Calista kept a low profile throughout the week following the incident, even reversing the customized uniforms and the look of her room. If she didn’t add more fuel to the gossip flame, maybe she’d be able to survive until finals week. Not even a month into her stay in the academy, and she’d made plenty of enemies.

  Her fighting was slightly better; she memorized routines well, her balance had improved, and her flexibility was always above average. But her strikes were too gentle and she moved more like a dancer than a fighter. Coach Tostama would tap her legs and her fists, reminding her, “This isn’t a ballet class, Miss Medley.”

  After the incident with the Favorites, Calista found herself laser-focused on improving. Her Break periods were dedicated to the Training Center or the Studitorium. After Guild Training, she worked out at her dorm. Her diet no longer had vanilla-berry lattes or weight-therapy ingredients. She tried her best not to use Socializer slang whenever she talked to Belinda or Camelithia.

  She never went to the Infirmary to heal her eye, or even applied an ice pack. Despite the circumstances, she wore it as proudly as she wore her Favorite badge. A lot of students gawked at her the day following the incident, and she knew people were talking about the guy she scratched in the face.

  Calista found out it was a bulky Paesearthian guy named Horace, call sign ‘Tarzan’, who was in the Epsilon Guild. He wasn’t even a Favorite; he had been invited by Hillary Kaye to the little party. Hillary herself was Bark’s guest, being his girlfriend. She was a Delta, but not a Favorite; not yet, according to her.

  The first few days passed by in an angry haze. Calista hadn’t wanted to talk to anybody, and she avoided the other Favorites as much as she could. Harrison told her the following night that she had just gone through an unofficial form of ‘initiation’. He tried reassuring her that every new Guild member was ‘initiated’ in some humiliating way, even giving her examples of some of the recent ones; a new Gamma member had to eat Hajjian ash cakes; they were disgusting and most non-Hajjians were allergic. A new Zeta had to dive into one of the swimming pools with piranhas in it— she was half-Mercurian, so piranha bites weren’t too harmful for her.

  “They’re called ‘surprise attacks’,” Harrison had told her. “They catch a new member off-guard and force them to do stuff, or like most of the time, beat them up. I guess since you don’t have any other Guild members, the Favorites did it for you. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about it. It slipped my mind.” He was calm when they talked about the incident, but Calista could tell he was enraged, his fingers flexing and his sapphire eyes blazing.

  Hearing that Harrison ‘forgot’ to tell her about an initiation ritual that would inevitably happen to her just made her even angrier. She knew they didn’t just initiate her because she was a new Guild member. They probably would’ve targeted her whether she was a Kappa or not.

  More than anything, she wanted to hit back. She wanted to punch every single one of the students that terrorized her that night, make them beg for mercy and grovel to her on their knees. But she knew she couldn’t do that, at least not yet. She studied far past curfew, holed up in her room with screens opened all around her, memorizing the different disciplines and practicing on the CDSim in the Kappa training room.

  Harrison confronted the culprits in the Mess Hall about it, determined to defend his student and do his job as her Student Coach. Calista knew he meant well, but she couldn’t help but think he made it worse. Maybe people like Tarzan or even Hillary would be intimidated, but Rosalina Wiasod wouldn’t even bat a lash.

  She wanted to deal with this on her own. She wanted to earn this dream of hers. She didn’t want any unnecessary help. Harrison could help her along as her Student Coach, but that was all she’d allow.

  Her black eye and the rest of her bruises faded as the days went by. She hadn’t even noticed they were gone until weeks later, when she finally bothered to check herself in the mirror. She’d noticed that her body looked… different. Stronger. Her arms and legs were more muscular, abs were forming along her midriff, and light scars were etched into her knuckles. Her nails had grown unevenly, the polish chipped and faded; her mother’s nightmare.

  She looked stronger… but she didn’t feel any stronger. Every morning, she felt more and more tired. There were times she wondered whether any of this would amount to anything. All the bullying, the doubting, the bruising and battering… then Katelyn and Quincy’s faces would flash in her mind, followed by the Favorites’ taunting faces, and she’d go right back to work.

