“Everybody’s too stupid for Shifting Winds!” she growls. “You honestly think all those people who claim to love the series actually read the damn books? They haven’t! Because they’re fucking five thousand pages long! I tried to read the first book one time, and the dickwad author spent nine pages describing a tree. Nine pages! Those books are the worst. The absolute worst.”
She runs out of breath, grinning when she notices me laughing my butt off.
“And that was my TED Talk about Shifting Winds,” she says graciously. “You’re welcome.”
My good humor doesn’t last long. “He was just so condescending, Brenna.”
Her tone becomes cautious. “Was he? Or are you just extra sensitive to everything he says now, because of what he said about you being surface level?”
I bite my bottom lip. It’s true. I am overly sensitive these days, especially about Fitz. It’s just… I keep trying to perceive myself through his eyes, and the picture that forms isn’t something to be proud of.
I see a ditzy blonde who got kicked out of one sorority and banned from another, who’s always on academic probation, whose father had to call in a favor to get her into college, whose brother called another one in to find her a place to live.
I see a screw-up.
With a heavy heart, I say as much to Brenna, but a roar from the crowd drowns out her response.
Her gaze hasn’t left the ice once during our conversation, and now she’s shooting to her feet. “Are you blind, ref!” she screams. “That was tripping!”
A group of guys a few rows behind us start cackling at her outrage. “Hey, it’s not our fault your shitty players can’t skate without tripping over their own feet!” one of them mocks.
“Oh, you really want to go there?” She spins around and I smother a laugh.
Aside from her silvery-gray scarf, she’s wearing all black again, plus the red lipstick I’m beginning to realize is her trademark. With her dark hair loose and her eyes blazing, she looks like a total badass. She kind of resembles Gal Gadot, the actress who plays Wonder Woman. Come to think of it, she resembles the original Wonder Woman too.
AKA she’s frigging gorgeous, and the boys she’s glaring at do a double take when they notice who they’ve been heckling.
“The only shitty thing I see is the huge dump your goalie just took on the ice,” she taunts back.
I snort, a chortle breaking free.
“Take a look at the scoreboard, douchenozzles, and tell me what you see,” she chirps, pointing to the screens above center ice.
The score clearly reads Briar – 1, Harvard – 0.
None of them follow her gaze. “Watch your mouth,” one snaps.
“Watch yours,” she snaps back.
“Your boys are pussies,” he jeers. “Standing there begging for a call instead of taking it like a man. Oh nooo, the bad man tripped me!”
His buddies break out in gales of laughter.
“Don’t make me come up there,” Brenna warns, hands planted firmly on her hips.
“Don’t tempt me. I don’t fight chicks, but I might make an exception for you.”
“I don’t hit men, either,” she says sweetly. “But luckily I don’t see any men around here. Do you?”
“You bitch—”
I yank on Brenna’s arm and force her to sit back down. “Relax,” I order. I’m acutely aware of the death glares all around us.
“They’re a bunch of jerks,” she grumbles. “And that ref was a dick! Anderson was totally tripped. They should’ve called a penalty.”
“Well, they didn’t. And we’re about three seconds away from getting assaulted, or thrown out. So let’s move on, shall we?”
“Move on, huh? You mean, what you should be doing right now instead of obsessing over one trivial comment?”
I clench my teeth. “Sorry if it bothers me that one of the guys I live with thinks I’m nothing but a fluffy sorority girl.”
“You know who else was viewed as a fluffy sorority girl?” she challenges. “Elle Woods. And you know what she did? She went to law school and showed everyone how smart she was, and then she became a lawyer and everybody loved her, and her slimy ex tried to win her back and she sent him on his way. The end.”
I have to smile, though her recap of Legally Blonde isn’t quite a parallel of my own life, since I won’t be going to law school despite the fact that everyone else in my family has. Well, except for Dean. He followed his own path, deciding at the last minute to bail on law because he realized he’d rather coach hockey and work with kids. If my parents were rich snobs with sticks up their asses, they’d no doubt be horrified that Dean Heyward-Di Laurentis became a gym teacher.
Fortunately, my parents are awesome and supportive, and now Dean’s paved the way for me to be able to veer off course too.