He snatched the papers from me, and sat back in his chair. His face was almost purple. He was positively seething with rage and he looked about ready to kill me.
“What. Do. You. Want?” he sneered.
“Aim your gun at someone else,” I snapped. “All he wants are twelve people, there are fifteen of us here. Help me bring them down. Once we do that, you’ve already secured yourself as one of the chosen twelve. What happens after, well, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”
“And here I thought you were all about helping people, and doing the right thing,” he sucked his teeth.
“But I am. I’m doing the right thing, for me.”
“Fine. So tell me, how did you get your hands on this information?”
One down, one to go.
“I know a guy and he’s good with computers,” I said as we headed into one of our other classes. Levi—Professor Black’s–class, was to be our last class that day. The class we had now was a total snore. Our professor looked like he hadn’t practiced law since the Great Depression.
He took a seat beside me, and leaned back into his chair. “So who else are you planning to bring into your little clubhouse?”
I noticed that his accent didn’t stand out as much now.
“What makes you think anyone else is invited?”
“Oh?” he asked. “And I guess that I’m just that special?”
“Don’t flatter yourself, you’ll find out when we get to Black’s class.”
He shifted, looking me over again.
“What?”
“What happened to you? One moment you were all smiles and rainbows, and now, you’re like a black hole.”
“Does that make it hard for you to work with me?”
“No, I’m just wondering where I’d have to go to blacken my soul.”
I didn’t reply.
Kneeling, I helped her pick up all her books, whilst others just walked by.
“Vivian Vega, right?” I asked her, knowing full well I was right. She was the one who loved my mother, and was basically a walking encyclopedia of cases.
“What do you want?” she asked, as she pushed her glasses back up her nose, tilting her head to the side.
“Nothing much, I just want you to stop trying to make a fool out me in class. Not only is it annoying to be constantly interrupted by you, but it’s borderline ridiculous. You aren’t going to upstage me with just facts. You and I are the only girls left, we sh
ould work together.”
“It sounds like you’re scared,” she said, her eyes narrowing. “I’m fine on my own. With the way Professor Black keeps hounding you for missing class, I doubt you’ll make it to the end of the week, so on that note, I’m going to have to reject your fake sisterhood offer.”
“Whatever you say Little Butterfly,” I called out to her as she tried to walk away.
She stopped and slowly turned to look at me, her eyes were wide.
“What did you call me?”
“Little Butterfly. That’s your name, right?”
She dragged me by the hand, pulling me into the girls’ bathroom. She checked under all the stalls before looking to me.