An ocean of relief washed over Jacob when he saw the two girls walking down LeAnn's hallway. LeAnn hugged him and the three of them were soon off to the cafeteria. Ā She and Hani had walked all the way back to the dorm just to see if he was there! They'd even had breakfast already, but LeAnn wouldn't use her phone to text him, not until they seemed safe from the Dean.
"I could definitely go for an egg sandwich," Jacob told them, making LeAnn smile.Ā
"I wonder what ever happened to Pony and the others?"
Flash forward past egg sandwiches and playing footsy in the library to the confrontation they had been dreading.Ā
The Dean, the mime, and two goons with guns surrounded Jacob and the girls, marching Hani into a nearby office and shutting the door. LeAnn had hid her fear while Hani was still with them, but the emotion spilled out of her now.
"We have to do something!" Leann said, tears welling up in the corner of her eyes. Jacob shook his head.
"We gotta do what they say. It's the safest option. Look, Leann, you gotta keep your head straight, think of your future. You met this girl yesterday."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You want to graduate, right? We could get thrown out of school for this, and if the rumors are true, worse."
"I'm not going to give up on her just to save my own skin."
"They'd understand. I'll do this with or without your help, Jake. I'll save her."
Jacob didn't know what to say, and soon found that might not need to be the case. To Jacob's surprise, that guy friend of Hani's rounded the corner frantically asking where she was.Ā
"Brandon, is it?" Jacob asked. "Hey..."
Brandon glared at the guards, clenching his fists and barely holding back epithets Jacob would probably be shouting were it LeAnn in that room. He had kept his cool, however, trying to reason with LeAnn. It wasn't that Jacob didn't care at all, he just didn't know Hani. Sure he didn't know LeAnn very well either, but he and LeAnn had both only just met the girl. Brandon, however, knew Hani much better. And he seemed to care a lot, tightly wound and agitated.Ā
"Is she in there?" Brandon asked.
"Yeah, she's in there. The Dean found us just a few minutes ago. Probably not hard to track down, since you found us, too." Jacob forced a chuckle, and Brandon and LeAnn's expressions told him joking wasn't totally appropriate at a time like this.Ā
"Look, Steve and I got the girls back to Blagojevich Hall, said goodnight, and Hani slept over in LeAnn's room. They told me they went back to McCormick early this morning to check out Hani's suite and found it spotless." Jacob was especially impressed by what Brandon and Crystal had done for her, but he cut to the chase. "They found me and we got some food, went to the library to study, where we've been all morning, and now here we are." Jacob shrugged. "And we didn't turn on a single cell phone."
Brandon looked back and forth between Jacob and LeAnn, who stayed quiet. Was she angry about what he had said about looking out for herself? But that was a dumb question he already knew the answer to. Of course LeAnn was angry with him. Jacob certainly would be if she was telling him to turn his own back on someone. Mentioning her family was a low blow, too. He knew LeAnn was the first in her immediate family to go to college, so a lot was riding on her staying. But even after something like this, Jacob had a feeling they'd still be proud. They were probably brave and stubborn just like she was. Where else would she have learned to be so selfless?
Brandon nodded and gestured for Jacob and LeAnn to follow him down the hall. The guards brandished their weapons, to which Brandon responded with two raised middle fingers. Jacob was surprised they weren't immediately shot.
"Have them back in 5 minutes!"
"Fuck off, we'll be back in 10."
Jacob chuckled. He still wasn't sure if the guy was terrible or hilarious. Outside, Brandon said, "Fuck this no phone shit!" saying they needed Steve to fix things, rolling a cigarette as he ranted. LeAnn asked if Brandon had Steve's number. He didn't, and neither did LeAnn. Jacob shrugged. Since LeAnn was in Frank's history class, she knew his work email.Ā
"Do that then," said Brandon. "Use my phone and email him."
LeAnn furrowed her brow, typing and retyping, trying to find the right words. Jacob stayed back, not wanting to crowd her too much, but also wanting to know what she was writing. He knew LeAnn was smart and would try to get Frank's attention in as few words as possible, keeping things straight to the point. Jacob thought he caught her typing more than one exclamation point, which almost made him laugh. Brandon was still scowling, so Jacob bit his tongue.Ā
Back inside, Hani emerged from the office looking calm, stepping forward to smile at LeAnn and wipe away her smearing makeup. LeAnn had been crying and Jacob still felt bad about that. Suddenly Brandon enveloped Hani in a tight hug. When the guards approached them, Jacob could tell LeAnn was preparing herself for interrogation, throwing back her shoulders and brushing her hair out of her face.Ā
"He wants the boy next," one guard said, and LeAnn turned to look up at Jacob in alarm. Jacob took a deep breath and stepped forward to follow them.
