Raven's Flight

by Chrys Cymri - BooksGoSocial Fantasy P

  “I don’t know that. I don’t know you.” I got the feeling that he was a loner, though, like me.

  His eyes twinkled a little bit. He was thinking about something. I had the feeling he was still trying to convince me. It wouldn’t work.

  “Would it bother your boyfriend to study with another man?”

  Jesus, who did this guy think he was? I smiled. “I don’t have a boyfriend.”

  “Would it bother your husband?”

  “Don’t have a husband.” I sighed. What the hell? It was time to cut this off. “Look, I study better alone. Thanks but no thanks.”

  “Are you sure?” he smiled again, flashing white teeth. He had exceedingly long eyelashes, and dark eyes, and he knew how to use them to his advantage.

  I got pissed off then. “Look,” I said, tossing my pen on the table. “You think that just because you’re gorgeous you can come over here and convince me to do whatever the hell you want? Nice try, but I wasn’t born yesterday. You can flash your eyelashes at me all you want, but the answer’s still no.”

  He looked genuinely surprised. “Wait, you think I’m—gorgeous?”

  “Of course. Any woman who thinks otherwise is a fool, and I don’t suffer fools. Not in law school, not anywhere.”

  He didn’t say anything.

  “Speaking of fools,” that may be a little harsh, but I had let this conversation go on far too long, “I need to finish these cases. Look, sorry, but I don’t have time to babysit Millennials. We’re done here. I’ll see you in class.”

  To his credit he didn’t looked pissed off or angry. He looked . . . intrigued, like he was trying to figure me out.

  Good luck. You’ll need it.

  He rose from the chair then. “See you in class, Isabel.” He smiled and left.

  I watched him go. When he got back to his table, where he had been sitting alone, he caught me looking at him. As he had been standing there, I had been raking my eyes over his body, from his shoes, very slowly over his lean legs, his stomach, his chest, his neck and his face. As my eyes reached his face, I noticed that he was looking at me. He had been looking at me the entire time! He smiled a broad smile. I looked away quickly but it was no use. He had seen me eye him like a piece of meat.

  Damn! Damn him and his black curls and sultry smile. I buried my head in my Criminal Procedure book.

  I couldn’t help thinking that he was indeed as smart as he tried to make me think he was. In a short time, he had discovered a good amount of information about me, including that I was a loner, and that I wasn’t married and didn’t have a boyfriend. Well played.

  I couldn’t lie to myself. He frustrated me. But I was intrigued.

  I was in Crim Pro class ten minutes later, still thinking about the conversation I had just had with Tarek. My head was still a little fuzzy from it. Why had he been so insistent?

  Oh well. I put it out of my mind.

  In Crim Pro, we were still talking about the Fourth Amendment. The cases for tonight were about whether the government needs a warrant under the Constitution for searches and seizures in certain types of situations. First up were the cases about beepers.

  The professor was speaking. “In U.S. v. Knotts—”

  Beepers. Who the hell uses a beeper anymore? Maybe doctors, that’s it. Wait, did Tarek just look at me? I wasn’t sure.

  “Ms. Vilanova!”

  My head snapped up. The professor had called on me. Holy shit. The room was silent. I could hear a pin drop. What had he asked? Oh yeah, U.S. v. Knotts.

  “The holding in the case was that tracking the beeper was not a search, so a warrant was not necessary,” I said with determination.

  “Yes, but—”

  Oh no. Was that wrong?

  “But I asked what the facts of the case were, not the holding,” the professor said.

  Oh.

  I didn’t know it at the time, but the next few seconds began a stream of events that would be life-altering for me.

  “Let’s ask the gentleman next to you,” the professor said then. Then he looked at the seating chart in front of him and when I saw that he was struggling with the last name, I knew he was about to call on Tarek.

  “Mr.—”

  Tarek pronounced his last name for the professor. Oh, this should be good.

