get it done for you by the time you come here. Residence hall assignment takes a lot of time,from an NYU official employee,it takes lesser time. Since I have your scholarship letter from the Anderson foundation,I would forward it to her tonight. “ She said and my heart swelled in precious gratitude to this lady who had done me so well. She packed up the shirts and Jackets in an NYU souvenir bag and handed them to me. “One more thing.” She said and opened her drawer. She brought out a red NYU face cap and handed it to me. Her kindness was so overwhelming that it brought tears to my eyes. Saying thank you wasn’t enough for this angel-like lady so I decided I was going to return her the Favour. “Thank you so much for your kindness. May I know your name?” I asked and she smiled. “Its Elva Browns. And welcome to New York University,Miss Avalon.”