Page 20 of Heartbreak Kings
“Fuck you, man,” Jude grumped.
Daniel snorted and evaluated me. “So, we are to assume that you are not entirely in agreement with the administration’s handling of this situation?” He had a slight German accent, which somehow made him sound more cultured than the others.
“Well, I looked into it,” I revealed. “On the one hand, it’s obvious that the president and deans were very ham-handed in their handling of this and didn’t do much to address any student concerns. And for the record, I agree that’s bad praxis for any administration.” I paused, choosing my words carefully. I hated that I had to be diplomatic toward a bunch of men openly opposed to my presence on campus. Deep down, I thought they could take their weird issues with women and stuff them.But I was interviewing, and that required a balanced, professional approach. Except toward Jude, who deserved every ounce of bitch I had in me.
“I only learned about how they’d handled the situation after I had already been here for a week. Had I known, it would have heavily affected both my decision and my approach. But a full-ride scholarship to a prestigious school wasn’t exactly something I could afford to pass up. And instead of continuing their grievances with the administration—which made all the pertinent decisions—most men on campus who have a problem with what my presence represents take their frustrations out on me.”I kept my voice calm and even, and my manner all business. I was being as diplomatic as possible and squashing a surge of anger. I shouldn’t have to go through all this.
Jude scoffed, but Blake shot him a look, and he kept his mouth shut.
“So…” The quiet one, Nathaniel, took a sip of his tea as he regarded me. He swallowed and continued, unhurried and almost serene. “You believe you should not be the focus of the students’ ire in this. And yet you are taking advantage of the administration’s questionable decision. You say you did not know. But now that you do, why not withdraw?”
I stared at him hard. “You know, that’s very easy for someone who has never had to worry about college expenses to suggest.” He shifted uncomfortably, and I went on. “I had one shot to go to college. One. Because—and I guess to a poor little rich kid, this is a foreign concept—my family has had trouble even keeping a roof over our heads since my dad died. College costs a whole hell of a lot of money, and nobody else offered me a full ride.”
“If you’re that poor and are too lazy to fix it, you don’t deserve to go to college—” Jude started.
“Shut up!” Another voice had chorused with mine, and I saw Blake glaring at the younger man with genuine anger in his eyes. Marcus, meanwhile, was staring at Jude with disgust.
I blinked.Whoa. Okay, I wasn’t expecting that.
“Jude, if you cannot keep your immature, bigoted opinions to yourself, you can take your meal in your room.” Blake’s fist clenched, and I saw it shake. His pale skin had gone even paler than usual.
I watched him, wondering about the strength of his response. He had no real reason to defend me. My crush on him sent a little happiness bubbling through me, but I didn’t trust it or him. I had come here for an interview, and instead, I was the one answering all the questions.What’s going on here?
Jude’s eyes widened, and he let out a little laugh. “You’re really going to send me to my room?”
“I’m saying that if you disrupt this conversation in such an odious way again, your choices will be to leave until our guest does, or leave for good.” Blake didn’t back down one inch, even when Jude stood up and smirked at him.
“You wouldn’t,” Jude teased. But then he blinked, and his smirk crumpled. “You’re actually serious.”
“As a heart attack. If you talk like Carmody and his associates at my table again, you’ll find yourself sent away from it. We need intelligent discourse on this topic, not your childish ignorance.” Blake stared at him coldly until Jude, finally catching on to how serious he was, slowly sat back down.Then he turned to me. “Essentially, what you are saying is that you have no choice in this matter if you wish to pursue a career path that doesn’t involve burger-flipping.” His tone was sympathetic, but his expression was unreadable.
I got a weird feeling in my gut, but I answered, letting only a little of my irritation creep into my voice. “That’s what I’m saying. Your boy Jude here may think you can work your way into wealth, but I am certain that none of you has ever worked hard in your lives. My mother put in eighty hours a week cleaning the houses of rich assholes like Jude’s mommy and daddy until her health collapsed.You think it made her rich?” I stared at Jude until he glanced away sullenly, his ears going red. “No. We lost our home. Now we live at the ass-end of upstate and hang on by our fingernails. And that’s with me working part time too.” I studied all of them. “You rich boys would wither and die if you had to work that hard for so little. But we do. And we get nowhere, because people like you hoard all the genuine opportunities for yourself.”
Daniel murmured something in German before speaking up. “So, you are without options. Administration is doubtless aware of this. And thus, you must either accept their using you for their own political agenda or lose your opportunity.” He didn’t sound sympathetic, only thoughtful.
“Well, you can’t possibly believe I would want to stay here with all these jackasses around, threatening me and trying to cut off my hair. Way too many of you people act like the kids fromLord of the Fliesthe minute something around here doesn’t go your way.” I saw Marcus wince slightly when I mentioned my hair.
Blake was nodding, face still unreadable. “Many students are trying to make this place as inhospitable as possible for you so you will leave.”
I saw red. My voice intensified, hardened, but I didn’t get loud. “Well, they can go fuck themselves. Like I said, without college or equivalent training, there’s no leg up out of being poor. And since I have to worry about my mother and myself, I’m sticking things out, no matter how many tantrums some of you rich boys throw about it.”
The group was silent for a few seconds. “Someone tried to cut off your hair?” Nathaniel asked finally.
“Yeah, I saw the whole damn thing,” Marcus cut in, sounding exasperated. “Not any of our pledges this time, and not Carmody, but definitely three guys with a pair of fabric scissors. Right in the middle of dining hall breakfast.”
“It is rather understandable that you would be in a volatile mood after such an event,” Daniel mused. Beside him, Nathaniel nodded.
I remembered the surge of terror that had run through me when I had seen three furious boys—one armed—running up on me at once. I had held up my phone and prayed it would scare them away like that creep in the laundry room. But I still wondered what would have happened if Marcus hadn’t intervened. “You have no idea.”
“This leaves us in an awkward position,” Blake sighed. “I don’t doubt that you are telling the truth, but several of my companions want you to leave.”
“Yeah, fuck off already with your sad stories,” Jude muttered. “This is our campus. It’s too bad some guys are taking it that far, but if you weren’t here where you shouldn’t be—”
“That is not your call.” Suddenly, the luscious meal in front of me didn’t seem appetizing at all. I shot Marcus and Blake an accusing glare. “So, this was your plan? Lead me into a five-on-one ambush so you could browbeat me into leaving?”
Blake’s eyes widened slightly, and for a split second, I thought I saw something like panic in them. “No. I offered you dinner and a chance to interview us. This is the direction the conversation has turned.”
“You must think I’m stupid to try feeding me a line like that. I’m not buying it.” My eyes bored into all of them. Marcus was shifting in his seat uncomfortably, and he couldn’t meet my eyes. Daniel’s expression was mildly uncomfortable. Nathaniel stared at me with a detached interest, as if examining the behavior of a rat in a maze. Jude glared back at me defiantly.
