The Class Reject: A Damsel in Disguise (Featured Story)

Untitled Third Book: Chapter 1

                

M.E.

            Miren Eze's initials alone described how fundamentally selfish she was being. And although Jeno could only try to understand where she was coming from, it was hard to do that when she was still nowhere to be found.

            As he left the orchestra hall, he felt haunted. This was where the hell between them had unleashed, and despite it only being three days since he last saw her, she might as well have been a ghost to him. It was fitting, wasn't it?

After all, he was dead to her.

He gritted his teeth as the harsh February air assaulted his nerves. But he didn't bother pulling up his collar. Didn't he deserve to feel pain? Honestly, he preferred the sensation, as it distracted from the battlefield of conflict that was his brain, which was more determined to consider all of the worse possible scenarios with Miren. To think, if he had been more determined to just believe her...

His eyes closed and he allowed his near photographic memory of the Rinzen campus grounds to guide him. It was sad, really. He was such a calm, calculated individual. He should have seen it all coming: Penelope's video announcement. Wallace's apparently not-so-temporary departure. Chara and Theodora's life-shattering secrets and betrayals. Miren's seemingly valid reasons for not wanting to discuss The Incident.

            But the M in Miren stood for many other things. Mystery. Missing. Madness. He was so mad at her—himself. He never allowed anyone in. Never. And he was beginning to see why. There was only safety in obscurity. And now everything was out in the open.

            Even Axel.

            "Have you been walking with you eyes closed the entire time?" Jeno could smell the joint in Axel's hand before he saw him. He hissed just as the other boy took a drag.

            "I'm not in the mood for the idiotic banter you call humor," was Jeno's reply. Then his feet found movement. But not before Axel latched onto his arm. His grip wasn't particularly strong, but the look on the jokester's hazel eyes suddenly was.

            "I know the word 'smile' isn't in your vocabulary, but I'm not an idiot. Something's bugging you." Axel leaned slightly against the gazebo near the forestry. "Something big."

            If would be easy to dismiss the boy with an insult and go on his unfortunate way, but it didn't take long to realize that he now lived in a world were Axel was probably the only person he could talk to. Discreetly, that is.

            "Girl stuff," Jeno said through his teeth. See? He could be personable. "Had a fight. It's not a big deal." Axel raised an eyebrow.

            "Then why do you look like Theodora went missing?" Jeno almost growled.

            Theodora.

            "We broke up," Jeno clarified, allowing his worked up gaze to calm against the snow-capped evergreen trees. "Like I said, I'll get over it."

            "I don't know..." Axel teased, a slightly giddy smile spreading across his lips. "She might have been the best thing that happened to you, Grinchy. Don't forget that you started to become a person when she came along." He laughed bitterly.

            But Jeno did feel bitter. Miren made him feel like a person. Miren was responsible for his growth. Yet, she was his right, and he was her wrong. Maybe they were just doomed from the start, regardless of the illusion of progress they had made.