It was now Monday and it was time to be fed to the wolves... demons... devils, whatever you wanna call it. They’d answered my desperate emails and were waiting for me in the conference room down the hall. I’d just left the cafeteria where Jordan and Sarah had given me an inspirational pep talk after I’d told them what had been goin’ down in the past three days. Sarah was upset with herself for not being more insistent to help when we’d talked on the phone that morning, but I assured her that I wasn’t sure it would’ve made a difference.

I’d tried to get in some quality housemate bonding time before the weekend was over by suggesting a movie night. Instead, it resulted in Kyle being irritable and knocking my phone into a sink full of dishwater and killing the battery. He then blamed it on me, storming out of the apartment without a word of apology, saying something about how it was my fault for leaving it in a dumb spot. It really was my fault, but I wasn’t gonna tell him that.

So anyway, I was feeling upbeat as I waltzed into the conference room, ya know, the kind with the big squishy, spinny chairs, long table, and big windows with the blinds always closed. Now you may not know this but I have a particular weakness for spinny office chairs.

Okay. I told myself. Ignore the chairs. Focus. This can’t be that bad. At least they wanted to meet with me in person, right? That’s gotta be a good sign. Little weird I’m meeting them all at the same time, though, when they teach separate classes. But I guess, they don’t call ‘em the Three Diablos for nothin’.

Alright. There I went. I was all the way through the door, the profs waiting on the other side of the conference table. Whatever happened next would decide my future.

I slipped my backpack off my shoulder and dropped it to the floor with a clunk, my personal library of research books making itself known. I put on a nervous, yet confident, smile. And... all the professors did was stare back at me.

It was rather intimidating having three very different people studying me.

Professor Takahashi seemed like she’d be nice if you were blind and all you heard was her voice, because that’s where it ended. Her petite figure was always dressed in sharply cut dress clothes somehow flawlessly combing law firm and biker gang which accented her glossy black hair as it framed her Asian features. That and she was a stickler on bibliography formatting which is enough in itself to describe her personality.

 Professor Werner looked like a prick and a pushover all at the same time. His grey hair and pasty skin matched the glasses sitting on his nose thick and square. He was the nastiest of the bunch. I know because I had the unfortunate privilege of taking my required science credit with him with a bunch of freshmen. I honestly think he hated being alive and made it everyone else’s problem.

If those two sounded bad, then buckle up because we’ve got one more. Professor Edgerton was over six feet of ‘don’t mess with me’ only ever wearing red or black pantsuits even in the summer. She commanded her classes in a slight West African accent with equal parts fear and respect. I once saw her stare down a brick wall and win. No lie. Where do you think I got that brick from?

So not knowing what else to do, I plopped into one of those spinny chairs. The aroma that poofed out of my clothes made me kinda wished I’d showered that morning. Maybe combed my hair. I should stop trusting clothes I find on the floor because these seemed decidedly less clean than I’d originally thought. Oh well, I guess. Life is the decisions we make and there I was making some very bad ones.

The professors had yet to say a word, making it incredibly difficult to restrain myself from spinning back and forth in the unsurprisingly comfortable chair. I couldn’t do it. The chair creaked softly beneath me as I swung contentedly, waiting for someone to speak and get this meeting going. So maybe this wasn’t respectable behavior for a twenty-two-year-old, so sue me. Life’s too short not to spin in spinny chairs. You can write that one down for posterity. Or put it on a t-shirt. Probably make some money.

If you couldn’t tell, I was pretty nervous. So that left only left one option: me filling the silence.

“Well?” I spoke, breaking the icy silence. “Are you gonna let me retake those tests?” I was grinning openly, hope beaming off me like a streetlight on a foggy night, bright and unaffected by the darkness suffocating it.

The three of ‘em shared a look. Kay, not a good sign. But there I sat with my ridiculous grin.

