To Live Is To Fight (#2)

Chapter 25

The professor was standing in front of 50 or so students, her voice was surprisingly loud, louder than her petite frame should have been able to produce. She looked to be in her late 20s, her hair was straight and the color of an amber and I found it hard to not imagine it as a curtain from how it sways whenever she moves.

It was very distracting and sort of hypnotizing. I was completely out of it today which was not very Casey-like. I snapped out of it when my phone started ringing. My heart beat loudly in my chest and panic filled me as I scrambled for my phone to shut it off.

Thankfully, the professor pretended that nothing happened and let the disruption slip while she continued her lecture. I looked at the caller ID and saw Preston's name.

I sighed quietly and opened my phone to text him quickly.

"Can't talk now, call u later."

I put my phone on vibrate instead and turned it off to make sure there's no repetition of that humiliation. I tried to focus on what the professor was on about after I stored my phone away.

After that class, I had an hour break until the next lecture and I took that time to walk out of the building to call Preston.

"What took you so long?" Preston's voice was snappy and irritable.

I sighed tiredly and rolled my eyes. "Well, hello to you too." I could hear Preston's huffed breath as if he was exhaling all the annoyance in his system.

"Hi Case," He muttered begrudgingly.

"Hi Pres. Now, what do you need?" I asked him, more satisfied than the previous minute.

"I never knew you were so poetic, Case." I could feel my ears turn red.

"You told me to try, so I tried." I defended myself.

"Yeah and I'm very grateful for that, I just never pegged you as someone who'd write so poetically." I blushed harder at that.

"He just had to let you have a look at that letter didn't he." I groaned and covered my reddening face. Preston chuckled from the other end of the line.

"I didn't get to look at the whole letter, just fragments of it, so don't worry. However, I am curious as to what you wrote."

I shrugged and plucked the sharp tip of a leaf from a plant and twirled it between my thumb and pointer finger. "I simply wrote about the time we first met. He wouldn't quit annoying the shit out of me."

Preston chuckled some more and a smile grew on my face when I remembered how annoyed I was when the pretty new boy was drawing attention to the low profile I built for myself. He destroyed that subtlety in a matter of minutes when he started walking with me in the halls.

"Your brother was a true pain in my ass." I laughed lightly, remembering all those efforts I made to shake him off my hind and he didn't budge, not for one bit.

"But you love him," Preston whispered and I smiled sadly at his statement. I took notice of the present tense he used and didn't need to think about that. I didn't miss a beat in answering Preston.

"That, I do."

When school was done, I drove back home to change my clothes and my choice of vehicles. I felt my demeanor change when I was back on my motorcycle with my fighting attire clinging onto my body.

Pixie's back, bitches.

I rode my bike to where the competition was held. Let's just call this shit hole 'the dome' because its tent is dome-like.