XII
Tori
“—A nd thank you for volunteering, Ms. Anderson.”
Penny collides into my back as I stop in the doorway of Dr. Wright’s freshman Mass Comm class. “The fuck?” she cries. As she steps to my side and sees the professor glaring at us, she sheepishly bobs her head. “Sorry, professor.”
Dr. Wright ignores her, turning back to the class. “You can all thank Ms. Anderson for taking on the role so that you don’t have to.”
“What role?” I ask.
“Had you been in class on time, you would have heard me tell everyone that Mr. Harrington has resigned as my T.A. Thank you for volunteering your services.”
“What about me?” Penny asks. “I was behind Tori, so technically, I’m later.”
“Unfortunately, I only have one position available, but if you’re desperate for work, I can give you extra assignments,” Dr. Payne tells her.
“No, that’s fine.” Penny waves her hands at him. “I’m good.” She leans towards me. “I guess it’s kind of a lifeline and now you don’t need to look for another job.”
I’d been working in the kitchens, partly because I was trying to find anyone who could give me any nugget of information about my brother, but also, because my scholarship only covered so much, and I needed the money.
Since I quit, I’ve not had much opportunity to even think about finding another job. Still, I’m not sure if this is a lifeline or a rope with an anchor attached to it.
“Then, unless you two wish to take this class and stand up here instead of me, I suggest you sit down and stop preventing everyone else from learning.”
And just like that, Penny and I are sitting together again.
After someone defaced my desk, she’d been moved to the seat next to Quentin’s, and I’d been forced to sit at the end of Dr. Wright’s desk. With Quentin gone, that means I can take his seat.
We’re barely seated before Dr. Wright starts his lesson, and I’m grateful for something else to focus on.
A uniform had been in the bathroom.
Not my uniform. I was the only person on campus wearing the uniform exactly how it had been intended, because I could only just afford to buy the required clothes, never mind personalize them like everyone else.
This one, like the dress I’d worn last night, had been made specifically for me. Each piece was very similar to the original, but even just by touching the fabric, I could tell that they were better quality.
I’d hurriedly put them on without really inspecting them because I didn’t have the time, but there was nothing obvious about them that would get me in trouble or make me stand out in a bad way. Or even a good way.
James Keyingham University’s colors are cobalt blue and silver, but the main color in the uniform is navy. A navy blazer with silver details, including the college crest embroidered on the chest. Three buttons for guys and two for girls. In the summer, girls are expected to wear a skirt that should come to our knees, but in winter, we can wear pants.
About two weeks before midterms, the temperature started dropping, and most girls started swapping their skirts for pants. I had too—until someone had stolen them.
But pants weren’t provided to me today. I have a skirt that’s about two inches higher than my knees, and it’s also tight. Which means, not only does it ride up when I sit down, but I also have to make sure I sit with my knees locked together, otherwise I’m flashing Dr. Wright.
Only a couple of weeks ago, he’d gone with me into New York City as I chased down the only lead that I found on my brother’s case. For less than a day, he warmed up to me… Well, he was maybe more like slush than solid ice.
But now, he’s back to being a human icicle, and I don’t miss any of the cold glares he sends my way throughout what’s left of the hour.
When the soft chimes denote the end of the lesson, he turns to me. “Report to my office at lunchtime.”
“Don’t you have to be in the dining hall?” Penny asks as she slides her laptop into her bag.
“Mmmm.” I stand with her, but I don’t walk towards the door. “Don’t wait for me. I mean, at all,” I tell her, earning me a frown as she crosses her arms. “I have this and Syn to deal with,” I quickly explain. “Let me work out what has happened to my timetable first. You shouldn’t be late because of me. I’ll message you later, I promise.”
Since I have a class directly after this one, and I really don’t want to be late to another, I head over to Dr. Wright. He must also have a class after this one because he’s not making any effort to leave.
“For clarification, I was talking about lunchtime in this time zone.”
The trip to the city hadn’t been a date—far from it. And we hadn’t exactly returned the best of buddies, but I’m not sure what I’ve done to warrant this level of contempt.
“Have I done something to upset you?”
Dr. Wright straightens his back and clasps his hands together on the desk in front of him. “You mean, besides your lack of respect for my time?”
There’s only a ten-minute gap between classes, and behind me, the first person for the next class walks in.
“I have a commitment at lunchtime. I won’t be able to make it.”
“Then allow me to further accommodate you, Ms. Anderson. What time works best for you?”
If I have to be in the dining hall from the start of every service until potentially the end, I can’t make plans for this evening, and I can’t ask him to wait until after 9 p.m. I only have one class tomorrow morning, and that’s right before lunch, but I also don’t think he’s going to let me leave this until tomorrow, either.
“1:30?” I suggest. That should give me enough time to serve Syn—he said he was eating at 12:30 today—and be able to run to the house and back in my free period. If I have to skip a class later, I will.
“You’re in luck because I don’t have a class at that time. Now, unless you would like to join this one, I suggest you leave.”
