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I’m barely listening as I switch to the Cloud, hoping somehow, it’s just a syncing issue. But no matter where I look, the assignment is completely gone.
Submitting the assignment now is no different than submitting it later. As long as it’s submitted before 9 a.m. tomorrow, it’s still only fifty percent of the points I’ve lost. I would need to go back and find the references again, but I’ll be able to recreate something tonight, and something is better than nothing.
I need the grades because the scholarship requires my GPA to be 3.9 or higher. If there are going to be issues, it will be the end of the semester, and I’ve still got the other part of the midterm for this class, as well as finals.
Otherwise, I’ve got a semester to find my answers.
Shutting the lid of my laptop, I straighten and then turn to Dr. Wright. “I’m sorry. I will submit the assignment later. It still needs some work.”
“While I appreciate that for some, Greek life—or whatever they’ve called it here—is the be-all and end-all for some students, the other pledges still managed to hand their assignments in on time.” The look he gives me isn’t of disappointment. It’s more like this is exactly what he expected of me. “Perhaps you should reconsider your…” he runs his tongue over his teeth, like he’s tasting the word. “Extra-curricular activities.”
My cheeks heat up, but it’s not from embarrassment, because if anything, he should be embarrassed.
“Respectfully,sir, I’ve submittedeveryother assignment in all my classes on time, so far. This was the only one I’ve missed, and I intend on making it the last. As for whatever extra-curricular activities I choose to do on a Friday night—or any other night—as long as they’re not in your class, they are my business. And while I appreciate the concern, I don’t think you need to be watching me that closely.”
Considering all the shit I’ve been dealing with lately, I can’t believe the one time I decide to put my foot down, it’s with a professor. Dr. Wright, of all people. But as much as I regret saying some of that, I suck in a breath and keep my back straight.
Dr. Wright purses his lips and tilts his head, staring at me in silence for a length of time that’s long enough to make me feel uncomfortable.
“Why are you here?” he asks me, eventually.
“You told me to come to your office.”
“I mean, here.” He raises his arm and lets it drift towards the window. “James Keyingham University. If you got accepted here, you’d be able to get into almost any other college in the country, and yet you came to the one where your brother murdered people.”
“One. Singular,” I say through gritted teeth. “There weren’t multiple victims.”
Dr. Wright pushes himself off the table and walks over to me, stopping a few paces from me. Although I’m tall myself, right now, he feels monstrous.
“Just who are you?” he asks me. His eyes are narrowed, and there’s a cold hatred in them as he looks at me.
“Excuse me?” It’s no longer a secret that I’m Cole Reynolds’ sister, and he knows this.
“The problem with the students here is the sheer entitlement and arrogance you all have. Who are you to decide that one person’s life has more value than another’s?”
Entitlement? Me? “Excuseme?”
“You have come to this campus, knowing exactly what happened here, and you flaunt around like you do not care how the friends and family of the victims your brother killed might feel.”
“Victim.” I snap. “It’s just one person—”
“Your brother killed two people!” Dr. Wright yells, making me flinch. “Just because he was convicted of one murder does not mean that’s the only person he killed. And the way you and your family continue to deny this, never mind cover it up is despicable.”
XXIX
Tori
My whole body is trembling, but I can’t move. It’s like all my brain power is going into trying to decipher what Dr. Wright said but is failing miserably. Because that doesn’t make sense. It’s not even possible.
Cole didn’t kill JP.
And he didn’t kill…
“Who?” The word is barely audible, so I clear my throat and try again. “Who else did he kill?”
“Lucy Barnes.”
Like my brain is the MacBook and I’m desperately searching for the assignment, my mind is racing, trying to recall anything about the name. There’s so little information available about the case that I’ve probably memorized most of the sites I’ve visited.
