Chapter 10 #2
He raised both eyebrows.
“Unlike me, you are allowed to.” The gossipy whispering in the hall grew louder, and I put on my most beautiful smile. “Quillon Veritas.”
His right eyebrow twitched as if he were trying to keep his composure.
“Are you lost? This isn’t the journalism campus, nor is it the ladies’ restroom.”
He ignored the quiet laughter of the students, and I knew that I was at the mercy of this tyrant. None of these men here would ever defend me.
“It seems that I am the only woman who is willing to be bullied by pretentious wannabe lawyers like you in order to get a good degree, Professor Fitzek Junior.”
Some students burst out laughing. Lucas patted me on the shoulder as if I were his best buddy, which I definitely wasn't.
The professor's face drained of color. A vein appeared on his forehead and his hands, resting on the table, clenched into fists.
I seemed to have hit a nerve.
Struggling to maintain eye contact, I finally raised my eyebrows.
That caused him to spin around to the second blackboard and write my name on it with utter aggression.
“As you wish, Ms. Veritas.” He snorted. “One tally for disrespectful behavior toward an authority figure.” A murmur rippled through the class as he added another tally. “And one for speaking without permission.”
My eyebrows slid further upward and I nodded briefly across the hall.
“What about the men who spoke before me?”
He gave a grumpy grunt and drew another tally mark before looking at the frantically gossiping course.
“And that, gentlemen, is why chatty women have no place here.”
I narrowed my eyes.
He wanted to play the sexism card? Not with me.
I was about to jump up to say something when Lucas pulled me back into the chair.
“Wow. Relax, unless you want him to kick you out of here right now.”
Adrenaline rushed through my veins.
I wouldn't bow down to men like that. Never.
“People like that are the reason no woman wants to study here!” I hissed quietly.
“The legal world is just a little too tough for women.”
Zachary laughed and leaned back to continue listening to the professor, but I couldn't help staring at him in disbelief.
Was he fucking serious?!
The urge to put Lucas in his place grew, but I forced myself to calm down and promised myself to keep my distance in the next lectures.
“Professor, could you please open the door?”
My gaze wandered to the young man standing at the door.
The professor sighed as if he were deeply annoyed.
“I could, but I won’t.”
“But I have to go to the bathroom.”
The young man looked pained as he watched the professor flex his fingers.
“What do you think the thirty minutes before and after each class are for?” He shook his head again. “If you don’t go before, you have to wait.”
The entire lecture didn’t get any better.
Not only did two more names appear on the tally board below mine, but the professor also made sexist comments every two minutes while looking in my direction.
When one student – one wondered how, given the tension in the room – fell asleep, a thick piece of chalk flew at his head. The poor young man jumped up and his classmates laughed at him, while Fitzek Junior glared punitively at the blackboard with the rules.
“Wipe it off if you don't want a tally mark.”
The young man immediately jumped up and wiped the board, but still received a tally mark because he hadn't moistened the sponge and now all the dust was stuck to Fitzek Junior's clothes.
Ten minutes after the lecture had ended, I got up and walked to the door under the gaze of all the students.
“Veritas.” The professor cleared his throat and I turned around, slung my bag over my shoulder and defiantly held his gaze. “What do you think you're doing?”
I pulled a bobby pin out of my pocket and bent it open, which no one present seemed to notice. Of course not. None of these people had ever had to break into a pharmacy to steal medicine for their unemployed, alcoholic mother.
“The lecture ended ten minutes ago.”
The man laughed softly, as if I had made a bad joke.
“The professor is ending the lecture.”
I raised my hand, letting my eyebrows arch and the corner of my mouth curl.
“I think my hairpin is ending the lecture today.”
His smile faded, but I didn't wait, strode to the door and picked the lock in seconds, straightened up, pushed down the handle and left the lecture hall now filled with the whispering of students.
“Everyone! Sit down!” I heard Fitzek Junior shout, and knew immediately that the other students had wanted to follow me.
“Come back right now, Veritas!”
But I left the building for Business and International Law, determined to think very carefully about how I could make the most sustainable use of my remaining sixteen tally marks.
The Remsen
Carlos Rafael Rivera
“Pretty bold to mess with young Fitzek,” said Lucas, who was now wearing black sunglasses and appeared next to me with Zach just as I was entering the building for legal philosophy. “Four tally marks on the first day. No one has ever managed that before.”
So much for my four-point plan to keep a low profile...
I was still annoyed by Lucas' sexist comment, so I replied without looking him in the eye.
“I don't like being bossed around by men.”
Ignoring the sideways glances from the two of them, I looked behind me, where a group of twenty men was walking hundred feet away, all of whom immediately looked elsewhere and pretended to be talking.
“Is it just me, or are we being followed by a bunch of students?”
“You attract attention.” I looked at Zach, who was talking to me for the first time since I had left Fitzek Junior's joke of a lecture. “And if you keep this up, soon everyone will know your name.”
Shit. I had really acted without thinking. Father would probably find out about all this much sooner than planned.
My inner tension returned and I quickened my pace.
“What's the next professor like? Do I need to prepare for anything?”
I doubted that Lara's father was an asshole like Fitzek Junior or gave Nazi speeches like old Fitzek, but it didn't hurt to be prepared.
“Rydell is the lawyer everyone looks up to here. Charismatic, eloquent, reflective... He negotiated top deals in D.C. before coming here, and his debating skills are next level.” I nodded, and Lucas caught up before continuing.
“He's critical, rarely gives more than an 85%, but if you work hard, you'll definitely pass.”
“So, he's strict?”
“No,” Zach interjected. “Unlike Troy Fitzek, he's hard to push to his limits. The two of them are like archenemies.”
Lara's father immediately earned a sympathy point from me.
I just nodded, trying to get a sense of him in my head, simply hoping that this lecture wouldn't be as miserable as the last two.
We entered the next lecture hall together, which was slightly larger than the last one, though not as huge as the first, and I stopped when my gaze wandered over the crowds of students and almost completely occupied seats.
“Why is it so crowded here?”
Lucas walked past me and I followed him more or less involuntarily to get an answer to my question.
“Professor Rydell is the only professor of legal philosophy. The lecture hall is full every year.” He strode casually down the stairs with both hands in his pockets, while Zach walked beside me.
“I didn't even get in last year.” He turned around and walked backwards without falling on his face.
“And you? A damn woman?” He snorted in amusement.
“You've made it in your first semester.”