Page 102 of Distortion
‘It’s mine,’ Daisy says from her seat on the bed, ‘and before you say I’m trying to trick you, I was in the lab and so wasMav. He can tell you I didn’t cheat somehow. I’m your new assistant. Congrats.’
Mav nods.
‘B-but,’ I splutter. ‘You ... why were you in the lab?’
‘I went to see Applegate. I switched majors to Chem and Physics.’
‘Marguerite, you ... can’t do even one major like that; it’s too much for you, let alone two. Blake is the only one of us who ... This is insane.’
‘I had the credits. Your dad put me in English because he knew I hadn’t done hardly any classes like that. He did it on purpose. He wanted me to fail.’
That does sound like something he would do. He wouldn’t even need a real reason past spite.
‘And Applegate just made you our ... Oh!’ I put my hand to my forehead with a chuckle. ‘I see what happened. Applegate recognized your last name. He must have seen Novelle and just assumed?—’
‘Well, that would be a neat trick,’ Daisy spits at me, ‘considering I’m not a Novelle. I’m Evans here. That’s how John enrolled me at Richmond. Only a couple of people know John is my stepfather and Applegate isn’t one of them.’
My mouth opens and then closes.
‘You didn’t do well when we were in school together,’ I accuse, ‘and now you’re suddenly what? A genius?’
‘I don’t know what my grades were in school,’ Daisy says quietly. ‘I never saw any report cards. Your dad was the one who told me ... and you and Mom that I was failing. Maybe I was. It wasn’t ... a good time in my life.’
‘What do you want, Daisy?’ I ask quietly.
‘I just want to stay. I want to finish and get my degree. I want to work in the lab. I?—’
‘I can’t let you do that!’ I snap, running my hands through my hair in frustration.
‘Why not?’ Mav asks. ‘She’s better than the others and we need an assistant. Plus, she’s nothing like what you told us.’
‘You don’t know her,’ I mutter.
‘Neither do you,’ Blake says, stepping between us. ‘I’m sick of listening to you when it comes to her. You’re biased. Your dad told you a ton of shit that clearly wasn’t true or else how could she have?—’
‘She fucking killed a kid!’
The guys freeze, their eyes on Daisy.
She winces. ‘I was a kid, too, Shade.’ She glances over at the others. ‘I don’t have anything I can say except that it was a long time ago, and I’m sorry for it. I spent ten years in the clinic because of what I did, and I’ve never done anything like that since. Please believe me.’
‘Even so,’ I say after a moment, wanting so badly to believe her. ‘You know that what we’re working on is a?—’
‘A drug.’
My angry eyes find the others. ‘You told her!’ I accuse
They shake their heads. ‘No, of course not!’
‘Actually it was obvious from the formulas,’ she says. ‘I already know it’s a drug and it behaves like an opiate, though it isn’t one. Revolutionary ... if you could get it right.’
‘Jesus Christ. I had no idea she could figure it out from what we gave her.’ Mav looks like he’s going to throw up. ‘Marcus never did. He had no clue.’
‘You can’t tell anyone, Daisy,’ Blake mutters, looking worried.
‘I won’t,’ she says, looking back at us through wide, naive eyes that are at odds with her words. ‘Provided you keep me as a lab assistant.’ She looks at me and her gaze sharpens. ‘And you never do that again ... And you all stop being horrible to me all the time. It’s not very nice. And the cameras have to go.’
I draw myself up tall and find I don’t like the way sheleans back as if she’s afraid I’m going to do something. ‘Fine. You can be our assistant provided you can do the work.’
