Chatoyant College, Book 1: New Student Orientation

Chapter 25: Feninni's

Corrie felt the car slowing down and turned around again just in time to see them pulling into a parking space right by the front door of Feninni's. It looked like a busy night; almost all of the spaces in the lot were filled. Then again, it was a Friday. She was unbuckled and had her car door open almost before her mother had turned off the engine. "All right! I am starving."

When they got into the lobby, the hostess smiled at them. "Hi, Deb, hi, Corrie. Want your usual table?"

Corrie shook her head and indicated Dawn and Edie behind her. "I have a couple of friends from college, so we'll need a bigger one!"

"Okay! Right this way." She led them to a booth close to the kitchen, handed them menus, and disappeared into the back. Moments later, Andre Feninni himself came out of the kitchen, bringing a gust of hot air with him.

"Corrie!" he boomed. He was a large, heavy man--he did run the best pizza restaurant in the entire city--and drew her up in a hug as soon as she stood to greet him. "I heard you'd left us for college."

She laughed. "I did, but I didn't go very far away. And classes haven't started yet, so I have a little time to make it to my favorite restaurant. These are my friends Dawn and Edie."

They both looked a little nervous (Edie actually cringed away a little--did she have a problem with hugs?), but he just shook their hands--after all, he hadn't known either of them since they were four years old, so he was a tiny bit less friendly. He still grasped their hands in both of his large ones and beamed. "Glad to meet you. What can I get you girls tonight?"

"What about me?" Corrie's mom asked with a wink.

Andre laughed his deep belly laugh. "You know I'm counting you as one of the girls, Deb."

"Want to just share a couple of large pizzas?" Corrie asked. "Their pizza is the absolute best."

"Um, sure," said Dawn, closing the menu she'd been glancing through. "Extra cheese on one?"

They came to an agreement on toppings and Andre went back to the kitchen to pass on their order. It arrived quickly, and after taking a few bites, both Edie and Dawn readily agreed that it was excellent pizza, if not necessarily the best pizza they'd ever had. Corrie assumed they were loyal to pizzas back home. All too soon, it seemed, they were back at the gates to the college and she was hugging her mother goodbye and promising never to forget to call while Dawn helped Edie carry the huge pile of books. They tried the gates, but they were locked; apparently Mark, the security officer, hadn't been lying about when they locked the gates, since the sun's last rays were still just barely visible over the trees--Corrie hadn't noticed specifically when it set, but it couldn't have been more than a few minutes ago. She glanced up at the huge iron gates thoughtfully. They looked more decorative than useful, but they must keep people out... or maybe in. Why else would they bother to close them?

It took another few minutes of hunting before they found the guard box, half-hidden in the bushes to the right of the gate. "You don't make it easy to get in after dark, do you?" Dawn said to the guard.

The guard laughed. He was a slightly heavy, middle-aged, balding man, and his laugh was surprisingly high-pitched. "I keep telling them to cut back the bushes more than once a year, or tear them up altogether, but so far it hasn't happened. Then again, it usually helps me decide whether people are students or not by how long it takes them to find me. I'm guessing you three are freshmen, though, not strangers who've never seen the gates before."

Corrie nodded. "That's right." She fished in her jeans pocket, found her ID card, and showed it to him.

He nodded. "That's all I need to see," he said, forestalling Dawn's and Edie's attempts to find their own ID cards while balancing books at the same time. "As long as one of you is a student, you can all go in. There's no rule against students having guests, after all." He bent down and pressed a button, opening a heavy door in the rock wall beside him.

"Thanks!" Corrie called as they went through.

He laughed again. "You girls have a nice night!"