by Kai Juniper
"Son," my father says, coming over to me as I walk in the study, the room he uses for cocktail hour. It's big and open so people can mingle. The walls are lined with floor-to-ceiling mahogany bookcases and off to one side is a sitting area with chairs covered in a hideous maroon-colored velvet. The chairs belonged to my great grandparents so are considered family heirlooms that I'll be inheriting one day, although I'm guessing those, and everything else I was supposed to inherit, won't be mine once I break free from this horrible family.
"Hello, everyone," I say, giving the old men a nod and trying not to cringe when my father clamps his hand around my shoulder. "Sorry I'm late."
"It's fine, son," my father says. "At least you made it in time for dinner."
He's off to a good start with his performance. Pretending he's not mad that I'm late? I'm sure he had to muster up all his acting skills for that.
The old men come up to me and shake my hand. There are eight of them, and a couple look like they might be in their nineties. Good job, Dad. Get their money when they're old and senile so they won't realize how much you're taking out for commission. My father takes huge percentages from his clients, then tries to hide it by making up fees that don't even make sense. I don't know how he gets otherwise brilliant businessmen to not question it. He's basically stealing from his clients and yet he says it's how all businesses works. If you provide customers with a service that benefits them, you're entitled to reap the rewards. I guess that's somewhat true but it's the fact that he lies about it that makes my stomach turn.
"So tell us about your studies," Mr. Winthrop says. I haven't met him before but I've seen him in the business magazines my father reads. He owns a nationwide chain of movie theaters.
Why couldn't that be the family business? I'd rather own movie theaters than invest people's money.
"My classes are going well," I say, knowing that's the answer he wants. The truth is I'm already struggling in AP Chem. I read through the first few chapters and was already feeling lost. But with Ella as my partner, I'll at least get a good grade on the labs. Despite what she thinks, I didn't actually arrange to make us partners, at least not directly. Nathan was already thinking of dropping the class. I just gave him the extra push he needed to do it when I found out Rachel wasn't coming back.
My dad's hand tightens around my shoulder. "I'll let you all in on a little secret." He looks at me, then back at the men. "Briggs is going to be valedictorian of his class."
The room erupts in the sounds of congratulatory phrases accompanied by smiles and head nods, and of course, praise for my father, because apparently I couldn't do this without him. He's the reason for my success and he wants everyone to know it. That's why he made that announcement. That, and because he wants to make it public record so I'm forced to follow through. His reputation is on the line and if I dare damage it, there'll be hell to pay.
"That's excellent news!" Mr. Thayer says, coming up to me. He owns one of the biggest tire manufacturers in the word. I don't find tires interesting but I'd still rather run a tire company than an investment firm.
"Thank you," I tell him, forcing out a smile.
"Have you chosen a college yet?"
My dad chuckles. "As if he has a choice."
Thayer's thick white brows rise. "And why is that?"
"The Chadwick men always go to Stanford. It's tradition. Briggs has already been accepted and will be starting in the business program in the fall."
"Very good," Thayer says to me with a slight smile. "Although I'm partial to USC, my alma mater."
"Also a good school," I say, smiling back. It's another fake smile, but different than the one I used earlier. That was for greetings. This one is for polite conversation. I've perfected it over the years for occasions like this in which I'm forced to play along with my father's obsession with having perfection in every part of his life. Perfect family, perfect wife, perfect son. It's all a lie but no one can ever know.
My father finally takes his hand off me and walks to the middle of the room. "Gentlemen, if I could have your attention, I'd like to invite you all to follow me to the dining room where we will continue our evening."
He leads the men out of the study. I go last, as my father instructed, to make sure no one stays behind to snoop or steal from us. My father trusts no one, and yet he expects everyone to trust him.
"Go ahead," I say to Mr. Winthrop as we both arrive at the door at the same time.
"Thank you." He goes past me and I follow him out, then shut the door behind me.
As we're walking to the dining room, Mr. Winthrop nudges my side. "Got a little something for you."
"Okay," I say, laughing a little. Mr. Winthrop’s not as serious as the other men. He was cracking jokes in the study but nobody found them funny except me. The jokes themselves weren't funny. It was the way he told them—his tone and the faces he made.
"Here." He reaches in his suit jacket and takes out a plastic card. "This will get you in for free at any of my theaters."
"Thank you," I say, taking the card.
"I know you don't need it," he says, motioning to the mansion I live in, "but sometimes it's still nice to not have to pay." He winks at me. "Use the money you save by taking out a pretty girl. Buy her some flowers. Girls like flowers."
I nod, smiling. "Got it."
"I suppose a young man like yourself has a girlfriend?"
"I do."
"Take her to the movies. It's a good place to..." he lowers his voice to a whisper, "kiss her without your father finding out."
I try not to laugh. My father doesn't care about me kissing girls. He's walked in on me having sex and didn't care. It happened last summer when I thought he was away on business. He ended up coming home early and caught me having sex out back by the pool. He didn't yell at me for it. He didn't even say anything. He just went back inside.