  Katelyn finally sent a message towards the end of October. It was short, but it reassured her that the family was still safe and sound up in Montana with their paternal relatives, and that they were simply limiting communication until the worst would blow over. The fans weren’t their only problem. Now that Katelyn’s identity was leaked, every patron she ever crossed in the two years at Genesis X had taken it upon themselves to settle grudges. SECURE was working hard to catch them and arrest them. Scaaskal had also been attacked again, leading him to go into hiding, since he did a lot more illegal work than Katelyn ever did.

  Calista silently ate her breakfast at the Kappa table, ignored by everyone else. Her limbs felt like lead and her head spun every few seconds. She was sure it was just stress, but she didn’t have time for the spa with all the training and homework she had to do.

  Belinda and Cam sat at her table. Cam had always accompanied her, but Belinda had talked to her, but she hadn’t eaten with her in a short while, probably pressured by the other Gammas. Calista didn’t blame her; she was probably afraid of a surprise attack just for being friends with someone like her. She appreciated that Belinda decided to sit with her now.

  “Cali… are you feeling alright?” Camelithia asked.

  “Fine. Why?”

  “Your… you…” Cam cleared her throat. “I don’t know the polite way to say this, but you look like glitch.” She winced when Belinda lightly punched her arm.

  “I feel like glitch. I know.”

  “But… it’s an unhealthy kind. Have you slept alright?”

  Calista shrugged. “Okay enough.”

  “Lindsay, how much has she slept?” Belinda asked.

  “You don’t have to-” Calista bit her lip in frustration when her Pet answered.

  “She’s doing around five, six hours a night. Sometimes seven.”

  “Could you not openly talk about my health problems?”

  “You never told me they were secret,” Lindsay said.

  “Why should I have to-” Calista pushed down her rising anger. “Fine. From now on, do not discuss my health with anyone unless I give you permission.”

  “Okay, acknowledged.”

  “You need at least eight hours a night, Cali,” said Cam.

  “Yeah, well, I’m busy. I got a lot of homework.”

  “We all do,” said Belinda.

  “You guys know how to fight. I need more training.”

  “Harrison will give you all the extra training you need.”

  “I need more,” Calista insisted. She finished her Eggs Benedict and gulped down her protein fruit smoothie. She hoped to get some extra warm-ups in before the actual warm-up period, that way she could use that time to practice her high kicks.

  Camelithia hastily stood, following Calista as she headed out. “Calista, wait. As your friend, fellow student, and honestly a higher-ranked fighter than you… I really advise you to slow down. You need a break. You’re doing great in your progress, but you need to give your body some rest. You don’t look healthy at all.”

  “I’m fine, Cam, I’m just tired, alright? I’ll see you guys around.”

  “Cali, we don’t even have-”

  “I’ll see you in class, Bel.” She walked off before she could hear any more lecturing.

  At the gym, she got down for her morning push-ups, which she had increased to sixty. She would get tired around forty, but pushed through anyway. Sweat was no longer a source of disgust to her. Every time she worked out, she heard the Favorites’ laughing in her ears, their glee as they threw her around like a basketball and flipped her over to show off how light and weak she was. Her eye, while completely healed, throbbed with the memory of Tarzan’s fist crashing into it.

  By the time her Combat period started, Calista’s limbs were feeling like gelatin. She couldn’t understand why she felt so weak. She’d eaten enough calories for breakfast. Her stamina should have increased.

  She did her best to keep her focus while she sparred with one of her first-year classmates, but her dizziness kept messing with her balance and reaction times. She nearly fell when she dodged a couple of times, and she couldn’t seem to hit her opponent at all.

  “Miss Medley, you’re unbalanced. Keep a steady stance,” the Mearthian coach, Julius Somali, told her.

  Calista hardened her legs, trying her best to not stumble or sway. Her opponent took a swing at her face. She caught his arm and pulled so he could land on the floor, quickly pinning him down with her knee before he could counter. The sudden movement made her head spin again, and her knuckles hit the mat when she was going for his face. He palm-heel struck her in the chin and rolled away, getting back on his feet.

  “Too slow,” one of the other coaches said.

  Calista blinked. Her opponent’s face began to blur. She shook her head to clear it, but left a clear opening, and a knifehand just barely caught her throat as she leaned back in an arch. The movement sent her stumbling backward and she collapsed on the floor.

  “Alright, match over. Next pair,” Coach Usda said impassively.

  She wanted to stand up, but she couldn’t. Her limbs felt like they were fading out of existence.

  “Miss Medley, get up. Your match is over.”

