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

17

"Don't jinx us now," Miren said after a while. She was joking, but truthfully, she could feel whatever he was feeling too. After all, the hospital event was next Saturday. And it was hard not to think something fucked up would happen in that time.

Naturally, time had a way of exposing the truth.

***

"Tell me the truth, do you think Penelope's hiding something?" Artemis said to Chara. Although it was nice to get off campus for something that wasn't Olive-related, she hardly had the appetite for the brunch date she called Chara on. The sophomore, however, was already on her fifth strawberry shortcake pancake. She blinked at her friend with a mouthful of food.

"Other than a basic sense of human decency?" she swallowed, washing down the fluffy cakes with orange juice. "You know she doesn't let me eat when I'm with her. Now that Wallace is gone, I have to do all of her homework and manage her social media accounts. She's so lucky that I don't tell Jennifer Lawrence what a bitch she is."

"What does she have on you anyway?" Artemis leaned against the table, eyeing her younger friend. Chara and Wallace were no more, yet Chara didn't appear particularly distraught about it. Then again, she did already lose a good friend in a fire. Breaking up with a boyfriend for seemingly mutual reasons hardly seemed like a cause for concern.

"She has some embarrassing footage of me that I'd rather not get out." She stabbed at her eggs before taking an equally violent bite. "Karma, right?"

"Don't say that." Artemis brushed a hand through her short hair before sighing. Somehow she felt even more hopeless than when she was seeking Miren. Maybe it was because she knew there was no real hope this time. Olive was just over-determined to disappoint herself, and until that happened, she was doomed to tag along. "She deserved what happened to her."

"So Artie has claws?" Chara teased, narrowing her eyes at the girl. "I thought you were out of commission as far as revenge goes."

"I am," she answered, swirling her cup of unfinished coffee. "That's why I'm concerned about Olive. She's clashing with Penelope, and I'm worried that it's going to be the whole Miren debacle all over again."

"So now you feel morally obligated to stop her before she does something dangerous?" Artemis nodded.

"Then you should probably stop her little documentary," Chara considered, moving onto her sausage links. "If Princess Penelope doesn't like what she sees, she might kill Olive personally." Her eyes hit Artemis. "And don't think she'll spare you."

"Thanks for the pep talk."

"I'm serious." Well, as serious as a girl who just ordered from the kids' menu could be. "Out of curiosity, do you ever wonder what you'd do if Miren were still alive?" Chara asked, reading a text from Jeno. Then another from Miren asking if she should finally come clean. It took a lot of effort not to roll her eyes. She knew Olive would be annoying—but this had gone too far. She sighed, trying to look more depressed than displeased. "I don't know, sometimes I wonder if she's still just missing. It's stupid, but I wonder if I'd hate her for leaving, or just be happy that she's alive." Chara watched Artemis carefully. But when the junior's eyes clouded over with contemplation, she didn't know if she'd just set off a bomb and this was the calm before the explosion.

"I don't understand why she would still be out there." Artemis shook her head. "It was on the news—her dead body was on the news!" Some innocent restaurant goers turned their direction, but she ignored them, slamming a fist on the table. "So don't tell me that Olive is trying to sell this bull to you too."