The Class Reject: A Pariah in Purgatory (Book II)

Chapter 29

Chapter 29

Artemis probably called Parker a million times.

Yes, she knew she was over stepping. He wasn't her boyfriend, and after that dumb video, he probably wasn't even her friend.

As she walked the halls of the Woodley dormitory, she kept her eyes ahead and considered who might have done such a thing. Naturally, she couldn't point the blame toward Wallace or Chara—they were there. Which meant she had no lead.

She shook her head as she knocked on Parker's door. When he didn't answer, her knocking became more impatient. She heard voices from the other side and groaned. "I can totally hear you!"

"If someone doesn't answer your calls, it's usually a sign that they don't want to talk to you," was Parker's greeting.

"Happy New Year to you too," Artemis replied, looking past him. "I just wanted to see how you were holding up. We didn't get to talk after the performance." She took hold of his hand, pinched it. "I'm sorry about what happened, but I can assure you I had nothing to do with it."

"It's true," Wallace said, coming to the door. He had some new clothes in his hands, presumably the ones he got on their trip. "Security was tight as hell, and Castro basically put Artemis in charge of making sure there was no funny business. The only way it could have been executed was from the outside. Someone would have to be running a live viral program from a different computer to hack into the system." He scratched his head. "I can check the theater control room tech to see if I can find a corresponding IP address. With that, we'll catch our criminal."

Parker's eyes softened as he nodded. "Alright, I guess I have no right to blame anyone. It just sucks. When I saw Miren on the screen, I was half expecting her to say that her death was a hoax, and that she was coming back to me—to us." He sighed. "It was like she was still alive."

"But she isn't," Wallace assured him. His stomach would have been in knots, but it was hard to feel remorse for what he had done, what he was hiding. Parker hadn't shown this much humility in years. And although it was wrong to keep him in the dark, the idea of enlightening him felt worse.

Still, that didn't mean it was right to keep secrets from Artemis. She had always been a good person. But she was arguably too good, and her desire to call off the play operation was a prime example.

He turned back to his brother. "Warum gehst du nicht einfach Artemis stammen? Sicher, es machte Mama und Papa verrückt , aber Sie müssen sich Gedanken über Miren zu stoppen." Why don't you just date Artemis? Sure, mom and dad will be pissed, but you need to get over Miren.

Parker's eyes widened as he shook his head.

"Ich mache mir keine Sorgen um Mama und Papa . Ich mache mir Sorgen um Penelope. Ich bin für diesen Wahnsinn zu verantwortlich." I'm not worried about mom and dad. I'm worried about Penelope. I'm responsible for this madness too.

"You know I'm standing here, right?" Artemis said, waving a hand in the air. Her eyes narrowed on Wallace. "I know I forgave you for lying about Miren's whereabouts before, but that doesn't mean you get to deceive me again."

"I'm not." Wallace wrinkled his nose. "I was just telling him to stop pretending that you two don't have feelings for each other and just date. You're letting this whole thing consume you. I only lied because I wanted you to stop looking for her." He was somehow able to glare at the two of them simultaneously. "Face it, you two didn't really care about her when you could have done something. So the only thing you can do now is learn from your mistakes and live your lives."