Professor C (camren)

16.5 - Jauregui (Part 2)

It made sense, though. The toddler was perfecting her first sketch for one Professor C, and it had to be perfect.

When she'd exhausted every single one of her duties, Lauren could have easily delved into the most recently published articles regarding her profession but it wasn't what her body was aching for. In all the years she'd worked in the community college, she had never had to meet such standards in interviewing prospective employees. It was mentally and physically exhausting, and it was taking so much in her to keep from faking a stomach bug.

As promised, Rob came back to take Pebble out to have some breakfast and the mention of her favorite food roused the toddler's interest despite her reluctance to leave Laruen's office and her lap. They were reciting the alphabets; at least, some of them and Lauren had been pointing to a picture of a hat to illustrate the letter "H".

It was the pair's favorite past time, learning and Lauren was taking advantage of it while the child loved the prospect of education.

There was a knock only a couple of minutes after Robert left with Pebble and behind the door was the student Lauren had been dying to meet with. As soon as she invited her visitor in, she was greeted with remorseful and somber blue eyes that struggled to stare into greens with her head shamefully bowed down.

Jessica acknowledged Lauren with respect while the psychologist cheerfully muttered a greeting and an invitation to come up and join her at her desk in an attempt to influence their grave conversation into something a little lighter.

The limited time it took Jessica to take a seat, the psychologist scrambled to spot any difference in her. She seemed the same; hair in it typical wild, fiery ember and ivory skin gracefully dusted with freckles. She didn't appear to have lost weight, no bags under her eyes and she looked well-rested.

It was a relief.

Normally, there would have been casual chit-chat thrown here and there before the pair would discuss Jessica's predicaments but that didn't remain true during that particular meeting. The pair dove right into it the moment the Accounting student handed her program course checklist to Lauren. Jessica began elaborating on the plans she had undertaken over the couple of months in the hopes of opening up the certain elective during the summer. And since it was an elective, no one else had been forced into the dire situation or had been complacent with the extra time in college but it was a luxury Jessica couldn't afford.

Jessica would have had been able to graduate by May but her circumstances at home forced her to give up on her education for a semester the previous year.

Of course, Lauren had been well informed of Jessica's living situation after much evasive coaxing into expressing her deepest resentments. And because of that, the psychologist wanted to help; firing questions left and right until she had absolutely exhausted all options one at a time. She even suggested for Jessica to enroll in one of Camila's classes in the fall.

"You can do summer courses over at the colleges and universities around the state. And while you're at it, you could enroll in another course, getting rid of one more to free up a slot during the fall. The credits in your courses are transferable; you know that, right?" Lauren queried and paused just enough to witness Jessica nod in understanding before she devoted her attention back to the student's checklist of courses to see if she could find a loophole somewhere, which was slim to none. "You could cross enroll and Purdue is the closest. I know there are a range of accounting electives there."

"I don't think I can afford it, Miss Lauren."

"Is overloading an option in the fall? Isn't it a little hectic with your job in the mix?" She inquired softly with the least intrusion to the student's comfort. All she wanted to do was reach for Jessica's hands to show her support but she was fumbling with them, much like Robert had done earlier. "You don't have to rush. You're 20 and you have every right to live a little, and do something because you want to and not because you need to."