You're not afraid of the Dean, Jacob told himself. He's a joke. A fraud. Nothing good happens to men like him.
Then he was roughly sat down in front of him.Ā
The desk was too small. A table would have been more comfortable for both of them. The Dean had pushed aside every knicknack and piece of office supplies that got in the way of his impossibly large forearms, even knocking some items on the floor.
The Dean was a semi-truck of a man, a body builder whose frame had been kept in much better shape than his aging face and hair. Jacob tried to hold onto such imperfections as a way to keep himself composed, to remind himself the Dean was just a joke. Then he heard that deep, booming voice dripping of smug self-satisfaction, and the fear was back.Ā
"So, you were one of Hani Ahn's party guests last night, is that correct?"
"And is it also correct that you left early?"
"Why would a fine young bachelor such as yourself leave a party at the most popular girl in school's dorm so early in the evening?"
The Dean wasn't letting Jacob reply, and his tone dripped of sarcasm. He probably knew everything already, possibly from when he interrogated Hani, and talking to Jacob was either just to cover all his bases, or...Or it was to make LeAnn squirm. But no, the Dean couldn't be that clever. How would he even know anything about LeAnn? Now Jacob was paranoid.
"What reason did you have to leave?"
"Everybody panicked when security arrived. My...My friend is friends with Hani and she wanted to leave, so we took her back to our dorm with us."
"Why would the hostess leave her own dorm?"
"I don't know. She just needed a place to crash."
"Last night I got a security update that said our firewalls were breached. The hackerās ISP is the same as Miss Ahnās."Ā
The Dean stood up and leaned over the desk, mostly for the intimidation factor. Jacob couldn't help but feel it working.
"You're gonna tell me who used her computer."
"I don't know," said Jacob, trying to look the Dean in the eye. If he could only project confidence.Ā
"Yes you do, snowflake! Tell me, who the hell would show up just to use the host's computer?"
"I don't know," Jacob repeated. The Dean slammed his hands on the desk.
"What is your relationship with the Smith Brothers?"
Jacob cocked his head to the side, managing pretty well to look confused and taken aback. He just hoped he didn't seem too fake.
"They teach my friends, but I'm not in any of their classes. Why?"
"Cut the shit. I know that you know that they were at the party, and that you can tell me why."
"I honestly don't know why they would have been there."
"What about your pretty friend out there? She looked Ā pretty damn upset."
"I don't know. We were just taken off guard."
"Hmm. I'll bet. Alright, I'll keep my eye on you,ā the Dean said, then bellowed, "Send in the girl!"
Frank stood up and said, "Well, should we get going? I hope Hani's okay." Frank directed his statement at Steve, who clenched his jaw, staring at his brother. The hint of sarcastic fakeness in Frank's tone was unmistakeable to Pony, but judging by Steve's expression, he was only hearing Frank's words, Ā "Please help us!" running over and over in his head. It had probably been that freshman girl with Hani who wrote the email. This meant the kids had all found each other.
And the Dean had found them.
"Of course we're going!" said Steve, hurriedly getting his shoes, jacket and car keys.Ā
"Hani's my friend too!" B.C. added. Then he dropped some new information about Hani's mother that Pony had already pieced together and shared the night before. Frank looked surprised, however. Even a little shocked. Frank hadn't been there, and Steve had gotten wasted shortly after their conversation at Blagojevich Hall. Steve looked positively freaked. Ā After a brief moment of confusion, Pony saw Frank literally shrug, then fetch his own clothes. Pony didn't move.
"Guys, what about the pl--?"
Pony couldn't even get out the word "plan" before Steve spun around to snap at her, "Forget the damn plan! There's a new plan! Operation Rescue Hani."
Pony narrowed her eyes at him.Ā
"The plan to throw off the Dean so we can sneak into his headquarters and blow up the damn Supercomputer."
Steve crossed his arms and huffed, stubborn and agitated.
"If we all get taken by the Dean now," Pony continued, "who will destroy it, huh? All of this will have been for nothing."
"You heard that email," said Steve. "They need help!"
"Well then you're going alone, and the guys are staying with me."
"No way. We all go together."
