Chapter Four

The two walked on eggshells around each other for the rest of the day. They were snowed in, and the house wasn’t particularly large; try as they might, they couldn’t quite escape each other. Their snow day extended into Friday, and with new snowfall early Saturday morning, the roads remained impassable until late on Sunday. Tensions mounted, but thankfully never broke. By Monday, Rei couldn’t wait to leave for school.

Rei had school every day, Monday from Friday. Unlike many college students who tried to cram their classes into the same days to reduce the number of days they had classes, Rei liked to spread hers out. Her mom allowed her to take four classes. So, she had one class that met on Mondays and Wednesdays in the mornings and a second that afternoon, and her third and fourth mirrored that on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but her second class also had a lab period that met on Friday. This way, Rei could arrive on campus early in the morning, and spend the whole day there and away from her house.

To add to Rei’s excitement to get to school that morning, her Monday morning class was her favorite: Introduction to Gender Politics and Feminist Theory with Professor Natalie Lewis.

So, Rei was slightly surprised that Monday morning to find that her mind kept wondering. Try as hard as she could, she couldn’t pay attention to a word Professor Lewis was saying. Her mom wanted her to trade college for an extended high school program, where she’d learn to be a housewife and stay at home mom. Rei’s soul retched at the thought.

Rei’s mother had never exactly been progressive, but Rei still couldn’t believe she seemed to be buying into this Hayes Act bullshit. But Rei knew she was lucky. Rei knew things could be so much worse.

Last year, before The Hayes Act, Rei had gotten used to her classes being pretty evenly split in regard to gender, but now Rei sat in the back right corner in a group of the only six girls amongst nearly twenty boys. In front of her was Jennifer Duffy; from behind, Rei could easily see the crinkled waistband of her diaper sticking out above her skirt. To Jennifer’s left was Melanie Wright; Rei could see a spare pull-up sticking out of her purse. Behind Melanie, directly to Rei’s left, was Becca Thompson, who crinkled every time she shifted in her seat—of course, she had already been in pull-ups when Rei took a class with her last year, so that was hardly surprising.

Rei knew things could be so much worse.

“Rei?” Hearing her voice shook her out of her thoughts and she suddenly realized everyone around her was getting up. She must have missed Professor Lewis dismissing the class. “Rei?” The voice repeated, “May I see you?”

It was Professor Lewis. Rei nodded in response and slowly began to collect her things, waiting for everyone to filter out. When the last person left, Professor Lewis closed the door behind them and walked over to Rei, saying nothing until she was sitting in the desk Melanie Wright had only recently vacated.

“Everything okay at home?” She said at last.

Rei nodded, “I mean, I guess, why?”

“I checked my email this morning to find an email from your mom asking me to confirm you were with me Wednesday night.”

“She doesn’t suspect anything,” Rei responded after a beat.

“You sure?”

“Yeah, she’s just…worried college is putting crazy ideas in my head,” Rei snickered.

“Wouldn’t that be terrible,” Professor Lewis replied wryly. “Well, I’ll confirm the story, of course.”

“Anything else?” Rei asked, sensing that there was, well, something else.

Professor Lewis sighed, “she asked me how much I teach about politics in my class.”

“Fuck.”

“I take it you don’t tell your mom much about this class?”

Rei grimaced, “She thinks it’s an English class.”

“Ouch,” Professor Lewis flinched.

“What did you tell her?”

“I haven’t replied yet, but…legally, you’re a child, I can’t keep my lesson plans away from your mother if she asks for them.”

“I know.”

“I’ll try to downplay it and hope she doesn’t press it, okay? I just wanted you to have the heads up.”

“Thanks, Professor.”

“Yeah,” she sighed and frowned. “How bad is this going to be for you?”

“I don’t know,” Rei replied. She genuinely didn’t know. She had been a little surprised by how complacent her mother had been about The Hayes Act. She knew her mother didn’t think going to college was a good choice, but she never would have imagined that her mother would try to push her into an extended high school program. But, then again, she never imagined there would be extended high school programs until there were.

The room was filled with silence for a few moments before it was finally broken by a middle-aged man barging through the door. “Oh!” He exclaimed as he saw the pair, “Natalie, I’m sorry, are you still using the room? I have class in here shortly.”

“Oh, yes, sorry, Professor Winston, we were just wrapping up, please go ahead.” The two professors exchanged a few more pleasantries as Professor Lewis packed away her class materials into her purse and passed off the desk to Professor Winston. Rei waited for her and walked with her out the door when she did. “I’ll do the best I can,” Professor Lewis said once they were in the hall, “but…”

“I understand,” Rei replied. “Have a good day, Professor Lewis, and thank you for the heads up.”