The Will To

T H I R T Y (the touch)

"We have two months left."

"I know."

"Two months. And you want to completely redo the project."

"Not completely. I'm only talking a small change—an important one. Think about it—all the rapes happening on campus. I was reading this article last week about how this woman was raped and how she was stalked for months leading up to it. For months."

"We literally have the entire thing completed."

"Yeah, I know, but you said it: we have two whole months left. Plenty of time to add to the case study."

Xavier smacked the back of his chair in defeat, crossing his arms and issuing a sigh that immaculately fit his disgruntled expression. He turned his head from me, his long nose and sharp eyebrows resembling that of a hawk, and when he said, "You're insane, you know that? Clinically insane. No one even wants that stupid FBI internship. We all could care less," I had the distinct impression of a hawk swooping down in an attempt to snag me.

Luckily, I wasn't easily snagged. "And I care too much to submit a mediocre project."

"Mediocre?" Xavier repeated. "I've spent days researching and putting my piece together. Days. Mediocre my ass. Just because you've got a serious control problem does not mean I'm going to spend any more time on this stupid project. I'm not redoing it because you want to be relevant. I've got a life and a girlfriend I happen to enjoy seeing in my spare time."

"Please. Don't pretend like that avatar you created on your VR headset is your girlfriend."

Xavier blinked and gritted his teeth. "You're the most annoy—"

Rey barked an uncomfortable laugh, leaning forward over the table "Okay, wow. Yeah, let's just take a breath." He glanced at me before adding, "Isn't Christmas supposed to make people cheerful or something similar?"

Xavier narrowed his eyes and I flicked back my hair.

"Right. I guess that answers that question," Rey said.

"She's insane," Xavier stated.

"Eh." Rey grimaced. "I don't know if insane is the right word. Passionate, maybe?"

Flipping his attention to Danica, who'd been remarkably quiet during the heated encounter, Xavier snapped, "Well? What do you think? It's insane that she wants to redo the entire project. It's fine as it is!"

Danica's eyes widened and she grew pale. She looked like she was going to be sick as she glanced between the three of us. In fact, I feared that if she opened her mouth, she would vomit, and so I said, "Okay, look. I get it. I'm annoying and obnoxious and a bit of a control freak. So? Been called worse. This internship's been something I've wanted for years. Years, okay? I can't rest until I get it." I paused, slumping my shoulders. "You're right, the project's fine as is, but it needs to be better than fine for my own sanity, because I can't turn something this important in, knowing that it could have been better."

"I'm not going to waste any more time researching shit that's already been researched."

"Fine!" I groaned. "Whatever. I'll do it. But we have to keep meeting up to make sure we're all on the same page. Plus, I'm pretty sure Higgins knows if we're meeting or not. He's made a few comments to me about it before. It's important this remains a group project, considering that's the basis for the FBI internship referral."

"Fine," Xavier agreed.

"Fine," I said.

Rey arched a brow. "Okay, then. Um, I guess that's a wrap. Happy Holidays everyone."