Page 126 of For the Boys
Berkley had been running nonstop since the beginning of the year, and she was tired. What she desperately needed was a week of uninterrupted sleep and five more hours in the day, minimum, to stay on top of her law school homework and Bar studies.
A girl could dream, right?
Kimber left Detroit to move back to California at the end of February, and they spent her final night in the city together, camped out on the living room floor of her and Amelia’s apartment like they had done so many times before.
“I can’t believe you’re leaving us,” Berkley said, words slurred. Her tongue felt heavy, soaked with the massive amount of tequila she, Kimber, Amelia, and Lexie had consumed so far.
“Believe me,” Kimber said, not bothering to lift her head from where it was resting on her arms on the coffee table. “I wish I could stay.”
“We get it, you can’t turn down your dream job.” Lexie said, sprawled across Berkley’s lap on the floor. “We just wish it wasn’t so fucking far away.”
Kimber sighed and raised her head. “Me too. But I’m not going to lie, I’m pretty excited to enjoy that Cali sunshine again.”
Amelia chucked a pillow at her head. “Rude. You love Michigan and every second of its temperamental weather.”
Kimber snorted. “Hardly. I can only stand it for like three months of the year. I only stayed this long because of you guys.”
Berkley pushed Lexie off her lap and crawled to where Kimber was sitting on the floor, wrapping her arms around her in a tight hug.
“I’m gonna miss you so much,” Berkley said, her face squished against Kimber’s shoulder.
Soon, Lexie and Amelia joined them, and all four women found themselves tangled together, blubbering sentiments to each other about how they would always be best friends and how much they loved one another.
They passed out not long after that, and in the morning, Berkley woke to find Kimber had snuck out without waking them.
When Kimber landed in California, she called and said, “I’m sorry. I just couldn’t do the whole tearful goodbye thing, especially not after last night’s drunken sob fest. It’s not goodbye, right? It’s see you later.”
March passed in a flurry of school and studying. Berkely spent a couple of nights a week at Brent’s, if he was in town, if only so she could fall asleep and wake up next to him. Their relationship, while strong as ever, had taken a bit of a backseat while she cracked down on her final months of law school.
Thankfully, the Warriors were gearing up for a playoff push, so they were both too busy to worry about the lack of time together. He spent the bulk of his time at the rink, and she spent hers in the law library with Reece and Harper.
One Wednesday night in early April, Berkley’s study group abandoned the library in favor of her apartment. She made snacks and spread her books and study guides across her living room floor.
Reece arrived first, handing Berkley a bottle of red wine as a thank you for hosting the study session they were about to embark on. Harper showed up shortly after, her arms weighed down with a mess of notebooks and files.
Normally, the group divided their study time between regular classes and the Bar. Tonight, they were choosing to study for the Bar. The Michigan Bar exam encompassed a number of subjects that included constitutional law, contracts and sales, criminal law and procedure, evidence, federal civil procedure, real property, and torts.
Essay topics expanded on those subjects and included agency, conflict of laws, corporations, creditors’ rights, domestic relations, equity, Michigan rules of professional conduct, partnerships, practice procedure, trusts, uniform commercial code, wills, worker’s compensation, business associations such as limited liability companies, family law, and estates.
At this rate, the three of them would spend the entire night naming topics to study instead of actuallystudying.
“So, I say we just start at the top,” Berkley said. “I printed out some flash cards with a case example on the front and how you would proceed on the back. There’s also a stack of general terms in each of the test subject categories. Which should we do first?”
“Let’s start with terms,” Reece said. “Then work our way up to the bigger stuff.”
Harper nodded in agreement. Berkley picked up the note cards in question.
They decided to make it into a game. The stack of cards was divided into three piles, each of them taking one. They would go around the circle, one of them asking the other two to provide the definition for the word on their card. The first one to correctly answer would receive a point. At the end of the game, the two with the fewest points would combine efforts and treat the winner to dinner and drinks.
“Y’all are going down,” Reece said. “I can’t wait for my steak dinner.”
“Dream on, Dixie,” Harper said.
Reece glared at her.
The first several rounds went smoothly. They worked their way through over half of the cards, all maintaining their composure. After several rounds, Berkley was in the lead with twelve points, Reece in second with ten, and Harper pulling up the rear with nine.
Then, with Berkley’s next card, all hell broke loose. Reece and Harper answered the question at the same time, both incorrectly. When Berkley told them they were wrong, they both proceeded to yell at and argue with her like the lawyers they were meant to be. It devolved into Reece throwing popcorn at Berkley whenever she opened her mouth.
