CHAPTER SEVEN
LEIGH
"I'm going to die soon. The end is near. I can feel it." I collapse in my seat and look over at Sealy.
"I don’t think this forsaken degree plan is worth my time anymore." Sealy groans.
"Did Sally Ride decide it wasn't worth her time? No. So you stop that right now." I rap my knuckles on her desk and shake a finger in her face. "Bad Sealy."
"You look worse than I do. You just said you were going to die soon, Leigh. Death! I can't die. I'm far too young and pretty to leave this wonderful place full of beer and vodka and boys who can bench press me on a beach somewhere while wearing Def Leppard shirts and singing Hank Williams off-key."
"That's an oddly specific item on that list."
"See what you miss in Cabo."
"I will miss Cabo every year if it means skipping the off-key Hank sessions."
"But it's so cute!" Sealy wrinkles her nose like a bunny, but quickly shrugs. "Okay, maybe you have a point, but that's what the vodka is for."
"Oo, sandy vodka! Sounds like a delight!"
"Low calorie, too." She glances at the stack of books on my desk. "Why do you have all of those IN class? Is there a test I forgot about?”
Because the professor is a monster? Because aerothermochemistry is a monster? Because I need a whole separate brain sometimes to process the information? Because I'm working so much to have freaking money to move out of this Podunk town and actually make something of myself, while sacrificing precious study time to do it?
“Just in case.” I say instead.
“That’s it. I’m quitting.”
"Sally Ride, Seals. Sally fucking Ride."
"Women are wasted in this profession." Jack yawns in front of us and my insides immediately turn molten. "Exploration is men’s work and you're taking up valuable resources. Don't you have wings to serve or some shit?"
"Ah yes, career commentary from the boy whose daddy has to regularly build new monuments on campus to keep his invalid son on the football team and in classes he can't even begin to comprehend." I stuck my lower lip out at the jackass while mentally bludgeoning him with a sharp stick.
It's a fun game I play every day Jack actually decides to show up: how many objects can I use to bash his head in? I've gotten very creative over the last few months.
"I'm sorry, did you say something? It's hard to hear you over all the tits you've got going on." Jack flashes a wicked, assholish smile and eyes Sealy. "I didn't realize another one of you is trying to slither in the front door."
“I’ve been here all semester, dumbass. Guess you never noticed since you’re never in class.”
"You do realize you are an archaic piece of shit, right?" I soothe down the poison bubbling in my belly to keep my voice even, but it's a game I'm slowly losing. "You're one of like three people on the planet who feels this way? Time to catch up to the rest of the century, Jack, otherwise you'll be flipping burgers for the rest of your life."
"Nah, babe, I'm the standard."
"You're trash. Don't call me babe."
"I'm just saying, if you can't handle studying for this course and doing that lame job you pretend is hard work, maybe this isn't cut out for you. Throw some babies or a man into that mix and you'll never be able to handle it."
"Real rich coming from someone who buys his papers online." I shoot him an equally nasty grin. "What ever will you do when you get out of this town and everyone realizes there's more substance in cosmic dust than in your precious little noggin?"
"I don't know why you're always so feisty, Leigh. We both use what we've got to our advantage: my incredibly good looks and very deep pockets get me all my precious little noggin's deepest desires. Your tits and big mouth get you yours."
"I can't wait to tell Momma Jones what her precious little boy says to all the girls on campus." I should really start recording all our conversations and dox the fuck out of him, but common decency prevents me from doing most of it. "She'll be so proud."
"At least she knows I know my place." He spits. "Girls don't belong in the engineering field. Period. You can take all your affirmative action bullshit and ram it up your ass, next to my dick."
"So, what I'm hearing is you're pissed the smart girl is fucking up the grading curve for your ignorant, clueless self." Sealy says. "Life must be so hard when it doesn't hand you everything on a gilded platter."
"You can fuck off, too." He jabs a finger in her direction. "Neither one of you has what it takes to make it in STEM and neither one of you will be taken seriously. Try having practice 30 hours a week, traveling for games, and still keeping up with coursework. You couldn't do that if you tried."
"You should really find a more original argument." I fake a yawn. "Every week, you cry about how hard it is to be in football and go to school, like running around with your friends during recess somehow excuses your utter lack of competence."
"And serving wings makes you more competent?"
"Yes, jackass, it does. It means I know how to balance the real world while you're still playing dress-up. I can balance a career, however tiny you seem to think it is, and advanced coursework all on my own. No handouts, no free ride because I throw a damn ball, no one writing my papers for me because my daddy gives me a Get Out of Jail Free card. You're still tethered by metaphorical umbilical cord while I'm thriving."
"Thriving? You look like shit."
"And your arguments are full of shitty logical fallacies." Despite my best efforts, frustration is winning and my vision swims just a little. I've been working too hard, picking up too many shifts, studying too many late nights, to deal with this pathetic excuse for a human.
"You should really shut up, man. Her GPA is like double yours." Frank interjects. "She's one of the smartest girls in the department."
"Shut up, Frank." I snap. "You don't get to chime in after blood has already been drawn. If you're going to say something, say something before the death blow, not after."
"I didn't want to step on any toes." He shrugs a little, awkwardness radiating out of him. "I thought you could handle it, you know?"
"I can, because I've been doing it since last fucking term." I stand up too fast, too angry, and stub my toe. Pain blooms across my brain, but I swallow it down and grab my books. "If you wanted to help, should have done it sooner."
"See what I mean? Think they can have it both ways. They want to be all independent and shit, but still want someone to rescue them." Jack shakes his head at Frank. "Pathetic."
"It's called being a decent fucking human being." My voice warbles just a bit, but I miraculously don't rip his head off. "Something you clearly don't have a grasp of. Daddy can't buy you integrity."
I storm out, brushing past the professor who finally decides to make it to class. Sealy is right behind me, stopping only to lob her own insults at Jack. Whatever they are, I can't hear them over the sound of explosions in my ears.
"I know I should have ignored it, but I'm so tired of this." I say after we've sat in silence on a bench for several minutes. "I'm tired of pieces of shit like him trying to invalidate all the hard work I'm doing."
"There are pieces of shit everywhere." Sealy leans her head against my shoulder. "But he deserved that, no matter what you should or should not have done."
"They are all the same, these big guys who are treated like royalty on campus because they sling a ball. All of them."
"Not... all."
I glare at her but she can't suppress a smile. "I'm just saying. Jack isn't representative of the whole, only the very vocal, very assholish minority. If we're going to survive the rest of this, we need to remember that."
"You're only saying that because you want me to be happy you're sleeping with one of the enemy."
"I haven't slept with Clark. Yet." Sealy winks. "You'll see, Leigh. Jack will get his comeuppance."
"Not soon enough."