The Perfect Escape (The Perfect Escape #1) - Suzanne Park Page 0,50
How many times had I woken up from a dream like this? Ten? Fifteen? Maybe even twenty? Dad’s technology had infiltrated my life so deeply that even in my dreams, I was no longer my own self. Was this my conscience letting me know it was time to leave?
I knew I wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep after that. Deciding that snacking was a good way to kill time, I shuffled to the kitchen without turning on the hall lights.
“It’s two forty-one in the morning, Kate. You should be asleep.”
I nearly screamed. Jeeves’s silent sneak-roll in the darkness pretty much woke me up for good. “Damn it, Jeeves, you scared the crap out of me.” I flung open the pantry door and took a look at my crunchy food options.
“That was not my intent. I apologize. Your father has sent you a rather urgent message. Would you like me to read it to you?”
I pulled out a new can of Pringles and popped open the metal seal. It hissed as Jeeves played back my dad’s words.
“Two twenty a.m. Kate, call me back when you get this. End of message.”
With half a chip dangling from my mouth, I asked, “Uh, okay, can you call him back now? Let’s get this over with.”
A dial tone came from the speaker on Jeeves’s midsection. Then my dad’s voice boomed, “Kate! I’m busy at work!”
I rolled my eyes. “Jeeves said you had an urgent message for me. Trust me, I wouldn’t bother you otherwise.”
“Hold on.” The silence filled with the familiar “swish-swoosh” sound from Dad’s wool-silk blended suit pants. A door closed. “Okay, I can talk now, but it’ll be brief. I’ve heard from reliable sources that your chances of getting into your top-choice colleges are slim. Early-action candidates are stronger than ever this year, and applications are way up. So rather than applying to second-tier schools, right after you take your finals, you’ll come with me to Asia, where I really need to be to oversee R and D. You can do a gap year early. I can line up some charity work in Japan and China. With some intensive East Asian language studies, bam! You’ll get in anywhere.”
The way he spoke to me was like how he talked when he was raising capital from investors. Like he was selling me this grand plan and wouldn’t take “no” for an answer. Did he realize that I was his daughter, not a business investment?
My throat closed, preventing me from speaking immediately. How could he possibly think that yanking me out of school right after final exams would be good idea?
Dad continued his rapid-firing speech. “I’ve already spoken with your headmaster and guidance counselor. They said it’s not ideal from a social perspective, but you’re only really losing a semester. Plus, it’s not like you hang out with your friends anyway.”
I took a deep, unsteady breath. “Dad, this is what you want, not what I want. You know why I don’t hang out with friends anymore? Because of Mom. Mom dying.”
He plowed on. “This isn’t a discussion, Kate. This is happening. It’s for your future. And don’t you dare bring up Mom again or any of that useless theater nonsense—”
Steady tears trickled down my cheeks. “We already lost Mom. Do you really want to lose me too? Because you will.”
He sighed. “Look, I have to go. This is the end of this conversation, Katherine.”
The line cut. Then silence.
He’d never called me Katherine before. Somehow, the distance between us had grown so wide that we were using formal names. The rift between us was now a chasm.
Could you close a chasm?
I did the only thing I could think to do. With my can of Pringles in hand, I grabbed my backpack and rain gear by the door, and took off in the dead of night.
Chapter Fifteen
Nate
Clink. Clink-clink. Clonk.
With the wind howling and kicking up debris, it was hard to tell someone was actually outside, purposefully throwing shit at my window.
“Psssst, Nate!”
That psssst was so familiar. Heart thumping hard, I raced