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“There’s nothing to tell,” he said, licking his fingers. “I help them out, they help me. Simple.”
“Uh-huh,” I pressed. “Sounds familiar.”
He shot me another look, but this time, it was one of mutual understanding. He knew how fucked up this was, how silly it was, and that I knew it too.
“I met Tommy in my molecular bio class,” he started to explain. Ah—same class that Cassidy was in. “We got put together for an assignment this one time, and he was really struggling. Like, really struggling. Turns out, he wouldn’t be in that class if it weren’t for someone else doing all the assignments for him in the pre-req.”
I raised an eyebrow at him. “Oh?”
“Yeah. He’s a sophomore,” he said. “Professor must’ve been oblivious as hell, but … Anyway. The kid who was doing his assignments transferred, and so he was left on his own.”
“Did he tell you all this?” I asked, chuckling. “’Cause it sounds like a sob story.”
Pierre shook his head. “I found out from Derrick. But that’s not important.”
He sat back in his chair and let out a burp.
“Sorry. Basically, I offered to help him, but only for a price. He gives me about fifty to two-hundred depending on the size of the assignment. Sometimes more, as long as he’s getting good grades. By which, I mean, I’m getting good grades.”
He paused to let it sink in.
“For him,” he added, as if I really needed the clarification. As if he was proud of it.
I narrowed my eyes at him, then looked around the apartment.
And then, it all clicked.
“So, that’s how you’ve been paying for this place,” I stated, my eyes moving around the furnished space like it was my first time seeing it. Of course, the first time I did see it, my instincts told me that even if it was an old building, it was still too good to be true. The wallpaper was peeling in a few places, but that was about it.
“Yeah…” Pierre replied a little sheepishly. “The university did provide me with housing, technically, but it was on campus. They were so cheap about it, too. Gave me the worst fucking place in the basement of a lecture hall. So, a few weeks after classwork started to ramp up, I ended up finding this place. Rent’s not as bad as you think. Plus … micro-bio gives a fuck-ton of homework.”
“Right,” I said, nodding slowly as it all came together in my mind. How both of us managed to get ourselves involved with our school’s richest brats was still beyond me—brats who happened to be related, at that. “There’s something else I wanted to ask you about.”
“Shoot.”
The whole thing with Tommy made sense, to an extent—it was well within Pierre’s territory to forge homework for other people, though this was the first time he was doing it for an incentive than out of straight fear. Back in high school, it was normal for him to get the trio through their work, but it’s not like they needed it. Elliot and his boys were naturally smart. They were just lazy as fuck.
But Tommy needed the help. So it was easy for Pierre to demand a price. That made sense.
Then there was Cassidy, and what she said.
Where the hell did that fit in?
“After the ambulance took you away,” I began, “this girl came up to me. Cassidy.”
I waited for a reaction from him, but he only copied my expression, as if waiting for more. “And?” he said after a moment.
“Do you know her?” I said, annoyed that I had to help him along. He wasn’t dumb. Pierre knew that I was trying to get at something. “Because she definitely knew you.”
“Well, yeah?” he said like it was a question, which prompted me to raise an eyebrow. “I mean, I know who she is. She’s dating Tommy. But I don’t, like, know her.”
I kept a stony expression until it was clear to me that he was telling the truth. Pierre was apt to lie sometimes, even though he sucked at it. All it took was a little eye contact, a little pressure, for him to spill.
Nothing.
“Okay…” I continued. “Anyway. She came up to me after the fight and told me that she was the one who called the security over. She also said something about having a crush on you, or something.”
Pierre snorted. “Well, that’s not true.”