knew, what I' d lived

n Va

e

tud

rilliant scholarship

co-proctor, she' d be

all ticked, each s

my hand listed the exam st

blin

as c

t was in th

Ethan

livia

jumbled mess of overheard w

thing was the

briefing sheet tr

sity clock on the w

minu

my world went blac

to s

t

nt based on a

hink I wa

n't just le

to

to O

n the eye clinic, years later in

o

o do so

thi

at the back of

in, carrying a st

miled

y, Mi

, so full

d be go

o

a dec

desperate

, my voice cracking, way to

ead sna

oze, her smi

nt might try to harm a proc

s er

d, murmured, a

ds me. "Michael, what

lways posted for finals, were a

here?" one of them asked

guely at the

g. A plot. Someone wa

d version of the truth

rs exchang

with us," the first o

ook my

bewildered, con

aid, trying to sound reas

out, a wave of rel

azy, humili

sn't in

s wouldn't h

chang

ho

ity office was s

to Kevin, I hoped, stared

hy you disrupted a final exam

was not

eard a threat. A student p

tudent? A spe

vague, but it sounded ser

d do without sounding

sighed, rubbi

such threat. You caused a significant

some kind of stress, son? Exam pre

d my stor

n't bu

r you, consider this a formal warning. Any more outbursts like this, and you' ll

feigning c

as a small price t

ologize for the disruption

a wave. "Go home, Mr.

just make sure Dr. Hayes is okay

ted. "We' ll

t of losing my jo

coul

t outside f

e security building,

don

aved m