Chapter 2

I threw my backpack to the floor and stormed out, slamming the door behind me.

Gloria's smile faded.

"Think Victor's mad?" someone muttered.

She frowned as I walked away.

In the bathroom, I splashed cold water on my face and tried to calm down, but I couldn't shake the anger.

I stared at myself in the mirror. They could keep the ticket. I could still print another copy, and there was plenty of time.

As I approached the classroom, I heard laughter and shouts coming from inside.

My classmates crowded around a table, playing a card game with their admission tickets. A few lay on the floor beneath their chairs, but no one bothered to pick them up.

"Austin, you're a genius! Fifty-four tickets. That's a full deck with two jokers!"

"We can't bring cards to school, and Victor's always looking for a reason to get on our case. But these are our admission tickets. What's he gonna do, take them away?"

"Alright, beat that!"

"Easy. I've got Gloria!"

"Then I'll play Austin!"

They slapped the tickets down on the table, one after another. When they finally noticed me, their smiles turned to scowls.

"What? You're gonna tell us what we can do with our own tickets now?"

I ignored the comments. "The SAT's in two days. Shouldn't you be studying?"

It was an honest question, but they just scoffed.

"What are you worried about? You said you'd put together practice questions to help us study, didn't you?"

I froze.

In my previous life, I spent night after night poring over released SAT tests to put those questions together. My classmates dismissed them, and I practically begged them to give the exercises a chance.

Apparently, they understood their value perfectly well when it meant they could leave all the work to me.

Austin glanced at me, grinned, and slapped my admission ticket onto the table.

"I'll play Victor! Who can beat that?"

"Victor?" Everyone turned back to the game.

"I've got Chloe!"

"Seriously? She's at the bottom of the class, and you think she can come out on top?"

"Oh, I bet she could get on top of Victor."

A few people snickered. "Well, if that's how we're playing, I've got Hailey!"

"And I've got Megan!"

More tickets landed on the table. The girls they named immediately objected.

"Ew! I'm not getting on top of him!"

Everyone burst out laughing. Austin laughed so hard that he slapped his thigh.

"Wow, Victor. Even in a card game, nobody wants you."

My fist caught him in the face before he could say another word.

Gloria, who went looking for me but couldn't find me, walked back in just in time to see the punch.

"Victor!" She caught my wrist. "What is wrong with you?"

My classmates all started talking at once. According to them, I attacked Austin because I couldn't stand that he was in charge of the tickets.

"See for yourself."

I pointed at the tickets scattered across the table.

"They're making dirty jokes about me with my admission ticket. What do you expect me to do, stand here and laugh along?"

Gloria looked at my ticket, buried beneath the others. Even she couldn't pretend she didn't understand.

"Come on, Gloria. We were just kidding." Austin gave her an easy smile.

But she noticed my bloodshot eyes and hesitated. For once, she didn't defend him.

"Put them away."

"Aw, come on…"

"I said put them away!"

Everyone fell silent and started gathering up the tickets.

Gloria turned to me, her lips parting, but I grabbed my backpack and left before she could say anything.

-

I stayed home after that, but Austin made sure I knew what I was missing.

He sent me a video of the whole class partying in a private event room. With the SAT coming up, they were celebrating being free of my rules.

Gloria leaned against Austin's chest, smiling as Daniel called her out.

"Hey, Gloria! You made Austin put those tickets away earlier. Since when are you on Victor's side?"

Everyone joined in, demanding an answer.

Gloria held up my admission ticket and tore it to pieces in front of them. Then she smiled at Austin.

"Still think I'm on his side, babe?"

"You're the best, Gloria!"

"Gloria and Austin forever!"

Someone shook up a beer and opened it, spraying foam across the room as everyone cheered.

Then Austin sent me a voice message.