  It was, but not in the way that I was expecting.

  Tarek answered the question with so much confidence that I wanted to slap him right there.

  “The facts here were that the police were tracking a chloroform container with a beeper inside, and the police had obtained the consent of the company that sold the chloroform to place the beeper there before the defendant picked up the container. Then the police tracked the defendant using the beeper.”

  The professor continued. “Did the Supreme Court find that this was a search?”

  Tarek again answered confidently. “The Court did not have the occasion to decide that, because it determined that the defendant did not have standing in the case.”

  “Why not?” the professor asked.

  “Because the owner of the property, in this case, the company, gave consent to have the beeper placed, and generally when that happens a third party, here the defendant, does not have standing to complain about that. But the Court did state that visual surveillance would have revealed the same facts about the defendant’s movements, so in that case the beeper was no different from visual surveillance, suggesting that it may have been a permissible search.”

  “Very good.”

  Jesus Christ. Maybe he was smart. Or maybe he had been lucky.

  I looked straight ahead at my laptop screen. I wasn’t going to let this phase me. He had gotten me all worked up with his long eyelashes and his gorgeous smile, confusing me. I wouldn’t let it happen again.

  The professor was asking about the U.S. v. Karo case now. I raised my hand confidently.

  But I’d be damned if Tarek hadn’t raised his hand a split second before I did. Since no one else had raised their hands, the professor called on him. Dammit. My hand made a fist under my chin.

  He was explaining the facts of the case now. “Here the police tracked a beeper in an ether can. A DEA agent had informed the police that the defendant had ordered ether and would use it for drug purposes, and the police obtained a court order authorizing installation, but the order was found to be invalid. The police then followed the defendant to his house and used the beeper to determine that ether was still in the house.”

  The professor then asked him about the holding.

  “The Court found that it wasn’t a search because there was no reasonable expectation of privacy. Placing the beeper didn’t violate the defendant’s Fourth Amendment rights since the can the beeper was placed in belonged to the DEA, so the Fourth Amendment wasn’t implicated by the fact that the defendant received a can that contained an electronic tracking device. Police can theoretically track the beeper wherever it goes without a warrant, although the Court did state that police could not track the beeper inside a private residence without a warrant.”

  “And why is that?” the professor asked.

  “Because the house is not open to visual surveillance as, for example, the whereabouts of a car would be.”

  “Right.”

  I was going to kill him. I saw Tarek look at me out of the corner of his eye, but I continued typing my notes. The fact that he looked at me suggested that he was putting on this show for my benefit. This won’t win you any points, dude.

  When class was over, I grabbed my stuff and pushed past Tarek’s seat. I wasn’t even going to give him the chance to say anything to me. What would he say, anyway?

  I was silent on the metro ride home, sitting with my eyes closed so that the others wouldn’t talk to me. I was in no mood for chatter.

  After Eric left, Josh sat down next to me and remarked, “Interesting, huh?”

  “What’s interesting?” I asked, although I knew what he meant.

  “That guy that si
ts next to you in class, he seems pretty smart.”

  “Tarek,” I told Josh.

  “What?”

  I looked at Josh. “His name is Tarek.”

  “How do you know his name?”

  “You find it so strange that I know someone’s name beside yours?” I said sarcastically. I sighed, then dropped the sarcasm. “He introduced himself to me today, before class.” I didn’t tell Josh that before that I had looked him up in the law school directory. Telling Josh that would mean that I had some interest in Tarek, and I wasn’t ready to admit that.

  “He talked to you?”

  “Yeah.” I shrugged.

  “About what?”

  “Nothing important.” I wasn’t ready to divulge that Tarek had asked me to study with him.

  “Oh.” Josh’s brows were furrowed.

  I was perplexed. “Why do you look so confused, Josh?”

  “No one ever talks to you. I mean, besides us.” By “us,” I knew he meant himself, Eric, Dinesh and Melanie. And indeed, for the most part, that was true.

