"Why would I do that?" Mia said.
Burke shifted his weight. "Look. The competition's already figured out. The result's already going to be what it's going to be. You getting in there isn't going to change that. You're just going to get hurt."
She looked at him steadily. "Did Reese send you here?"
A pause. "He just thought someone should give you the heads-up."
"Tell him I appreciate the concern," she said.
She looked back at her laptop.
Burke stood there for another moment. Then he left.
She watched him go through the coffee shop window. He took out his phone as soon as he hit the sidewalk. She could see him typing.
She looked back at her screen. Her hands on the keyboard were steady.
2 hours later, walking back to Aldrich Hall, she passed a small group of students near the student union and heard her name in their conversation. Not spoken to her. Spoken about her.
She caught fragments. "New girl." "Transfer." "Signed up for the MMA thing." "They said Reese is going to have her disqualified."
She kept walking.
They tried to have her disqualified on the ninth day.
She found out from Foss, who found out from the athletic department, who received an inquiry from the competition organizing committee. The inquiry cited a provision in the eligibility rules: participating students must have been enrolled for a full academic term, not a partial term, to qualify.
Foss read the inquiry twice. Then she pulled up the actual rule book and read it twice more.
The provision cited didn't exist.
Someone had written it into the inquiry as though it were a real rule, apparently counting on no one checking.
Foss checked.
She called the organizing committee and pointed this out. There was some back and forth. The inquiry was withdrawn.
Mia found out about it when Foss told her at the start of their evening session.
"They tried," Foss said. "It didn't work."
Mia absorbed that. "Who filed the inquiry?"
"It came through Hartwell Foundation channels, as far as I can tell."
Mia nodded. She started wrapping her hands, working methodically, the way Connie had shown her. Starting at the thumb.
"Thank you," she said.
"I didn't do much," Foss said. "The rule they cited doesn't exist. It fell apart on its own."
"You checked," Mia said. "That matters."
Foss looked at her. "Your grandmother's coming Friday."
Mia's hands paused for half a second on the wrap, then kept moving. "You called her?"
"She called me. Wanted to know if I needed anything." Foss paused. "She'll be here."