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 i
