She was running late as she entered the lecture hall, her bright blue eyes scanned the room for an open seat as the lecturer briefly paused mid-sentence, relief washed over her as she spotted an open seat in the front of the room. She prayed quietly that the professor wouldn’t embarrass her and kick her out for being tardy. Honestly, she was surprised the lecture hall door was unlocked, as Dr. Glick was known for locking the door, so any late students were refused entry. She headed down the stairs toward the seat. She sat down with a slight nod to the people on either side of her and reached for her notebook and pencil. She had briefly made eye contact with the lecturer and thought he seemed unusually kind to her, but she searched her mind for answers for this change she saw in his face. He continued explaining that the room would break into groups and these groups would become the remainder of semester’s study groups. Looking right and looking left she nodded at the people closest to her who nodded back in agreement that they would form the six-person group. When the class ended Aubrey asked her new group where they wanted to meet for their first study session and Cynthia offered her room. Everyone quickly shared their phone numbers and Aubrey set up a group text message they could all use moving forward. Katie offered to bring coffees and Scotchy offered to bring snacks. Alisa and Juniper offered to pick up coffee and snacks for the following meeting. They stood there sharing their brief backgrounds with each other until everyone felt comfortable parting ways until Wednesday night. 

Aubrey picked up her pace back to her dorm room happy she had a solid study group for the semester in that English Literature class. She had two more classes to get through later today. A quick nap sounded good to her or a cup of coffee, which ever one she ran into first. Juniper was already at the coffee cart when she walked up. What short cut does she know? She thought to herself. “Hey Juniper!” she exclaimed as she got in line behind her. “Are you taking a heavy class load this semester?" she inquired. 

“Yes,” Juniper answered. “Twenty-one credit hours,” she followed up with a look of exhaustion. 

“Wow! I thought I was crazy carrying eighteen, but you have me beat!”

Juniper ordered a double shot expresso and a bottle of water. She stepped to the side to let Aubrey order. 

Alisa approached and acknowledged both women.   “I feel so blessed to be part of this University. Can you believe we are part of this history that started in 1701? It is so amazing!” Alisa was a freshman and in constant awe of the history all around her. 

Aubrey’s bright blue eyes caught the sun as she smiled at Alisa’s enthusiasm; dark history Aubrey thought to herself. This University was chartered before the American Revolution, but there is no point in sweeping history under the rug so to speak. I will embrace it in my article as I talk about the current issues that are unfolding, Aubrey reassured herself. She wondered if the new study group would understand her once the article was published. 

“Aubrey!” Juniper snapped her out of her thoughts. “I must get going. See you Wednesday.”

“Oh okay,” Aubrey responded with a smile. She waved to the other women and headed off to her dorm. 

Aubrey set her spiced coffee on the mantle of the small fireplace as she entered her room. She loved and hated her dorm room. She reached into the brick cracks of her secret hiding place and retrieved her green journal and pile of papers. She didn’t trust keeping such notes on her computer. There were too many computer science geniuses that she knew. She had been investigating her story for almost a year now. She was finally ready to spill the beans. She was sure this story would get her above the fold in the longest running paper in the United States. She was scared and excited. Dr. Glick’s face and demeanor kept flashing through her mind. What did he have to be happy about, she was about to expose him and two of his fellow tenured professors for their misdeeds. She had interviewed over a dozen students who were bringing charges against Professor Westler and Professor Davison. Dr. Glick was implicated by association. As that smirk and twinkle floated through her mind again, she opened her laptop and went onto her classroom portal. She requested a meeting with Dr. Glick in the morning. She had come too far to let something derail her at this junction. Her gut said to talk with Dr. Glick and that’s just what she planned to do. 

The following morning, before the sun was up, she was lacing up her running shoes and heading out the door. The crisp cold air entered her lungs as she stepped outside of her building. She started running east to race the sunrise. She thought of the ripple effects of misdeeds, misdeeds that go unpunished. Justice was necessary. She refused to turn a blind eye to the abuses that these old farts had perpetrated. The atrocities were many, everything from sexual abuse to theft of intellectual property. They had gotten away with it for 3650 days that she knew of but suspected it had gone on their whole careers. Deep in thought she turned the street corner and almost knocked Dr. Glick over. “Oh my god! I’m so sorry,” she yelled as she caught his arm and steadied him. She bent down to pick up his satchel that she had knocked to the ground. Realizing who had just run into him he said, “Did I see we have a meeting in a couple of hours?”

She said yes, she had scheduled it yesterday to cover a serious topic with him. 

He said, “Well we are close to Pistachio Café now, do you want to sit down with me and go over your concerns?” 

Her endorphins were flying high from her run and hardly able to contain her excitement she said yes. 

She ordered a water and he his morning coffee and cheese Danish. Aubrey slowly started into her story, it was such a sensitive topic. I don’t know if you know or not, but I work on the Yale Newspaper. He smiled his smile from yesterday and nodded he knew. “How can I be of help?” he asked. She told him of her story she was about to break, and he was the only unknown character on her list. He took a long slow drink of his coffee, looking at her over the rim of his cup. “I had been brought up to speed yesterday morning that you were about to break this story. I was your informant’s informant. I uncovered my coworkers’ atrocities a little over a year ago.”

Aubrey looked stunned, her blue eyes staring into his knowing blue eyes. 

Dr. Glick took another long sip of his coffee, “I know you’ve been hard at work researching this story. Yesterday when you didn’t make it to class on time, I decided to cut you some slack and leave the door unlocked. I’ve waited a long time for these men to be brought to justice. I am filing a lawsuit along with the college, right after your story breaks. I figured I owed you that much.   You have done a tremendous job sleuthing their misdeeds. I am sure I looked questionable at times paling around with those abominations, but I assure you I was doing my own research.”

Relief washed over her as she heard his words. Her gut told her he was honest and sincere. She felt even more anxious to break the story today. She thanked him for his time and all he had done behind the scenes to help her to uncover the truth. As they parted ways, he reminded her to stay vigilant and aware of her surroundings. She shook his large hand and assured him she would.