Professor Takahashi spoke first, leaning forward and lacing her thin fingers together to gently rest them on the table. “Well, Sawyer,” she began with the barest hints of guilt laced through her every move. Also not a good sign. “We can’t let you take those tests.” All that built up hope plummeted to my stomach; I couldn’t breathe. “You knew the rules. You were also made aware that with these tests there are no exceptions. We have no way of knowing if this is some ploy for you to cheat on the test. You will have to retake the classes next fall. I’m sorry.”

I couldn’t move. Thoughts zoomed through my head like New York City on a Tuesday. A fifth year of college, overwhelming debt, no scholarship, no friends, no sports. I couldn’t do it. I just couldn’t. There was no way. What would my parents say? I’d be a disgrace. Failing three required courses? No way. Not gonna happen.

I launched to my feet.

“No!” I stared them down with a fierce gaze. “There’s no way. There has to be something I can do. I’ll do anything! Just name it, I’ll do it.”

They shared a few glances. Only Professor Takahashi looked remotely guilty, but only just. The other two I swear had hearts of stone. They barely even blinked, like ruining dreams was a regular flavor added to their morning coffee.

This time Professor Werner decided to give his two-cents. He sighed, pushing his glasses back up his nose. “The thing is Sawyer. These tests are a huge deal. And without proof of sickness, we can’t do a thing.”

“What?!” I exploded. “That’s ridiculous. I have proof. Just look at my phone. I talked to Sarah Hoffman the morning of the tests. She called me.” I started digging in my pockets for my phone, but then I remembered... it had taken a bath it couldn’t recover from. Crap. My voice faltered. “Except... I don’t have my phone anymore.” I deflated.

“Apologies, Ms. Reyes,” said Werner, shaking his head while pale, calloused hands clasped loosely in front of him. “No proof. No tests.”

The quiet of the room was defeaning.

“Wait.” I looked up. “What if you talked to Sarah? She could tell you the whole story.”

“Did she actually see you?”

I breathed in to answer, put paused. Because no. She hadn’t. The only person who saw me was...

“No. But my housemate did!” I bounced on my toes, barely able to contain my jubilation. “He’s not in the same department, but he goes to school here too. His name is Kyle Moore. He saw that I was sick. Probably wrote it down in his notebook of annoying things I’ve put him through, so that he can have me pay him back or something. I was totally grossing him out! HaHa! Yes! I even slept in his bed!” My excitement almost made me miss the sudden change in expression of the three.

Takahashi turned to me, an urgent expression on her thin face. “Sawyer, would you leave the room for a moment. We need to discuss some things.”

“Uh... uh. Yeah, sure. I’ll just wait outside.” I grabbed my backpack and got out of there lickety-split. The door closed softly behind me.

That. Was weird. I couldn’t quite wrap my head around it. My brain was probably still a little funky from that minor concussion. The trainers cleared me, so I should’ve been fine, but who knows. It was still weird though. The moment I mentioned Kyle, the whole demeanor of the Three Diablos just... changed. Like they were suddenly way more interested in the situation than moments before. Did they know Kyle? Did he have some kind of bad reputation that I didn’t know about? Or maybe good? Maybe with Kyle’s influence they’d let me take those tests! How kick ass would that be?!

None of these thoughts improved my mental state. My legs were bouncing like a 90’s pogo stick set on infinity mode as I huffed and glared at various spots in the hallway. It’d been twenty minutes, and all I could hear were muffled voices. How much did they need to discuss? I was getting impatient. Actually, I had lost my patience about nineteen minutes ago. Did I mention that I’m not a patient person?

Finally, the door opened. Hallelujah! I rolled to my feet, expression hopeful, but I froze at the looks on their faces.

They were all smiling in a way that could fuel nightmares, and maybe they did.

I hovered in the hallway, really not sure if I wanted to go in there. Something was... wrong about this. Whatever this was, it wasn’t about a couple missed tests anymore.

Not by a long shot.