There was a rattle against Wallace's door. Then another, as the knocking continued to grow in hastiness and intensity. With a grown, Wallace marched along the wooden floor of his dorm room, trying to shake away the irritation beginning to glaze over his eyes. Parker was never in a rush to help Miren before. Why the urgency now?
Wallace sighed, his hand molding over the doorknob as he opened the door. "Geez, Park, what's the race?"
But it wasn't Parker.
Instead, Penelope waltzed through. Trailing behind her, Soren came into view.
There was a look of shock in Wallace's eyes before annoyance replaced it. "What the hell are you two doing here?" he said. "I already did your homework, Penelope."
She raised her eyebrows as if she had no idea what he was talking about. "Is that how you talk to your brother's girlfriend?" she asked, crossing her arms with a snarl. He shrugged.
"Still doesn't answer my question..."
"We need your help," Soren then intervened. "I want all of this to stop."
"What are you talking about?" Wallace questioned, forcing a clueless tone. Okay, he honestly didn't know why they were here. But something told him they were also looking for Miren. And he wasn't going to be their tour guide.
Soren groaned, his lips puckering as if he had bitten a lemon. "Everything. I don't know how long I can stay mad at Artemis. I can't even call her without all hell breaking lose."
Wallace rolled his eyes at Soren's rant. "When the hell did I become a relationship guru?"
"We're not here to listen to Soren's non-existent problems," Penelope then said, looking past the pouting senior. "We're enlisting you in our search efforts for Miren."
"Do I have a choice, sergeant?"
"None whatsoever."
"Okay, then," Wallace said acerbically. "What exactly do you want me to do?"
"Track her," Penelope stated. "Find some type of evidence to indicate her current whereabouts. Simple."
"If it's so simple, why don't you do it?" Wallace replied, his eyes narrowing against hers.
"Because you can do it for me," she said, snarling. "I'm sure it'll be more fun for you than my AP Bio homework." Wallace wrinkled his nose. He only did her assignments to keep a better eye on her. Part of him thought that after some time, he'd see some humility in her—something that would make him see what Parker saw in her. He shook his head. That was a whole other issue.
"So you'll do it?" Soren asked. Wallace looked at the boy. He was a Rinzen Royal. He probably never even said a word to Miren. He probably just said unfavorable things about her.
"What do you hope to accomplish?" Wallace asked, his eyes searching for their rotten intentions.
"To bring peace back to my school," Penelope answered, matter-of-factly. Wallace delayed a scoff. Peace. Wasn't she the one destroying it? He was mildly aware of The Incident between her and Miren because of Chara. And even if Miren had crossed Penelope, that didn't mean she deserved the hell she gave her.
"Fine, I'll help you," Wallace said after a while. "Just give me her school records and I'll go from there," he said, as the two nodded. "And trust me, Miren will come waltzing through the door."
Just then, Miren came waltzing through the door.
"What the hell do the two of you have planned, Wallace—" She stopped, her eyes sizing the uncomely company Wallace had acquired. What the?
"Good. You're here, Miles," Wallace said, rushing to her side. He squeezed her shoulder, an inaudible message to keep her calm. But how could she?
She could see evil people.
Remembering her alter ego and dismissing all of the feelings she wasn't supposed to feel, she tried to stop her eyes from bugging out of her head.
She let them glide past Penelope, and settle on Soren. She didn't have any particularly ill feelings toward him, other than the fact that he was associated with the bitch—but that would be like saying Artemis was a bad person. And as far as she knew, she wasn't.
"Hi," she said. Though it came out as a rushed hush. She raised her gaze. Stay calm, there's no reason to feel inferior. But wasn't there?
She was standing in front of the person who made her leave St. Rosemunde in self-exile.
Miren fought the urge to glare at her, to fight her, until Wallace came to a delayed rescue.
"Now that you're here," he began. "You can help us find Miren."
To that, her eyes went past widening, nearly popping out of her head. Help us? What about helping her?
