Chatoyant College Book 5: Parents' Weekend

Chapter 3: Breakfast

They walked to the car, parked in the visitors' parking lot, and then drove for about five minutes. If Dawn had been going there with her friends, they wouldn't have bothered to drive, but she didn't complain. Anyway, she was sitting in the back seat with her aunt, and there was absolutely nothing unpleasant about that.

The diner was a small, slightly dingy-looking place, at least from the outside, and there were two other cars in the parking lot. Inside, Dawn was relieved to see that it looked cleaner and in better shape, and some delicious food smells were in the air. The blue-and-white tiled floors were sparkling, and the waitress was cheerful and friendly as she led them to their table, asking where they were from and delighted to hear that Dawn was a student at the college. "Here's your menus," she said, handing them out as they took their seats in the booth. "If there's something special you want, feel free to ask. We ain't real busy and Glenda—she's the chef—gets bored."

Dawn nodded thanks and opened the menu to the breakfast section. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the list of egg-and-pancake combinations. "Ooh, there's different kinds of pancakes," she said out loud. "Should I get blueberry or chocolate chip pancakes?"

"Whatever you want, dear," her dad said.

"That depends on what you're going to get with them," said Aunt Pru, bending over to look at Dawn's menu. Her greying hair tickled Dawn's cheek.

"Scrambled eggs," said Dawn, pointing to the menu where it was listed. "And hash browns."

"Still not getting sausage for breakfast, huh?" said her dad.

Dawn nodded, smiling slightly. "Still a vegetarian."

Pru straightened up. "Well, I think blueberry pancakes go better with those than chocolate chip. I'm thinking I might get chocolate chip pancakes myself, though..."

"I might have to steal some, then!" said Dawn with a grin.

Once the food had arrived and Dawn had taken a few bites of her sweet, juicy pancakes, she felt a little more up for conversation. She reached over with her fork to Aunt Pru's plate, took a piece of chocolate chip pancake, and asked, "So are you looking forward to being back at your old college?"

"It might sound weird, but I actually am," said Pru with a laugh. She reached over and took some of Dawn's blueberry pancakes. "I kind of miss it. When I left school I thought I'd just miss the people, but I actually miss the place itself too. Have they changed anything since I was there?"

While Dawn told her aunt about the newest dorm, Hickory, which was wheelchair-accessible and she was fairly confident hadn't existed in her aunt's time, she wondered what Pru knew about the college's secrets. She knew her aunt had been an art major with a magic minor, but not if she had ever encountered any faeries—or other supernatural creatures, which, after meeting the mermaids Troy and Link, Dawn now knew existed. If Pru had met them, Dawn wouldn't blame her for not sharing the information, but now she wanted to know. Any more information she could get would undoubtedly be helpful.

"It sounds like they're really expanding their horizons," said Pru when Dawn was finished. "When I went there they would never have allowed girls and boys to live together in the same dorm."

Dawn laughed. "You probably had curfews, and weren't allowed to use the same staircase as the boys, right?"

Pru rolled her eyes. "I'll have you know we were very emancipated and modern. For the seventies."

"Speaking of boys," said her mom in a falsely coy voice, and Dawn experienced a sinking feeling in her stomach. Her mom continued, "Are we going to get to meet that boyfriend of yours?"

"Of course," said Dawn, breathing a small sigh of relief that no one had said anything against Rico yet. Of course, they also hadn't met him. Then again, there had been all kinds of criticism of the guys she'd dated in high school, whether or not they'd met him. "His mom is coming, too, so you might get to meet her," she added.

"Oh, that would be lovely," said her mom, sounding much more confident.

"And your friends?" asked her dad after swallowing a bite of sausage. "We'll get to meet all of them, right?"

"I hope so," said Dawn. She lifted the cup of tea she'd ordered and took a careful, tiny sip of it. It was still too hot to drink comfortably, so she set it down again. "They'll be busy with their families too, but you should at least get to meet Naomi, Corrie, and Edie."

"That will be great," said Pru.