  “Well, I don’t know what to tell you.” That was an accurate statement. I didn’t know what to tell him because I wasn’t quite sure what was going on myself.

  SECOND WEEK: WEDNESDAY

  I was seething by the time I got to campus for International Law class on Wednesday. Tuesday night in Crim Pro had been a repeat of Monday night. I had raised my hand multiple times, only to be outpaced by the jackass sitting next to me. The cases had been really interesting too. I was livid at the memory of it.

  “In the Dow Chemical case, the Supreme Court held that using a special camera to enhance images while performing an aerial overflight of an industrial plant was not a search, so that no warrant was required, although the Court left open the possibility that it would consider satellite imaging differently.”

  “In Florida v. Riley, the Court found no expectation of privacy, and therefore no search, when police used a helicopter hovering 400 feet above the property, noting that a member of the public could gain access to the same information by using aerial surveillance, and that no law prohibited that.”

  “The Fourth Amendment applies only to government actors, but, by extension, also applies to private actors acting at the direction of public actors such as the police.”

  Those were Tarek’s highlights during Crim Pro on Tuesday. At the last comment, I had laughed and said, “Oh my God.” At that point almost everyone around me kind of looked at me, or tried to without attracting the professor’s gaze.

  At the end of class, I was packing up to leave and Tarek had asked me if I was going to the metro.

  “Not with you,” I had told him, smiling.

  Freaking arrogant jerk.

  On the metro, Josh had said to me, “You were so cold.”

  “What are you talking about?” I knew, though. I was playing dumb.

  “Why were you so mean to Tarek?”

  “Dude, haven’t you noticed? I’m mean to everyone.” I scoffed.

  “He probably likes you and he’s trying to get your attention.”

  “Damn good way of doing it, too,” Eric had said then. “Probably the only way to get her attention.”

  I had opened my mouth to say something but then couldn’t think of anything to say.

  Today, arriving at campus, I had replayed Eric’s words in my head. It didn’t matter. Whatever Tarek did, I was determined that it wasn’t going to get my attention. The only thing that mattered as far as classes were concerned were my grades on the final exams. Everything else was superfluous.

  As I entered the main doors and walked along the main hallway to get to the stairs, I ended up face-to-face with Tarek, coming from the other direction.

  “Hey,” he said.

  I considered ignoring him, but I had been raised by an Argentine woman, and that would have been anathema to her. Not that I cared what my mother thought of me.

  “Hey,” I said back, before ducking into the stairs and racing up them as fast as I could go.

  I got to class with ten minutes to spare. I took out a bag of almonds and started munching.

  When Tarek got there, I stood up to let him pass by me to his seat without looking at him. He greeted Zara and they were chatting in Arabic. I ignored them and began reviewing my notes.

  Class started, and the professor was talking about an article that we had read on nuclear testing. Specifically, the Marshall Islands had made an objection to the U.S. about the U.S. doing nuclear testing in the sea near the Islands. It had happened a long time ago.

  I was remembering the case. The Marshall Islands were an island nation in Micronesia, but they were freely associated with the U.S., meaning that people from the Islands could live and work in the U.S. I think they were termed “U.S. nationals” instead of “U.S. citizens.” At the time of this case, the Islands were under a Trusteeship Agreement with the United Nations, meaning that they were considered a U.N. trust territory. The U.S. was also responsible for the defense of the Islands at the time.

  Well, good luck with that objection.

  “Isabel?”

  Jesus, the professor had just called on me. He had taken to calling the students by their first names. Actually, I preferred it that way. I was sure that I was older than he was, anyway.

  “Sorry,” I began, “you asked about the objection from the Marshall Islands?”

  “Yes, what was the objection centered on?”

  Fortunately, I knew the answer to that question. “The Marshall Islands objected on the basis that the testing impeded their fishing and boating.”

  “Right, so what is the relevant law here?” the professor continued.

