My stomach clenches. “You can’t honestly believe that. You don’t remember if the thoughts were yours or hers?”
“We’re…very close. It’s complicated. Sometimes we get to talking and get lost in it. The conversation went on for hours, but I knew the heart of what we were saying. And what I wanted to take away from it. It has nothing to do with you.”
“So, it was your original thought?” I demand. “One of yours, anyway?”
“There’s…there’s no such thing as an original thought.” She shakes her head, bewildered.
“Is that what she told you?” I give her a dry laugh, my head throbbing.
“Professor Ralston said it was fine.”
“Of course she did. She doesn’t own it.Ido. Those were my words, I’m telling you. I wrote them, and she quoted them, used them to hurt me. She probably knew I’d attend your class. She knew I’d hear you.”
Dani looks away, her voice going soft. “Look, if that’s true, I’m sorry. I didn’t know anything about it. But I believe what I wrote. The words are in my voice now.”
“Don’t you get it, though? You won’t have a voice when she’s done with you. This is what she does. She takes things we say or think—ourwork,ourvoices—and repackages them. Then she hands them out like party favors to the next generation. And eventually she tosses us in the trash and upgrades for the newest model.”
Dani’s face is cold. “You sound insane. And you have no proof. Professor Ralston is revolutionary. Brilliant. She doesn’t need to steal your words.”
I stare at her. “You know this isn’t right. I know you do. What if you’d published that? I have it copyrighted. I could sue you.” It’s a lie. Of course it’s a lie, but I want to rattle her.
It works. She pales, picking up her bag and slipping it over her shoulder. “I’m not getting involved in this. I’ll change the opening, but whatever issue you have with Professor Ralston, leave me out of it, Lila.”
She walks past me without another word, not looking back. I huff a breath. I won the battle, maybe. Got her to remove my words from her work, but how many other times has that happened? How many that I will never know about? How long has Ralston been recycling my material and taking credit for it? Allowing others to take credit for it?
It’s a terrible feeling.
For so long, I checked out. I was too hurt and scared to do anything. Now, I’m on fire. I was asleep for too long, and other women were hurt because of it. I have to fix that.
After several minutes lost in thought, the lights in the classroom shut off from inactivity. I close my eyes, smiling to myself.
I’m still a ghost here. Still invisible.
Maybe that’s exactly what I need to be to finally make her pay.
CHAPTER TEN
Outside, the air is cooler, the wind chilling my skin as I cross the quad and find a bench near the library. My mind is racing, and as I think over what just happened again, processing it for the first time, tears sting my eyes. The tears that fall aren’t from grief anymore, I’m certain of that.
This is white-hot fury radiating from my core, begging to be released.
My phone buzzes, and I tug it from my pocket, turning it over in my hand.
An Instagram message from…Naya Sanchez.
Holy crap.
I can’t open it fast enough.
Hey, I’m still around if you want to talk. I’ll be at the library café for the next half hour or so. Are you free?
My fingers are stiff from the cold as I rush to reply.
Yes, I’ll be there!
I stand, shoving the phone back into my pocket and heading inside. I take the long way around the building, killing time so I don’t arrive too soon. Inside, the café is buzzing with students. I search the crowded tables for her face.
There.
