Page 39 of Us in Ruins
Van’s eyebrows did something wiggly—somehow rising and lowering at the same time in a squiggly scrunch.
Oh, yeah. Robots probably weren’t big in the 1930s. Margot rattled her head. “Never mind.”
Dr. Hunt stopped the class in front of a glass case filled with ancient weaponry, and all the hushed chatter dried up. She tapped her fingers against her clipboard, scanning the group. “Rome may be the City Eternal, but even it had its beginnings. Today, your job is to analyze its foundations and developments leading up to the days of Pompeii. You and your partner should use this to learn about the kinds of items you may find during your excavations.”
Margot glanced toward Astrid, who was saying something behind her palm to Topher, but her icy gaze aimed straight at Margot. It made a slimy feeling slosh around in Margot’s stomach.
Growing up in a town where everyone knew each other meant that everyone knew you right back. Margot had tried to become a hundred different girls just to stop being the girl whose parents divorced, whose mom skipped town and left her behind.
Transferring to Radcliffe was supposed to be her chance to find herself. To study new things—archaeology, cryptology, so many ologies to try!—and discover what she loved without being a spectacle to a bunch of kids who had watched her reinvent herself over and over and over again without ever getting closer to figuring out who she was.
Astrid, however, seemed hell-bent on making sure that didn’t happen.
Dr. Hunt added, “I’ll be passing around a worksheet for you to hand in at the end of the afternoon.”
A unanimous groan rose up from the class. Margot included. There was no time for busywork.
She pinched her eyes closed, pretending that when she opened them, she would be a different version of herself. A version who wasn’t going to bash her head through the glass if she had to listen to Astrid brag about her father’s father’s father for the rest of the afternoon.
“Let’s go,” Astrid said as she dragged Margot away from Van and shoved a worksheet in her hands. It was stapled. Not just a worksheet. A whole exercise. “I’m not letting you bomb this assignment for me.”
Margot recoiled. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Don’t be cute,” Astrid snarked. “You’ve barely put in any effort this whole weekend. I knew I was right.”
“Right about what, Astrid?” Tension knotted in Margot’s shoulders.
“You being here is ruining everything.”
“What’s your problem with me?” Margot snapped. She could feel it under her skin, her emotions slipping out of her reach. Even if she wanted to spool them back in, they’d still be a tangled, awful mess. “I don’t think I’ve committed any serious crimes against you. I didn’t copy your physics project or TP your dorm room or accuse you of stacking the votes so that you could win homecoming princess last winter.”
The look in Astrid’s eyes was so fiery, it could have melted steel. The jury was still out on how exactly Astrid had won the crown. But that was beside the point.
Margot threw her hands up, innocent. “Like I said. Not accusing. So, I’d love to know why every time you talk to me, you act like somebody just put a frog down your pants.”
Astrid tucked her bangs behind her ear. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because every time we’re supposed to work together, you suddenly have an emergency that makes it impossible for you to do your fair share of the work.”
Margot bit back, “I’ve done plenty—”
“I had this whole summer planned out so that I could get ahead on my college apps. Pasha Manikas and I were going to—”
“Shut up about Pasha Manikas!” Margot said a little too fast and a little too loud. “I’m sorry I’m not her, and I’m sorry you’re stuck with me.”
“You should be.” Astrid leaped at the chance to gloat. “If you weren’t so busy looking for that stupid Vase, maybe you’d actually learn a thing or two about archaeology.”
“It’s not stupid,” Margot seethed. Her hands tightened around the cloth straps of her backpack like it was a parachute, a lifeline. She’d known enough to find Van, to secure the first two fragments of the Vase. “People have been searching for it for centuries.”
“Exactly. My great-grandfather was one of those explorers. Don’t you think one of them would have found it if it were real?”
“I knew you couldn’t go two seconds without bringing up your family.” Margot’s throat ached against the words she knew she shouldn’t say but couldn’t stop. “Are you ever embarrassed that you’ve accomplished nothing for yourself?”
Astrid’s nostrils flared. She’d hit a nerve. “As if you’ve done any better. You cheated your way onto an excavation and want to act like I’m the one who hasn’t earned my spot here? Please.”
Margot’s teeth clenched so hard, she thought they might shatter. “I didn’t cheat at anything.”
Whipping her phone out of her pocket, Astrid said, “Hey, Siri. Define cheating.”
Siri’s stilted AI voice responded, “Cheating. A verb that means to gain an unjust advantage by skirting the rules.”