Chapter 2

The Victorian style church tower loomed over the gothic style campus on the early February morning, casting an eerie shadow across half of the quad where a few students bravely faced the weather. As the temperature outside was starting to increase in preparation for a bright, shiny day, the wind began to pick up as well, sending the dead leaves on the ground to rustle around while trees, bare of foliage, swayed with the breeze. At the main gate leading into the college, the wrought iron framework was etched with the motto, "For God, for Country, and for Berkeley".

Through the gate, you can see a few students briskly walking, textbooks and binders clutched tightly to their chests as they hurried towards the academic buildings. As the streets and the quad started to clear out of the various by-goers, the campus clock attached to the church tower striked eight, singling the time with eight very loud and distinct rings. As the clock finished chiming, the doors to the classrooms closed, signaling the start of the midterm exams to all those already seated at their desks. 

In room 214, the huge lecture hall is filled with about two hundred nervous college student, a majority of them nervously fidgeting as they anxiously waited for their exam packets. Along with the students, there are approximately a six teaching assistants, all of which are quickly working their way up the center aisle passing out the exams and blue books row by row. 

***

“Okay, people, this is the midterm.” Shouted a man in his mid-thirty’s with thinning brown hair and wired rimmed glasses, a smug smile plastered on his face. “This exam is forty percent of your grade. But those of you with a working knowledge of the Franco-Prussian War shouldn’t be too concerned. For those who don’t … now’s the time to start panicking.”

“For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Philip.” Philip said smugly as he strutted back and forth at the front of the classroom, his hands clasped behind his back. “If you don’t know who I am, that means you’ve never been to class.”

“Study materials need to go under our desk…yes, that’s right Mr. Dubroski, under … as my minions pass out the test booklets.” He continued as he watched his students fold up their binders and note books, a majority of them immediately putting their study material away.