Moose and Goose

Chapter Twenty-eight

The room is large and smells like fresh pine trees. Dean O'Connell's sitting across from Judy at the end of his long desk, her back to the doors. The walls are dark green with black borders, and the floor is mahogany wood.

"What were you doing in a male dormitory, Miss. Jefferson," he asks, and she narrows her eyes in thought.

I just told him that two male students tried to assault me and another in a dark suit grabbed me, yet, that's what caught his attention? No wonder Mary was crying.

"It was raining, my mom told me that my dad died, and I needed a friend; that's all," she says, and her voice gradually shifts from meek to assertive. "I'm sorry that I was basically left with no other option when the sorority housemother told me I couldn't stay in her building for the night to wait out the storm."

"Ms. Roberts told you to go to the Psi Phi building. Is that what you're telling me?" Judith does not respond, and they exchange a silent stare for a second. Dean O'Connell scoffs and shakes his head incredulously. "She would never say that because for her to encourage moral turpitude would mean that she no longer wants her job."

"Moral turpitude? What's so morally questionable about me going to a friend for consolation? If anything, what was done as soon as I stepped in would be," she says, her voice trembling and high-pitched with surprise. "But who cares why I was in there? Are you going to do something or not?"

"Nothing can be done." He crosses his arms as she stares at him with her lips agape. "It's their word against yours. 'Negro girl sneaks into a fraternity and after engaging in - a rendezvous with five to ten male residents, she claims assault.' Does that sound like the story you want over your head for the rest of your life?"

"No," Judith mumbles. The silence in the room is broken by the clock's ticking above the doors, and she can feel her throat contracting.

"I didn't think so. As for David Cambridge, he was dealt with, and at this point, there's nothing more he can do to you; the boy is crippled," he reminds her. "Is there anything else that you'd like to tell me?"

"Just to be clear," she begins, her tongue and throat dry. "You're not gonna do anything?"

"Would you like me to expel you for trespassing and moral turpitude," he asks sarcastically, and she quietly stares at him. He shrugs nonchalantly, and she stands to her feet to look down at him.

Dean O'Connell watches Judith walk between the two chairs in front of his desk on her way to the exit.

Her heart is racing, and her hands are trembling. She shoves the door to her left open, and her gaze falls on where Jerome was sitting; he's gone. She continues down the hall, her breathing becoming ragged and her eyes welling up with tears.

Judith rushes down the flight of stairs and past the crowd polluting the first floor. She reaches the exit just as Jerome thrusts it open with her bookbag over his shoulders.

She pants and gasps in front of him, causing him to look at her with confusion and worry. He takes her hands in his and leads her outside, but when the doors close behind her, she yanks her arms away.

"Judy, what's wrong," he softly asks as she looks around. She's hyperventilating, and her face is turning red.

"He accused me of moral turpitude," she tells him, and Jerome knits his brows inward.

"Moral turpitude," he repeats questioningly.

"He basically called me a whore," Judith yells, echoing down the quads. As a blond couple dressed in autumn colors approaches from behind her, he takes Judith's right hand and leads her away from the door. "My life fucking sucks. I'm dropping out, and I'm done with everything."