I make it to math by the skin of my teeth, and as soon as that class ends, I’m the first one out the door. Even though I only have a blazer, with all the running, I barely have time to feel the cold.
Despite the high heels I’ve got to wear, I make it back to the dining hall and have Syn’s table set with a few minutes to spare before he walks in. Later, I’m going to ask Syn, Royal, and Gemini for their timetables. While I have no power over when they choose to eat, if I can at least get an idea of what I might be working with, I can try to figure out how I’m going to be everywhere I need to be.
Or at least, work out which classes I’m going to need to skip.
I know Syn has arrived before I see him, because the atmosphere in the dining hall changes. There are more people in here now than there were at breakfast, and the crowds part to let him through. Once again, there’s no Royal or Gemini with him.
He walks like he’s not noticed a thing, pausing as he passes me. Then, without acknowledging me, he takes his seat.
As I was changing, I almost made a mistake.
This morning, in the garment bag with the maid outfit was a bra and panty set. It also came with a suspender belt and a pair of stockings. My uniform didn’t come with a new set of underwear, but there was a different pair of stockings.
While the navy skirt of my uniform is just long enough that you can’t see the top of the stockings unless I sit down and the skirt rides up, the maid’s outfit is shorter.
And the two pairs of stockings, although similar, have different lace patterns at the top.
Honestly, most guys wouldn’t be able to tell. I bet I could wear one stocking on each leg, and they’d never notice.
I’m glad I listened to my instincts when something told me Syn would.
He probably did it intentionally.
Syn takes his time with his lunch, but otherwise, the time passes without incident. No doubt he’s trying to lull me into some false sense of security, and I’m not falling for it.
Once I’ve cleaned up after him, I grab a sandwich, eating it as I hurry back across campus to get changed for the fourth time, before I have to run straight back out to get to Dr. Wright’s office on time.
After this morning, I arrive a few minutes early.
Although this is the only office of a professor’s I’ve been in, it’s not welcoming. Like all the other wood on campus, everything in here is made from Mahogony: the large desk, the second table by my side, and the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. The floor is a pale marble, which reflects the light from the large window behind Dr. Wright’s desk, but with the few belongings in here, everything seems clinical.
Dr. Wright is standing in front of the window, staring out of it. He turns when I’ve shut the door behind me, locking his gaze on me. His jacket is hanging on the coatrack in the corner of the room, and he’s rolled the sleeves of his green paisley shirt up.
Most of the girls in my Mass Comm class think the man is hot. I don’t think he’s that much older than us—maybe thirty at the most—which makes him the youngest professor on campus. Last week, he had a buzz cut with the edges in precision-straight lines. At some point over the weekend, he took it further and now he’s bald. While I will not be admitting anything out loud, it has made him hotter.
His skin is a deep, warm brown, but his eyes, although deep and brown too, are anything but warm.
But they do seem to have thawed a little from the ice they had been earlier.
“Have you found anything?” Dr Wright asks.
“About Cole?” I ask.
He shrugs. “Or Lucy.”
Lucy Barnes. The mystery woman who was the source of his resentment towards me.
According to him, James Patrick Keyingham wasn’t my brother’s only victim. Apparently, he’d murdered this woman, too.
With a sigh, I let my bag slide off my shoulder and set it down on the table. “I got into Denali House yesterday ,” I told him.
“Exactly.”
I stare in disbelief, my mind whirring over the last twenty-four hours, and when I could have possibly done anything.
Does he really think I’d have something so soon? Or does he think I don’t understand the importance of what I’m doing?
Dr. Wright presses his lips together as he walks over to me. “Regardless of whether or not you were late this morning, I was going to make you my T.A. for this reason.”
Whatever the link is, I’m failing to see it.
“You’re in that house to look for answers, and yet you’ve allowed yourself to be distracted by ‘hot boys.’” He raises his hands to make air quotes. “Clearly, you need some accountability. Given your ranking in my class, it would seem strange for you to be reporting to me so frequently unless you have a good reason. So I’ve given you one.”
“Do you think I’m having fun doing this?” I ask him, incredulous.
He gestures vaguely to my body. “The new clothes and jewelry are hard to miss.”
New clothes and… jewelry…?
Does he think this thing around my neck is some kind of fashion statement?
Dr. Wright turns and walks the few paces to his desk, picks up a sheet of paper, then walks back to me. “I’ve looked at your schedule and found times where we can meet twice a week, which is what that idiot Harrington did. For the sake of appearances, you will need to be present in some of my other classes, but it looks like most of your free periods coincide with when Synclair Keyingham has his class with me.”
I take the paper from him and stare at my new timetable. The number of free periods that I had has dropped by half now, and there are two evening sessions that conflict with dinner times.
“I don’t know if I can do this,” I tell him. “Syn allowed me to be an initiate with the near impossible expectation that I’m doing everything that sixteen people were doing. If I’m not there in the dining hall to serve him, he’s going to throw me out and then I’m never going to get the answers I need.”
“Leave that to me.”