Tapping her foot to release some of the hostility from her body, her eyes found Penelope's form again. She worried that looking at her head-on would be destructive, but then it occurred to her that if Penelope hadn't said anything by now, she was in the clear. However, part of her was surprised the Penelope didn't recognize her. Maybe when you hated someone for so long, you stopped seeing them as a person, but rather a target of your aggression.
Miren shrugged, dispelling the unfortunate thought. "Fine. I'm up for finding Miren." Her name felt foreign in her mouth. But something else was foreign. Their reasons for wanting to find the lost girl. Why are they looking for me?
Was Penelope finally having a change in heart? Miren fought the urge to clench her fists. This was Penelope; the girl with everything who tormented the girl with nothing. It didn't make sense then, and it wouldn't make sense now. She couldn't be genuine.
Good, Miren decided, letting the teenagers around her engage in discussion. She didn't need to feel guilty that Penelope bought some basic human decency.
"Miles," Penelope said, walking up to her. "Do you know where to find Miren?"
You're looking right at her, Miren thought. She pressed her lips into a firm line before shaking her head.
"Not at all," Miren said, her artificial brown eyes glazed with indifference. "But I'm sure Wallace can help you, he's a computer genius."
"I'm not a genius." Wallace shook his head. "And I'll try my best. But something tells me that she doesn't want to be found. Especially if you haven't located her already." His eyes were on Miren.
"Please, we just started," Penelope said rather smugly, playing with her perfect manicure.
Miren rolled her eyes. Even when Penelope was doing the right thing, she still carried about it with a holier-than-thou bitchiness.
"Why are you even looking for me—" Miren paused in an effort to correct herself. "Miren. I heard she left because of you."
"And who told you that?"
Miren froze, though her mind was active. "Parker," she challenged.
Penelope scoffed, but the twisted expression on her face wasn't angry. "Well, Parker doesn't know what he's talking about."
Miren shrugged. She could agree with that. Parker certainly had his dim moments. Starting with picking Penelope over her. She only hoped that there was some underlining reason for his decision. But there she was, hoping again.
"You're right, I'm sure that YouTube video also meant nothing," Miren said mockingly after a while, surprised at how calmly she was taking this encounter. But then she remembered that her identity was on the line. If she didn't stay calm, she would cross it. "Either way, I'll assist Wallace."
"I appreciate it." Penelope said, drawing out a hand toward her. "As you probably know, I'm Penelope van Helsing."
Despite her personal reservations, Miren shook it firmly, meeting her gaze. It wasn't a clever move, looking directly at her. But Miren never prided herself in being clever. After all, it wasn't her idea to play hide-and-do-not-seek at Rinzen. "Miles Ellison."
Penelope offered a charismatic smile. "It will be a pleasure searching with you." She withdrew her hand and turned to Soren. "Let's go." He nodded, and they started for the door. "We'll keep in touch, Wallace. Nice meeting you Miles." And then they were gone.
Miren waited until their steps were inaudible to speak. "What the hell just happened?"
Wallace shrugged. "Just Penelope at her finest. No need to worry." No need to worry? Miren bit her lip, finding the passiveness of his response discomforting.
"How? She practically recruited us in her witch hunt!" Miren's eyes widened. Parker and Artemis were searching for her too. She pressed her hands on her head, searching for hair to pull. "Chara said this wouldn't be this bad," Miren said slowly, shaking her head.
"And you believed her?" Wallace said. "She has a sweet mouth. Naturally, I love it."
Miren rolled her eyes. "Yes, yes. Everyone's in love," she said, pursing her lips. But apparently not everyone. "What was Penelope doing with Soren?"
"Don't know. Don't care," Wallace said, leaning on the doorframe.
"So it's agreed that we do nothing?"
"Don't be silly," Wallace said, balancing his weight on the heels of his feet. "We have to do something. If you can't tell by now, everyone wants to be your best friend."
"Oh joy," Miren humored him, her eyes on the window.
"Anyway, I'm leaving. The room wreaks of Penelope," he said, wrinkling his nose. Miren couldn't help but smirk at that.
