A Sign

"Lisa over here!" Lisa's best friend Jill waved to her from the volleyball court. Lisa dropped her newly bought books on the ground and rushed over to her friend. They had not seen each other since the end of the last school year. Now it was the last week of August and students began moving back on to campus.

"Jill!" Lisa hugged her friend with a tremendous squeeze, "I missed you so much!"
"Me too!" Jill mirrored Lisa's enthusiasm. "How was your summer? Oh, did you decide on a major?!"

Last year Lisa struggled to decide between becoming a teacher or going into finance. They had many late night debates over how much money someone in finance makes versus the feeling of actually teaching kids brand new things.
"I did." Lisa frowned. "Finance."
"Aww, why the sad face?" Jill faked a bit of enthusiasm, "You'll make so much money!"
"I know, and that's why I chose it." Lisa replied, looking up at the cloudy sky. "I'm just not sure if that's what I want to do for the rest of my life. I just wish someone would send me a sign and let me know what to do."
"Well, it's not too late. Classes don't start for another week if you want to switch."
Lisa pointed over at the books she dropped on the ground. "Yeah, I already bought my books..."
"Oh." Jill grabbed her volleyball from the ground. "Well then it's pretty much set in stone. We can talk more later." She nodded her head towards the court where more of their friends had gathered for a quick game before the rain came." You ready to play?"
Krrrr-Hzzz Thunder rumbled in the clouds overhead. "Hurry up!" One of the guys at the net yelled. "Before we all get zapped to death." He smiled as another cackle of thunder sounded overhead.
"Alright, Alright!" Jill lowered her head to duck under the net as she ran to the back corner with the volleyball. "Zero serving zero. Are you ready?" She got into place and prepared to serve.

The wind began to pick up as the storm continued to culminate. Down the path from the volleyball court, Lisa's Corporate Finance book flipped open and the pages violently turned as if some furious speed-reading ghost got its hands on the book.

"We're ready!" Lisa called from the other side, trying to brush her hair behing her ears in order to prepare for the return.
"Okay, here we go!" Jill held the ball out as if she were practicing to be a waitress. She brought her right arm back, ready to hit the ball when-

KRRRR-BLAM

In a blindingly brilliant flash, a bolt of lightning managed to find its way to the Corporate Finance book which was lying on the now burnt grass. As it struck, speckles of the book flew into the air, as if the words and very ideas of finance were being shattered by the unrelenting force of the storm.

Everyone on the court fell to the ground as a blast of lightning hit just down the path from them. A couple of the students screamed obscenitites, but nobody heard them as the blast temporarily made everyone deaf.
"Okay, I'm out." One of the players held his hands up and ran for cover in the dorms.
The rest of them all wandered over to where the lightning struck, none of them saying a word.
Eventually Lisa made her way to the front and stared down at the smoking crater where her books used to lie.
"Lisa..." Jill put her hand on her friend's shoulder.
Lisa looked back at Jill with her eyebrows raised and bit her lip.
Before anything else could be said, the rain finally hit and began to drench everyone. One of the girls shrieked with surprise as the first cold raindrops landed on her exposed neck. Quickly, everyone ran back towards the dorms, leaving the smoking remnants of Lisa's book on the ground.

ONE WEEK LATER:

"Samantha Balay." The moustached Educational Methods professor called out attendence in the same monotone voice that seemed to be a requirement of teaching at a university.
"Here." A young woman with a blank notebook out raised her hand.
"Christopher Burke."
"Yeah." A distracted young man looked up from his game of minesweeper long enough to get his attendence points for the day.
"Lisa Calendine."
"Here." Lisa raised her hand briefly before setting it back down onto her brand new Educational Methods textbook. Tucked neatly inside the cover was a little piece of paper Lisa did not expect to use. Still, she kept the reciept...just in case.

Word Count: 774