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

63

Because Wallace was spending the night with his parents, Miren took an uber back to campus alone. The sky was practically emoting on her behalf, raining--soaking the dark streets silly. She deflated against the leather chair, trying to tune out her thoughts by the showers hitting the window almost in a rhythm.

The man driving the car was polite enough, offered modest conversation about the unexpected weather and a certain problematic president. She smiled and responded graciously before he dropped her of at the iron gates of Rinzen, which were surprisingly free of reporters. The rain let up only slightly, so by the time she made it to the center of campus, she was already soaked down to her bra. Folding her arms over her chest, she passed the founder's fountain, refusing to think about what had happened with Ben. But the thoughts slipped out through the cracks of her consciousness:

"Why would you lie about being dead?" Ben had said with venom in his voice, his blue eyes harsh and overbearing. "You know I still catch my mother crying about you." She turned away in shame, her throat too dry to respond.

"You think I wouldn't eventually figure it out?" he then said, frowning. "I thought you looked familiar before in Los Angeles. Why did you go to my seminar at UCLA?"

Her mouth could only part, but no words came out. After all, what was she supposed to say? That the only reason she was there was because her boyfriend was busy judging an orchestra contest? Even she knew that was a lie. There were literally a million things to do at any random moment in LA and she decided to distract herself with his medical seminar?

She was an idiot with a capital dumbass.

"I saw a flyer in our dorm at UCLA and was intrigued by the coincidence," she finally forced out. "It was stupid. I'm stupid. And I'm sorry. Please don't tell anyone."

When he scoffed her heart dropped to her stomach. "You're actually insane."

"That's fair," she offered. But her heart had now imploded in said stomach.

"I guess it comes with genius territory," he offered, diffusing the situation slightly. "I take it Walter knows?"

"Wallace is aware." She rolled her eyes, but she was surprised her body wasn't entirely frozen. "Now can you just go to your reunion with your dad and pretend this encounter never happened?--"

"You had so much potential." Whatever malice or irritation on his face had melted into something more sympathetic. "You were a prodigy -- my prodigy. You could have graduated from college by now. But you let Penelope's jealousy ruin you."

Miren gritted her teeth. "Maybe she wouldn't have been jealous if your family didn't treat her like such an outsider--"

"My sister has everything she could ever hope to want. Sorry her two hard working immigrant parents didn't want to entertain every unimpressive thought she had. She is an entitled brat and you and I both know it."

"But she's still your sister." Her eyes latched onto his. "And your family only cared about me because I showed potential to be successful." Ben's gaze only intensified on hers.

"No. You deserved something good in your life. You're better than her and she couldn't handle that and you made her insecurities your problem."

"You're making our falling out much more trivial than it really is."

"I don't care." He shook his head. "This game is over."

"But--"

Ben's phone had started ringing and his attention diverted momentarily to the device. With a sigh, he met her gaze, his expression in a warning. "We're not done discussing this, Miren."