  “Well,” I was thinking, “the Islanders argued their right to use their own territorial waters as well as fish and boat in waters that were not necessarily their own territorial waters under the principle of the freedom of the high seas, generally.”

  “Yes, certainly. And what other laws apply here?”

  What other laws? International laws. This could be anything. I was drawing a blank. Shit, shit, shit. I didn’t remember.

  “Umm—,” I began, trying to buy time.

  But my effort was worthless, because once again Tarek raised his hand and the professor called on him.

  He again spoke confidently.

  “The Trusteeship Agreement that administers this territory is also relevant here, since it sets forth the powers and restrictions on what the trustees can do. The Islanders asserted their rights under the Trusteeship Agreement, such as the protection of economic development and health of their inhabitants. However, Article 51 of the United Nations Charter is also relevant, since it provides that nations have the right of self-defense, and the U.S. argued that under this right it was able to do the nuclear testing. Also, at the time of these events the U.S. was responsible for protecting the European countries after World War II, so the American nuclear tests were for the defense of Europe as well as the U.S.”

  I couldn’t resist sneaking a look at him. He was looking ahead and grinning. I was thinking that it was totally worth an assault and battery charge to slap that grin off his damn face. Then I reconsidered. It would be even more difficult to get my law license with that charge on my record, and with tons of witnessing law students to boot.

  Man, that very fact saved him right there.

  The professor went on, but he didn’t call on me for the rest of the class. I was both relieved and angry about that. Was he not calling on me because I hadn’t known the complete answer?

  When class was over, I shoved my laptop into my backpack aggressively. Then I forced myself to calm down. Letting people see me worked up only meant that I cared about being shown up in class. When I didn’t. Well, I actually did care, but I would be damned if I would let anyone know that.

  I considered talking to Tarek for a second. I actually considered taking him up on his offer to study together. Then I shook my head.

  What was I thinking?


  I left and went to Property class.

  Property class that Wednesday evening was a repeat of Crim Pro the day before. Tarek was called on and went out of his way to demonstrate his knowledge of the laws regarding finders and lost and abandoned property.

  Show off, Eric had messaged me.

  Yes, but he’s doing this for a reason, I ruminated.

  Then Tarek constantly raised his hand to answer questions.

  Dude, Eric messaged me then, if he’s going to be doing this all semester, we’re going to need to grab drinks before class.

  I couldn’t help giggling at that. When I did, Tarek looked at me, undoubtedly thinking that I was giggling at him. Let him think that I was then.

  “Ms. Vilanova.”

  Aw shit. The professor had said my name, but I had been half-listening and there had been no question with it.

  “Yes, sir,” I said respectfully.

  “Did you have a comment?”

  Oh, I get it, because I had giggled.

  “No, sir,” I said. Then I went back to taking notes. It galled me that I was writing what Tarek had said in class in my notes, but he had been spot on with the law.

  Wait a second. He had been spot on with the law. He really did know this stuff. You couldn’t fake it. You could fake stupid but you couldn’t fake smart.

  An idea was forming in my mind then. But I wouldn’t see it out tonight. Tomorrow.

  SECOND WEEK: THURSDAY

  International Law class had been a repeat of the day before, with Tarek spouting his knowledge like some law-school oracle.

  Since there weren’t that many students in that class, it wasn’t uncommon for almost everyone to have a chance to speak during a session. I didn’t volunteer that day, and the professor only called on me once. Luckily, I had a sufficient answer.

  However, Property class that day was almost excruciating.

  The professor was talking about recording statutes. They applied when different people claimed the same piece of land. The courts applied them to figure out who had legal title to the land. Although I had read the text for class that night, my head was spinning.

  “Ms. Vilanova,” the professor had called on me. I had had my hands against my head and was staring at my laptop screen. Jesus. All of my professors must have gotten together and agreed to royally screw me this week. I had been called on in every class.