Authors note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, events and incidents are the products of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Rutwell College Chronicles:
Three Spoons of Sugar
Introduction:
Welcome to Rutwell College.
A place of learning. A steppingstone for all who enter its halls in the great journey of life.
For over two centuries, students at Rutwell have found themselves growing, stretching their limits, encouraged to try new experiences, to embark on paths they never considered before.
In these lecture halls and libraries, this haven of scholarship, the faculty find fresh minds to mould, empty vessels looking to be filled. Youth and experience coming together in creative and unexpected ways with astonishing results.
As the motto of the college says, 'Mens Aperta, Corpus Saturatum'... 'Open Mind, Sated Body'.
Before:
The wet hacking cough seemed to go on forever. It had started out as a series of breathless gasps before catching deep in the chest, the wheezing cough becoming raspier, degenerating further into a grating choking sound, bile and sputum no doubt expelled by the force of the throat clearing.
Megan Richards lifted the pillow from where she had been holding it tight against her head and spun round in her bed, black hair flying with the speed of her turn. She could see her roommate, barely, as Donna sat at the end of her own bed, her body shaking beneath a towel as she bent over a basin on the floor.
"Jesus, go see a doctor. You're sick."
"Imb finbh." Donna snorted out.
"You aren't 'finbh', you're ill and you are gonna get me sick by ignoring it. Fuck's sake, what's the big deal anyway?"
Donna lifted the towel from her head, her normally vibrant auburn hair was lank and listless, her beautiful skin had taken on a waxy appearance and the brown eyes that she turned towards her friend were red rimmed from illness and exhaustion. Megan found herself scooting back against the wall in response that belied her normal kind nature.
"I can't blee... be sick. Too mudge... fuck. Too much to do." Donna spoke as clearly as she could, wiping at her now streaming nose with the edge of the towel.
Megan resolved to stay at a hotel for the next few days at that point. Unlike her friend Donna, Megan came from money and her choosing to share a dorm room at Rutwell College was from a desire to have the complete, authentic college experience. Her father had offered her an apartment of her own but this just seemed better. Anyway, an apartment wouldn't be as close to the lecture halls as the dorms were.
She had come to Rutwell to study English Literature and although it was still her first term, she was already loving both the course, the college and her new best friend Donna... well until now. Donna had been a bit stand offish to Megan at first, perhaps because of their different upbringings. Megan's parents were wealthy Maine lawyers, Donna's parents were factory workers from Pittsburgh. Megan however hadn't let up and within two weeks they had become comfortable with each other, before the first month was out, they were all but inseparable.
Donna was studying International Relations and Political Science and as far as Megan was aware, she was on top of, in fact ahead of all her course work and requirements.
"What do you mean, too much to do?"
Donna looked like she'd swallowed a fly, Megan flinched back once more on the bed expecting her friend to begin hurling up vomit at any moment. It took a moment for the dark-haired girl to realise that the expression on Donna's face was because she felt she'd said too much and not something connected to her health.
Megan scooped a box of tissues from the top of her locker and tossed them underhand to Donna.
"Blow your nose and then spill girl." Megan said.
"Id's money." Donna started to explain after she'd tidied herself up some. Megan had moved a bit closer but was still maintaining a 'safe' distance from her friend for the moment.
"Money?" Megan queried.
"Yeah, money. It's different for me than you. My Dad isn't rich, I got three brothers who all need to go through college still. So, I..." she paused to cough into a clenched tissue for a moment, clearing her throat and sniffing loudly after.
"I gods to make... got to make, some money myself. I can't take on a really big loan, I'll never pay it off."
"So, what? You got a part time job?"
Donna shook her head and for the first time since Megan had seen her that night some colour entered her face as she blushed in embarrassment. Megan cocked her eyebrow in anticipation. Donna stalled for a heartbeat before sighing dramatically, which triggered yet another coughing fit.
Finally, she croaked out, "I got a Sugar Daddy".
It took Megan most of the next half an hour to drag all the details from Donna, the other girl's reluctance and coughing spasms slowing the process considerably.
Donna had been put onto the scheme by a friend back in Pittsburgh. She'd been loath to do it but the fees for her first year in college and the projected cost for the full span of her time in higher education convinced her to try it.
Because of her International Relations study, which included a second language, Donna had reached out for an internationally based Sugar Daddy. Partly as an aid to her study but also because she hoped that this might mean never actually having to meet face to face. That had been all well and good until her Sugar Daddy announced he would be in the US in the next two days and was expecting to meet her.
"Fuuuck!" Megan said, drawing out the word. Her brow wrinkled in concentration as she ran the situation through her mind once again.
"Yeah exagedly... exactly." Donna agreed.
