In a way, I kind of was. Still wholly against those puffy winter jackets that everyone seemed to be a fan of. I’d rather freeze my ass off, thanks.
I moved to the nearest open seat and pulled out my phone. Levi had texted me already, saying they’d gone to the rec.
Perfect. Now I just had to get there.
The bus was mostly quiet as it drove along. There were some other students here, but most were just other people using the public transportation. Everyone was on their own phones, minding their business. I suddenly wondered how many people had seen one of the videos Dean released.
Not the best time to lose myself in that thought, I told myself, forcing my brain to think about the matter at hand.
I was the only one who got up at the stop near the rec, shuffling out and back into the cold, the bus’s heat a distant memory as it drove off. I shivered to myself as I walked up the long sidewalk to the rec’s front doors. It’d been shoveled, but a thin layer of new snow sat on the concrete.
Snow. It was pretty for the first hour after it fell, but then it just got dirty, crunched-up and wet. And when that snow became so packed it turned to ice? Forget about it. A winter wonderland it was not when you slipped with every step you took.
The rec center was a new environment for me. Not only was it full of people who were in shape—and those people trying to get in shape—but it also smelled of sweat. Now, I didn’t know about you, but for me, the only sweat I liked to smell was Levi’s, and that was only because I was madly in love with the guy. Sweat in general was gross.
I also didn’t know where to go, so I was sure I looked like a fool as I wandered the rec trying to find the courts. The building was bigger inside than it looked; it seemed to sprawl in every direction, with weight rooms, a track for sprinting, and a bunch of other courts, including some rooms that were used for dancing.
Crazy. All these people being active like they enjoyed it. Personally, I didn’t see the appeal. The only physical activity I was down for involved Levi naked and on a bed. Or not in a bed. Levi naked anywhere would work.
After a while of wandering, I found the basketball courts. There were three of them side by side, and the leftmost one was the current one the Sigma Chi boys were using. Thank God, I didn’t have to actually go into the large room and watch; there were some windows from the hall, along with benches, so I was able to plop myself down and watch without being overly creepy about it. I fiddled around on my phone while watching so it looked like I was just waiting for someone to come out.
I texted Levi: I see him. It’s a go.
Kind of felt badass, like Levi and I were locked in some secret spy movie, trying to get ahead of the bad guys. In this case, guy. Just one guy…although, from what it sounded like, most of the guys from Sigma Chi were shitty dudes, and they all deserved some comeuppance.
Dean would get his first, though.
It was only five minutes later when Levi responded: It’s there.
My stomach hardened, and I couldn’t tell if I was nervous or anxious or what. The flash drive was back. Dean had brought it back like the fool he was. Since Levi and I hoped he’d bring it back, we planned on Levi taking it for a few minutes, using his own laptop to see what was on it—since Dean’s laptop was password-encoded. I prayed there was something on it we could use.
My phone rang after a while, and I immediately picked up when I saw Levi’s name. “Yeah?” I asked, heart beating fast in my chest.
It was a while before Levi said, “I think we got him.” And then Levi explained to me just what was on that flash drive, what Dean had.
“Before you put it back, make sure you wipe your fingerprints off it,” I said, my eyes burning holes through the glass to the basketball court Sigma Chi was on. I spotted Dean making a shot from midway down the court, and the bastard nailed it easily. “Text me when it’s done. I’ll handle the rest.”
“What—”
“Trust me,” I said, saying nothing more before hanging up. I’d tell Levi once it was done. There were just some things out there that a fellow girl had to do, and this? I planned on enjoying this far too much.
I stayed a little while longer, leaving only after Levi told me the flash drive was back in the safe. I went back to the dorm, had to make a little pit stop before going to the place I needed to. The room was too empty without Mel, and it’d be strange to walk in next semester and see her stuff gone—or worse, share the space with someone else.
Levi was already taking care of that, though. He’d started to look for apartments close by we could share.
I took what I needed to, focusing on staying as calm as I could as I headed down the stairs and out the side door, back in the cold. As I walked to my destination, a place I knew where it was but had never stepped foot inside before, I kept reminding myself that I could do this. I could do this with no problems.
This was serious shit anyway, so really, it deserved a serious response. This harassment, this bullying, would not continue. I wouldn’t let it.
I stopped at the base of the sidewalk in front of the
