Page 78 of Juliet's Echo

What the hell?

“Additionally,” he began, “if it wasn't for nepotism, some women wouldn't hold the positions they have today.”

The audience shifted.

And so did I.

“Psalm, you playing right now?” I questioned, making sure the annoyance in both my voice and my hands came through loud and clear.

“No. Why would I be playing?”

I jerked my head, folded my arms, and stared at him over the rims of his glasses.

He had exactly three seconds to clear this shit up before I went off.

“What?” he asked. “Some women have benefited from nepotism.”

Oh shit.

Not only was he loud and wrong, but he had the nerve to double down.

Go time.

“You mean because men were so sexist they refused to hire them otherwise?” I challenged. “Or better yet, so intimidated that the moment a qualified woman steps onto the scene, everything starts flowing the way it should?”

A few people clapped.

Psalm raised an eyebrow, giving me that challenge-accepted look he'd perfected.

“The river doesn't always flow calmly,” he countered. “A lot of times it leaves behind wreckage.”

The men in the audience roared as if he'd just delivered the greatest point in debate history.

“Okay, and?” I shot back. “Y'all act like disruption is a bad thing. Sometimes things need to be shaken up.”

“All I'm saying is women have had doors opened for them because of nepotism.”

“The doors should've never been closed in the first place,” I fired back. “Especially when the man holding the key probably got into the position because of a woman. Y'all stay succeeding off women emotionally, professionally, and domestically, then want extra credit for doing shit you're supposed to be doing anyway.”

The audience exploded again.

Professor Hamburger damn near launched himself out of his seat.

“That is still nepotism, Lucky,” Psalm said, pointing at me. “And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it.”

“No,” I corrected. “That's a discriminatory system being forced to correct itself.”

Back and forth we went, completely forgetting this was a class assignment and that we were technically supposed to be on the same team.

By this point, the audience wasn't watching a presentation anymore.

They were watching us.

Finally, Psalm crossed his arms.

“So what are you saying, Juliet? Speaking as someone who's in a position to be a nepo baby herself.”

“Ooooooh,” the crowd groaned collectively.