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

55

Miren waited in exile in the vice principal's office for what felt like an eternity. The shades of the antique windows were drawn down, and with her phone in the clutches of the VP (a man of similar age to Dr. Edsel who could have been - and probably was - his frat brother ), she had no idea what time it was. Just that it had been hours.

Through the thick, wooden walls she could hear mumbles from outside the office. Naturally, it did little for her confidence. She was either fifty shades of fucked, or one of the other Rinzen rascals had done something so dumb that it would practically exonerate her from being expelled. She easily hoped for the latter, but she wasn't holding her breath.

She met the VP's occasional glare, wondering if he had always been so mute. Or useless.

"I'm pretty sure school is going to be over soon," Miren finally found herself saying. "You can't keep me here forever."

"Maybe if this were the weekend and you weren't in boarding school," the man finally replied with a sigh, obviously bored of being assigned to babysitting duty. "If it makes you feel better, I would clue you in if it didn't mean compromising my job. A decent career in education is hard to come by."

"Good to know."

The man just narrowed his eyes, before shifting his attention to his paperwork. A knock on the door saved Miren's brain from melting into mush. The man rose from his desk, opening the door slightly to allow the secretary in the doorway. As the two whispered furiously, Miren strained her ears to listen. When she immediately picked up nothing, she rolled her eyes. They landed on the window. Her escape.

She sucked in a silent breath before springing to her feet. She freed the latch and drew it open. She then unsecured the window screen. It fell against the grass with a soft thud. Fighting every urge to turn around to see if they had heard it, she leaped out, falling rather majestically into the dirt. Not even bothering to brush herself off, she made a mad dash for the woods.

***

Miren was drenched in sweat by the time she made it to the dormitory. The mid-March, mid-afternoon sun hung lazily in the sky as if to mock her. But her future wasn't bright--it was bleak and troublesome.

So when a mysterious pair of hands yanked her into the stairwell, she didn't have anything in her to object. Maybe they'd abduct and kill her and all her worries would be gone.

"You do know there's a bounty on your head, right?" she heard Wallace say before she could even look at him. She closed her eyes, an exhausted sigh sliding off her lips. "Surprised you didn't hear Dr. Edsel over the intercom. I've never heard him sound so pissed."

"Why the hell are you here?" she said, her feet finally finding movement. Each step made her thighs welp, but the faster she was in her room, the better. "And what do you know that I don't?"

"A lot, unfortunately." Wallace wrinkled his nose as he followed in her lead. "As you know, my PI is out of the country, and since I can do most of my research remotely, I decided to come back to Rinzen for the last few months of school. You only get to be valedictorian once, right?"

"Glad to know all is well in Wallace World." By the time she made it to her dorm room she remembered that she'd left her backpack and phone with the VP. She almost collapsed in frustration. "Please tell me you have the key to your room?"

"Tell me what really happened between you and Park and we have a deal."

"I told you everything already." She attempted to reach for the keys, but the taller boy simply removed them from her reach. "Do not fuck with me Wallace. I'm not in a good mood."