Law and History

“Did you see that last night? That was pretty rockin’ awesome,” Evan said.

“What was awesome?” Chris asked distractedly. He had his head down and his hood up, his black eye concealed behind a pair of too-large sunglasses.

“The big boxing match for Campus Fight Night on YouTube.” Evan paused, waved at one of his friends.

Chris followed Evan’s gaze, and his heart caught in his throat. Sarah was lingering near the doorway of the Student Services Office, Dianne sitting obediently at her feet.

“Yeah,” Chris said. “Awesome.”

“Whoever that blond dude is, he’s pretty good,” Evan went on. “When I first saw him, he looked kinda like a chump. I mean, obviously I didn’t get a good look at his face, but he seemed like every idiot pretty boy. Bet he’s the quarterback or something clichéd like that.”

Chris hummed and nodded. “Yeah.” He slunk toward the Student Services Office, lingered a short distance away from Sarah. He had to figure out what classes she was taking so he knew which textbooks to volunteer for, but when he peered at her binder, he saw that it was covered in braille. He wouldn’t be able to read her schedule, then. Crap. Sarah was talking to someone in the office - maybe about her schedule? Chris edged closer, shoulders hunched, head down - which was stupid, because she couldn’t see him - and then Dianne barked loudly, sharply.

Chris jumped.

“Sorry!” he said.

Sarah turned toward him. “Dianne,” she said, “no barking at strangers.” Then she smiled at Chris. “I apologize - sometimes she’s a little overprotective, thinks people are threats when they aren’t.” But there was a note of hesitation in her voice, as if she were assuming he was non-threatening out of politeness.

“I didn’t mean to make her nervous,” Chris said, and Sarah cocked her head to one side, brow furrowed. Did she recognize his voice?

And then someone from within the office said, “I have an old recording of some of the pre-law books to get you started, but we haven’t had anyone record the new editions yet. As soon as we get new recordings in, we’ll let you know.”

Sarah turned back to the door. “Thank you very much,” she said, and she sounded dejected. She clicked her tongue softly, and Dianne was on her feet, alert. “Let’s go, girl.”

Chris watched her go, wanted to call out to her. Instead, he headed into the office.

“Hey.”

The redheaded woman at the desk looked up at him. “How may I help you?”

Chris slid a crumpled application across the desk. “I was looking to be a reader.”

The woman beamed. “Well, that’s lucky, isn’t it?” She had a rolling Irish accent. Joyce, her nametag read. “As it so happens, we need a slew of textbooks read, and soon. What do you feel like, lad, law or history?”

“Law,” Chris said.

(Written by Nagi)