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

12

When Miren made her way to detention, she was in a fouler mood than usual.

As she expected, Parker's interpretation of The Incident was hardly useful or complete. But he had only witnessed the second part of it—not the most fucked up part, no that would be too easy—just the one that was the most incriminating on her end. Great.

"She was running from Penelope...it looked like they'd gotten into a fight because their closes were wrinkled. There was even blood on Penelope's head." He had shaken his head. "Castro wanted all the student counsel and administration people at their orientation, so I saw them as they passed the mess hall from our booth. I went after Miren and slipped on the wet floor. Now that I think about it, there wasn't a sign. Probably should have sued." He had grinned a little, but it was laced with pain.

Despite everything, she hated seeing him look so devastated. Parker was nice by nature—a lot nicer than Jeno even. But nice didn't mean good. Jeno was genuinely good. Perhaps too good for her.

She pushed the thought away as she entered the main office, and stopping at one of the multi-purpose rooms next to the staff lounge where the words "You Dun F'd Up" were written on a paper on the wall. She pursed her lips before pushing it open. Seemed appropriate.

For a school of close to four hundred or so juvenile delinquents, the hall was actually small—about ten students in total. The RD was abducted to serve detention duty, and was sleeping against his desk. It was only 7:30 am, but still.

"Miles?" She spun over her shoulder, surprised she was surprised that Axel was here. Offering him a small wave as he motioned to the empty desk next to him. She caught a groan in her throat before taking it. The senior just looked at her with mocking eyes.

"What? You break up with Cliff?" She folded her arms, suddenly feeling overwhelmed with anger. What the hell am I supposed to do here for four hours?

"I heard you called out Cowdry." He took a sip from his paper coffee cup, ignoring her question. "That doesn't sound like you."

"Last I checked, I've only known you for a few months." She turned away from him, focusing on a group of boys laughing as they played a game on their cellphones. She hissed. This was such a joke. "You don't know me."

"Okay, Batman." Axel's hazel eyes were toying as they found hers. "Let's not forget that I was the first student you met on campus. You can read a lot about people in in the first moments you meet."

"I think it's pretty obvious that I'm just a quiet nerd who let his anger get the better of him this one time." She allowed herself to lay her head on her desk, despite how clammy (and sort of sticky) it felt.

"Or that you're hiding something." Miren closed her eyes. This was it. She had allowed herself to get to close to Axel at the party and now he knew everything. But when he started laughing, she was more confused than scared. "You're too private. That's probably why you blew up at her. I think you were probably just still sad about your granddad, but it's still not an excuse," he told her. "You need to have fun. Truly successful people balance work and play."

She breathed a small sigh of relief. Emphasis on small. "Yeah, you know I think you're right. Jeno said I'm stressing myself out more than necessary, and you know how uptight he is."

"Exactly," Axel said, tossing his cup in the trash bucket next to the door. The RD stirred but was otherwise motionless. "At the same time, you have to be true to yourself."

Sounded easy enough, but she didn't know why she was anymore. She could go on a long mental spiel about how she hated who she was before, didn't mind what she had become, but didn't see any stability in her current identity. She lived somewhere between the past, present, and future. And she was tired of it.