Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 138775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 694(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 463(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 694(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 463(@300wpm)
“First, take a listen to this.” He slid his phone over to me. “Do you have earbuds?”
“Yeah.” I fished them out of my pocket. Listening to low instrumental music helped me study sometimes.
It took me a few moments to connect my earbuds to his phone, and during that time, my mind offered a half-dozen reasons why I should get up and walk right out of here, but I didn’t.
I pressed play on an audio file and listened to Kyle explain exactly how he’d cheated on his papers. And then the incredibly crass thing he said about Tori.
“God, you’re a pig.”
Kyle nodded. “That seems to be the consensus.”
“So, this was their evidence?”
“They played it right in the middle of the fucking English Department conference room.”
“She had to hear that with her professor and her advisor right there?” After I beat Kyle to a pulp, I was going to find Tori, take her in my arms, and never let her go.
“Her advisor is useless,” Kyle growled.
My anger was ratcheting up by the second. “How could you do that to her? How could you say that to her?”
“It’s easy. I didn’t, and I didn’t.”
“Really? Because it sounded just like you.”
“Yeah, it did. Which is why I came to you.”
It took me a second to understand. “You’re saying this audio was faked?”
“Is it possible?”
My racing thoughts couldn’t keep up. “Yeah, it’s possible, but…” It just sounded so much like him. Not just his voice, tone, and inflection. The language, the attitude—those things were completely on-brand for him, too. “You’re sure someone didn’t just catch you on a bad day when you were ranting?”
“I never said those things. Never even thought them.” Kyle sounded tired. “This is your field. How would someone do this?”
I forced myself to focus on the issue at hand, not how Tori must feel. “Cloning a voice isn’t that hard, at least not through AI synthesis. Whoever did it would need samples of your voice, like real recordings. And the voice cloning software, and a TTS model…”
“You lost me.”
I cut to the chase. “Yes, it’s possible.”
“Shit.”
“Who would go through the trouble to do this to you, though?”
“You mean because I’m such a nice guy that I couldn’t possibly have ever pissed anyone off?”
The irony wasn’t lost on me.
Kyle raked his fingers through his hair. “At this point, it doesn’t matter, but I’d like to know how they did this.”
“If they—wait, why doesn’t it matter?”
“Because I’m not going to defend myself. I’ll plead guilty and flunk the class. They’re not going to penalize Tori if the student she’s tutoring has cheated without her knowledge.”
“You’ll be kicked off the team.”
“So? I only have two more years to play, anyway.”
That didn’t make any sense. Kyle lived for baseball.
“But wouldn’t it be better to prove that your voice was cloned? Then Tori won’t be in trouble, and you can stay on the team.”
Kyle shook his head. “What were the odds I was going to pass that class, anyway? Let alone graduate. This way, I won’t take her down with me. Plus, I’ll have some leverage.”
“Leverage?”
“Yeah. Like if I agree to go quietly and not drag things out for either department, I can make some demands.”
“Like what?”
“That she not be punished, that she can still take the job at the writing center that she wants so badly. Oh yeah, and that she gets a better fucking advisor.”
“Did she tell you she wants a new advisor?”
Kyle spread his hands. “Why wouldn’t she? That guy’s fighting against her, not for her.”
“So you’ve decided you know what’s best for her.”
Kyle frowned. “I thought you’d think this was a good idea. It helps her.”
Two weeks ago, I would’ve agreed with him. But Tori had shown me that the best way to support her was to stop making decisions on her behalf. Kyle needed to learn that, too.
“She wants to be a teacher. A high school teacher. How’s she going to feel if the very first time she tries to tutor someone—perhaps someone who acts like he’s still in high school—it ends like this?”
Kyle rolled his eyes. “I’m trying to do the right thing here, man.”
“She wants you to do well. I think you’re bowing out because it’s easier than giving it your best shot and possibly finding out it wasn’t enough.”
Kyle shot me a confused look. “That was my point.”
“No, it’s not. Your point was that you’re too dumb to pass the course, and I don’t buy that.”
“Excuse me? Haven’t you spent the last five years reminding me of how stupid I am?”
“Maybe, but that doesn’t make it true. Two people I trust, Tori and Jayden, both said you worked really hard on those papers. And that your grade for the first one was a B. So if you’re giving up based on the conclusion that you can’t pass, you might want to think again. Or better yet, talk to your tutor.”