Page 119 of Cold as Ice

“I took this meeting as a favor to Malcolm,” Dr. Bricker said bluntly, “but I’ll be honest. If I had a dollar for every student who thought they were graded unfairly, I’d be a much richer man.”

“Understood. But it’s not just about being graded unfairly. I don’t think those are the answers I wrote,” Elliott said. He’d known it was entirely possible that his complaints would get dismissed like he was every other disgruntled student. But heknewhis situation was different.

Dr. Bricker looked surprised. “You’re saying that Dr. Prosser changed your answers?”

“I can’t think of any other explanation,” Elliott said. “And this has happened multiple times. I know exactly how crazy it sounds. Why would Dr. Prosser do that? I thought maybe shewasn’t a fan of student athletes, but she loved Malcolm two years ago. He passed her class with flying colors.”

“Well, MalcolmisMalcolm,” Dr. Bricker said with an indulgent glance in the man’s direction. “But these are serious accusations, Elliott.”

“I know, sir, but with the test results as they stand, I’m off the hockey team.”

“Understandably concerning.”

Elliott could feel Mal next to him, practically vibrating with the urge to break in. To say he wasn’t crazy—that what he was sayinghadactually happened, even though they had no concrete proof of it.

Mal gave up the fight. “What Elliott is too bashful to say is that if he keeps playing the way he is now, he’ll easily be drafted in the first round in the spring. He’s the leading scorer on our team, and second in the entire conference.”

Dr. Bricker sighed and pulled his glasses off, cleaning them on his shirt sleeve. “I understand that, Malcolm, and it’s incredibly unfortunate.”

“I’ve been tutoring him for weeks. He knows the material. I made sure of it. The work is all correct. It’s just the answer that’s wrong.”

Mal pushed the test across the desk.

Dr. Bricker’s gaze pinned Elliott to his chair. “This is true?”

“According to Mal, yeah. The work’s right. The answer’s wrong. I could tell you I wrote the right answer down, but I’ve got no proof that I did.”

Picking up the test, Dr. Bricker perused it.

“This wasn’t the first time, either. This happened on an earlier quiz, that we know of, but I’ve wondered if it’s been going on all semester, which is why I ended up in this situation in the first place,” Elliott added, hoping that some of this,any of this, might convince Dr. Bricker that this was worth looking into.

Because he still might not. He still might dismiss them with a wave of a hand and an assumption that Elliott was just like so many other athletes, who didn’t bother going to class, who didn’t actuallytryto get decent grades, and hoped that their status would help them skate by.

“Hm,” Dr. Bricker said. “Well, I can see what you mean about the work being right. I’m going to keep this if that’s okay with you, Elliott?”

Elliott nodded.

“And,” he continued, “I’m going to do a bit of digging on my own, if that’s also okay with you?”

“Of course,” Elliott said. “Anything you can do is greatly appreciated.”

“I’ll be in touch,” Dr. Bricker said. Elliott nodded and shook his hand and a minute later, he and Mal were outside again.

“I’ve got a class,” Mal said.

“And I’m meeting Ramsey and Ivan for lunch.” Elliott already had a feeling he knew why Ramsey had texted him, wanting to meet up.

“Well . . .” Mal trailed off, looking awkward.

“Don’t be ridiculous, we can hug now. Dr. Bricker isn’t staring at us, wondering if I’m your teammate or something more,” Elliott said, putting his arms around him and pulling him in tightly. He even pressed a surreptitious kiss to his shoulder, in a spot where hopefully Mal would feel it.

When Mal let him go, he cleared his throat. “Speaking of that,” he said. “My dad is coming into town at the end of the week.”

“For Thanksgiving?”

“Something like that,” Mal said. “Did you want to . . .uh . . .well, I thought you should meet him. Or he should meet you. Um. Either one.”

Elliott didn’t know if he reallywantedto meet Mal’s father. From what he’d heard of the man, he didn’t sound particularlypleasant. But even though he’d never had a real relationship before—at least one that entailed meeting the parents—he knew that sometimes you did things because the man you loved wanted you to.

---