I Bet I Would

Chapter 61: Fly, Shrimp, Fly!

PAULENE

The Orange Falcon's Restaurant looks so American. They decorated the place with red, blue, and white. Two long tables set in fine dining.

There is also a tarpaulin on the wall that had the words, "Welcome to the Paideia Acquaintance Dinner!" and there's a sound system at a corner.

I roamed my eyes around the dining hall. I don't feel so out of place because people are, thankfully, also wearing semi-formal attires.

Wait, is that--

Professor McCullough?

I nudged Franz.

"Why is McCullough here?! Don't tell me he is the adviser!"

"Calm down. He isn't. He is just the guest for tonight. Paideia invites professors to dinner, remember? He won't be present next time." He assured me.

He continued, "And that-- that guy is our adviser."

I look at the small man, in what I would guess his mid-thirties, approaching us.

"Franz!" The man, who Franz said is Paideia's adviser, pulled him in a half embrace with a hand patting his back. They obviously know each other already. With a guy like Franz, I am not so surprised. Maybe he is also the reason why Franz joined.

"Levi Jacobs," The man said as he turned to me and extended his hand.

"Paulene Josiah, Sir," I said as I took his hand and shook it.

"Hungry? We will start in a few. You both find a seat in the long table there," He instructed while pointing at the table where McCullough was sitting while chatting with a few students.

Franz and I took a seat beside each other somewhere in the middle. The rectangular table is very long, a 22-seater.

There is an identical table next to it where all 22 seats are already occupied.

Round tables at the back are not set, so, I guess we won't be expecting too many people tonight.

Hmm. I wonder what food will they serve us. I also can't help but wonder where the funding comes from? It's an every week dinner for the entire year and the organization only required us a $10 annual membership fee.

"Good evening, everyone," Mr. Levi Jacobs said through the microphone. The loud dining hall fell silent to pay attention to him.

"Welcome to the first Paideia dinner of the school year."

"Time flies so fast. A few weeks ago, it was August, and now it's September. Just last year, some of our members already graduated, and now, we are welcoming new members into the club."

"May I request the new members to stand for recognition as I call out your name--" He said as he took the piece of paper from a beautiful should-be-Indian girl. 

"Sheldon Cooper, Castor Rodriguez, Amanda Sung, Nicole Scherzinger, Paulene Josiah--"

I stood as soon as I heard him announce my name.

"Patrick Star, Samuel Haynes, Hannah McHenry, Rika Utada, Franz Richmond, Tommy Hilfiger, Sandara Park, and Stewie Griffin."

"Let us all give them a round of applause."

I clapped my hands along with everyone else. 

Franz turned to face me and gave me a wink as he was clapping.

"Welcome to Paideia! Thank you, and please, take your seat."

We took our seats and Mr. Jacobs continued, "13 new members-- 13 may seem like an ordinary, worse, unlucky number to others, but, not for us Americans. There used to be 13 original states in the New World that decided to unite into one nation we now know as the United States of America."