started fidgeting with the strap of his book bag. “You seeing anybody, like exclusively?”
“Why?”
His forehead stretched. “Because…”
“Because what?”
“I want to ask you on a date. A few people said you’re dating this random guy off campus. In the event that’s not serious, I want to see if you’d be interested in going out.”
My eyes ballooned. I wasn’t expecting that. Maybe I should have. I had no damn clue what to tell a guy, asking me on a “date.”
What the…
I couldn’t deal. Moving around him, I jogged down the stairs. “I can’t right now. Maybe later!” I shouted for him to hear.
What else was I supposed to say?
Weird human shit…
Yup. I knew.
“Okay,” Trisha closed her notebook, tapped the bottom on the desk before placing it to the side, and then laid her pen next to it. “Now that that’s over with…” Her eyes blinked then rolled over to Collin, who, though he was still jotting something down, caught her nervous look. Oh, shit… “it’s time for you to give us our end-of-the-year report card. It’s time for you to tell us how we did in your first semester with us here.”
Why the hell did she look so weirded out?
I knew what this meeting would be about when they scheduled it with me. We went over my grades to date and progress reports from professors. They gave me my final numbers for the fights I’d taken as a Panther and discussed what next semester would look like as a student here. I was happy to hear that Trisha, Luke, and their team had been impressed with my hard work and talent, and I’d even exceeded their expectations of not losing a fight. That wasn’t something that surprised me at all. I could fight better than I could speak. So, our conversation today, up until this point, I could understand. But I didn’t know the microphone would be handed over. What was I supposed to say?
So, I shrugged. So much had happened this semester. Being barked at, feeling abandoned, tutoring, having a running partner, having a whole bunch of dope clothes and shoes thrown at me, a funeral, concerts, lawn movies, strip clubs, Tyler Thomas, losing my virginity, ending my first semester with a three-point-four GPA—Ashton Spencer.
“Tori,” Collin began. “Is there anything we’ve done to make you feel upset, betrayed, or that we cannot be trusted?”
Trisha barely let him finish his question. “Could we have advocated for you more during a particular incident?”
I shook my head. “Nah. I know at the beginning of the semester, I wigged out a lot, but that was because…” I shrugged again. “It was hard back then. No money. The bratty ass students…”
“But you worked through that well, Tori,” Trisha assured.
“Yes.” Collin nodded. “Seems like you’ve made friends of some of them.”
“Yeah. You’re a part of the crew now—”
“Never.” I shook my head. “I’ll never be with that crew. I’m cool with a few and actually like maybe two, but that’s it.”
I caught Trisha’s eyes roll over to Collin again. And again, he caught them. “Is Ashton one of them?”
Shit…
Why, man?
I shrugged. “He’s cool.”
“And what about Aivery.” Collin’s words fell slowly.
“Never.” I needed to get off this topic. “Listen. I would like to say I’m sorry for giving y’all a hard time at the beginning. It wasn’t a good time for me. But you two stayed solid and didn’t send my ass packing, even when I wanted to.”
Ashton’s kindness last night came to mind. We all had come a long way since August. I came here accusing everyone of being a weird human when it was me who had been strange—along with them. I was forced to spend time with one of the biggest bullies I’d ever come up against, threatened to kick his and his friends’ asses, hung out with him and his friends, made good grades thanks to his tutoring, and lost my virginity to him. I couldn’t begin to understand it all, but I did know something in me had changed. It was more than the Brielle concert, beyond meeting Tyler Thomas. It was the connection I was able to make with another human being. It helped me make more with others.
A smile lifted on Trisha’s face. “You know we didn’t want that. I think you earned our trust when you came back when you said you would last month. I’m sorry we didn’t believe you. You’ve been amazing here, Tori.”
“You’ve matured our asses,” Collin added. “Starting your program sounded good on paper, but hell!”