"Alright. Do you mind if I tag along?" Miren asked as they ventured into the hallway. "Jeno's in the dorm room talking to Theodora."
Wallace gave her a snide look. "Is someone jealous?" Miren scoffed at his remark. Jealous?
"Not even remotely." To be jealous would mean that she cared about Jeno. Yes, she appreciated his efforts to help her. Yes, he wasn't entirely bad looking. But he was still a pain in the ass.
They reached outside. Passing the refectory, they were on course for the science hall. Miren's mouth parted, eager to question why they were going to a classroom on a Friday evening. But Rinzen had a way of becoming vacant during the weekend, even more so than Rosemunde, but they did have harsher curfews. And punishments.
She was sure Jeno had left the dorm by now. But being there was almost weirder now that he knew. At first, she thought that him knowing would make her dorm room the one place in the universe to relax. But she was naturally restless.
The sound of Wallace turning a key to a door of a lab room stilled her thoughts. Her eyes were leveled with the back of his neck as she watched him go to the far left of the room, where there was a mega computer.
She studied him for a moment. Now that she was a boy, and maybe it was because of the uniform, she noticed how much he and Parker looked a like. Maybe if he were older she would have fallen in love with him instead. Then Chara would be the only one after her.
"Are you going to stop gawking at me and pay attention?" he said, typing a complex passcode into the keyboard. He put in a USB drive. The monitor illuminated the dark space.
"To what?"
"You came barging in mumbling about the plan, right?" he said, his eyes fixed on the screen. Miren gave a reluctant nod. "Well, here it is. Just don't tell Jeno."
Miren nodded again. Then her eyes widened.
What he showed her didn't answer all of her questions. It just outlined a battle that felt more like a war. The only thing that was certain?
She was in the perfect position to ruin everything.
**
"I can't believe that the others didn't have enough sense to go to Wallace first. We even have that Miles kid helping us."
Soren nodded. "But remind me why can't we just team up with the others?"
"Because that would be a waste of time," Penelope offered, as they passed the white gates of Rosemunde. "You saw what happened when you called Artemis. And people say I have an attitude."
Soren shook his head, but he wasn't dismissing her notion. "I don't know, it just doesn't feel right."
"Probably because we've been disbanded by our sweethearts." She didn't like it either. She knew Parker was loyal enough, but he was spending so much time with Artemis that they might as well be dating.
"Miles' sort of good-looking," Penelope then considered, tapping her index finger against her chin. "If your girlfriend steals my boyfriend out of this, looks like I'll have one waiting for me." A sharp laugh escaped her throat.
The lovesick puppy gave her a grave look. It was almost pleading. "I just want this to stop." His voice was low. "Maybe we need to convince her that searching for Miren isn't worth it anymore—lie and say that she went to live with her mom or something—"
"Her mom is dead," Penelope said, before realizing it. Her eyes enlarged. Since when did she care for details about Miren? But then it occurred to her; they were friends some eons ago.
"Nonsense," she began. "If we find her first, then the others will have to be grateful to us. It's simple. Don't make this harder than it has to be."
"I'm not," he said, his tone a bit agitated. "I'm just struggling to see what real good will come from finding her."
Because what good would come from finding Miren? Would Artemis ever stop fixating over the girl? Wouldn't Penelope just go back to tormenting her?
Wouldn't everyone still lose?
"Homecoming," Penelope said, her eyes glowing eerily like the lamplights above them. "I want all of this madness to end before it. No one likes a distressed queen."
Soren rolled his eyes at her comment. He wanted to question what made her so sure that she would get the title. But he knew better. St. Rosemunde was her school.
"You need to realize that this whole thing is much bigger than your pitiful affections toward Artemis," she said before entering her dorm. Without even so much as a goodbye.
Soren hissed. Everything was blown completely out of proportions. Miren's disappearing act. The tension Penelope caused. Artemis' search struggle. Parker's assistance with said search struggle. Homecoming. High school was real.
A real pain in the ass.