  “I…” She lifted her head, but a wave of dizziness washed over her. “I can’t…”

  “There’s something wrong,” someone else said, their voice fading as well. Calista blinked up at the brightened ceiling, which grew brighter, hurting her eyes, and shadows loomed over her with weird and distorted sounds.

  Just this once… she would succumb to slumber…

  ===

  Calista’s mind was haunted by images of her family. She dreamt that Katelyn was the one being beaten by the Favorite gang, Rosalina especially enjoying her suffering with a sadistic smile. Katelyn and Quincy were both sagging in their attackers’ grips, their faces and bodies bruised horribly, while Calista was trapped in a glass box, forced to watch on helplessly as all the muscles she’d developed in her body shrunk back to the perfectly skinny figure she had before. Camelithia and Belinda stood far away with their fellow Guild members, laughing and smirking at her.

  Then her parents arrived with disappointed scowls, her mother insisting on locking her in a birthing pod to hide her away from the crazed fans, who were barreling towards them in a raging storm. As her body shrunk further in the pod, undoing all her hard work, and she banged on the glass begging for release, Danica and Rebecca loomed over her with their mouths open in cackles, their Pets recording her misery. Behind them, she could see the crazed fans reaching her siblings’ unconscious forms, the Favorites having left them to be stampeded.

  The images soon blurred out and became confusing shapes Calista couldn’t understand. She waited until they stopped, clearing into a pure white ceiling with circular lights dotted all around. She breathed in, moving her tired limbs.

  “Patient number— 23— is now conscious,” the AIDA announced. That was enough to confirm she was in a hospital or a clinic.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “Hello, Miss Medley.” A nurse entered with a smile. “How are you feeling?”

  “Uh… kind of groggy.” Calista rose, prompting the bed to rise so she could sit up. On her arm were small stickers with little balloons of multicolored liquids; her nutrition and hydration sources.

  “Do you remember anything?” the nurse asked, summoning her Pet, which started recording what Calista said.

  “Uh, yeah… I passed out in class, didn’t I?”

  “Yes, you did. Overexertion.” The nurse put away her Pet and brought up a data table from her AIDA band, which she moved towards Calista so she could read it. “You haven’t been sleeping well and while your caloric intake increased, you were exercising a bit too much. I know you’re a Fistborn student, but even fighters have their limits.”

  The data table was easy enough for the average layman to understand. It showed percentages of her sleep, nutrition, hydration, and calorie levels. The sleep percentage was pretty low, and the ‘Effect on Health’ section read: Fatigue, anxiety, low blood oxygen…

  “Your diet won’t keep you from collapsing if you’re not sleeping enough,” the nurse told her.

  “Yeah…” Calista sighed, relaxing. “How long have I been out?”

  “It’s 7:30 at night. And before you get up-” The nurse quickly pressed on Calista’s shoulders to avoid her standing up. “You’re not going to Guild Training. You’re staying here and resting.”

  “For how long?” Calista asked anxiously.

  “With the AIDA evaluations, I want to keep you here for just one more day. Tomorrow night, you’re going to your dorm, and you’re going to sleep. No studying, no working out.”

  “What about my classes? I missed them, right?”

  “You have all your catch-up info in your AIDA band. The professors and coaches sent them over. You can do that after breakfast. For now, I’m giving you some melatonin aid so you can sleep enough. I’ll give you your prescribed schedule then, okay?”

  “My what?”

  “Your routine to make up your sleep debt. You’ve got a lot to pay back.” The nurse gave her a stern, but playful smile and gently pushed her shoulders so she could lie down, flattening the bed back down.

  Calista fingered the silken fabric of the infirmary PJs. “Can I keep these?” She yawned as the nurse stuck a balloon full of purple liquid on her arm.

  “Of course. They’re comfy, right?”

  Calista quite literally nodded off, sinking into a deep slumber. She felt more well-rested when she woke up around ten in the morning, her stomach growling for breakfast. The stickers were taken off her arm and she ate a hearty meal of poached eggs with toast and fruity oatmeal, accompanied by a strawberry banana protein shake. Visitors weren’t permitted so Calista could fully focus on make-up work during the day and sleeping exactly at eight in the evening so she could get a 12-hour sleep, making up a few hours of sleep debt she owed to her body.

