Chapter 25 #2
“So I, the young, na?ve fool, thought it was true,” Jade inhales sharply, composing herself, even though her voice dips, just slightly. I doubt the audience notices, but Father sits up in his chair, directing his scornful glare forward.
“That Percy loves to exaggerate. That Calypso was just a hookup, meaningless,” Jade paces.
The screen flips to a photo of a test score.
“And imagine how surprised I was when he kept begging me to couples match with him—with his 288 step score, truly, a remarkable number—and that we could do great things together.”
She crosses her arms, tapping her heel. “I asked for proof,” she says petulantly, “because he’s awfully cocky for someone who misses pimping questions all the time.”
“But look,” she says, pointing to a blurry section where his name is. The screen zooms in, and it’s obvious—the text is a noticeably different font.
“Oh my GOD,” a resident behind me gasps. “I knew he was lying! He can’t make a plan to save his life!”
“So he faked his Step 2 score,” Jade continues, “which means, logically, he probably faked Step 1 as well.”
“And you might think—if this is his only sin, doctoring his step scores—it would be a waste of time, since no residency program would be stupid enough to fall for this.”
“So was he just faking his scores because he was insecure in dating? What’s the real truth? Does he actually have a half-decent score he’s embarrassed of?”
The room is silent as death; Jade’s pinpoint heels are the only audible sound.
“Which is why I found it fascinating, because not one, not two, but three different people were fired from our registrar’s office around the time his Step 1 should have come out.
A pity,” she says, “because if they kept their original staff, they wouldn’t have lost this copy of an email he wrote when he lied about getting off the waitlist into Cornfield’s Finest.”
The screen flashes to a picture of an email from his college account.
“Sent straight to Calypso’s mom, right?” Jade looks at my ex.
“My mother was on the registrar, yes,” she says loudly. “And shortly after she added him to our online learning site following this email, she was fired.”
An entire auditorium swivels its heads from Jade to Calypso, then back to David.
David’s ankles creep further and further backward, almost to the steps to run away.
“And here’s the text he sent to be added to our class group chat,” she adds, showing a text exchange between David and Interleukin.
“That’s real,” Interleukin yells. “He told everyone he got off the waitlist at the last minute.”
David’s bloodlessly pale.
“Clever, actually,” she tells him. “With enough emails to professors, you even became registered for exams, claiming the same thing—a clerical error because you got off the waitlist so last minute. With so many different professors for each course, it’s easy to slip through the cracks.”
She takes a step forward, and David flinches.
“Especially with a face as pretty as yours? And with all the other students recognizing you since orientation? It was a pretty easy, convincing scheme.
“But that doesn’t work in third year. Because a different clinical coordinator had no record of you ever being a student, she never told our sites you were coming. And with clinicals being spread out all over the state, it would have taken forever to put two and two together.”
She turns toward the audience. “It took me about a month.”
An image compilation flashes through a series of photos of him with Percy, with Calypso… and with her.
My father’s fists clench so hard they shake.
My God. Her secret boyfriend was him?
“Because I kept thinking,” Jade continues, “What would pressure a man to try to couples match with not one, not two, but three different women from two different medical schools? Couples matching is a disadvantage, not an advantage.”
Jade’s venomous glare lands on him again.
“You cheated on Percy to keep Calypso as a backup plan. You thought you were cheating on Calypso with me, but I’ll never forget the way I heard you yelling at her at a therapist’s office.
Those weren’t the screams of someone who cares.
Those were the screams of someone who’s possessive. ”
The screen whirs to a grainy, blurry video.
“Which is why I asked Hyacinth to review the security footage from last night when I went to visit her apartment, and she was gone. Which shows…”
CRASH.
The audio screeches over the speakers.
A man, covered in a ski mask, breaks through an apartment window with his fists, blood spurting everywhere. But he’s still wearing his favorite designer scrubs, now stained with blood.
Anger, red-hot, lurches me up.
That wretch broke into her apartment?
And then, abject terror.
Percy!
I whirl to her, who’s watching this unfold with grim resolve in the back. What did this fucker do?
In the corner of the room, a wave of black advances, hospital security guards crowding around David like vultures as his reputation officially dies.
“You’re under arrest for breaking and entering,” Jade says, “as well as trespassing on our medical school, and in every hospital you’ve ever stepped into.”
“So, take it from one nepo baby to another,” she says.
The screen flashes back to Imposter Syndrome: And All Its Golden Glory
“Doctor daddy might have been able to donate enough to influence ‘budget cuts’ to force fresh blood into the office, but nobody can buy their way into medical school for long.”
David lurches for the exit, but there are police at every door.
“And in conclusion, as our match day approaches, I want all of the M4s to remember one thing. All of you have passed your classes. Studied and passed our boards honestly. So unless you skipped the essential step—actually being admitted in the first place—you’re no imposter.
“There’s only one imposter among us.”
Jade turns to David, a single tear rolling down her cheek.
“And it’s the man who conned all of us. How does it feel to be a cheater in both love and in life?”
His eyes fly, frantic, between Jade, Calypso, and then finally, Percy.
But it’s over.
None of the women who ever loved him will excuse him. Or save him.
He betrayed everyone who’s ever cared about him.
And for the first time in his charmed life, Golden Boy’s light has stopped shining.
As soon as he realizes it, the raging denial begins.
“She’s lying!” he yells. “And I can prove it.”
He waves his phone around. “I have evidence that they plotted against me. That Percy specifically—”
“You tried to kill her fiancé,” the police officer behind him says gruffly.
David recoils, but the officer has both his arms in seconds, locking him in place.
“The license plate matched the hit and run in the hospital parking lot,” he says.
David continues thrashing, screaming obscenities.
“I’m pressing charges,” Percy interrupts, standing.
Her voice shocks the lecture hall into silence.
The OB/GYN residents around her wear various shades of horror and disbelief.
“You harassed me in my parking lot for months,” she says, slinking forward, head held high.
After a few steps, Hyacinth stands too, chasing after her.
“You tried to force me to couples match with you.”
The OB/GYN intern jumps up, expression murderous, to follow them.
And then, the second year, the third year, and all of them up to the chief follow, marching in a way that invites death.
“You broke into my apartment,” she says.
One of the P.A.s—is that Bonnie? stands up too, and then the nurses join them.
Percy doesn’t even notice her army trailing behind her, walking evenly toward David.
“You strangled three cats, then left them to freeze,” she says, stepping up to the stage.
“And I’ll save the rest of what happened in my apartment for court,” she says, voice breaking.
A stream of urine runs down David’s thighs.
Nobody is ever going to believe—or give a shit—about him now.
“They—” he screams as he tries to launch forward, and more security officers grab hold of each of his arms. “Percy and Kane!” he screams, desperate. “They’re faking a relationship! This is all just a fucking ploy to expose me! Everything they have is fake! Fake!”
He’s spitting and red-faced, bloated like a madman, watching the false world he created for himself rip apart at the seams.
Jade watches him stammer accusations with repulsion, wiping away the moisture from her eyes.
“And she is a fucking bitch!” he screams. “Traitorous, duplicitous whore—”
“Kane,” Father says calmly, “call a code violet.”
“Security is already here—”
“Not for them,” he says, rising. “It’s for me.”
He launches, tackling the imposter with his bare hands, cracking his head against the wood floor as residents yelp in shock.
“Get. Away. From. My. Daughters!” he yells, pummeling him with his fists as security drags both of them kicking and screaming from the room.
In seconds, they’re gone, and the murmurs around us are so loud, it’s like the residents are shouting.
Percy’s bravado falters, lip quivering. She and Jade stand there, watching the space he used to be, listening to the crowd react.