Page 75 of Campus Muscle

Three days ago, I would have walked in here with my head high, ready to dismantle Frank Delaney’s empire. But that was before the Highlanders’ last win. Before the scent of Trace’s skin and the wrecked, desperate sound of his voice in my ear had rewritten everything.

Now, my project felt like a loaded gun.

I sat down, my fingers trembling as I fidgeted with my notebook. I still wanted to burn Delaney to the ground. The man was a cancer on this university. But Trace was the connective tissue. To expose the booster was to gut the running back, and I was no longer sure I could live with the fallout.

I was caught in a brutal gridlock: my career on one side, and the man who had completely unraveled me on the other.

“Okay, let’s settle in,” Professor Adler said, his voice cutting through the pre-class chatter. He adjusted his glasses, his gaze sweeping over us with academic coldness. “I know the plan was a simple hand-in, but I’ve decided we’re going to pivot. I want you to stand up and share a summary of your findings so far. An informal peer review, of sorts, to see if your leads actually have teeth.”

My heart did a violent somersault. The room seemed to shrink. I had planned to pull Adler aside after class, to navigate the ethics of my predicament in private. But doing it here, in front of several competing sets of ears? It was a trap. If I stayed silent, the suspicion would be instant. I was usually the first person to volunteer, the one who lived for the kill.

“Would anyone like to lead the charge?” Adler asked, his eyes lingering on me just a second too long.

I sank into my chair, my spine pressing against the hard plastic as I willed myself to become invisible. I could feel the sweat beginning to prickle at my hairline.

“I’ll go.”

The voice came from three seats down. Darrel. My self-appointed rival and the human equivalent of a paper cut. Usually, I’d be rolling my eyes at his blatant play for the top spot, but as he stood up, smoothing his ironed shirt with an arrogant smirk, I felt a wave of relief.

For the first time in my life, I was happy to let someone else take the floor. I just needed enough time to decide if I was a journalist first, or the girl who couldn’t let go of Trace.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” he started, and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. “I decided to take on the challenge of debating the testing of cosmetic products on death row prisoners. It’s a trend that has been growing over the last several years, with some people believing it was a good thing for the prisoners since they earned a salary and it gave them a way to contribute to society. While others believed it was as cruel as animal testing. Those people state that the prisoners don’t really have a choice, with some only doing it to do a last good deed before they die.”

It was a good topic, the kind of thing I would’ve loved to investigate, and it was right up my alley too, but instead of getting something cool, I was shoved into the school paper with the demand that I cover football. If it hadn’t been for Professor Adler, I wouldn’t be in the position that I was in. I would never have dug into the corruption scandal, and I wouldn’t have gotten mixed up with the guy who was supposed to be the crux of the article.

“My piece is about the development of biofuel and the impact it would have on the motor industry,” Ally, the shy girl of the class, said before handing in her paper and running back to her seat.

The rest of the presentations passed in a blur of big words and nervous students, but I couldn’t bring myself to focus on what they were saying. My own presentation and the consequences of my words haunted my mind. All I could see was the look on Trace’s face when I told him I would still be publishing the article. And all I could hear was the way he thanked me for not doing it right before I’d pulled the rug from under him.

It tore me to pieces every single time. It was what made me reevaluate every single aspect of my being, and it made me doubt my morality. That whole time he asked me if I cared about the lives my piece would destroy, and I didn’t, but that changed since he became so wrapped up in it all.

“Dakota?” Professor Adler said, and I realized that the lecture hall was empty. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah…” I said, gathering my things. “I was just thinking about my assignment.”

“I was wondering about that too, because you’re usually one of the first people talking. So, do you want to tell me what’s going on?”

“You are right to be concerned, because I have nothing ready yet.” I could taste the lie on my tongue, but I didn’t know what else to say.

My assignment was in my notebook, under my arm. A backup on my laptop. It had been ready for days, but I couldn’t bring myself to hand it in. The neatly typed pages with their perfect margins and pure font would’ve made me proud on any other day. It was the specimen I had always dreamed of handing in as my final task. The links were fully formed, and the theories were now backed by physical proof. And yet, it hurt me.

If I handed it over now, I would destroy any chance I could possibly have with Trace. Aside from ruining his name, I would destroy the team he helped succeed and every other guy on it. Then there was the TA and every other person who would be implicated once all the proof was combined.

“That is very unusual.” He looked at me as if he could smell my lies. “Did something go wrong? Did you lose your work? Do you want me to give you an extension?”

I took a deep breath as another layer of guilt crept in. Professor Adler had always been so supportive and understanding, and yet I went against everything he warned me about, writing the one thing he said he would fail me over. So many things were coming to the surface with this, and I honestly wasn’t sure how much more of it I could handle.

“I think an extension might be called for.” I felt like shit. “At this stage, all I have are a bunch of untethered ramblings. I couldn’t find coherence in what I found, so I hadn’t been able to put it together in the way you expected of me.”

“You know, Penny mentioned something about a big secret that would be revealed soon. She also mentioned that you were behind it. Did you continue with that project I warned you about? Because that’s what this sounds like to me.”

I swallowed hard. “She’s just trying to make people impress her. I don’t have anything up my sleeve, but you know Penny. She would blow anything out of proportion if it meant she could get a few extra views.”

“Maybe so. But I feel the need to warn you one last time. I don’t want you to write anything that’s going to cause a backlash for my department, the football team, or the school as a whole. Because if you do, I’ll be forced to fail you. And the worst part is that it won’t even be my decision. It will come from the faculty, and I won’t be able to change their minds.”

He kept saying that as if I didn’t know what the consequences were. I wasn’t Trace, and I sure as hell didn’t need a warning to be played on repeat. But the faculty was the least of my concerns. There were companies that would hire me for exactly this reason. They would take me in because I was brave enough to push the boundaries, and that was exactly the type of job I wanted.

What I didn’t want was to hurt the people I’d started to care about.