Chapter 225

I sigh, shaking my head and moving on with it. “Neumann told all of my classmates that they were all being shitty people, that they were jealous, and that they were kidding themselves if they thought that trying to knock me out of the running because I’m physically the smallest and weakest was ever going to do them any favors, because they’re next on that list.”

Rafe works hard to keep from bursting into laugher, so I do it for him. My brother and my cousin join in, even as I shake my head.

“I mean,” I say with a shrug, “it was good to have him stand up for me – but it’s all stuff I’ve been thinking this whole time, isn’t it? That I don’t belong here, that I’m too small, that I’ve literally only passed both the candidacy test and the examination because Jackson helped me with both. And it sucked to have my classmates say it out loud, to suggest that I shouldn’t even be allowed to take the Chem final.”

“They just knew you were going to kick their ass in that too,” Jesse says, leaning forward to put a hand on my knee. “They are just jealous, Ari. This whole time they’ve been patting themselves on the back, telling themselves that they’re tougher than you, sneering at you saying you’d be the first to go. And here you fucking are, thriving.”

“I know,” I sigh, looking between them. “But…I mean, I wouldn’t be thriving without Jackson. Or you two. I’d be dead.”

“Neumann’s right,” Rafe says, sitting down in his chair and considering it. “There’s nothing in the rulebook that says you can’t rely on your friends to help you. Everyone just assumes you have to muscle through it all alone. When in fact, the best plan is probably to gather a strong group of people with a lot of broad skills.” He smirks at Jesse and me. “Which is…kind of what we did. Which is cool, I think.”

“Oh yeah, I’ve been so helpful to you two,” I say, sitting back with a sigh, still feeling kind of crap about it all.

“You did help, Ari,” Jesse says, leaning forward with a warm smile. “You are the reason we met Daphne, the love of my life, who is obsessed with Rafe. So, thank you for my burgeoning heartbreak.”

I laugh at my cousin, sensing his joke and his sarcasm. “Yeah, I introduced her, and then she poisoned us,” I groan, covering my face with my hands. noveldrama

“Yeah, we’re going to have to…see what else you can bring to the group, Ari,” Rafe says, obviously kidding and laughing along with us.

The door opens, and Ben comes through, moaning in the same way I was. “I’m dead,” he mutters, shaking his head and leaving the door open behind him as he comes and slumps down on the couch next to me. “I am death, and I’ve departed my body, and now I’m a ghost. Can you see me? Am I corporeal?”

Jesse grins at Ben and pats his knee too. “Your finals go as bad as Ari’s did?”

Ben frowns and turns to look at me, considering. “Worse, by the looks of it.”

“Did you fail?” I ask, anxious. He barely skirted through the Examination, I know, and my mom had to wound a broken wrist and a twisted ankle before sending him back here. That, combined with a failure…

God, it could be close.

“No way of knowing,” Ben sighs, resting his head back on the couch. “Hey, do we have any more of that wine that knocks you out for twenty-four hours? I could really use some of that now.”

“Yes, can we get Daphne back up here?” I ask, looking longingly at the door, kind of wishing that she would come. I haven’t seen her yet since I’ve been back – and I know she’s upset about her role in the Examination, that she thinks I’m mad at her. The two of us really need to take a minute to chat and renew our friendship.

“Why don’t you go get her, Ari?” Rafe says, stretching his hands over his head. “Bring her up – tell her to bring real wine this time. Finals are over, after all, and it’s our last night here. We could use a little celebration.”

“Go and get her,” I murmur in confusion, frowning at my big brother. And then my mind flashes to the fact that I just walked back from my Chemistry final alone. Though it didn’t bother me at the time…I mean, why was I allowed to do that, when my brother and my cousin have basically been flanking me the entire time we’ve been here? And considering that someone just tried really hard to murder me in the Examination? “Wait, what’s going on?” I ask, looking around at them. “Why is… why am I suddenly allowed to walk around alone?”