“Hey,” I whisper, lightly kicking Delilah’s chair. She turns and gives me a soft smile. “Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it,” she says, leaning over to gently squeeze my hand before dropping it and turning back to the front.
“Okay, in pairs, I want you to put into practice what we have discussed today. You have thirty minutes to find out what your partner knows. Mr Clarke will be coming around to hand out your task.” Professor Wilson claps and the low hum of students talking begins to build.
“Where’s Mr Archer?” I ask Riggs as I realise we do not have our usual assistant today. He shrugs and pulls ahow the fuck do I knowface.
“Partners then?” He grins.
“Duh.”
“Good, because you’re going to need to do a quick rundown on what the fuck he taught. I have no idea.”
“Fae,” Riggs leans forward. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine. I feel better now.”
“Look, if I triggered you ear?—”
“Riggs,” I snap, then force a breath, counting to ten before I look at him. “I’m fine. You’re fine. We are all fine and,” I motion to the room, “I’ll be fine.”
Riggs seems to accept that. He knows better than anyone that anything we say is monitored and tracked. Even if I were not fine, I could not exactly tell him here.
“Okay, fine it is… you didn’t miss much. This class is just about trying to read the opposition. Looking for body language clues that could indicate they’re lying. Honestly, Fae, you could do this in your sleep.”
“Well, not with you as a partner, I can’t. You’re like a closed book.”
“You can talk,” Riggs scoffs. “I’ve never seen someone with as much composure as you.”
“Augh,” I groan. “Rock, paper, scissors on who’s guessing?”
“Let’s do it.”
After a very competitive game of rock, paper, scissors that took nine rounds and far too much of our allotted time, I won and got to choose. Knowing I don’t have the brain capacity to figure Riggs out today, I ask him to read me.
You are a 37-year-old male who has just been caught with 60 metric tons of cocaine. You are the captain of a ship that went off course. Your destination was America, but you were caught in Russian waters, heading west towards England. Your role is to come across as a victim. However, you are guilty, and at the last minute, a group of businessmen told you to change course to England.
“Ready?” I ask, raising my eyebrows and crossing my arms.
“Born ready, baby.” Riggs cheers, loud enough that a few girls nearby turn and giggle.
“Let’s go.”
Over the next fifteen minutes, Riggs fires questions left, right and centre. Some are stupid, like my favourite breed of dog or food. Others are sharper, asking if I know who The Company are and why I am being interrogated. I manipulate my body language with each answer, trying to throw him off. This is not just about reading the other person, it is about how well we lie. How we hold under pressure. What we give away without meaning to.
In the end, neither of us wins. Riggs cannot give a conclusive answer, but he still explains to Professor Wilson what he picked up from my body language. Weirdly, we are the only ones praised, while the rest of the class are given an extra assignment for this evening.
We finally leave the seminar and head to the cafeteria. I have one more lecture today, then I can go home and try to re-centre myself. As I walk in, too many eyes land on me. Riggs feels it too, as he shifts slightly in front of me, his head turning as he scans for anything off. That’s the problem with this place. It’s why I’m lucky to have the people I do around me. Everyone else is out for themselves. They smell weakness like wolves smell blood.
‘I heard she finally broke.’
‘I can’t believe she’s related to Felix.’
‘She just kept screaming, get off me.’
‘What an embarrassment to her family.’
‘God, it was like an exorcism.’