The Class Reject: A Martyr in Maelstrom (Book III)

27

          
"I'll kill you!"

            "Is that a threat?" Olive said as she stepped backward, a taunting grin on her lips. "Because I'm pretty sure threatening another student warrants expulsion." Her eyes touched their annoyed instructor, who had been doing a good job supervising six hundred students until now. "Isn't that right, Ms. Cowdry?"

            The woman only offered her an exasperated sigh. On cue, Dr. Edsel and Dr. Castro appeared from the same doors Smiling Spiels just skipped out of. They exchanged, "Can't we have nice things?" looks before surveying the room. But other than the two girls charging at each other like some violent game of tag, the scene was remarkably tame. Especially when Parker interviewed, pulling Penelope back.

            "Stop it," he said, as he pulled her into a bear hug. "You're making a fool of yourself."

            "What about Olive?!" She shook so violently in his grip that it was a miracle  she remained restrained. "She did all this just to spite me. She's insane!"

            "You're insane if you think I'd go through all this trouble for you," Olive scoffed, brushing the wrinkles out of her button-up. "If you weren't such a horrible person, none of this would have happened!"

            "And why the hell do you care so much?" Penelope's eyes hit hers like daggers. "Miren is DEAD."

            "Enough, Miss Van Helsing," Dr. Castro warned, stepping toward the stage. "Come with me."

            "Why? You're the one who was too lazy to watch the entire video you approved for an audience. This is all your fault." With one last aggressive shake, she broke free from Parker's  grip. "I'm not going anywhere unless you punish everyone responsible for that repugnant eye-sore they call a documentary."

            "We worked really hard on it," Parker defended, his gaze harsh and unflinching on Penelope. "And Olive's right—you're the person everything comes back to. I wouldn't even be surprised if you pushed Artemis down those stairs at homecoming." He shook his head. "Miren is dead and you still speak ill of her."

            Meanwhile, the Miren (that was Miles) and very much alive, watched them with panicked, beady eyes. Chara squeezed her hand, but pretty much all of her negative energy remained. Hell, with every passing second it intensified.

            "Why don't you do everyone a favor and quit your fake nice guy act?" Penelope screeched, stomping her foot like a terrordactyl throwing a tantrum. Oh how lucky she was that the student body didn't have cellphones to record her..."You're an asshole. I bet the only reason you did the video was so that you could screw around with Olive!"

            Parker just shook his head. What the hell was wrong with her? Today was supposed to be a win-win—their respective schools were on the verge of having their reputations restored. They were able to honor Miren in a way that was fair and necessary. And sure, the video footage of Penelope was thrown completely left field, but it wasn't a sex tape—hell, it actually humanized her.

            And here she was, dehumanizing herself in front of the entire school. Schools.

Again.

            "We're done." He raised his hands up in defense as he stepped down from the stage. "I don't care what our parents want. I don't care anymore."

            "Fine!" Penelope spat, following after him. "I was sleeping with Jeno behind your back anyway!"

            Parker just spun around, offering her a twisted look, before his eyes landed on Jeno. Jeno's expression was similar, only there was a subtle gleam of amusement in his eyes. What? It was fun to watch the "it-couple" bicker. That is, until he remembered why they were bickering, and how Olive was far more cunning than he could have hoped to anticipate.

            "Jesus, Jeno," Edsel commented, shaking his head as his voice lowered to a whisper. "Not the amateur porn star..."
As Castro began to reprimand the other principal on slut-shaming, Jeno just rolled his eyes.

            He could sense he was playing with fire when Parker's eye narrowed against his; he was one insult away from charging at Jeno. He sucked in a small breath as a thousand and one comebacks to refute Penelope's false words came to mind.

            "If you're going to come at me for trying to learn Penny's side of the story in all of this, then you really are as bright as a button." His eyes flickered on Miren before settling on the man-boy before him. "But if you really want the truth, I didn't sleep with Penelope." He grinned almost wickedly, throwing Parker and just about everyone else off guard. "I slept with Miren."

            Jeering.

            The crowd was jeering uncontrollably (Jemma was undoubtedly the loudest) as Jeno and Parker started fighting. It was mostly just jabs and hard punches, but it was like the Rising Scholar Ceremony. Only exciting.

            Jeno had gotten a left hook in Parker's eye when Dr. Edsel pulled him off the other boy. He looked more proud than offended, but his voice was firm and authorative when he told the student body to leave the auditorium with Ms. Cowdry and Dr. Castro before pointing to the four troublemakers on stage.

"My office. Now." He eyed Parker's fat lip and Jeno's ripped blazer before sighing. "The boys can meet up with us after they get checked out of the infirmary. Don't waste time."

            As the students began to file out of the theater, Miren didn't realize she was screaming until she noticed Chara was capping her mouth. She drew back from her friends grip, heaving slightly as she watched Jeno and Parker fade behind the stage curtain.

            "I had no idea Miren and Jeno slept together," Chara said jokingly, winking at her. "I wonder when it happened."

            "It didn't happen." She hissed, her mind screaming for her mouth's behalf. As she rose, her feet immediately found movement, heading toward the stage, where the boys had disappeared. Although the fight was fast, it was also rough and inconclusive. For all she knew they could still be trying to kill each other.

            "What? No goodbye?" Chara offered a mock wave before blending into a wave of students. Dr. Castro had Artemis in the most professional, non-lethal chokehold she could manage as headmistress, but that didn't stop her mind from making vital connections to everything she had seen today, and the yesterdays that followed. Everything was beginning to make sense now.

Sort of.