Page 75 of Broken Butterfly
“What are you doing?”
“Making sure there’s no toilet paper stuck to the bottom of my shoes or a bird in my hair.” See roams her gaze over Trevor, then me. “Nothing embarrassing sticking on or out of us. So those bitches better stop staring!” she announces loudly, sticking her middle finger up at a group of girls who won’t stop giggling and pointing our way. I notice Trevor tense up and scowl at the girls, so I try and distract him before he flies off the handle like he did yesterday.
“If you guys aren’t busy tonight, Jayson is fighting, and I told him that I would come.”
Like I knew she would be, Meredith is instantly distracted from her sneer-war with the rude, giggling girls.
“Hell, yes. A bunch of aggressive alpha males. Count me in,” she replies.
Trevor leans back so he can talk past Meredith to me. “It can get pretty gruesome. Are you sure you want to see that?”
Because I’m curious, I ask him, “What was it like? You said you fought for a couple of years and then stopped.”
“I needed an outlet for my anger after my mom died. What was it like? A bunch of dickheads with very loud mouths, bigger egos, and little to show for it. Most of the time, a couple of well-placed punches to the face would take them down. A lot of guys think they know how to fight. It was easy money.”
Meredith and I both express surprise. “You got paid? To fight?”
“What? Did you not expect anyone to place bets on which fighter would win his round, or for the winner to get a cut of the pot?”
No, I honestly didn’t. “Why did you stop?”
“Told you before. I had other things to worry about,” he answers vaguely.
I reach into my bag and pull out the gift that I bought Trevor in Barcelona. “Before I forget, this is for you. You can open it later.”
Trevor accepts the wrapped item from my hand. “Elizabeth, you really didn’t have to get me anything, but thank you.”
“I got a bracelet.” Meredith shakes her wrist at him completely forgetting that she already showed him yesterday when we were all hanging out in her dorm room.
“Firecracker, how much did you drink yesterday?”
“Not enough.” Meredith taps me with her pencil. “When and where should we meet you?”
“It’ll be someplace outside of town. Jayson will let me know once he gets a text later today.”
“Very clandestine.” She giggles. “I love it!”
“I can’t let the two of you go by yourselves. Count me in.”
“Ryder is coming, possibly Fallon. Will you be alright with that?”
Trevor rolls his eyes at the mention of his half-brother but says he’ll behave as long as Fallon does. Our conversation is cut off when Professor Hallenger and his TAs walk in.
“Alright class. The semester is almost over which means your final exam is imminent. It counts for the majority of your grade. WhileTerry and Francine pass out study guides for it, could Elizabeth Fairchild please come up if she is present today.”
Why does he want to speak with me?
“I’m here,” I call out and make my way up to the front. I pass the girls that Meredith flicked off earlier and they start giggling again.
“You wanted to speak with me, Professor?”
He motions me to the side and addresses me quietly so that other students can’t hear our conversation. “Good morning, Miss Fairchild. I apologize that I haven’t gotten much of an opportunity to meet one-on-one. There’s just too many of you.” He chuckles. “The dean has personally spoken to me about your extension, and I wanted to make sure that you understand what that entails and ask if you have any questions.”
I look at him blankly. “Extension?”
“For your leave of absence.”
Oh shit. And the dean is involved? That means that Daniel probably knows that I’ve been absent from class for a month. I play along, wanting to strangle Fallon for not giving me a proper head’s up when he told me “everything was taken care of” when it came to my classes.
