The Snowflake Chronicles

Regina Odette, Outsider

Protagonist for my 2008 NaNoWriMo Novel
Written in October 2008

Word Count: 1196

Regina Odette walked into the empty lecture hall and looked around. As usual, she arrived fifteen minutes before Professor Collins, who always arrived five minutes before any of the other students. Meandering to the back of the room, she removed her backpack and placed it on the floor beside her chair. Then she sat down and picked up the lavender scented sealed envelope lying on the desk in front of her. On the front of the envelope, was her name typed in bold black letters.

Opening the envelope, Regina took out a neatly folded sheet of lilac stationary. Unfolding the paper, she stared at the acrostic poem printed in a Verdana 16 font, with the first letters of each line in bold red. As Regina read the poem, tears fell from her eyes and dropped onto the paper.

Odious Odette
Unable to pass this course even
Though you are
Sleeping with the
Instructor. So why don’t you
Depart immediately and make room for an
Exceptional and acceptable student, one who
Really belongs in this collage and class.

I should take it to the administration office; she thought as she refolded the paper and returned it to the envelope. However, that’s never did any good before and it will only cause the instructor to give me more difficult assignments when I return to class. Taking a deep breath, she put the envelope in her backpack and wiped the tears from her eyes and face. There’s no use letting the elite bastards in this class see me cry. Then she laid The Beauty of a Well Ordered Society and loose-leaf notebook on the desk.

“Miss Odette,” said Professor Collins as he entered the room. “I wish you wouldn’t come to class so early. Don’t you know how to time your arrival properly, so that you don’t cause any rumors to spread about you and me?”

“I’m sorry, Professor,” she smiled seductively, “but I thought Mr. Jenkins had already arrived and just stepped down to the men’s room.” At that moment, Silas Jenkins came in and sat down in the first row, directly in front of the professor’s lectern.

“Morning, Professor Collins,” he winked at the instructor, “and good morning to you, Miss Odette,” he turned to smile at her.

“Good morning, Silas,” she winked. So, he’s the one sending these obscene notes. Well he can’t force me to quite this course and they won’t expel me. Papa made damn sure of that before he died.

Regina knew she should not gloat over the fact that, despite being an outsider, the University of Technological Arts (UTA) had to accept her and keep her until she graduated or they would not receive funding from Major General Charles Odette’s estate. Regina never understood why her mother had married Major General Odette and given him two children. She knew her mother did not love him; the truth was Bella Maxwell Odette despised her husband.

Regina sighed; she wished her father were still alive. He always protected her, made her feel wanted and an insider. Not even her own mother or brother could make her feel that she was wanted or loved, only her father could do that. He had died two years ago, when the Red Masked Rebels poisoned the water supply of Central Command Headquarters.

After class, Regina left the campus and went to the flight school across the street from UTA. There she watched as her brother, Charles Mason Odette III, performed aerial acrobatics for the Council of a Well Ordered Society. As she stood watching the mid-air maneuvers, a Councilman left the group of black suited lawmakers and walked over to Regina.

“Miss Odette,” he handed her his card; “I’m Joseph Mason, your Major General Odette’s third cousin.”

“It’s nice to finally meet, one of Papa’s relatives.” She smiled sweetly placing his card in the packet of her blue jeans. “What can I do for you?”

“You can tell me who your biological father was, Miss Odette,” he sneered at the look on her face. “I see you’re as shocked as the rest of us. Well, at least that proves you innocent of any involvement in this conspiracy.”

Regina remembered something her mother has said to her at her the funeral two years ago. She and her mother we standing at the gravesite, with Regina crying and her mother handed her a silk handkerchief. “Stop your blubbering, Regina; you don’t have to mourn the old bastard who gave you his name.” At the time, she had dismissed the words as part of her mother’s insanity.

“Councilman Mason,” she sighed, “what makes you think that Major General Odette wasn’t my biological father.”

“Proof has come across my desk that an accident in childhood rendered my cousin incapable of fathering children. I don’t care who he paid to beget you and your brother, I just want to make sure that the rumors about your biological father being a Red Mask aren’t true.”

“Councilman Mason, until now I didn’t know there was any question concerning the paternity documents filed with UTA.” A chill ran up her spine realizing that if the collage found out they would expel her immediately. “I understood that the papers were officially attested to and properly signed and sealed.”

“They are,” he smiled at the fear in her eyes. “My cousin was a wealthy man. He could buy anything, except an office at Central Command Headquarters. The rules to acquiring those offices are very clear. Only married personnel with children and whose loyalty is unquestioned are given commands and offices there.”

“Councilman…” Regina’s right hand began to tremble.

“Relax, Miss Odette, I’m the only councilperson here who knows about this and I’m not going to say anything to anyone, as long as, I can be assured of the loyalty of the man who fathered the two of you.”

“Ask my mother.”

“I can’t, your mother is insane and her testimony is inadmissible. So, if you will sign over, the land and house you’re due to receive after your graduate to me. I will make sure that no one ever questions either your or your brother’s parentage again.”

The land and the house, she thought studying the expression on Councilman Mason’s face. That’s all he really wants, nothing else matters to him.

“Councilman, answer me one question before we continue. Why do you want the land and the house? It’s not because it originally belonged to the Mason side of the family. That prosperity has belonged to the Odette’s for over five hundred years. It was in the Odette family before the revolt that put this Well Ordered Society into power.”

“They’re right about you. You are an outsider because no loyal member of this society would dare to ask that question. If I answer your question, will you sign the papers?”

“If you answer the question honestly, that is if an honest answer doesn’t insult your moral values.”

“The land and the house bestow wealth on who ever owns them and…”

“You’re right about that, Councilman Mason, the prosperity is yours. Just make sure no one ever finds out about my parent’s arrangement.”

“No one will, Miss Odette.”