Chapter 1: Striking Truth

Whitney felt her world drop at her feet and she imagined the lady at the admissions office stomping it into tatters. She had come in here this morning knowing her situation; she needed no reminder, but she had come to enquire on the possibility of a solution not to be told that there was none.

"Miss!" the lady brought her back into her body. "As I said earlier, the finals are in 3 weeks and if you don't pay the rest of your tuition before that time frame, you would have to look into deferring"

She said this so blandly while looking at Whitney through her glasses so pointedly as if she wished to drill the information into her skull somehow.

Whitney gave a nod in response.

"That should be all miss". Whitney looked up to see the lady usher her out of the room using her hands. She stood up and left the office in a daze. She didn't know what else she could do. She had been so ecstatic some months ago when she had gained entry into university to study Medicine. She had dreamed of that moment for a long time since she could remember. She had dreamt about a lot of moments directly related to her graduation from med school but all of those seemed to be inconsequential because all she could think about was how she would drop out of school.

She had nobody to help her pay her tuition. Her parents were long gone and she had no family on this side of the globe to help her out. She had taken as many part-time jobs as she could manage with her school work but that had proved quite a useless effort as the money she made, she spent on necessities. She walked through the halls without zeal that if a strong wind had blown past at that moment, she would have been blown away.

"Whitney!" she turned to see her best friend and roommate, Sophia jog towards her.

"You seem lost. I called you a little over 5 times and you didn't respond. What has got you looking so lost?" the 5 ft 8 beauty asked with as much enthusiasm as she ran with. She chewed on licorice as she waited for an explanation that Whitney had no energy to give.

" I've just been out of it lately, that's all" Whitney replied, hoping to escape the prying eyes of her friend which was a huge mistake considering nothing went past Sophia unnoticed.

"And…? What has been keeping you out of it lately" she asked as she moved closer to her slightly shorter friend. If anything, she had been friends with Whitney for the larger part of their freshman year at Columbia and she knew when the girl was trying to avoid answering her questions. It was at times like this that Whitney didn't appreciate Sophia's inquisitions into her private affairs. Why couldn't she just take a hint and drop it? Sophia shook her friend lightly, probably the same way she tried to shake the information out of her.

"Fine! I'll talk" Her friend smiled satisfactorily and dug into her licorice for some more of the snack.

"I went by admissions today to find out how to go about the tuition issue. I'm still a long way off from completing in time for finals in 3 weeks" she sighed in utter frustration. She didn't want to burden her friend with her problems because she knew there was nothing the girl could do to help.

Sophia stopped in her tracks with a concerned look on her face. "All of the part-time jobs?"

"They are part-time, Sophia. I'm not a regular employee so my pay from both doesn't leave much after necessities have been taken care of" the girl sighed again, this time more exhaustingly than the first.

Sophia began to list a barrage of places Whitney could explore but they weren't any help because there wasn't an idea that the troubled girl hadn't explored yet.

"How about you ask William? I mean, you can ask him for a loan and pay later. It would even be a very flexible loan that can be paid in kind" Sophia suggested with her eyebrows raised and her eyes shining with so much mischief.

Whitney lightly shook her head, rejecting the idea. "Kind? We've already discussed that part of our relationship and it's not happening. At least, not now."

"But he can at least help out in some way. You never can tell if you never ask" Sophia replied with a hand on her friend's shoulders.

Whitney released another sigh.

She had met William, a tech consultant, a very handsome one while doing her shift at Starbucks some months prior and they had dated ever since. It hadn't been a year yet but she was sure she loved him, his smile, the way he talked, and other traits of his she was still discovering. The thought of him made her smile most time. She couldn't smile now because she didn't want to burden him either with her problems and she knew he had been having issues at work for a while which seemed to take up much of his time as he was so busy that they didn't talk as much as they used to. She couldn't imagine adding to his problems just to solve hers. Just then, an idea struck her which made her stop in her tracks and lightly tap Sophia.

"A loan!" she jumped a little into the air in glee at finally finding a solution. She hugged Sophia because she had brought it up, although not directly, she was grateful. "Thank you! Thank you so much"

She immediately untangled herself from the confused girl and ran to a location where she knew she had seen a private loan company. She was hopeful that her trip there would be successful as she was sure they would be more lenient with their rates than the banks were. Why hadn't she thought of that?

In her ecstasy, she absentmindedly walked onto the crosswalk without looking at the indicator. She only realized her mistake when she heard the screech of tires dangerously close.