Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 117363 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 469(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117363 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 469(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
“Yes,” Jean said as he accepted the papers. “The degree requirements between our universities are fairly similar.”
Jeremy nodded. “If for any reason we can’t line some classes up with the others, I’ll talk to the teachers about me sitting in. I’m nearly done with my major, so my schedule’s sparse this year. Half of what I’m enrolled in is what I need for my degree and the other half is just what sounds interesting so I can hit full-time status. Did you ever give it any thought? Signing up for something fun, I mean.”
“The Trojan obsession with fun has not gotten any easier to tolerate,” Jean said.
“You could just say ‘no’,” Jeremy said dryly. “How about this: if I end up sitting in on at least one of your classes, you come along to one of mine in exchange. Fair trade?”
“A reasonable request,” Jean agreed.
“More theater classes this year?” Cat asked as she and Laila wandered over.
“Beginner ceramics,” Jeremy said with a grin, and mimed shaping a bowl. “Intro to wheelwork, or something like that. Going to fill your living room with so many misshapen cups and pots. Sorry in advance.”
Jean eyed him. “For what purpose?”
Jeremy looked to the ceiling for patience. “For fun.”
Jean sighed as if Jeremy was the one being unreasonable. Cat just laughed and asked, “Dinner?”
It was an easy walk back to their house, though the warm day was uncomfortable after such a long practice. Jeremy couldn’t wait for fall to creep in with cooler weather. Cat seemed equally grouchy about it and set herself to brainstorming something light and inoffensive to eat while Laila prodded Jean for his first impression of their teammates. Overall, Jean was satisfied, though he found the team-wide rustiness repulsive and complained yet again about Class I teams having summers off.
“Yes, yes,” Laila said tolerantly.
As soon as Cat could get into the kitchen and check the head of lettuce in the fridge, she chucked a pan of chicken in the oven. “Lettuce wraps,” she said before Jean could get comfortable at the island for his role in the prep work. “Come on, let’s get this schedule sorted out so we can make sure it works.”
Jean ended up on the floor of the study so he could spread everything out better, his teammates’ printouts and then the catalogue with the semester’s classes and schedules. He’d earmarked the appropriate pages, and now he flipped back and forth between them to see if anything lined up. Laila sat in her desk chair to watch while Jeremy sat across from Jean, and Cat stole Jean’s desk because it was closer to where he’d gotten settled. She watched over Jeremy’s shoulder for a few minutes before saying,
“Scratch paper would probably make this a bit easier, yeah?” She looked toward her desk, then Laila’s, but they’d finally cleared away last year’s mess. Cat started to get up, likely to scrounge some paper from her bedroom, when she noticed the spiral notebooks taking up space on Jean’s desk. “Oh, Jean, you don’t mind, right?”
Jean looked up at the sound of his name. As soon as he realized what she was reaching for, he lurched to his feet to stop her, but she wasn’t waiting for permission. She plucked up a notebook from the stack and chucked it at him, and Jean only managed to clip it with his fingertips on its way by. It landed open on the floor by Jeremy’s knee, and the room went still as stone as the four of them stared down at the bold lettering scratched across the page.
TRAITOR
Laila was the first to find her voice, but all she managed was, “Hello?”
Jean stood frozen, staring down at his notebook with his hand still out in front of him. Jeremy slowly turned the notebook so it’d be right-side up for him, and he flipped the page. The back was scribbled over in black ink, and the odd page opposite it had another angry message: WHORE.
Jeremy tried to look up at Jean but couldn’t. “Jean, what is this?”
He couldn’t stop flipping, but it didn’t get any better. Page after page the insults continued, though they started to repeat after a while. The only new bit was a piece of stationery, neatly tucked in between some pages, that was covered in slanted writing. Jeremy started to reach for it, but Jean dropped as quickly as he could to snatch the notebook away from him. Jeremy caught hold of his arm before he could retreat, and Jean met his stare with a baleful glare.
“You want to explain that?” Jeremy asked.
“They’re my school notes,” Jean said. “I needed them for finals.”
“Finals were months ago,” Laila pointed out as she got up and went to stand at Cat’s side. Cat was flipping through a second notebook, and the livid look on her face suggested it’d been similarly defaced. “You have a good reason for keeping them? For bringing them here, even? You finished finals back in South Carolina. These should have gone in the trash when you packed for the move.”