Diana
Diana swirled around and caught one of the snowflakes falling around her on the tip of her tongue. A laugh slipped out as the white flake instantly melted, leaving behind a numbing feeling. It was much like the emotions that were swirling around in her belly. Wild, untamable. Nothing like butterflies, as people often described. Instead, it was a ferocious feeling, something akin to a ravenous beast. It seemed more like dragons than butterflies.
She pressed down on her belly and entered the administrative building located on the west side of the campus. It had been not too far of a walk for her, but as soon as she had settled into her new apartment, she had planned to get a bicycle that she could use to travel around.
"Hi, how can I help you today?" A sweet voice, from the elderly woman that stood right in front of her, reached her and Diana shook herself out of the stupor. She was too mesmerized by the wide ceiling and metal beams that were placed diagonally in a rather hazardous manner. Was that considered art nowadays?
"I am here to meet my mentor. I am a new student here." She beamed with pride. Who knew that the short story that she had written about Artemis, the Greek goddess of Hunt, would land her a coveted scholarship at Riley University.
"Ah yes, Dr. Winfred had informed me about you." The woman side—eyed her curiously, almost like she was an exotic animal in a park. The rest of the administrative staff stopped their conversations and turned to look at her, some less discretely than others. Diana hated when people scrutinized her. They often judged her too harshly and thought of her as trash based on her clothes and dressing sense. But after being under the microscope for most of her life, she could often differentiate the emotions that people gazed upon her with. Some were disgusted, most pitied her. This woman bothered her, she looked upon her just like an apex predator would right before they were going to eat their prey. So much for being a friendly and nice old woman.
"Follow me please." Diana shrugged off her freak—out alarm that was blaring loudly at the base of her mind, ignoring her base instinct. Fuck them, she wasn't a fragile butterfly either. She could take on the judgmental gaze of people. She followed her around a metal pillar that seemed to be erected in the middle of nowhere — she rolled her eyes at the so—called modern art — and followed her up the staircase that seemed to lead into a huge library.
Dark, brown mahogany wood covered the placed ceiling to floor. The library seemed to be from a completely different time era, an entirely different setting from the administrative room below. Golden light emitted from lamps hanging from the shelves, and the sunlight scattered into a million different directions after gliding through the huge circular ceiling.
"Frankenbuilding." She muttered under her breath, as she and the elderly woman passed through rows and rows of books. The woman paused before a panel of doors and pointed to the one closest to her.
"You will find Dr. Winfred right through there." She smiled softly, causing Diana to blink back at the sudden kindness reflected in her eyes. "Welcome to Park City. You will love it here."
She left, leaving Diana to fumble around for a few seconds before taking a deep breath and knocking on the door.
"Come in." A deep voice sounded through the door. She pushed the door open and found herself in an office space.
"Hello, Dr. Winfred. I am Diana, your new student." The man blinked at her, before letting out a huge belly laugh and standing up, ushering around his desk that housed an array of files and books. With his gravelly and baritone voice, he was exactly the man Diana had pictured: huge, muscular, and bearded. He stretched out his hand and she returned the handshake. He patted her hand.
"Welcome, welcome." She immediately relaxed and her shoulders drained of the energy that seemed to be attached to her ever since she had left her apartment that morning. She hadn't even realized she was that nervous. Dr. Winfred led her to the seat in front of his table.
"So how have you been finding Park City so far?" He questioned her.
"It's been great so far. I just arrived at my new apartment yesterday."
"That's great." He reached into his drawers and pulled out a file. He handed her the file which stored her college identity card and several brochures about the university itself. "Since you won the short story competition, I am sure you know that that you are on the scholarship sponsored by the Salostos family. Their family founded this university more than 200 years ago."
It was true. She had seen that name displayed on several buildings as she walked along the way, with a crescent moon hanging on the edge of the "S" of the family name. She was well aware that she was the very first student outside of Park City to receive the scholarship.
"With the scholarship, your tuition fees and accommodation fees are all paid for. You will also receive a monthly stipend for your personal expenditure." Even the monthly stipend was more than generous. She would be able to save most of it, only having to spend some of it on big—ticket items like a new laptop and school books. She wouldn't even have to take another job to support herself. She pondered on how quickly life changed. Just last month she was working 3 jobs to survive and to pay for food and rent. And now she had a fully paid scholarship that could extend to her doctorate if she worked hard enough and got great results.
"That being said, you have to keep your grades up." Dr. Winfred continued. "And be part of the research team which I am leading at the moment." She nodded, she was aware of all these conditions.
"Dr. Winfred." He paused in his explanation. "I was told that I had to be part of the research team here, but I am not sure on which topic you are researching."
"Why, Artemis of course. It's why you got the scholarship." He looked at her with confusion in his eyes. "I assumed you knew based on your essay and the fact that you have chosen to major in both Theology and Greek Literature."
That made so much sense. Stupid Diana, she scolded herself.
"Yes, of course." She smiled sublimely at him. She had been obsessed with Greek mythology since she was a child. And now she had the chance to study and research about the very goddess that she revered, it was a dream come true.
"Speaking of majors, are you sure you can handle two majors? Most students only choose one." Dr. Winfred looked at her dubiously. Quite frankly she was a bit anxious regarding that aspect too, but she was never a good decision maker and when it came to choosing her major, she couldn't decide between the two. So, she had decided to take on both.
"Yes, I most definitely can." She hoped her vigorous nodding would convey her passion in those fields. She couldn't let either major go. She wanted to study both.
Dr. Winfred sighed and signed a document he was holding. "Alright, if you insist. But if either of your grades suffer, you may be forced to drop one major." She nodded again. She knew she had a long road ahead of her.
He gave her the rest of her documents and sent her on her way. She was going to start work with the research team on Monday, but she only had the weekend to start reading up on her first classes.
She hurried, hoping to purchase her school books before the bookstore closed. She couldn't wait to dive deep into the very myths and stories she had been obsessed with her whole life.
