Chatoyant College Book 5: Parents' Weekend

Chapter 7: Clovers & Flowers

Corrie passed the time waiting for her mother and grandmother to arrive by hunting for four-leaf clovers along the edges of the path that led between the gates and Gilkey. She wasn't planning on picking any—the one she had might have been torn and a little squashed, but it still worked—but it was a way to amuse herself. She quickly found one in each of the first three patches she looked in, so when she reached a fourth, she crouched down beside it and decided to look carefully through it and see how many four-leafs she could find in the entire patch.

When she was satisfied that she had checked the entire patch, she had found three of them. She sat back on her heels and contemplated the patch. Professor Lal had explained that the profusion of four-leaf clovers on the campus was a result of all the magic in use there. But scientifically, four-leaf clovers were mutations, weren't they? (Corrie might not be enjoying her biology class, but she intended to pass it, and that did involve learning a little.) They might be magically useful, but she didn't think they could be inherently magical. Could the magic also be causing mutations in the other plants in the area?

Well, if there were mutations in the grass or trees, she hadn't noticed them. Maybe in the spring she would see what kind of flowers turned up, and if the clover flowers were normal.

She stood up, brushed her hands off on her jeans, and walked toward the gates again. People were going in and out, but none of them, so far, seemed to be her family. She leaned on the open gate, looking at the iron that comprised it. Was it designed to keep faeries out, or perhaps in? That was another question she would have to remember for her magic professor. Professor Lal didn't seem to like to answer questions specifically about faeries, but it couldn't hurt to ask.

She looked up again and finally saw her mom and grandma approaching. Breaking into a grin, she pushed away from the iron gate and jogged toward them. Her grandmother, more than half a foot shorter than Corrie, laughed as her granddaughter swept her up off her feet in a hug. Corrie laughed too, put her grandmother down gently, and turned to give a more decorous hug to her (admittedly taller and heavier) mother. "I'm so glad you made it! Was traffic bad?"

"Worse than I expected," her mom admitted. "Should have left earlier. How are you?"

"I'm great," said Corrie. She really meant it—her mom might nag, but she missed seeing her. "What do you want to do first? I could show you around campus, or there's that outdoor lunch I told you about."

"Much as I'd love to see your school—and you'll have to show me your dorm—I'm starving," her mom said. "What about you, Mom?"

"I could eat," said Corrie's grandma. "Especially if it's something I haven't had to prepare myself."

Corrie laughed. "Well, come on then." She led them along the paths to the north end of campus, where folding chairs and tables were set up on the grass, with the jazz ensemble playing next to the gym building. It was pretty crowded already—more than half the tables had people sitting around them, and there was a fairly long line along the back, which was evidently where the food was being served. They joined the end of the line. Corrie sniffed the air, smelling fried things, though she couldn't decide exactly what was available, and certainly couldn't see it.

"So are you enjoying your classes, Corrie?" her grandma asked as they inched forward in line.

"Most of them," Corrie replied. "I admit, the biology class is really boring and not easy."

"But you love flowers!"

"Alas, it's not that much about flowers. There is some, I guess, but the focus mostly seems to be on how everything relates to humans, which I guess is to make it interesting to the rest of the class."

"Good thing you're getting it over with then, huh?" asked her mom.

Corrie shrugged. "I guess so. If I'd known what it was going to be like I might have put it off until the last, and then my senior year wouldn't be as fun as it should be."

"Are there any other requirements you're getting over with this semester?" asked her grandma.

"History and English, but I'll probably take other classes in those areas. And of course I'm taking the introduction to magic class this semester so I can decide whether I want that to be my major."

"And how is that class going?" asked her mom.

Corrie had already told her mom some of the things she'd done in magic class, but she took this opportunity (since they were still slowly shuffling toward the food) to explain it in further detail to her mom and grandma. She left out that her teacher was a faerie, but they seemed to find it interesting anyway.