Gavin's voice was thin with impatience.
"Melanie, even if you've got no shame, think of the kid. Get out of here."
Melanie looked at him, and then she laughed.
"Gavin, where was all this pride of yours last night, in that private dining room?"
His face froze.
He didn't move until the loudspeaker called Viola's interview number. Then he spun on his heel and hurried back the way he'd come, his steps so fast it was as if something monstrous were chasing him.
Melanie laughed at herself, quietly.
"What was I ever thinking, falling for him?"
The interviews ended. Half an hour later, the list went up on the wall.
I was admitted.
Viola's name wasn't on it.
Melanie threw her arms around me, shaking with joy.
"Rae, you're amazing. I knew you could do it. I always knew."
Before I could answer, a hand shoved in between us, wrenching us apart.
Gavin's palm cracked across my mother's face.
"Melanie! I never knew you could sink this low! Do you have any idea what this selfish little stunt of yours will do? You're destroying Viola's future!"
He grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her, hard.
"You go talk to whoever's in charge, right now. You tell them Rachel's giving the slot back to Viola."
I lost it. I threw everything I had into shoving him off her.
"I earned that slot myself. Why should I hand it over to her?"
He caught his balance, reached down, and flipped up the hem of my skirt.
He bared my prosthetic leg in front of everyone.
"Rachel! You're a cripple. Hogging this slot won't give you a future."
"But Viola is nothing like you. She's smart, she has potential. When she leaves school she'll actually contribute something, to society, to this country."
He herded my mother and me toward the classroom, one hand pushing at our backs, his voice dropping to a threat.
"You explain yourselves in there. If you don't give the slot back to Viola, we're getting divorced."
He stationed himself outside the door.
Half an hour passed before he couldn't stand it any longer and pushed his way in.
What he found stopped him cold.
