The Big Fish by Madison Henley (best free e reader .TXT) 📕

treated her. It bothered her because Keliah was just a student of hers and needed to bulk up and not be a 24/7 pain in the ass but the look on Keliah's face when Georgia exploded on her was enough guilt to even make Georgia Kerouac feel remorse.  As much as Georgia tried to deny it, it was Keliah who drove her to come to work every day. After a moment of silence and Georgia fiddling with her nails, she spoke.

"I um, thank you anyways."

"You're welcome."

"Look I'm sorry for the way I treated you the other day. It's just—well I have no excuse and I apologize for my harsh behavior."

Keliah looked up at Georgia, trying to detect what was laced within her apology. Sorrow?

When Keliah didn't reply, Georgia took that as a hint to continue.

"My father—he is in the hospital and he's not really doing well. Last week the doctors told me there wasn't anything left they could do."

"Professor Kerouac, I am so sorry. You don't have to apologize. It was my fault anyways, for always being so jumpy. I'm sorry."

"No, Keliah it's fine, really. To be honest it's your hyper-ness that keeps me awake in the mornings."

Georgia chuckled. Keliah smiled briefly before putting her head down to think. Professor Kerouac's father was sick. How could Keliah miss the gloominess in Georgia's demeanor? She should've been on top of that. Keliah thought of something that would make Georgia feel better. Flowers? A balloon? No, that would just make everything worse. Georgia didn't deserve any of this. She was a good person deep down. All the good people get hurt and it wasn't fucking fair.

"You okay over there?"

Keliah looked up at a smiling Georgia, before she could realize that she had gotten a little teary eyed during her thoughts. She giggled and wiped away her tears.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just don't like to see the people I care about get hurt."

"You care about me?"

"I mean, yeah I guess. You are a really great professor I guess."

Could that have sounded any more teacher-pet-ish?

"Why thank you Keliah. You're a good student."

During class, Keliah felt more at ease. She had an open conversation with Professor Kerouac and it didn't involve her getting yelled at. She was off to a good start so far. Several times during class, Keliah had to look down at her paper to hide her shit-eating from that would suddenly appear at the thought of Georgia. Sure, their conversation was short but it meant the world to Keliah. She couldn't wait to tell Meredith what had happened.

***

"I don't fucking get her."

Keliah pouted.

"I mean, just the other week she wasn't even acknowledging my presence. Now she's flirting with me like some whore."

Meredith stuck a spoonful of peanut butter in her mouth as she looked around her room for another banana.

"Women are complicated that way."

"No, Georgia Kerouac is complicated that way. Damn, if i would've known it would be this challenging just to win her attention I would've stuck with Political Science."

Meredith stared at her watch.

"Can we cut Kerouac Therapy a little short today?"

"Where are you going?"

"Library. Unlike you, I wasn't blessed with an easy semester."

"Oh come on! I still have more Georgia to talk about."

"Write in your diary that you think no one knows you have until I get back."

"I—Fine. But expect me to give you the Kerouac today."

"What do you mean The Kerouac?"

"Expect for me to ignore you."

***

Keliah walked out of the library and headed back to her favorite (but now a little less favorite) coffee house. Now there were three people working registers and she had her coffee in seconds. She sat down at a booth in the back and pulled her laptop out, beginning to write in the notebook section of her computer. She still doesn't know how Meredith managed to figure out what she was writing. She may have to relate back to pen and paper. She wrote in full detail about her and Georgia's encounter and felt like an idiot when she realized she had been smiling to herself the entire time. When she finished, she sipped the rest of her coffee and stared out the big glass window. She suddenly got an idea and opened up Safari and typed Georgia Kerouac into the search engine. A few articles came up mentioning her name but it was only school stuff. There were mostly links about her father or someone who she thought could be her father. President of U.S. Soccer, Reginald Kerouac In Critical Condition. Will Daughter and Current Interim, Georgia Kerouac Take Reign After Death?  Keliah must have spent hours sitting in the back of the cafe reading articles on her professor and her father. She found out that her professor's father had been at Colridge Memorial for three months due to cancer. The atmosphere of the cafe changed as it became close to closing. Keliah had gone through her third cup of coffee and her eyes were tired from looking at her bright screen for so long. She twirled her coffee straw in her lukewarm drink mindlessly as she read through so many articles, going several years back. Reginald Kerouac was a successful businessman who earned his fame by hunger for power and his desire to be on top.  Of course that earned him several enemies as well and in the current articles, Keliah read how some people were glad he was diagnosed with cancer; that he deserved it because he was just so mean.