I keep on striding away, cursing, the pinpricks of a hundred eyes piercing me.
Disqualified? Dumbass idiot. To get this far and then this?
Losing doesn’t seem like a terrible deal right now. But disqualified?
That’s another dis-word made just for me.
Dyslexia. Dysgraphia. Disqualified.
It goes beautifully with disgrace and disappointment. I feel like I’m fifteen again and got caught with a bag of weed in my backpack. As if I was cheating and planning to get away with it, hoping nobody would notice. Nobody will care that I didn’t know Georgiana Wess and that woman are related. I can see how the thought process of the average person here dissects this business and glues it back together again in the only way they want to see it. Team Raiden and George hoped to score some extra points with Mommy Wess as a judge on the side? That idiot thought he’d get away with it, didn’t he?
Georgiana knew.
That’s the final straw.
She knew and that’s why she drove off in a hurry this morning. I don’t care about anything else except that she knew this and didn’t tell me.
Disillusioned. I’m adding that one to the list.
Of all the people in the world, Georgiana is the last person I’d expect to do this to me. After all this time, all those hours working together building our tiny house, all the talking, all the swimming and reading together, all those intense moments of love…I assumed she knew me.
And I thought I knew her.
There goes that idea.
The automatic doors slide open and I’m outside, dragging in the fresh air as I try to stop my body from going into overdrive. For a second, I’m disoriented, unsure where I parked my car. All I know is, I need to get away from here as fast as possible.
“Raiden!”
I lengthen my steps, getting away from Georgiana and the plea in her voice. She’s running now and catches up with me in the parking lot some distance from the entrance. She grabs my arm and forces me to stop.
“Raiden.”
I shake her off but turn to face her.
“I’m so sorry,” she says, her eyes wildly searching my face. “I didn’t think. And I didn’t for one moment think my mom would be here already. The judging is only tonight, at seven, before the crowd tramples the tiny houses over the weekend.”
“B-but y-you k-knew she was a j-j-judge.” I can’t believe I’m still stammering. This is my body’s way of telling me to back off from a situation I mentally can’t deal with. A situation in which I’m too late, I’ll fail to help and instead only get hurt.
Georgiana takes a step toward me, and I instinctively take one backwards. “I only learned it this morning. Raiden, please. It’s the honest truth.”
“Y-you knew. Bottom line.”
“We’ll still be disqualified. There’s no chance they’re going to let her step down as a judge. Not for me, not for you, not for us.”
“Why?”
“Because she’s got a massive following and they’re counting on her publicity to promote this convention and hype it up. Jack told me so a minute ago. She has Rover here and that tells me only one thing: this is business for her, nothing else.”
“S-she won’t even s-step down for you?”
“No. You know she won’t.”
“Like m-mother, like daughter. S-she won’t step down, and you won’t s-step up.”
“What do you mean?”
“You should have s-stepped up, Georgiana. You should have told me as s-soon as you knew. We’re in this together.”