Chapter 2

With the world finally quiet again, I settled back in, perfectly content to keep sleeping.

The show blew up.

Overnight, my sister and Josh's little dating show shot to the top of every trending list in the country.

Josh's popularity climbed right along with it. He was sharp enough to figure out exactly what the algorithm wanted from him.

He started practicing calligraphy in the living room. He swapped out the popular novels he usually read for thick hardcovers with foreign-language titles on the spines. He even started teaching himself to cook elaborate meals.

Every single time, he'd "casually" show off the results in front of a camera, then turn and look at the couch where I was buried, his expression a careful mix of concern and helplessness.

The chat ate it up. They praised him as some kind of perfect Renaissance man and called me a waste of space.

I didn't care. I just thought he was a little loud.

That afternoon, for once, I wasn't asleep. I sat on the rug with a notebook spread across my lap, a few pages of scribbled-on scratch paper scattered over the coffee table. I was working through a problem, deep enough in thought that I didn't even notice when my sister sat down beside me.

"Drawing something?" Ruby asked.

I made a noncommittal sound without looking up, my pen still flying across the page, filling it with a long string of symbols neither of them could read.

Footsteps approached. It was Josh.

He walked over carrying a glass of water, a picture-perfect smile on his face.

"Blake, working hard? Have some water. You haven't moved all afternoon."

I ignored him. I was right at the crux of the problem.

Then the accident happened.

There was a crack as the glass hit the floor, and the water inside it soaked instantly into the scratch paper spread across the coffee table.

"Oh! I'm so sorry! I'm sorry, Blake!"

Josh dropped to a crouch immediately, his voice cracking with what sounded like real tears.

"I... I didn't mean to. I just wanted to bring you some water, and I lost my footing. This is all my fault."

He fumbled for a tissue, hands scrambling, his eyes rimmed red at exactly the right shade. The camera zoomed in for a close-up, capturing his guilt-stricken face in perfect detail. In the chat, his fans were devastated on his behalf.

[Don't cry, Josh! It wasn't even your fault!]

[This is all on Blake!]

[Seriously, look at his attitude. Josh's practically in tears over this, and he can't even be bothered to move?]

I really hadn't moved. I just sat there with my head down, staring at the pages warped and wrinkled from the water.

Anger flared up hot inside me, and I pushed it back down almost as fast. Getting angry never solved anything. It was just a waste of energy.

I reached out and, one by one, carefully picked up the soaked pages, my movements gentle so I wouldn't tear them. Then I got up, stepped past Josh, and walked to the window, laying the pages flat across the sunniest stretch of the windowsill to let them dry on their own. From start to finish, I never once looked at Josh, and I never said a word.

That silence made Josh's one-man show look painfully awkward.

Our parents came down from upstairs right in time to catch the whole scene.

My mother frowned and pulled Josh up, dabbing at his tears with obvious pity, scolding as she went. "Look at you, apologizing for something that isn't even your fault. Some people just have no manners. They've been coddled into laziness."

My father just gave me a look of pure, bottomless disappointment.

Only Ruby came over to wipe up the water on the floor. Then her gaze drifted to the damp pages laid out on the windowsill. She picked up one that hadn't gotten too wet and studied it for a long moment. Then she looked up at me, her eyes full of something searching.

Josh had no intention of letting it go at that.

The last "accident" had earned him plenty of sympathy on camera, but it had also made him look a little foolish and clumsy. He needed to win back the room and reestablish his image as the flawless star student.

So he pulled out Ruby's tablet.

"Ruby, Blake, come look at this."

He set the tablet on the coffee table, his voice bright with excitement. "I've been on the Layne grad forum lately. A bunch of upperclassmen have been arguing over an old Olympiad problem, and I found one that's actually pretty interesting. Want to work through it together?"

Then he glanced at me, his expression full of concern, and added, "Blake, why don't you come take a look too? I know you never finished high school, so it might be a little tough. But it's fine, I can walk you through it slowly."