A New Life (River Phoenix)

The Phoenix Family Reunion

"What are you here for?" A man asks me, glancing up quickly as he shuffles through papers on his desk.

"I want to enroll." I answer.

He looks me up and down and leans back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest.

"There's a lot of preparation that goes into applying for a college." He starts, as I didn't already know. "If you want to come here, you need to plan ahead, not come in last minute and insist on it."

I narrow my eyes slightly but try to stay polite.

I'm not in the mood to pick a fight.

"I'm sorry, sir. I know it's late notice but I didn't know I would be moving." I explain. "I'm sorry. It's just really important I make this work."

He raises an eyebrow and folds his hands on his desk; thinking.

I decide to speak again.

"Is there anything I can do to make that possible?" I ask.

He glances up at me and begins to shuffle through a thick stack of papers.

When he finds a certain one, he examines it and gets up.

"Follow me." He insists.

I do as he says and follow him down a narrow hallway.

I hear a loud click as he enters one of the many doors on his left, revealing another older
man at a desk.

He's taking a phone call but soon ends it as his eyes meet with ours.

"What can I do for you?" He asks.

"Jeff, this is," he stops. "I never got your name. What is it?"

"Carmen." I tell him, trying to seem as sweet as I can.

He nods and looks back to Jeff.

"This is Carmen. She's trying to enroll." He says.

Jeff's eyebrows raise as he points to a chair in front of him, nodding at me so I know to sit.

I shuffle past the man and sit down, crossing my legs.

"You know that classes have already started right?" He asks me as if he is surprised. "It's pretty hard to add new students at semester, especially at this late of notice."

I hope this will work.

"I know." I answer. "And I understand that. I'm really sorry that it's such short notice; my boyfriend and I made a really quick decision to move so I didn't have time to think about it. I'm sorry. I just want to make this work if at all possible."

He seems pleased with my answer but is still thinking. I can tell that he's going to try to make it work, I just hope he'll find a way.

"Okay," he starts, leaning back in his seat. "We can make this work. It won't be easy and you'll have to cooperate, but if you really want to go here you'll make it happen."

"Of course." I say.

"If we can get your records within the next week or so and the payment for the rest of the semester, then I don't see why you wouldn't be able to attend." He concludes, handing me a form that I quickly glance at.