Chapter 5

The First Grade

"A 75?! How did I get a 75?!" Elliot asked shockingly, scoffing as he refreshed his browser, secretly hoping the grade would magically change.

Giggling at the other end of the table, Amanda turned her head to look at Elliot. "Yeah, how did you get a 75? We all brainstormed this assignment together."

"Well, what did you get then, smarty-pants?" Elliot asked.

Amanda re-adjusted herself in her chair, straightening her posture before clearing her throat to speak. "An 89."

"89?!" Elliot said, a little too loudly, causing some of the other students to look over at him. "What did you do to get that?"

"Probably wrote a coherent paper. Mine was 1 and a half pages. What did you do, write 2 paragraphs?" Amanda teased.

There was a brief silence from Elliot. "No. I wrote 3."

Olivia choked back a laugh as she sat at the table, arms folded.

"Oh, don't you start on me too! What did you get?" Elliot pried.

"Yeah, what did you get Olivia?" Amanda also asked curiously.

Feeling both of their eyes on her, Olivia quickly looked back and forth between them both before shrugging. "I got an A."

"An A?" Amanda asked, seemingly surprised. She then quickly scrolled to the rankings tab of the course page and clicked it, reviewing the anonymously posted scores.

"Olivia. Only one person in the class got an A on the paper. And you're saying that was you?"

Olivia shrugged again. "Yup."

"Bullshit," Elliot scoffed, grabbing Olivia's laptop and opening it up. "Let me see."

Grabbing her laptop back away from him, Olivia gave Elliot an annoyed glance before sighing and pulling up her grade for the paper, showing both Elliot and Amanda her score.

"Believe me now?"

"Wha – but how did you?" Elliot said, his voice soft for nearly the first time since they've met.

"Yeah, how?" Amanda asked, just as surprised, and a little bit jealous.

Shrugging again, Olivia closed her laptop. "I decided to make up a scenario as an example in my paper. You know, to really highlight that I understood the difference between 'motive' and 'intent.'"

"Why didn't I think of that?" Amanda whispered to herself quietly.

"Show-off," Elliot grumbled, Olivia giving him a friendly flip of the bird just as Alex made her way into the classroom.

"Good morning, everyone! Here's to another Friday. As I'm sure you've seen from my email and the online course portal, the grades are up for the papers you turned in on Monday. Overall, I'm pleased with the efforts everyone put into this. I know it's awfully early on in the year for papers, but I really think this helped us out when we had our discussion on Monday and Wednesday. The class average was an 82, which is very good. And only one student received above a 90 on the paper. Olivia, great work on showing your understanding through an interpretation of your own scenario. That was extremely clever, and really proved you understood the difference. Keep up the great work."

Olivia couldn't contain the smile that spread across her face, nor could she control the sudden rush of heat that flooded her cheeks. Feeling herself blushing, she quickly bent her head down to look away from Alex.

"Teacher's pet," Elliot teased as he leaned towards Olivia.

"Fuck off," Olivia whispered back, flicking her eyes over to her professor to make sure she wasn't looking at her anymore. "Maybe write more than 3 paragraphs next time, lazy."

"Now, for today's lesson. Let's look at People vs. Beronilla. Is anyone familiar with this case?" Alex asked, scanning her eyes around the room. Finding no hands were raised, she continued.

"No worries. Let's review! A man by the name of Arsenio Borjal was serving as the elected mayor of La Paz during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines in the 1940s. After an attempt on his life was made in 1943, causing him to move, Manuel Beronilla was appointed as the military mayor sometime in 1944. Soon after, as liberations were taking place of Abra, Beronilla received instructions from his Lieutenant to place Borjal in custody to file charges against him for espionage, aiding the enemy, and so on. Once he was placed in custody and a trial was held, finding him guilty, Borjal was executed. However, just two years after, Beronilla and several of his men were indicted for the murder of Borjal. Now, with just this brief rundown of the case, does anyone want to take a crack at what the verdict may be?"

Scanning the room once more, Alex called on a student in the back.

"Guilty?" The student asked.

"And why would you guess guilty?" Alex challenged.

"Because they murdered someone and I believe murder is illegal in every country, no?" The student asked.

"Good point, yes," Alex said, pacing the room in her normal fashion. "Does anyone think the defendants would be found 'not guilty?'"

Taking a shot, Olivia raised her hand, as did several other students.

"Olivia! Care to share your thoughts?" Alex asked, pausing at the center of the classroom, placing her palms flat against the table in front of her.

"Well, they're military personnel, right? If the military mayor received a direct order from his Lieutenant, doesn't he have to follow these instructions? I mean, we can sort of compare this to the assassination of Osama bin Laden," Olivia answered rather confidently.

Resuming her pacing, Alex nodded. "Another good point. Thank you, Olivia. Anyone else care to share?"

Silence befell the room momentarily before Alex continued her lecture.

"Well, they were indeed found 'not guilty.' And while Olivia made a very strong point regarding military command, this is only somewhat relevant to the case. What were the two main points we looked at this week?"

As no one immediately raised their hand or spoke, Alex began motioning her arms forward as she paced, encouraging the class to speak. "Motive and…"

"Intent," voiced the class.

"And which is substantial to determine criminal liability?"

"Intent," voiced the class again.

"Great! So what this case helps us to understand, is that if there is no intent, there can be no felony. So, let's take a look at another fact of the case."

"Another week in the books! How are you feeling, honey?" Trevor asked, placing the plate of dinner in front of Alex on the table before going back to the kitchen to prepare his own.

"Mmm, pretty good," Alex said, stuffing her face with the pan fried asparagus. "I really have a lot of confidence in my students, particularly my morning class."

"Well, they do have an incredible professor," Trevor said with a smile, raising his wine glass to Alex's before digging into his own plate.

Smiling back with a soft eye roll, Alex responded, "Well, that may be, but they also have incredible drive to learn."

"And what did we learn about this week? Only intent and motive?"

"Yes. I want to be sure they really grasp the meaning of the two. Otherwise, they will never have successful law careers," Alex laughed.

"This is true, my dear. This is very true. Any case studies?" Trevor inquired enthusiastically, considering he too was a lawyer.

"Actually, yes! People vs. Beronilla."

"Oh, that's a good one!" Trevor said, nodding as he wiped his mouth with a napkin. "That should help with the understanding of 'intent.'"

"I agree. But next week, they may not like me so much," Alex chuckled, downing the rest of her wine.

Chuckling in return, Trevor asked, "Oh no. What are you planning on reviewing?"

"Intentional felonies, culpable felonies, and a few cases that review omission as a felony, negligence as a crime, and mistake of fact."

"Oh boy," Trevor said dramatically. "I expect that your office hours will be filling up and I'll be seeing less of you, huh?"

"Probably. And I am okay with that! I would rather them come to me with questions than try to just assume. One can never assume with the law."

"Right you are, sweetheart. Well," Trevor began, lifting his glass of wine after topping off both of their glasses. "Here's to you. An amazing woman who is passionate about law; helping build great future lawyers for the United States."

Clinking her glass to his, Alex took another drink before smiling to herself, proud of where she's come so far.