  As instructed by the infirmary’s AIDA, Calista was to sleep no later than 9:00, wake up no earlier than 6:00, and train no more than five to six hours a day. Her Practicum classes and Guild Training were perfectly enough for that. She would stick with the 3,000-calorie diet, which would be enough for the exercise she was doing.

  After a few days of this new routine, Calista already felt stellar. She didn’t feel as tired every day and she was steadily improving in classes. There were plenty of students making fun of her collapse in Combat, but she did her best not to pay it any mind. She would be sure to not pass out again.

  Her moment of relief was short-lived, ending about five days after her collapse. It was her Break period, followed by her Lunch period, so she had time to do some homework and study. She was in the Studitorium going over Versus History when Belinda came running in, startling many quiet study groups around her.

  “Bel?” Calista closed her AIDA screen. “Something wrong?”

  “There’s, uh… something going on. You should get back to your dorm,” Belinda said in a rush.

  “Huh?”

  “I just think you should go to your dorm for a bit. Study there, maybe eat somewhere else.”

  “What? Why? What are you-”

  “There’s just something sort of… weird going on and they might…” Belinda bit her pale lip.

  Calista stood. “What is it? The Favorites? They want to beat me up again?”

  Belinda sighed. “Just… come with me.”

  Now worried, Calista closed her screen and followed Belinda out of the Studitorium, feeling the other students’ eyes on her back. She gripped the fringes of her skirt, trying not to fidget. Was it a message? Another prank? Had the Alpha Favorites coerced Belinda into tricking her? A meeting with Dean Lisa? Was she about to be expelled?

  Belinda led her outside the Hall of Affairs Building, which was right at the campus border. Fistborn had a force field set up around the school that kept any intruders or dangers out. People could only leave campus with permission.

  Outside the invisible field was a group of people with a bunch of projected images floating over their heads. Clusters of students had gathered around the area to see. Calista was confused at first, wondering who these people are and what they had to do with her, until she got closer and could make out the pictures. The crowd was roused when they saw her, shouting and raising their arms, but the barrier blocked out the noise.

  There were many, but few really stood out to her; one image was a loop of herself screaming and crying, banging on an invisible wall, with magnetic chains around her neck and wrists. The caption above read, ‘LET HER OUT’. Another projection showed Calista in her academy uniform, splattered with a rainbow of blood colors while holding a battle bat. This one read, ‘DON’T MAKE HER A MURDERER’.

  The one that Calista stared at the most was a projection of her younger self, from one of the pageants she competed in. She looked around fifteen, wearing an emerald green dress that matched her eyes. She watched herself blowing kisses and smiling at the hidden audience around her. She never realized how skinny she really was. How did she maintain that weight all those years? The caption was, ‘GIVE US THIS GIRL BACK’.

  “Bel, wh-what is all this?” Calista looked around at the other students, who stared at the protesters with confusion and ridicule, some even recording them with their Pets.

  “It got out… you passing out in class the other day, and the initiation in the Favorites’ Lounge. One of the first-years in Theta put it up on the Hub, and it got to the Socializer crowd. Now they think you’re a hostage and that we’re keeping you here by force.”

  “What? That doesn’t even…” Calista shook her head, her eyes falling on a projection of her family. The protester showing it had smeared makeup all over her face haphazardly, as if she had been crying, although makeup never smeared. She banged on the barrier, startling Calista, and her mouth formed the words, “COME BACK, PLEASE COME BACK”.

  “So this is your little fan club?” Hillary Kaye approached with Bark and a few other Alphas and Deltas. “I’ll be honest, human, I expected a bigger crowd.”

  “I’m surprised she even has a crowd,” Bark said, his face impassive. “You should go live with them. Give yourself a nice vacation from the horrible training. Your body clearly can’t take it.”

  “Oh, yes, they’ll fix you up, won’t they?” Hillary taunted. “They’ll give you Thinners, and makeup, and weight-therapy lattes. Doesn’t that sound tempting?”

  “Let’s just go,” Calista said, turning away. She heard the students exclaim behind her, so she turned again, seeing the protesters grow more rowdy and angry.

  “I think they wanted to see you…” Belinda trailed off, unsure.

  Calista shook her head in frustration and marched back to the barrier. “You need to go home!” Realizing they couldn’t hear her, she mouthed her words: “GO. HOME.” She pointed away from the campus.

