Page 19 of Break Points and Face Offs

“Yes sir, thank you.”

He gives me a hearty slap on the back before leaving.

When I turn around, Priestley’s glaring at me.

“You’ve played golf before.”

“Hadn’t you already assumed that? Why else would you invite me to play?”

His chest rises and falls with his heavy breath. He looks like he’s gritting his teeth.

“Unless you just wanted to embarrass me?”

Priestley takes a step closer. His polo brushes mine and the smell of his cologne makes my head swim. I’m shit with scents, but certain smells come through clearly, like sandalwood and something else, something nutty and spicy. For the briefest of seconds, my body takes over every logical thought and warmth spreads through me. My pants tighten a little. But then Priestley speaks and ruins it.

“I’ve worked my whole life for this internship. I won’t have you swoop in and steal it from me.”

“You’ve worked your whole life. Really?”

He takes a step back and blinks up at me. “Yes, that’s what I said.”

There’s a voice in the back of my head—the smart one who got me this far. It’s telling me I need to put whatever shit Priestley and I have going on to one side for the sake of the group project. We can pick it back up later if we have to. But he’s standing here in his country club, after trying to humiliate me in front of a future potential client or associate, telling me he’s ‘worked’ his whole life for this opportunity.

“Professor Moreno’s gonna choose the best person to be number one. So far, that’s me,” I say.

I swear I can hear him grinding his teeth.

“If you think you can beat me, then game on,” I add.

I turn and walk away before he can fling back whatever retort was probably on the tip of his tongue.

It feels like a mic drop moment. I let myself enjoy it as I leave the club. I just hope I don’t come to regret it.

8

PRIESTLEY

As much as it pains me to admit, Will was right about one thing. Whoever is top of that leaderboard will win the internship. And Professor Moreno has made it very clear that she is all about gaining things with hard work and through merit.

Therefore, I stay up half the night working on my part of the group project the night before our preliminary presentation.

We have to show Professor Moreno where we’re at before the final group presentation in a few weeks. Our performance in this pre-presentation will not be officially graded, but it will affect our place on the leaderboard.

Professor Moreno has created a separate group leaderboard, too … just for ‘fun.’ I’m starting to think Professor Moreno is a bit of a sadist. No wonder she’s so successful.

When I get to class the next morning, I’m sleep deprived and I’m sure my clothes are less than perfect. I still don’t look as shabby as Peter Chow, though, so that’s something.

When I take my seat next to Will on the third row, he merely side-eyes me and I do the same. We all have our cue cards with the separate parts of the presentation we worked on. My main concern is Peter not cracking under the pressure. He’s already sweating and tugging at his collar.

Professor Moreno asks who’d like to go first.

I raise my hand. Let’s get this out of the way before the fatigue really sets in. I can’t guarantee I won’t fall asleep during three other presentations on financial risk assessment and taxation.

I smooth my hair down as I make my way to the front of the room. Clearing my throat, I open my mouth to start, but Will speaks at the same time.

“What are you doing?” I whisper-shout.

Someone in the audience shuffles in their chair.