“Yeah. We’re not going anywhere. It seems our fathers have managed to ground the plane.”
“No.” Ax grabs his head again. “No. No. No. I’m not staying here.”
“We’re supposed to move home.”
“No.” Ax is turning in circles now. “No fucking way. I’m not going home. I don’t care anymore. I’m so done with this place.”
Lars puts a hand on his shoulder. “You can crash at my house.”
“You’re going home?” Ax is stunned. He looks at me. “You’re going home too?”
“What choice do we have? They took everything from us, Ax. We have to run the Fang and Feather rush to get our shit back. The Chairman wants me to choose the next crop of initiates.”
Lars bellows a laugh. “Oh, that’s funny.” He points at me. “That’s actually funny!”
“It’s not a joke. And you two are stuck with me. Guilty by association, I guess.”
“Cooper!” Ax puts a hand on my shoulder. “No. You need to go back and talk to him. Apologize.”
“For what? That girl was begging me last night. I wasn’t gonna tell her no. Fuck that, I’m not apologizing.”
“You have to.” Ax is pleading. “I’m not going home.”
“You can stay with me, dude,” Lars says. “It’s cool. The Mayor won’t mind. Hell, sometimes I think he likes you better than me.”
That’s probably truer than Lars would like to admit, but it’s not something we talk about.
“Cooper,” Ax says. “Dude. I don’t ask for much. You know that. I take my licks. I deal. I’m not complaining. But I am not going home. Ever. Can’t you at least… I don’t know, beg? If we have to run the rush, you need to beg for us to stay in one of the cottages. Because I’m done. I’m done taking it.”
And he is. I can see it all over his face.
Fuck.
I turn my back to him and rub both hands over my jaw. “Fine. I’ll ask.” I turn back to him. “But he’s gonna say no. And when that happens you will just go home with Lars, bite your fucking tongue, and play nice for the summer. You don’t even have to run the rush. I’ll cover for you, Ax. But you will show up at least and make them think you’re on board.”
I see the rebel in him. I see that fire inside that wants to tell me to go fuck myself.
But he knows I’m right.
“We have one more year,” Lars says. “Just one. More. Year. And then we’re out, Ax. It’ll be over.”
Ax looks at me and I give him a small nod.
But I don’t believe it any more than he does.
When your fathers are the Chairman, the Mayor, and the Judge—well… you don’t walk away from that.
There is no out.
My friends follow me back towards the admin building, keeping a few paces behind me, very quiet now. The time for protest over.
If I had known what the consequences of last night would be, would I have thought twice about what we did?
I crack a smile as I climb the steps to the admin building.
Nah.
CHAPTER FOUR - CADEE
I swallow hard as I walk into Chairman Valcourt’s office.
“Close the door, please.” He’s a very tall man. Nice head of thick, silver hair. Broad shoulders filling out his expensive dark gray suit. Straight posture, hands in pockets. And a nice face that is very reminiscent of his oldest son, Jack. He’s not looking at me. He’s standing in front of the window gazing out at the central gardens of the college campus that end at Monrovian Lake.
Or maybe his expansive mansion directly across the water?
When you picture a huge mansion in your head you probably see a large white home with columns. Very symmetrical. Maybe some black shutters and a grand semi-circular porch.
But that’s not what his home looks like. It’s a Tudor, made of dark gray stone with severely pitched rooflines. There are more tall, skinny windows and arched doorways than I can count, and there’s even a turret for added effect.
I’m pretty sure it has historical value because important people, like himself, have lived in it for nearly two hundred years. Long before this school even existed.
I close the door quietly and the bustle out in the reception area recedes, creating an uncomfortable silence in the room.
“Um…” I don’t know what to say. “Hi… you wanted to see me, Chairman?”
He turns around slowly, his mouth a flat line of… I dunno. Lack of interest? Anger?
Mona Monroe did just leave here. She lives to piss people off. Just my luck to get the appointment right after hers.
“Sit,” he says, pointing to a small table in the corner of the room that appears to be set for tea.
I walk over to it and take a seat, feeling self-conscious about not touching any of the beautiful china or tableware laid out on the white tablecloth. He watches me do this with an intense focus that immediately makes me uncomfortable.
I let out a long breath and wait.
“Would you like some tea?” He doesn’t give me a chance to answer, just stabs a button on his phone and says, “Laurie. Pour us tea, please.”
Moments later Laurie appears, smiling. She pours me a cup, then fills the other cup, even though the Chairman has taken a seat at his expansive desk.
“Thank you, Laurie.”
She smiles at him as she leaves the office, pulling the door closed behind her.
“Go ahead,” the Chairman says, motioning to the table. “It’s good tea. I don’t really care for tea but people buy it for me all the time. I’m a hard man to buy gifts for, I suppose.” He pauses to contemplate this idea. “Still, I do enjoy serving it.”
“O…kay.” I use the tiny tongs to drop two raw sugar cubes into my cup, and stir it up with an equally tiny spoon. Then I take a sip. “Mmm.” I fake-smile at him. “I like it.”
Not a lie. But not entirely true either. I’m just… why am I here?
“Good. I’m glad.” He folds his hands on his desk, smiles at me.
This is so weird. There are dozens of students out in the reception area waiting their turn for a meeting with him, and yet we’re in here just staring at each other.
His smile falls. And then he’s frowning at me.
“I’m sorry. Did I do something wrong? Is that why you wanted to see me?”
“Wrong? Dear, God, no. You didn’t do anything wrong. I’m so sorry about your mother, Cadee.”
“Oh.” I shrink a little. Kinda go inside myself with the reminder of my recent loss.
“I wanted to make sure you were OK. You have a place to stay?”
And here we go. I knew this was why I was here.
“I know you’re living in the attic apartment. But you and your mother were getting ready to move today, so I just want to make sure—”
“Wait. What? What did you just say?”
He looks confused for a moment. “Moving?”
“We weren’t moving out today.”
He cocks his head at me. “I’m fairly sure you were. Your mother put in notice two months ago.”
“Notice for what?”