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

64

It was past midnight when they made it to the music building.

"Wait, how do you have access to it?" Miren blinked as they approached the front doors. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Campus is still on lockdown for everyone that apparently isn't you or Wallace," Jeno offered, pulling a card from his slacks. He slid it against the reader, before pressing some buttons on a pad. "And Mr. Gales gave me access. I had the tendency to practice late at night when I was trying to make first chair freshman year."

"And you like to pretend that you have zero interest in a career in music." She rolled her eyes, smiling slightly. She could only pray that he'd still care about her afterwards.

In a beat they were in. Jeno brushed the drizzle off of his blazer as they walked into the orchestra theater. They passed the stage, heading toward the back to where instrument storage and Mr. Gales office was. Stepping inside the eccentric constructor's cluttered space, Miren could feel her heartbeat a million times per minute. It went up to a billion when Jeno locked the door behind them.

"Do you want to sit?" she choked out. His eyes, steady and encouraging, landed on hers. He nodded.

"We should sit." So they sat on the antique chairs.

"Alright," she said softly, grabbing ahold of his hand. "Please don't hate me, okay?"

"Miren."

"I know I can do little wrong in your eyes, but you don't have to put up a front." She squeezed his hand. "Especially since I'm not as innocent in all of this as I've let you believe."

"It doesn't matter." He shook his head. "I see who you are now. If anything, I'm the one who's made everything worse. I started the revenge scheme. I haven't been listening to you as well as I should have be." He squeezed her hand back. "That ends now."

"Thank you." But the pressure was on. Her eyes found the ceiling. "Where do I start?"

Somehow she found a beginning, and she told him everything--at least, everything she could hope to remember. The other alter ego--Sara Smith. Ms. Cowdry and Jemma's newfound awareness. Artemis confronting her. The recent "chat" with Olive about teaming up with him to get to the bottom of everything. Running into Penelope's brother tonight. And of course, Parker. Hotel debauchery and all.

"Wow," he could only whisper. To be fair, she expected him to overreact far more, not stay silent throughout the whole thing. "Wow," he could only say again.

"I'm so sorry," she pleaded, tears forming in her eyes. "I know I don't deserve you. We can break up. Better yet, you can pretend you never even met me--"

He pulled her into his arms. Miren's eyes could only widen before relief flooded her body like the tears from her eyes. "Thank you for trusting me with this information." He kissed her forehead. "Thank you."

Part of him still wanted to pry a little further, ask if what she had told him was merely a key to the room that carried far more troubling secrets. Or maybe it was irrelevant. Maybe this was all irrelevant in the long run.

"No, I'm so selfish. You just decided on a college and here I am, raining on your parade." As if on cue, there was a roar of thunder from outside. She cursed, holding onto him tighter. "See?"

"You're not selfish. You may have made some mistakes, but we all do. No one is perfect, but you may just be the closest thing to it." He kissed her forehead again. "Although, I would give anything to see Parker's reaction to finding out." Any jovialness on his tone then evaporated. "Still, he's a much better person than I give credit. I can see now why you've grown to like him."

She nodded before her eyes widened. "Wait, I forgot to tell you about The Incident."

For the first time in Jeno's life he actually felt giddy. But he forced a more stoic demeanor, simply nodding his head in confirmation. "Only if you're comfortable. We all have secrets, it's not fair for me to ask so much from you."

"And what are you hiding from me, Mr. Mysterious?" her brown eyes were more teasing than skeptical.

"Nothing at the moment. But I promise to be forthcoming if anything comes up," he replied calmly. "Now spill."

Miren rolled her eyes. "Fine."

And she did.

***

"Do you still love me?" Miren asked as they left the building. The rain had picked up again, effectively soaking them both senselessly. However, despite the darkness encasing them, the intensity of the downpour, she could still make out his expression as he stopped at the steps of Woodley Hall.

"I never want you to ask me that again," was his stern reply, before stepping forward. "We'll talk more upstairs."

They didn't do much talking.

Not with words, anyway.