The water hit me with shock and I gasped as I came up, swallowing a mouthful, coughing and sputtering.
Cruel laughter echoed along the trees as a cry tore out of me. "My books!" I turned frantically, taking my bag off my shoulders to hold it up above the water before everything got drenched, but it was ripped out of my grasp by Quinlan, who dangled it in front of my face with a shit-eating grin.
He tore my bag open and grasped the thick tome of papers I had spent weeks working on because Mrs. Belarus was still living in the archaic times and would only accept hard copies, and not use her damned mail.
Worse yet, she wanted the references on each page handwritten, with arrows and quote marks and everything. The deadline was in two days. I couldn't do it all again in time to meet that time or I would fail.
I couldn't fail.
"This precious to you, sweetheart?" he crooned. He threw my bag over at the edge of the pool. "Come get it."
