Page 77 of Shattered

“I’ll be there. I promise,” Christian quickly cut in.

“They can’t take it away, can they?” Her voice quivered.

“They are a bunch of wealthy, uptight pricks and we are their puppets. They can do just about anything they want.”

“Christian, I can’t lose this. I won’t be able to pay for next year.”

“Sam. Calm down. If worst comes to worst, you can do what the rest of us do and take out a loan.”

“I don’t want to take out a loan. I don’t want to be saddled with debt for the rest of my life.”

She could tell from the exasperated sigh that just escaped his lips that it was most likely followed by a massive roll of his eyes. “I get that. I really do. But, in all honesty, it’s not that big of a deal.”

“It is to me.”

“Babe, it will be fine, and you will make more than enough to cover all your loans once you start making all that doctor money.”

“That’s not the point.” Her voice shook. She was furious. Christian had been there for her every step of the way. They’d spent countless hours together in high school prepping for the scholarship and he knew how important it was to her. “Why are you acting like this isn’t a big deal?”

“I’m sorry, Sam. You're right. I didn’t mean to upset you. It’s just the middle of the night and I’m not thinking straight. I will help you in any way that I can.” When Sam didn’t say a word, he continued, “I have a break around two o’clock tomorrow. Why don’t we grab a late lunch and chat?”

“Fine.”

“I’ll text you later.”

And then he hung up and Sam was left even more frustrated than when she had first called him hoping he would calm her down.

*******

She wasn’t sure if she slept at all. It was a night filled with tossing and turning and staring at the alarm clock waiting for it to go off.

By the time she walked into the campus plaza, she could barely keep her head up.

“You look like shit,” Christian said as he handed her a coffee.

“You are oh so charming.” Sam rolled her eyes and then started to sip on the steaming concoction in front of her.

She wasn’t sure what exactly he had ordered for her, but it definitely didn’t have whipped cream and cinnamon on top and tasted terribly bitter.

“This is so good,” she lied and started to stand. “But I’m going to add a little–”

“Sit back down,” he said in a playful but serious tone. “You are not ruining perfectly great coffee with cream and sugar and whatever else nonsense you can think of.”

She slowly lowered herself to the chair and forced the liquid down her throat while he smiled at her.

“Alright. How are we going to fight this? What is it they’ve found?” he casually asked as if he hadn’t just pissed her off.

Maybe it wasn’t him, and it was just the fact that she was already on edge. She knew Christian liked his coffee a certain way and couldn’t stand when people ruined it. Adding all that extra stuff couldn’t be healthy either, and she knew he was just trying to help her. She needed to rein in her anger, she knew it was directed at Callum and there was no reason to take it out on Christian.

“I’m not completely sure. I know I failed a lab assignment a few weeks back, but I’m certain I brought that grade up. We had a nephrology exam last week and I definitely bombed that one. There was an advanced level chem midterm that I made a B on, but I don't know. I just didn’t think all that together would impact my grade so much. I’ve kept a 4.0 this entire time.”

“Do you think you have been too distracted by Callum Barker?”

Her eyes, which had been planted on the scenery outside, quickly shot up to him.

“What?”

“Come on, Sam. I’ve known you longer than anyone else. I know y’all have been hanging out, and I know he isn’t the best guy out there. Maybe he’s a bad influence on you and it’s carrying over into your schoolwork.”

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