I've caught him having sex too, and not with my mom, but with one of his clients. It was right after my mom moved to Italy. I'm sure he cheated on her when she lived here but he was more discreet about it, doing it at his office instead of the living room, which is where I caught him. He doesn't know I saw and I never told him. I don't care who he fucks. I don't think my mom does either. She can't stand him. Their marriage is a business arrangement and nothing else.
"Everyone take a seat," my father says as we go in the dining room. He sits at the head of the table. I take the other end, as instructed, to show everyone I'm next in line for the throne at Chadwick Investments.
"Mind if I sit here?" Mr. Winthrop asks, pointing to the chair next to mine.
"Of course not. Go ahead." I'm glad he's sitting next to me. He's the only interesting person in the room and the only one with a sense of humor.
Dinner starts and my dad goes into his sales speech, which he hides by pretending it's just normal conversation about the state of the economy, the value of the dollar, market trends. It's so damn boring I could fall asleep but I force myself to stay awake, knowing it'll all be over in an hour. My dad doesn't like people to linger after dinner. He knows they'll have questions but instead of answering them, he'll send them an email tomorrow, telling them he only has limited spots for a few select clients and they better act soon or they'll lose their chance to work with him. It's just a scare tactic. He'll take all of them if they all sign up.
Just before eight, the men are escorted to the door and my father and I say our goodbyes.
"Best of luck with the girl," Mr. Winthrop says, shaking my hand.
I immediately think of Ella instead of Aubrey, which makes no fucking sense unless I was thinking he was wishing me luck in convincing Ella to give up being valedictorian. That must be it, although I don't know why I'd be thinking that. He was clearly referring to my girlfriend, not Ella.
I need to finish this shit with Ella so I can put her out of my head. She talked me into giving her a week to think about it but I have no fucking clue why I agreed to that. She's just stalling. She's not going to chan
ge her mind. Maybe I should tell her time's up and put my plan back into action so we can end this.
She's never going to win, so why bother trying? She doesn't understand that this stupid valedictorian title is my ticket to freedom. And I'll do anything to be free.
Chapter Seven
Ella
"Honey, the trimmer," my dad says, waking me from my thoughts. He's standing on the other side of the pickup, looking at me with concern. I'm usually the one reminding him to load the equipment.
"Sorry." I pick the trimmer up from the sidewalk and put it in the back of the truck.
It's Sunday, and my dad and I are heading home after a long day of work. We worked even longer yesterday and it was really hot. I'm exhausted to the point I could skip dinner and go right to bed. It's not just the work tiring me out but the stress of worrying what Briggs is going to do to me when I tell him I'm not agreeing to his deal.
He's giving me all next week to think about it, but I don't need a week. I already know I'm not doing it. I just needed him to back off for a few days so I could think of a way to stop him, or at least defend myself.
"Everything okay?" my dad asks as we're driving home.
"Yeah, I'm just tired." I look out the window as we pass yet another mansion protected by an iron gate. The house is two stories tall and as long as a hotel. The outside is white stucco, like most of the houses around here, with lots of windows, outlined in black trim.
"It's not that great if you ask me," my dad says, noticing me looking back at the mansion. "The guy bought it after his wife took off, although last I heard, they're still married. His kid's in your class, isn't he?"
I look back at my dad. "I don't know who you're talking about."
"The kid who plays rugby. Tall. Dark hair. He's a good-looking kid, and big for someone his age."
"You mean Briggs?" I ask, the mere mention of his name making my stomach feel sick.
"Yeah, that's him. I couldn't remember his name. His father owns that big investment firm."
"I didn't know they moved. Didn't they used to live in that mansion over by the Selby house?"
"They did, but they sold it and bought the one we just passed. I'm thinking the old place was what his wife wanted and when she left, he decided to get something new. In my opinion the old place was better. The new one looks more like an office building than a house."
"How much do you think it cost?"
He shrugs. "I'd guess around 25."
"Twenty-five million?" I ask, shocked that anyone would pay that much for a house.
"Maybe more with all the land he's got." My dad's so casual about it, like it doesn't bother him at all that the people in our neighborhood make that kind of money while we make almost nothing in comparison.
Briggs has all that money and lives in a giant house. He's popular. Good-looking. An athlete. Isn't that enough? Why does he think he needs to be valedictorian too?
"You ever talk to his kid?" my dad asks.
"Briggs? No. I hate him." I shouldn't have said that. My dad says you shouldn't hate people. He says it's too strong a word and that you can dislike someone, but not hate them. But if he knew how Briggs treated me, I think my dad would be okay with me hating him.
"What do I say about—"
"Yeah, I know. I don't like him. Is that better?" I roll my eyes but he's driving and didn't notice.
"Why don't you like him? Did he do something?"
"I don't want to talk about Briggs. He's just a spoiled rich kid, like every other kid at school."
My dad glances at me as he stops at a red light. "Why do I get the feeling it's more than that?"
"It's not. I just don't like him." I say it casually so he doesn't suspect anything.
When Briggs made it his mission to bully me a few years ago, I decided to hide it from my dad, and I'm going to do the same now. He can't do anything about it so why tell him?
The light turns green and he continues down the road. "I heard the Kingsley kid got in trouble at the docks last weekend."
