Asher waited for me outside while I joined the faculty advisor in his office. He was behind his desk, typing on a computer, while I sat in one of the uncomfortable chairs facing him.
“Let me get this straight,” he said, after asking three times for me to spell my name. “You have failed your qualifying exam…”
“Withdrawn from it,” I said.
“Same thing,” the advisor said. “But you have done so because you are pregnant.”
After keeping it a secret for so long, it still shook me up to hear it said aloud so plainly.
“Yes, that’s right.”
The advisor made a humming noise and continued typing. After a moment, he spoke. “I assume your intention now, then, is to tell me you plan to withdraw from the Academy.”
“No,” I said at once.
He finally glanced at me, away from the computer screen. Co
