Page 17 of Skalterra By Nightmare
“What is it, then?” Liam continued. “What makes you so determined to be disliked?”
I bristled at the question. I didn’t want to be disliked, that was obviously stupid. So why did it bother me that he had asked it?
“Most people end up disliking me one way or another,” I said simply. “Maybe I like to speed up the process so we don’t have to linger on the fake niceties for too long.”
“You’ve never had friends, then?”
“I’ve had friends!” I snapped.
“And they must like you.”
I swallowed, focusing on the sound of two gulls squabbling over something tasty in the tidal flats.
“They did. Until they didn’t.”
“Very insightful.”
“I don’t owe you my life story.”
“I’m not asking for it.” His tone was genuine and gentle. What a farce.
Ugh, he’d probably make fun of me for using the word “farce”.
“I had friends,” I repeated. “Or I thought I did. And we were all in the same Advanced Physics class. It was the last test of the year, and Linsey Harper had gotten her hands on the answer key. She said it didn’t matter if she cheated because she’d already gotten into Von Leer, and we were all graduating soon. High school was over. But itwasn’tover. I needed a good grade. I was getting ready to send my finalized GPA to Von Leer. I needed to be perfect.”
“You cheated?”
“Never.” I gritted my teeth. “Linseycheated. She gave the answers out to all her other friends. She admitted later she’d only left me out because she wanted to be the only one from our high school to get into Von Leer.”
“And what does it matter to your GPA if everyone else cheated?” Liam frowned.
“The test was on a curve. My B+ could’ve been an A. So I told the teacher.”
Liam ran a hand over his face.
“You didn’t.”
“Of course I did!” I knew he wouldn’t understand. I could tell he was probably perfect in every regard. He’d never had to claw his way to the top. “I needed that A! And I got it. Only four of us didn’t cheat, and my B+ was the top score. Automatic one hundred percent.”
“And then all your classmates collectively decided to hate you?” Liam asked.
“Not yet.” My stomach twisted thinking back on it. It hadn’t been my intention. I didn’t know our teacher had a connection at Von Leer. I didn’t know he’d report Linsey to her new school before she even had a chance to start there. “The teacher called Von Leer and got Linsey’s offer of admission rescinded.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah.” I ran my hand over the buzzed hair at the base of my neck. “And only four of us didn’t have our test thrown out. It was easy for her to figure out who had snitched. And then, they—”
I cut off. I didn’t want to think about it. A thrill of panic sent of a rush of adrenaline through my chest, and I took a deep breath to calm the fluttering of my heart.
“They shaved your head?” Liam asked in a hushed voice. I shot him a look of pure loathing.
“No,Idid that myself, thanks, and I like how it looks.”
His cheeks flared red.
“Oh. No, it’s nice, I just assumed—”
I held up a hand to silence him and put us both out of our misery at his floundering for an apology.