"You mean Finn, or his older brother?"
"Finn, the younger one. I heard the Henson's pool guy talking about it when I was doing their lawn last week."
"What'd he get in trouble for? "
"He was searching through some boats last Friday night. One of the dock guys saw him and called it in. The cops said nothing was missing but I'm thinking he had to be looking for something. Why else would he be breaking into boats?"
"Did he get arrested?"
"He got off with a warning."
"How did the Henson's pool guy find out about this?"
"His brother works down at the docks. He was working that night. He saw the police arrive and saw them take Finn from one of the boats. Sounds like he was pretty drunk, or maybe he was on drugs."
"Maybe that's what he was looking for," I say, thinking about the drugs in my locker. Did Finn put them there? Were they his? Why would he search a boat for drugs when he could just buy them?
"You stay away from that boy," my dad says as he pulls into our driveway. "He's nothing but trouble."
"Trust me, I have no plans to go anywhere near Finn Kingsley. Or Briggs Chadwick. Or Parker Sterling. I can't stand those guys. I'm counting the days until I graduate and never have to see them again."
My dad parks the truck and shuts off the engine, then turns to me, smiling. "Speaking of graduation, I have a surprise for you."
"What is it?"
"I'm flying your grandparents out here."
"Dad, they can't. It's not good for Grandpa."
My grandparents live in Florida and my grandpa gets really bad leg cramps when he can't stretch his legs. In those tiny plane seats, he won't be able to move and it's a really long flight.
"I'm flying them first class." My dad beams. "I've been saving for this for months. I was going to wait to tell you but I couldn't keep it a secret anymore. My little girl is graduating and I want you to have your grandparents here." His smile drops. "Your mother would've wanted that too."
He always gets sad when he talks about her, even all these years later. And when special events come around, like my birthday or holidays or my upcoming graduation, he gets even sadder, wishing she was here to celebrate with us.
"Did you talk to Grandma about this?"
He nods. "I did, and they're thrilled. Your grandfather even talked to his doctor and got the okay. First class will give him more room to move around and he'll be able to get up if he needs to."
First class must've cost my dad a fortune. That's money he could've put into the business, or into buying something for himself, which he never does. I wish he'd do less for me and more for himself but he won't.
I reach over and hug him. "Thanks, Dad."
"Oh, and I might've told them the surprise."
I pull back, looking at him. "What surprise?"
"About you being valedictorian, not that they didn't already assume you would be, but I told them anyway. I hope that's okay."
"Um, yeah." I turn and open my door.
"Ella."
I turn back. "What?"
His brows draw together. "You ARE going to be valedictorian, right?"
"I think so."
He eyes me, concern on his face. "Are you saying someone else might be?"
"Maybe. I don't really know. I mean, it's not like I'm tracking everyone's grade point."
"You get all A's and do extra credit. There couldn't possibly be anyone else even close to being valedictorian."
I sigh. "Dad, what does it matter? I mean, nobody really cares who the valedictorian is. If I am, that's great, but if I'm not, it's not the end of the world." I get out of the truck. "I have to go to the bathroom. I'll see you inside."
Racing in the house, I go in my room and shut the door. Why did I do that? Why did I even hint that I might not be valedictorian? Now my dad will know something's up. He knows how much I want this. I've wanted it for years. Even in grade school I'd tell everyone I was going to be va
ledictorian. So to act like it doesn't matter anymore is definitely going to make my dad suspicious.
The only reason I said it was to prepare him in case it didn't happen. I'll do everything I can to make sure it does but I can't predict what Briggs might do to stop me. He's a loose cannon. Anything is possible with him. Or he'll make his friends do something. Finn would do whatever Briggs told him to. I'm sure he's the one who planted drugs in my locker. If the principal had found them, I could've been kicked out of school, ruining my chances of getting into a good college or getting a scholarship.
If it comes down to being valedictorian or saving my future, my future comes first. I just hope it doesn't come to that.
"Ella." My dad knocks on my door. "What do you think about going out for dinner after we clean up?"
"I'm not really hungry," I yell back. "I think I'll just go to bed."
"Can I come in?"
Now he wants to talk. He thinks something's wrong, and it is, but I don't want him knowing that.
I open the door. "Dad, I'm fine. I'm just tired. It was a long day."
"I know, which is why I think I'm going to hire someone."
"For what?"
"To help out on the weekends so you can do your school work."
"I don't need more time for school stuff. I'm caught up on all my homework. I even worked ahead."
"And your grades are okay?"
"Yes."
"Then what was all that talk about not being valedictorian?"
"It was nothing. You're reading too much into it."
He eyes me, concern on his face. "Honey, you know I don't care about this, right? It would be nice if you were the one up on stage giving a speech, but either way, I'm still proud of you, more proud than any father could be."
"I know, Dad."
He smiles. "How about we stay in and order a pizza?"
"Okay. And hey, you don't have to hire someone. I don't mind helping you out and it'd be better if we saved the money."
He pats my shoulder. "You let me worry about the money. I'd rather have you out with your friends, enjoying your last semester of high school, than helping your old man with his lawn business."