"Babycakes said it himself. Hani gets kicked out of school and I...We never see her again!"
Pony backed up, Steve yelling in her face getting too close for comfort. She shook her head, face in her hands, making an exasperated sound that was somewhere between "augh!" and "fuck!" She looked up at Steve and pleaded, "What about me, Steve? What about our careers?"
Steve looked away. "We have a responsibility..."
"...as educators," they said in unison, Steve rolling his eyes as Pony finished his sentence for him. Pony wanted to scream, "You mean you have a responsibility to your dick!" but that wasn't giving Steve much credit. Both his concern and his fear were very real. She just wished he felt the same way about her.Ā
He's gotten you out of worse scrapes before, Pony reminded herself. Truly, he had. But right now, why was keeping these four students in school more important than keeping four teachers employed? (Okay, three teachers and a Babycakes.)
"Arguing is getting nothing accomplished, but I'm not charging down to the library either. I need at least one of you to stay with me. We can't all get caught. Someone needs to help me destroy the Supercomputer."
Pony knew the Smith Brothers would do whatever the hell they wanted at this point, so she asked, hopefully, "Babycakes?"
After what felt like way too long, Jacob was back unscathed and it was finally time for LeAnn to face the Dean.Ā
"You'll do just fine! You guys are the least of the Dean's concern," Hani whispered. She smiled at LeAnn and Jacob took LeAnn's hand, giving it a squeeze. "We were really drunk," Hani added. "Let him know that, several times."
"Were the Smith Brothers at the party?"
LeAnn blinked. The Dean had jumped to this question sooner than she expected.
"Hello?" he said sarcastically. "Kid, answer the goddamn question! Were the Smith Brothers at the party or not?"
"I don't know," said LeAnn, and she thought she could do this, she really did, but she was never a good liar.Ā
"Hmm," said the Dean, tapping his enormous chin with his finger. He leaned back in the chair, appraising her. The desk he'd commandeered was too small. Even the room seemed too small. Papers and objects had been scattered on the floor as though the Dean had swept the desk clean with one meaty hand.
"Eyes up here!" he snapped, gesturing. LeAnn's gaze must have been roving around the room trying to find anything to calm herself, instead of focusing on saving her friend, the same friend she had petulantly exclaimed to Jacob minutes earlier she would "save," as if she were even capable.
Two questions and the Dean had already broken her, no threats needed. God, this was embarrassing!
"I said were the brothers at the party or not?"
"I told you I don't know."
"Frank Smith is one of your professors, is he not?"
"Yes, he teaches my American History course. I took the first half of the module last semester."
"I didn't ask for your transcript, kid. His brother Steve is 'tutoring' your friend Hani?"Ā
Grinning lecherously, the Dean said the word "tutoring" with air quotes.
"Yes," LeAnn answered curtly, stoned-faced. Hani hadn't even slept with the professor and the rumor mill had already started.Ā
LeAnn wished she knew what information the Dean had already gleaned from Hani and Jacob, but figured it came down to the usual. The Dean was still operating under the assumption the Smiths were responsible, if only because the Smiths were always responsible.Ā
"It's confirmed that Professor Crystal Peppers was at the party. In fact, she was the only person our security found in the suite. She's your philosophy professor, I'm told. You and your boyfriend take the same class."
"Everyone on campus found out about that party. We weren't hanging out with any of our professors."
"Then why would Professor Peppers think she'd find a friend there, hmm?"
LeAnn knew the Dean only wanted her to confirm the Smiths were there, to somehow make it seem Hani had invited them herself, to put together the Dean's long-standing hostility towards the Smiths together with some kind of conspiracy...
The man responsible was who-the-fuck-knows-where, and the pawn directly responsible was standing in the hallway. All LeAnn needed to do was let one or the other indict himself, and just say nothing else. She took a breath, and the Dean smirked.
"I was simply breathing, Dean."
LeAnn said nothing else, made her face as impassive as possible, until the Dean had little choice but to let her go.
"No more questions. You may go."
LeAnn got up to leave, when the Dean said, "One last thing, Miss Rimes. I know that you know that I know there was a security breach onto one of our servers last night and the ISP was Miss Ahn's. And I know that you know that the Smith Brothers and I don't get along, and I also know that you think you're no fool and I'm just a foolish old man. But you are. And I'm not. That'll be all."
There was no good reply to that, so instead she said, "I think you're very clever, Dean, but my name isn't Rimes."
