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

23

"How exactly do you want me to do damage control?" Wallace said to his brother, as they drove back to Yale. Although Parker visted him regularly, he had failed to offer him something of interest to talk about. Until now.

"When Olive presented the documentary to Dr. Castro a few days ago, she totally slammed it down," he told him. "Said there have been enough weird videos going on and she doesn't want another scandal."

"Do you blame her?" Wallace reasoned. Under the definition of the word was a picture of St. Rosemunde. "Are you forgetting that you had a leaked sex tape? Why the hell did you film one anyway you sicko?"

"I never filmed anything," Parker shook his head before taking a turn. "And you're the sicko who keeps bringing it up."

"I can't help that it's hilarious."

"And I can't help that you're an asshole."

"Anyway, the last thing she'd want is for someone to hack in the system again. She probably remodified the school's server. Rinzen too." He shook his head. "You're going to need to just present the idea to her again. Maybe not have the girl who is spiting Rosemunde's reintroduced It-Girl to do so."

"The only other person I can think of is Artemis," he considered briefly. "I'd say Jemma, but she doesn't want to spite Penelope for reasons also put me out of the running. I don't know, we need someone impartial, yet with authority."

"Like Jeno?" Wallace suggested out of the blue. Parker paused before reluctantly nodding.

"I was thinking someone like Dr. Edsel or even Ms. Cowdry, but sure?" He pursed his lips. "Just random as fuck."

"Everything's random as fuck," Wallace decided, slouching further into his chair. "I heard you put flowers on Miren's grave," he then went on, as if they were discussing something normal. "Mom says you shouldn't dwell in the past."

"Mom also says that Penelope is a nice girl." Wallace started laughing—howling actually. Parker rolled his eyes.

"What would you do if she was still alive? You know, other than have sex with her?" he mocked.

The air was suddenly colder than it was on the outside, and time also seemed to pass slower.

"I would tell her that she should have been mad at me, not Penelope," he said carefully, flexing his jaw. "Especially when I told her to choose between me and her."

Wallace wrinkled his nose. "What are you talking about? I thought their decision to destroy each other was mutual." Parker shook his head.

"I don't know what they had, but they were more than friends," he went on. "Maybe they were lesbians with each other, or maybe Penelope's just bi and did so much for Miren that she felt bad not returning their affections. Maybe Miren's a lesbian and I'm just the only man she happened to feel something for. We never kissed or anything, so maybe she was just humoring my feelings. But we were too young then." He sighed, his eyes clouding with regret. "We're still too young."

Wallace just blinked. He wanted to be shocked by all of this, but the world stopped making sense a long time ago. Especially when Miren was involved. But was she a lesbian? Only an idiot would say that her reaction toward both Parker and Jeno was hardly platonic, but it wasn't like it was that out there. She wasn't an emotive person, but he could see why she had stolen their affections. She was a breath of fresh air compared to the other female students, and her beauty was unparalleled to the legions of girls who were more perfect than pretty.