Madison had heard from several feet away.
She looked at Simone but said nothing.
A month later, Madison requested a mediated meeting through the university equity office.
Simone initially declined.
Then she changed her mind because she wanted an answer to one question.
Why had Madison cared so much about her?
They met in a plain conference room without phones.
Madison looked different without Chloe, designer sunglasses, or the confidence of a group behind her.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
Simone waited.
“For the lake?”
“For all of it.”
Simone folded her arms.
“Then explain all of it.”
Madison took almost a minute before answering.
She said Simone had bothered her from the first semester because she entered Bellmont and immediately received things Madison had spent years expecting to earn.
Professor Ramsey’s attention.
Research opportunities.
Awards.
The Chesapeake position.
“You thought they gave them to me because I’m Black,” Simone said.
“At first.”
“And later?”
Madison looked down.
“Later I knew you were good.”
Simone waited.
“That made me more angry.”
The answer surprised her.
Madison explained that as long as Simone’s success could be dismissed as diversity policy, the hierarchy in Madison’s mind remained intact.
When Simone repeatedly proved she belonged academically, Madison faced a different possibility.
She might simply be better at some things.
Madison had never learned how to handle that without making the competition personal.
“Why the money jokes?” Simone asked.
Madison wiped her eyes.
“Because I assumed scholarship meant poor.”
“You never asked.”
“No.”
“And the dinner jokes?”
Madison became visibly embarrassed.
“I knew they were bad.”
“Bad how?”