Cathy's Unexpected Campus Visit

At the school gym, Michelle began her rehabilitation inside the weight room while Kyla intently led her teammates to practice. Meanwhile, the basketball team coach sat down and observed the whole squad's body of work from the sidelines.

And here I was sitting still, my face sweating from the intense heat of the sun. It was a rather warm Wednesday morning with temperatures reaching well into the late 80's.

Michelle's initial day of rehabilitation consisted of light arm exercises followed by 30 minutes of treadmill and bicycle workouts. So far, the journey has been okay for her.

Over on the practice court, Kyla and the team worked on their familiar routine. They naturally focused on all key aspects of the game, from shooting and passing to defense.

When practice ended, the coach called the whole team out for a huddle. Meanwhile, Michelle exited the weight room, her passionate face dripping with sweat but was nevertheless pleased with the exhaustive process.

"Tomorrow, we'll not have any practice," the coach faintly announced from afar. "But all of you should voluntarily attend a film viewing session so that we can properly discuss some strategies as well as possible improvements in our game. Did I make myself clear?"

"Crystal," the whole team shouted fiercely.

"Okay, we're dismissed for the day," the coach justly concluded. "Good luck on your academic studies."

After practice wrapped up, I walked directly near the dressing room to approach Michelle and Kyla. But first they promptly took a brief shower and changed to a fresh set of clothes.

Upon exiting the dressing room, Michelle and Kyla eagerly joined me near the office. However, as we carefully left the gym, Kyla suddenly received a text message from the professor.

"Christine, we'll go to the audio-visual room for philosophy today," she announced. "I'll forward this text to Claire as soon as possible."

Shortly after we proceeded straight to the campus where Claire anxiously waited on the bench. She stood up and gleefully greeted us.

Michelle, who had not met Claire up to that point, introduced herself and shook her hand. Claire, for her part, gave her a surprising admission she would never forget.

"You're schoolmates with Francesca and Corinna?" Michelle shouted to the point other students gazed intently towards her.

"Please keep it down," one of the students warned Michelle. She replied politely with a simple 'sorry'.

"Anyway, I did study in the same school as Francesca and Corinna," Claire proclaimed. "And in case you may not know, I already heard the news the other day about Corinna's suicide. Therefore let's leave it at that."

"Well, it was nice knowing you, Claire," Michelle concluded. "See you then."

And so Michelle left for her next class while Claire, Kyla and I moved straight for philosophy. As we spotted the elevator, a series of long lines awaited us.

The audio-visual room is located on one of the tallest buildings in the campus. It was constructed in a modern neoclassical style and has nine floors in all.

The room itself is located on the sixth floor. Going up there demands lots of time and patience.

While the iconic building does contain a staircase, it takes forever to climb the entire nine-floor structure. With that, Claire, Kyla and I opted to take the elevator, even if it naturally means waiting a little longer for the elevator to go down.

Upon arrival, we were greeted by dimmed lights and dark hallways. I saw a few students sitting down exhausted and weary after braving the stairway's endless amount of steps.

Inside the audio-visual room, the professor greeted a few guests on stage. But as they graced the entire class, my innocent eyes shockingly gazed at a familiar figure.

"It's aunt Cathy," I softly reacted with a bewildered look on my face. "What is she doing here?"

"What's the matter?" Kyla asked me. "Why are you stunned?"

"That was my aunt over there," I replied. "Her name is Cathy."

"Good morning class," the professor welcomed us. "Before we begin, kindly give me your printed assignments on Machiavelli."

Kyla opened her bag and willingly submitted our work to the professor. Returning to her seat, Kyla confidently assured us that we would earn a very good grade.

Just then, the professor introduced us to the day's panelists, one of whom is my own aunt. All three of them discussed the philosophers' influence on their lives.

Cathy, in particular, narrated to the class her own fascination about Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and his most famous quote: "We live in the best of all possible worlds."

"Class, what I believed in Leibniz should equally apply to all of you," she recalled. "The planet we live in now is not all that perfect; hence the 'best of all possible worlds' quote. Bad things could happen sometimes but then again the world is to a higher degree worth living for according to Leibniz."

Claire, Kyla and I took note of Cathy and other panelists' statements on our notebooks. It was tough to digest their opinions, but we somehow got the point.

As class was promptly dismissed, I cautiously approached my aunt regarding her sudden appearance in school.

"What are you doing here?" I respectfully inquired Cathy of her presence.

"Christine, I was cordially invited by your professor today," she thoughtfully replied. "Well, to tell you the truth, your professor and I were classmates in high school so it was only appropriate for us to reunite in this school at a perfect moment."

Just then, I called out my philosophy professor for a short talk.

"Sir, I need to disclose you something. Your classmate Cathy was indeed my aunt."

"Amazing," the professor amusingly reacted to my remarkable revelation. "I didn't recognize that. In any event, my next class is coming up and I may be late by now. See you next week then."

"What about Cathy?" I replied back.

"Don't worry," the professor smilingly assured me. "Your aunt and I will talk later."

"Ok then," I bade farewell to him. "See you."

Cathy naturally accompanied me, Kyla and Claire on the way down. But just as she was about to enter into a conversation, my smartphone suddenly vibrated.

"Sorry aunt, but my subsequent class is coming up right now," I politely informed Cathy. "Better wait for me then."

"No problem," Cathy earnestly assured me. "For now I'll go take a look at your campus. Personally, this place appears beautiful and pleasing at the same time. Come back to me afterwards, okay?"

"Sure," I happily concluded.

While Cathy toured the whole campus by herself, I walked directly to photography class where Michelle, Taylor and Erin were waiting eagerly at the door. As we entered the classroom, the projector was turned on while the lights were dimmed, perhaps anticipating a video was about to be played.