Tell Me What You Hate About Me

51: Final Exam, Part 1

There was no one in the dark classroom besides Dominic and me. Of course, it was three hours before our final exam was set to begin, but we had no time to waste if we were going to pass the class and keep the talisman in my hands.

It would have made much more sense for the talisman to have clung to an old person who had much more time to dedicate to its every need and desire than college students, but that wasn't any of my business. I just had to roll with what it gave me, and it gave me way more power than I knew what to do with. It certainly had me all figured out, didn't it?

There were plenty of people who knew about the talisman, unfortunately, and that included Dr. Rainier, our substitute ASL professor after I accidentally almost killed the first one, and Harvey, his learning assistant. It would have been stupid of them to mention anything to anyone else in the language department, but I couldn't rule it out. After all, it was stupid of Dr. Reed to trust her colleague with our sensitive information too.

"Psst," Dominic whispered from right next to me.

He did realize that he didn't have to get my attention, right? We were the only two people there. "What's up?"

"Why'd we get here so early?"

I smiled to myself. "I don't know. I'm not sure we have a reason except to be prepared. It's like we have the high ground now."

"Was that a Star Wars prequels reference?"

"I don't know what that is."

Dominic laughed. "Yes, you do. You're a secret nerd."

"Everyone knows it's over, Anakin. I have the high ground."

"That's true, but only nerds say it."

I took in a breath. There was no sense in arguing with him. He would always find a way to be right, and usually, he didn't even have to try that hard.

But before I could change the subject, the door to the classroom swung open, and Dominic and I ducked below a desk before the person turned the light on.

Who the hell showed up for a final so damn early? Well, besides us, of course.

I glanced at the person's shoes, and given that they were a pair of nice men's dress shoes, it sure seemed we were in trouble. If it were a student, they'd probably have boots or sneakers on, not some uncomfortable pair that made it difficult to concentrate on anything other than hurting feet. But a professor didn't have anything to focus on besides the misery of the students.

"Shit," Dominic mumbled, much louder than he probably intended, but still not loud enough to be heard from more than three feet away.

At least we were on the same page.

Dress Shoes slung a briefcase of some kind on top of the desk at the front of the room and cleared his throat, but as soon as he turned around, he was sure to see Dominic and me.

My heart rate sped up as I put my hand over my back pocket where I kept the talisman. It hadn't failed me yet, and that was all I had to hold on to.

You know what you have to do, talisman. We've got to stick together, you and—

A loud crash came from outside, and when my eyes shot over to the window, the sky was much darker than the ten o'clock AM time. It almost reminded me of the latte sky of death that I was most likely responsible for.

"What the hell? Not again, Hughes," Dress Shoes muttered, and I recognized that Brooklyn accent. It was definitely Dr. Rainier.

He rushed out of the room to see what was going on outside.