  “You should ask the President to let them pass,” said Hillary. “They can be your servants.”

  “Good idea. They can do something useful,” said Bark, now giving a small smirk. “I should do a pageant. Have enough people fall in love with me so they can do all my studying and training, and I can relax for once.”

  “Wouldn’t that be convenient?”

  “Just go!” Calista yelled, now more frustrated. She looked around at the pointing and laughing students. Hillary’s cackle was starting to rouse her rage. “Please, go home! Leave me alone!”

  “Oh, but they’re your pets, Calista. They need their mommy.”

  Calista turned, stalking towards Hillary, but Belinda gripped her arms to keep her back. “Listen, you conniving little-”

  “Alright, show’s over. Everyone clear out. Lunch period is starting.” Harrison clapped his hands loudly to grab everyone’s attention. “Go before I report you for missing lunch. You need to eat. This is an academy, not a theater.” He approached the group, followed by Lílitha. “What’s going on here?”

  “It seems the Socializers don’t approve of the harsh training for poor Calista.” Hillary put on a fake pout.

  “I don’t think they like you,” Bark said, amused, as he watched the Socializers suddenly grow more hostile. They banged more insistently on the barrier, making faces and shouting in Harrison’s direction.

  “Harrison, I…” Calista felt her face heat up like lava. “I swear I don’t know these people.”

  “Of course, you’ve never seen them before.” Hillary smirked at her clique.

  “Cali, I’m sorry. I just wanted you to see it before people started talking to you about it… we should just go.” Belinda nudged her to leave.

  “What’s the big deal?” Lílitha interjected. “If anything, they look like the few hundred fans you have, Gravity.”

  Hillary’s face darkened. “Like you have any fans.”

  “At least I don’t pretend I’m famous when I’m not. You’re more of a Socializer than you think, Kaye.”

  Hillary twitched, but Bark held her shoulder. Calista blinked in surprise. Usually, it was the other way around; Paeseoans were calm while Hajjians were hot-tempered. Perhaps it was the bad history Lílitha had with Bark; by extension, Hillary.

  “That’s enough.” Harrison gave Lílitha a warning look. “Leave them to do… their protest. That’s their right. Let’s get to lunch.” He took Calista’s shoulder, giving her a reassuring look. Calista looked back at the crazed fans, watching them desperately sob and lean against the barrier separating them. They made obscene gestures and shouted with ugly faces at Harrison and the others around her.

  “Can’t they send them away?” Calista asked Harrison desperately.

  “It’s a protest. They’re not on our grounds, so they’re free to do it.”

  Lílitha huffed and turned to the protesters. For a moment, Calista was afraid she’d scare them or even try to bite them through the barrier. To her surprise, Lílitha’s sparkly eyes widened and she twiddled her fingers, looking up at the protesters innocently. They all calmed down, as if hypnotized by her gaze.

  Lílitha sniffled and sat on the grass, hugging her knees and pretending to cry. Even though Calista couldn’t hear their voices, she knew all of them were saying “aww” as they knelt down to Lílitha’s eye level, watching her with tenderness. Calista and the others watched on with curiosity, even Bark and Hillary.

  “What is she-”

  “Shh.” Harrison shook his head at Belinda.

  Just as the protesters were bringing out their Pets to take freeze shots of her, Lílitha suddenly stretched to a monstruous height and opened her mouth in a snarl, elongating her jaw and baring her sharp teeth. The protesters all scrambled away, their mouths open in screams as their projections flickered off and their Pets crashed into each other, reacting to their owners’ panic.

  Lílitha sank back to her usual height and shape, dusting her hands off. “Problem solved.” She marched past the group.

  “Oh, yes, very intimidating,” Hillary said. “You only ever show any presence with weak Socializers, don’t you, Piranha?”

  “Try me.” Lílitha’s fangs flashed dangerously.

  “I said, that’s enough. Let’s go.” Harrison pushed Calista more urgently away from the barrier. She couldn’t help stealing another glance, seeing the protesters further away from the barrier, staring at her with scowls. All together, they projected a large image of her smiling with blood all over her, with the caption ‘TRAITOR’.

  The word continued flashing in her mind the rest of the day. She didn’t understand why. It wasn’t just because of the whole incident, or because of the students taunting her about it in the halls all the way up to Guild Training. There was just something that bothered her, something she couldn’t figure out.

