"That's Shakespeare," I point out. "Straight out of Julius Caesar."
"No way."
"Yes way."
Melody's eyes shoot daggers at me as she exaggeratedly reopens her book. Despite declaring she'd quit, she goes back to work, doing some last minute cramming. She's damn close to failing philosophy and needs to do decent on the mid-term to bring up her grade. Anything less than a C and she's skipping down the path of probation, straight toward suspension.
Me? While I may not be in danger of failing, per se, my scholarship is a different story. Not all of us come from the loins of wealthy Wall Street bankers like Melody and can afford to piss around. My mother's in no position to help me, seeing how I'm not sure how she's surviving as it is. And my father, well…
Not all of us have one of those.
If my GPA dips any lower, I'm on my own. And if I'm on my own, I'm fucked six ways to Sunday. Something tells me NYU won't take an IOU as tuition payment.
"Whose bright idea was it to take this class, anyway?" Melody mutters, dramatically flipping through pages.
"Yours," I reply. "You said it would be easy."
"It's supposed to be easy," she argues. "It's philosophy. It's like, opinions; there are no wrong answers when it's someone's opinion, right? I mean, it's supposed to be rational and logical, things that makes sense, not this existential science-y bullshit."
"Ah, it's not so bad."
Truthfully, I like philosophy, all bullshit aside. If it weren't for our professor, I might even love it.
"Not so bad? It's way too much thinking."
Rolling my eyes, I close my textbook and sit back in my chair. The words are all bleeding together into a sea of nothingness, bogging up my thoughts and weighing down the stuff I do remember.
I glance around the cafe, trying to clear my mind as I pick up my chocolate mint tea. It's still warm, despite it having sat here for over an hour, ignored.
"Only you, Karissa," Melody says, shaking her head. "We get a freak seventy degree day in March and you still order hot chocolate and wear a goddamn scarf."
Shrugging, I take a sip of my drink, savoring the rich creamy chocolate flavor. I blend in usually, with my normal getup of skinny jeans and sweaters and tall boots. It's not my fault we get one warm day and everyone else acts like it's summertime in the Caribbean.
Melody's personal plan seems to be to see how little she can wear without getting nailed for public indecency. She's currently toeing the line with some tiny shorts and a crop top. I feel obscene just looking at her.
"What's wrong with my scarf?" I ask, reaching up and running my hand along the soft material. It's my favorite.
"It's all pink and stripe-y and scarf-y." She waves my way dismissively as she grimaces. "Pretty sure it's what Aristotle was talking about when he said 'how awful the truth is when there's no helping it' because there's definitely no helping that scarf."
I burst out laughing, so loud it disrupts the people trying to work near us. I cast them apologetic looks as I correct Melody. "Sophocles said that."
Or something close to it, anyway. How dreadful knowledge of the truth can be when there's no help in truth...
"You're sure?"
"Positive."
Melody groans, slamming her book closed for the second time and throwing her hands up. "I'm going to fail this damn test."
Sixteen multiple-choice questions, five short answer problems, and a two-page essay, all within an hour.
I'm in Hell.
Figuratively, of course, although it feels quite literal every time I look up from my exam to the front of the room, my eyes drifting to the sign hanging above the old school chalkboard.
Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.
It's a quote from Dante Alighieri, the inscription found at the gates of Hell in The Divine Comedy. Professor Santino clearly thinks it's funny, but it confirms my suspicions...
The man is Satan.
I bullshit my way through the essay and finish a few minutes before time is up. I turn my exam over, leaving it on the desk, and slouch down in my chair. Santino has a 'keep your asses in your seat until everyone's finished' policy, like we're kindergartners learning to follow rules for the first time.
Moving slowly so I won't be noticed, I reach into the front pocket of my backpack and pull out my cell phone. Concealing it in my lap, I find some mindless game to pass the rest of the time. No sooner I get it open, the gruff, stern voice echoes through the room, startlingly loud after hearing nothing but woeful sighs for the last forty-five minutes.
"Reed."
At first I think Santino is commanding us to read something when I glance up and meet his beady brown eyes, peering at me through a pair of thick glasses. Despite me sitting in the back row of a class with nearly a hundred students, I realize he's talking directly to me—Karissa Reed.
Oh shit. "Sir?"
"Put it away now," he warns, "before I take it."
He doesn't have to tell me twice. I instantly let go, the phone slipping from my hands and dropping toward my backpack without me breaking eye contact. He nods stiffly, satisfied with my compliance, and looks away to call an end to the exam.
As soon as the papers are collected I jump up, grabbing my bag and jetting for the closest exit.
Melody's waiting by the hall, her expression vacant, like there's nothing left inside of her to offer. It amazes me, how the pursuit of wisdom tends to turn people into shells of their former selves.
"How'd you do?" I ask.
"I made out about as well as Dante did with Bernadette."
"Beatrice."
She waves my way. "Well, there's your answer."
We shuffle out of the building and into the bright Manhattan afternoon. Melody's expression shifts once we're outside, the shell-shocked look fading as she puts it behind her.
I admire her ability to brush everything off.
Tilting her head back, she closes her eyes and smiles, bathing in the warm sunlight. "I need a drink. We going to Timbers tonight?"
I scrunch up my nose. Melody reopens her eyes, catching my expression.
"Oh, come on!" she says. "It's gonna be bitchin'."
"Like, totally," I mock. "Gag me with a spoon."
Melody laughs, elbowing me. "I'm serious, we have to go."
"Why?"
"Because it's eighties night!"
"So? You weren't even born then."
"All the more reason to go."
Ignoring her, I pull my bag off my back. I look through it, shifting books out of the way as I seek out my cell phone to give my mother a call to check on her. She wanted me to visit this weekend, but I'm in no mood to take the long trip… not to mention the lack of money for bus fare. I unzip the little pockets, searching, my stomach sinking when I don't find my phone anywhere. "Shit… shit… shit…"