Page 8 of It Started with a Sunset
“Emilio, have you chosen a major?”
“Yep. At least I think so—Finance.”
“Oh! That was Brock’s major. Brock, do you have any advice for Emilio?”
“Yeah. There’s only one professor who teaches Financial Institutions and Markets, and he’s tough.” Brock shook his head just thinking back to it. “And he assigns a homework load that will nearly kill you. For the semester you take his class, only take half the number of credits you normally take. Trust me on this.”
Summer’s eyes went wide. “It’s really that intense?”
Brock nodded.
Emilio pulled out his phone and started taking notes.
She turned to Brock. “I’m glad I hadn’t been interested in finance enough to declare it as my major. Bullet dodged.” Then, turning back to the group, said, “What about you, Luciana?”
Abby’s friend stood a little taller when she said, “Computer Science. I’ve been taking programming classes at my high school, and I’m really good at it.”
“Nice!” Summer said. “That’s one of only two subjects I majored in that I did for a full year. If you’re like me and like guys, you’re in luck, because the classes are something like eighty percent male. I’ll show you the building where you’ll be having most of your classes a little later in the tour. Jake? What about you?”
“Communication. Did you have it as a major?”
“Good guess! I did, but only for one semester.”
“Oh.” Jake’s face fell. “It was that bad?”
“No. I switched majors because one of my roommates was taking anthropology and it sounded fascinating. But Communication was great. LBSU has four different emphases for that major, so you can really find what you’re going to most love. Okay, now this is the Burningham-Steele Library. Let’s go inside. There are a few things I want to show you.”
“Wait,” Abby said, stopping in her tracks. “How many majors did you have?”
Brock had been wondering the same thing. How did he not know what degree she graduated with? He thought he knew it for everyone in the Welcome Center.
Summer looked up for a moment like she was counting. “Nine.” She ticked off each one on her fingers as she named them. “I also majored in Economics, Geology, Philosophy—which, honestly, I was ready to switch out of by midterms—and Sociology. I did that one for a full year.”
The looks on everyone’s faces—including the three parents present—were of confusion and shock. Brock was glad he was at the front of the group because then he could see that he wasn’t alone in that emotion.
“Butwhy?” Luciana asked.
“There are just so many interesting things to learn here! I wanted to learn them all. You’ll see when you start going to school here next fall—you’ll get the learning bug and will want to know everything. I was fortunate enough to have been able to indulge that curiosity. I would’ve been a forever student if given the choice, because then I could’ve had all the majors. My dad told me I had to be done with school by the end of my sixth year, though, but the joke was on him because I started here full time the moment I graduated.”
Then she led them into the library, and Brock joined in the rear. Mostly because it took him a moment to recover from his shock and surprise. He wasn’t entirely sure what he even thought about it. All he knew was that he felt ever so slightly pulled toward Summer.
Not that he wanted to be pulled toward Summer. He was a perfectionist and Summer most definitely was not. If they were to ever date, they’d drive each other as nuts as... Well, as nuts as they drove each other just being coworkers.
They visited each of the common buildings and some of the buildings where the students would likely have classes and then headed back to the Student Center, where they would end the tour and the prospective students would go have lunch in the cafeteria. The entire time, the students and parents were firing off one question after another, trying to get to the point where they could stump Brock and Summer.
But between the two of them, they had answers for all of them so far. They had just fielded quite a few about housing, including which dorms they had lived in, when Jake asked probably the fourth question relating to events on campus.
And, like the other three times, Summer gave Brock a “See? I told you” smile. Okay, so maybe the students did care about campus events and which housing had the most social opportunities. He was silently begging one of them to ask about scholarships.
Then Emilio did, a little sheepishly. “What if we...you know...don’t quite know how to pay for college yet. Is it hard to get scholarships? My grades are fine, but they aren’t going to give me a full ride or anything like that.”
Honestly, with a planned major in finance, he was surprised it took Emilio so long to ask.
His mom added, “He’s been pretty worried about that.”
He caught a small wince from Summer before he clapped Emilio on the shoulder. “My man, Emilio. I’m glad you asked. When we get back to the Student Center, I’ve got some things to share with you. All of you.” Then he looked at Summer and gave her his own “See? I told you” smile.
And he kept smiling as he answered the next five questions, which were all about scholarships.