  It was 8:30 by the time Calista finally cleared her head. The AIDA would insistently remind her to go to sleep once 9:00 hit, so she didn’t have a lot of time. After a lot of mulling over, she set Lindsay up to record her.

  “You sure about this?” said Lindsay.

  “I should’ve done this a long time ago. I never really… ended it.”

  “You make it sound like a breakup.”

  “That’s because it kind of is.” She sat back in her office chair. “Okay…” She took a breath. “Start… now.”

  She tried to get herself in the mindset of just another broadcast for the masses. She put on her prettiest calm smile and puffed out her chest confidently— not too much, of course.

  “Hello, everyone. I know that a lot of people have been talking about me, but I’ll introduce myself anyway. My name is Calista Medley. I’m 17 years old. I was part of a channel called the SociaLights. And I’m Jennifer Zyben’s daughter.” She tried not to pause. She didn’t want to have to edit anything. She wanted to be as real and raw as possible. “Most of you probably hate me. I betrayed you. I left my channel and went to Fistborn, the school for Versus fighters. Socializers shouldn’t be fighting, but promoting peace and unity between us. I know a lot of you think I’m deformed, damaged, and ruined by the training I’ve gotten here. You think I’m going off to a war to kill people for sport.”

  She hesitated. Maybe this was taking too long. She shook her head and took another breath. “I’ll just say this: I’m not apologizing.” Her stomach flipped. It felt like she was defying some sort of monarch, breaking the laws of the kingdom. “I’m not saying I’m sorry for what I did. I’m not sorry. And what’s even the point?” Anger inched into her voice. “If I quit Fistborn and go back groveling to all of you, you’d still toss me to the curb. So, really, what’s the point? Why apologize, especially when I’m not even sorry?” Her composure started to wane. She wanted to be real, and trying to put on a pretty face wouldn’t accomplish that.

  “So what if I’m going to a fighting school? What’s it to you? I’m not forcing you to watch. I’m not demanding that you treat me a certain way, or threatening to hurt you, or… I’m not doing anything but becoming the woman I’ve always wanted to be. I’m following a career. And I’m not killing people! Seriously, where does that come from?!”

  She was ranting now. She took a breath, trying to calm down. She needed to be honest, but she needed to make sense, too.

  “Anyway… you can hate me all you want. You can talk about how ugly I am now, or bet on when I’ll fail out, or call me a traitor or any other name. I don’t care anymore. None of you ever really cared about me or my family. You’ve been shaming my own mother just because she wanted to protect me. Hajjians were blowing up the pods. And you didn’t care. Well, you know what? My mom is more beautiful than any of you glitches combined. She could have given birth to triplets and still been uber-hotter than you. She’s still trying to protect my dad and my siblings from all of you because of this. You call fighters ‘ragers’? What about you?” She chuckled. “People have been cruel to me here, but you’re on another level.”

  Tears pressed at her eyes, but she wouldn’t cry. Not for them. They didn’t deserve it. “This is my life now. I’m a fighter. Not a Socializer. So I’m disowning you.” She held up her hands. “And when I’m ready, I’ll hunt every last one of you down if you even think about going near my family. Especially my sister, who was just trying to make her own living so she wouldn’t have to worry about dealing with you.” Her jaw trembled, but she swallowed her tears. “Now that… Kate… If you’re watching this: I’m sorry. I owe you, Dad, and Quincy an apology. You’re going through this because of me. Thank you for everything you’ve done…” Now she shed tears. “I wouldn’t be here without you. You’re the only ones that have been family to me. Thank you. I love you with all my heart, and I’ll keep going for you. I hope I see you again… that you’re safe.”

  She paused again. She felt like she should say something to her mother, but decided against it. She didn’t even know what to say to the woman.

  “That’s it. I just wanted to make it clear. I’m here by my own free will. I want to do this. I want to be a fighter. And none of you— people here, or out there— are going to stop me. I don’t give a bug about any of you, and none of you matter to me, so why should I care what you think? I’m getting on that team whether you like it or not. Calista’s out.” She leaned back, her tense muscles relaxing. “End the recording.”

  Lindsay hovered over to her. “You want me to send it out like that? No… cuts or anything?”

  “No. Just like that. I wanted to say a lot more, but… I think that’s enough.”