Total pages in book: 27
Estimated words: 25727 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 129(@200wpm)___ 103(@250wpm)___ 86(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 25727 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 129(@200wpm)___ 103(@250wpm)___ 86(@300wpm)
“Don’t forget we have the Nock Ball this Saturday,” Roberta trills.
Ware pauses, gives a terse nod, and then is gone. As soon as the door closes, Roberta turns to me. The slap comes so fast I don’t have time to duck.
“Don’t you dare try to set my son up,” she seethes.
“I never named your son.”
She slaps me again. Kai steps forward, but Roberta shakes her finger in his direction. “I’m the woman in the household. I run this place. If I want to slap you, I can. Report me and Ware will bury you and everyone you know six feet under the ground.”
Kai retreats, and I stand there like an idiot because Roberta’s not wrong. Ware takes the family’s reputation seriously, and me reporting that I was struck by his wife would result in character assassination so severe that I’d be lucky to get a job sucking waste out of the river through a straw.
“Now that we have cleared the air, what will you be doing today?” Roberta peers down her nose at me.
I grind my teeth together. “Jasmine has activities.”
“Get to it then. You don’t want to be late.”
It’s six in the morning. The girl is still sleeping, but rather than argue, which would earn me another slap to my already sore cheeks, I dip my head and retreat.
There’s only one recourse. I have to go to Weston Evers. He’s my only hope.
I drop Jasmine off at the museum for a class. “I’ll be back in an hour. Do not leave with anyone.”
“I’m not five. I know all about stranger danger.” She rolls her eyes.
“Fine, but no leaving by yourself either. Not even to get food. Eat at the café here if you get hungry.”
“Where are you going?”
“To see an old friend.”
“Oh?” Jasmine is intrigued. I have no social life, so this is uncharacteristic for me. “Is ‘friend’ a new word for going to the library to check out a book or standing in line at the new place downtown that’s selling viral croffles?”
I feel a little twinge of remorse that those are two actual examples of things I’ve done during some of her summer activities. “Those croffles were good, and you ate two of them,” I remind her.
“I know. That’s why I was asking what you were doing because obviously I’m going to want at least a half dozen.” She grins cheekily.
I pinch her chin fondly. “You wouldn’t be able to eat more than two, but no croffles today. When I pick you up, though, we can go to Jill’s Candy and get a banana split.”
“Deal.” She smacks my hand and then takes off.
An hour is not much time to get to The Academy, convince Weston Evers that he should help me without any reward, and return here for Jasmine, but a girl’s gotta make do. I hail a cab and tell them to haul ass downtown. The Academy is on the Lower East Side in a giant brick building that used to be an old garment factory in the twenties. The internet says that in the '60s it was bought by a Dutch woman wanting to incorporate Montessori elements with psychology and art training. While very prestigious, it had funding problems and was about to close when two years ago, it was saved by an anonymous buyer.
The only reason I know the buyer is Weston is because I overheard Roberta and Ware arguing about it. Roberta wanted Ware to buy Gideon’s way in, and Ware refused. He said that Weston Evers wouldn’t take money for a student and that Gideon needed to earn it anyway because how else would he even survive as a student there if he couldn’t pass the admissions test?
Roberta argued and cajoled, but Ware wouldn’t be moved. When I heard West’s name, I nearly died. I started trembling and ran to my bathroom and threw up. I had tried so hard to get over him, but there’s no forgetting your first and only love. You bury it deep inside you, but it sits there, like a vine, and slowly overtakes you. I press my hand against my heart and take a shaky breath as I step out of the cab.
I don’t know what I’m more afraid of: that he remembers me or that he’s forgotten me.
Chapter Four
WEST
“Your admin is looking frustrated.” Griff Harris leans back so he can get a better view of Headmistress Susan’s annoyed face.
“She wants me to care about what is happening here at The Academy.” I flip through a proposal for new student workstations and sign the contract.
“And you don’t.”
“Not really.” I toss the signed paperwork onto the completed pile and reach for another contract. “I didn’t buy this place because I have a keen interest in schools. I bought it to woo a woman into my bed.”
“That seems to be going well.” Griff snorts.