Her Perfect Game by Shannyn Schroeder Page B

relationship.
    Carl crossed the room to talk to Jonah. The harsh whispers carried across the room. Carl was asking about having a personal relationship with a competitor. Jonah nodded. She was screwed.
    Her stomach sank. There was no coming back from this. “Fuck this.” She slammed her laptop shut and looked at Override. “Sorry if you get screwed here too. I did not cheat, but I refuse to get thrown out for doing nothing wrong.”
    She slid her computer into her bag and rushed out the door.
    â€œWait,” Jonah called.
    She didn’t, but then he caught her by the arm. “What are you doing?”
    Charlie yanked her arm from his grasp. “I’m not going to sit there and be accused of cheating because I slept with you.”
    â€œCarl wasn’t going to throw you out. He knows I didn’t have access to anything he created.”
    â€œDoesn’t matter. If I win, everyone in that room will question whether it was legitimate. Thanks for fucking this up for me.” She turned away, tears clawing at her throat.
    â€œWhoa. What do you mean me? I didn’t do a damn thing.”
    â€œThat’s right, you didn’t. All you had to do was deny we had any kind of relationship.”
    â€œWhy the hell would I do that? I know you didn’t cheat, and lying wasn’t going to change that accusation.”
    â€œWhatever.” She took a couple more steps before he moved in front of her.
    â€œWhat’s the big deal? It’s a stupid small-time hackfest.”
    â€œNot for me it wasn’t. I needed this win.”
    â€œCharlie, you have to know that you didn’t really have a chance against Poison.”
    Tears welled and burned her eyelids. “Thanks for the vote of confidence. I guess we’ll never know now.”
    She tried to push past him, but he laid a hand on her shoulder. “Why are you so upset?”
    Charlie swallowed hard. “I needed this win. This was my chance. The prize is Def Con. I can’t afford to get to Vegas and pay for a hotel and shit. And I need Def Con to network and find a job.”
    â€œNo, you don’t, Charlie. You’re good enough that all you have to do is send out your résumé after graduation. You won’t need to network. The jobs will be there.”
    She swiped at her face, hating every tear that fell. “No, they won’t because there won’t be a graduation. I dropped out.”
    He looked stunned, his mouth hanging open, and Charlie skirted around him. She couldn’t look at his face knowing in a moment it would be filled with disappointment. She raced to her room, packed her stuff, and checked out to go back to her regular life.

    Jonah stood staring at the spot where Charlie had stood. He couldn’t have heard her right. Why would she have dropped out of school?
    From down the hall, he saw Carl stick his head out the door of the conference room, looking for him. Jonah looked over his shoulder where Charlie had taken off and then back to Carl. He had a job to do, and as much as he wanted to go after Charlie, he needed to see this through.
    â€œIs she gone?” Carl asked.
    Jonah nodded.
    â€œWell, what do you think we should do?”
    â€œLet Override keep the points accrued and work alone.”
    Carl patted Jonah’s shoulder. “I explained that as a separate entity, I created the challenges and you had no access. She could’ve stayed.”
    Jonah shook his head. “No, she had a point. No matter what we said, the other players would always have their doubts.”
    They went back in to restart the game. Jonah was kicking himself for the entire episode. While he wouldn’t have given up a moment of the time he’d spent with Charlie this week, he could’ve been more discreet, which is what she’d suggested in the first place. He hadn’t thought it was a big deal because he couldn’t have helped her win even if he’d wanted to.