The next day in class, Wesley Gibbons gave his idea for his defense. And there I sat in the middle of the classroom, Annalise made eye contact with me and she'd raised her eyebrows. "Ms. King. It's your go."
I fumbled with strings on my black jeans as I stood up, my hands linked behind me. I lengthened my neck proudly and began to speak. "Our best defense would be to discredit the witness. Make it clear that there's substantial evidence that there's reasonable doubt involved, therefore getting our client off scot-free."
A large grin made it's way to Keating's lips. "You, Ms. King, have hit it right on the money. What do we do after we discredit the witness?"
I smiled. "Um, bring in a new suspect, if that's possible. Show them another way it could have happened, another person that had more motive."
"Class. You should be taking notes off of this girl. She's already surpassed you by far. She is the only person in this room to guess exactly my defense, and for that, this next coming exam is for you not to worry over. You've won yourself an A." Annalise smiled brightly at me as I blushed.
"Thank you." I mumbled, taking my seat once more.
"I'll see you all in the court house at nine." Annalise announced, and students began to scramble out of the classroom.
I saw Connor making his way to me, so I sat up for a second time and we met in the middle. "She loves you. You've won her heart, King."
"Maybe. Maybe not. The world may never know." I joked, but was pulled from Connor's next words to see Bonnie by my side.
"Leorah, Professor Keating would like to see you." She said.
My eyebrows furrowed and I glanced at Connor who had his eyebrows raised. "Go. Have fun. I'll be waiting outside."
I waved him bye and followed Bonnie to Annalise's side.
As everyone piled out I was getting more and more nervous. What could she possibly want, and why was she staring at me so intensely?
"How old are you?"
I blinked a few times before speaking back to her. "Twenty-One."
"You've made me very happy today with your performance, Leorah, please don't ruin that by lying to me. You are not Twenty-One." Her eyebrows raised.
I gulped. "How do you know?"
"You look very young, Leorah. You don't hide your age very well, and when you look at me it's as though you're looking at some celebrity." She smiled. "How old are you, Leorah?"
'Eighteen." I mumbled sheepishly. "I...graduated high school when I was thirteen due to being...having a genius IQ. I went to college, and then applied for Middleton, and...well they accepted me and gave me a full ride scholarship because of my grades. That's why I'm here."
She nodded slowly. "I'm impressed. I am. Be very careful, Leorah. This is a dangerous world."
'Trust me, I know how dangerous this world is." I stated, looking down at my feet. "I...have to go."
"Have a good day, Ms. King. Don't be late for court tomorrow."
I began to walk off quickly, meeting Connor outside the classroom. He raised his eyebrows at me expectantly. 'What'd she want?"
"To tell me how great I was today.' I lied with ease. "That's all."
"Want to come over to my place? Maybe sleep over or something so we can study through the night?" He offered.
I nodded. 'Sure. Okay. That sounds good actually."
He linked arms with me. "You okay?"
"I'm fine. Just kinda hungry, that's all."
"Well, I can fix that with some good pizza." He stated.
We walked into Connor's apartment and he threw his keys on the couch. "Here, lemme grab you some clothes or something. Probably don't want to fall asleep in jeans, right?" He stuck his bag against a wall and walked into a bedroom.
"Sounds good." I called back, throwing my bag on the couch.
He came back with a pair of sweatpants, and a large sweater. Both were much too big for me, but I'd survive. I could just roll them up, right?
"Bathroom?" I inquired.
He pointed toward a door, and I walked in, locking the door securely behind me. I leaned against it and breathed out slowly. I began to undress, and cringed with every uncomfortable movement. I caught eye of myself in the mirror and cringed. The fresh cuts and bruises were swollen and painful, causing any and all movement to cause me pain. I'd learned to live with pain since I was just a little girl, but this was worse. It was constant. They were never given time to heal, and I wondered in that moment how I was supposed to hide this from Connor. Or anyone else for that matter.
"Leo?" Connor called out.
"Yeah?" I sputtered.
"What'do you like on your pizza?"
I breathed a sigh of relief. "Anything is fine as long as it isn't fish."
"Gotcha." He called back, leaving me to my own devices once more.
I quickly got dressed, rolling up the sweatpants as much as I could, and I pushed up the sleeves of the sweater. I proceeded out the door of the bathroom, a smile dressed on my lips.
