Courting The Champion

12 - Beats Me

Sarah gives me a questioning look as she helps me carry the box all the way from the taxi to our dorm room. We drop the box next to my study desk and it lands on the soft carpet with a loud thud. She folds her hands on her chest and raises a brow at me.

“Can you tell me why this big box of-of.. Of trash is the reason for interrupting the only nap time I get in a whole day huh?”  she questions with her eyelashes batting a million miles a second.

I clear my throat awkwardly.

“Uhm well..”

“Well?”

“This may or may not be solid evidence of a serious federal offense... You might want to sit down,” I say with a dramatic effect. Sarah's eyes widen.

“Wh-What?” she questions and drops her gaze to the box on the floor as if it'll suddenly start speaking and explaining on why it's in our room. I sigh, rolling my eyes at her.

“Sit down Sarah, I'll explain.”

She reluctantly sets her butt on the edge of her overly cushioned bed and gives me the most piercing stare.

“Okay so do you remember Frank?” I question and she rolls her eyes.

“You mean the guy that 'accidentally' spilt brown onion soup on my favorite cream, wool sweater not knowing it didn't belong to you? Because you were late for work? And shrugged it off like that sweater didn't cost me a fortune?” she asks monotonously and I cringe at the bitter memory. I don't even know why I agreed to helping that cold hearted psycho. But thank goodness I did.

“Yes. That very guy.”

She looks at me emotionless and I take that as my cue to continue.

“So I was late again today. He wasn't very pleased with me and later he brought this—” I point to the box next to my study desk.

“—load of work to me, so I could help him with it as a sign of good will,” she widens her eyes and opens her mouth wide in shock that I actually agreed.

“Gosh Bell. I knew you were a pushover but this has got to b—” I cut her off before she finishes.

“AND.. I found out when I looked at the first five transaction records that the company is money laundering,” she gasps and stands up in shock.

“WHAT? ARE YOU SERIOUS?” she exclaims loudly and I nod.

She places her hands on her head. “Oh my gosh Belle that's a serious accusation. Are you sure?” she questions just as I quickly bend down, and grab the first two papers on the stack.

“See for yourself,” I say seriously and outstrech my hand, which is holding the papers. She snatches them out of my hands in anticipation. She takes a quick glance at me before reading the papers.

“Oh my gosh.” she throws the papers on her bed and retrieves more. She ends up cross legged on the floor reading through multiple bank statements, receipts and transaction manuals. I join her.

She looks at me wide eyed. “This is insane B. We should report this, not only because it guarantees us jobs at the highest law firms but because it's disgusting. What if they're into trafficking or something?” she questions and I nod then look down in thought.

“That's like the worst case scenario and I really hope it isn't it,” I say looking at her. She sighs.

“Why would Frank give this to you out of all people? You're like his mortal enemy or something?”

“Beats me. But he wouldn't have given it to me had he known. It's not like he has some vendetta against the company or something,” I respond.

“Judging by the way he sucks up to your boss, I'd say he doesn't. So he's either really stupid or super slow.” I nod at her statement.

“There's more...” I say almost inaudible and she looks at me wide eyed. “Andrew knows. He told me to make copies, take this stuff back and quit,” I say quickly and she raises a brow.

“Oh did he?” she says sarcastically then wiggles her brows. I roll my eyes. I choose not to mention the kiss to her just yet.

“Okay then cousin. Looks like we just got our very first case. I'd love to partner with you,” she says and offers me her hand to shake.

“I kind of already had that in mind. If I go down, you're coming with me cousin,” I say and she laughs as I shake her hand.

We spend the next four hours in the lecture hall next to the copy machine with only a quarter of the papers that came in the box. As I photocopy, Sarah's putting them in order and stapling them into several little packages. My cheeks are starting to hurt and feel numb from the rigorous bubblegum chewing that I've been doing since we started.

“My legs are starting to hurt,” Sarah exclaims in annoyance and I snort. “Welcome to the criminal justice team,” I joke.

We quickly pack everything up and rush to our room trying to act as to not raise any suspicions that we're holding some of the stuff that might get us missing.

Once we're inside, we lock the door and stuff the first batch of copies under Sarah's mattress. She sighs as she jumps on her bed. “I'm so exhausted.. And I still have to catch up on some studying,” she says weakly with a groggy voice. I don't hear anything after that as I'm also sprawled face down on my bed and asleep.

I wake up to the dorm slamming. I jump up half asleep and see it's Sarah holding a batch of stapled papers in her hands. “You did another one?” I question and she nods. “Yup.”

She looks at me as she finishes shoving them under her mattress. “Oh and I was thinking. You quiting soon after having possessed this kind of information just puts you at the very top of the kill list,” she warns me and I roll my eyes.

“It's a hit list. Not a kill list Sarah,” I correct and she shrugs. “Kill list, hit list. Same thing to me,” she says in a sing song voice.

“But you're right. I shouldn't quit. I just need to act as clueless as Frank, and when a few weeks go by, I can drop the bomb with some excuse about not wanting to fail my finals,” I say and she nods in approval.

“Great! Now we just need to finish making these copies like yesterday. Are you working today?” she questions and I nod my head.

“In the afternoon though.”

“Okay we'll be done by then.”