“Okay, so obviously you wouldn’t do it again, right?” It scared me that the look in his eyes was already answering my question. “I mean, why would you do it if that was the case? What could possibly be worth risking your future?” I asked the questions, somehow expecting that this was some sort of prank. He was just getting back at me for last night. The expression on his face spoke volumes. I looked at him blankly.
“Trent, what does this have to do with me?”
“I wasn’t necessarily going to do anything; I was just checking.”
“Checking what? I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
“I wanted to make sure you passed your finals. I knew how worried you were.”
“You checked my final grades?” It was hard to keep the hurt from my voice. “Please tell me you’re not saying what I think you are,” I pleaded.
His silence was the only answer I needed. My chest felt like it was being squeezed. “You changed my grades?” Embarrassment and shame filled me. After all my hard work, I was still nothing but a loser? “I don’t deserve to be here,” I said, standing on shaky legs.
The dead look left his eyes. “Wait, Tressa, no! You misunderstood me.” He jumped to his feet. “I didn’t have to change them. You got those grades on your own.”
I shook my head in denial. “You’re lying.” I paced in front of the coffee table, jerking away as he tried to stop me. I felt so confused by the mixed feelings crashing around my head like balls on a pool table. What did this mean for Trent, or for me? Would I be implicated in this too? Did I work my ass off for nothing, and now I’d be kicked out anyway? In a way, this was my fault. If Trent had never gotten involved with me, this never would have happened. “I ruin everything I touch. I’m like poison.”
Trent stood in front of me and placed his hands on my shoulders. “Don’t say that. I’m not lying. You earned those grades fair and square. I should have made that clear. I’m the one who was wrong here. Not you.” His voice was louder than I had ever heard it.
“I want to believe you,” I said with a quiver in my voice.
“Then believe it. You will find out anyway when you see your actual tests.” I felt slightly relieved until I reminded myself of what had started our conversation in the first place. “If you didn’t change my grade, what is the big deal?”
“I tripped a flag when I hacked into the school’s mainframe. I should have known they’d have several safeguards in place. I underestimated their security. Obviously, I’m not a great hacker since I’ve been caught twice.”
“Do they think I had something to do with this too?”
“No, no, believe me. I made that crystal clear. It’s me who’s in trouble,” he assured me.
“How much trouble could you be in if you didn’t change my grades?”
His face turned grim. “That’s the problem. I hacked into a computer with the intent to change something. I didn’t destroy or harm anything, so it’s not a felony, but it’s still a class B misdemeanor.”
“What does that mean for you?” I asked, gnawing on my lip.
“Most likely a fine, and if a judge wanted to be a hard-ass, I could actually get up to six months in jail. I think a lot of it has to do with how far the school wants to take it,” he said.
“Holy shit, you could go to jail? What about the school? What are they doing?” I asked, flabbergasted. “Wait, I can call Professor N or my dad. Do you need an attorney?”
He sat back down on the couch, defeated. “Actually, Professor Nelson is helping me through this. Because of him, I’m fairly certain the school is going to drop the charges, but there are consequences. I’m out. They expelled me.”
“What?” I shrieked. “They can’t do that. What about your thesis?” Could they really make him walk away from all the hard work he had put in? The injustice of it all made me want to scream. What he did was nothing. I’d done pranks that were worse than this.
“They can do what they want, and they did. It could have been worse.”
How could it have been any worse than to lose everything he’d been working toward? I began to feel sick. If we weren’t together, he never would have done someth
ing so reckless, so careless.
“They could have pressed charges. Jail would have been a real possibility. They’re not doing that. Yeah, I’m no longer a Maine State College student, but at least they didn’t ruin my entire life. The fact that you aced your finals saved me. If I would have had to change your grades, things would have been a great deal worse for me. Any role they may have thought you had in this was quickly dismissed because there was a paper trail and all your teachers stepped forward to say how hard you’ve been working. So, you see? I should actually be thanking you,” he said, smiling like there was a silver lining on this black cloud.
“Oh, give me a break,” I stated indignantly. “You are seriously going to sit there and thank me? What kind of twisted-ass thinking is that? You were willing to give up everything for me. Was it stupid? Hell yeah. Am I furious that you would do something so incredibly dumb? Absolutely, but you are not going to act like a martyr and thank me for it.” I punched him in the arm for good measure. A small part of me was sort of relieved that he had proven to be human and capable of doing stupid shit. I was beginning to feel like I was the only one making all the mistakes.
“God, you asshole. I could puke right now that you lost everything you were working for.” My voice trailed off as I considered what this meant for our future. “What are you going to do?”
“I’m not sure yet. I’m still trying to wrap my brain around everything. I was sure you’d hate me and we’d be through,” he admitted, leaning his head against the back of the couch and closing his eyes. I couldn’t help noticing how exhausted he looked.
“When did you find all this out?”