Change of Heart - By S.E. Edwards Page 0,54

a few more minutes. You know Richard got accepted to Princeton, right?”

My eyebrows shoot up. “The Ivy League school? No.”

Amanda grins proudly. “Yeah. He doesn’t mention it much. But his father was an alumnus. Same with his grandfather. In fact, all the men in the Blackthorne family had traditionally been educated at Princeton.”

“I mean, I knew Rich was sharp, but Ivy League smart?” I pause. “That’s impressive.”

“Don’t go telling him that, though,” Amanda warns. “That’s one surefire way to set him off.”

“What?” I ask, puzzled. “Why?”

“He doesn’t put much stock in traditional methods of education. Or in the traditional value of money. He’s seen what both did to his father.”

“But I met him at the community college. You did too, right?”

“That’s where he went instead of Princeton.”

“That’s traditional education, isn’t it? Except much less prestigious.”

Amanda laughs with contempt. “Don’t mention ‘prestige’ to him, either. He’ll light up faster than a forest in a heat wave.”

“Fine. But why go to a community college when you could go to Princeton?”

“So he doesn’t end up like his father, for one,” Amanda explains. “For another, I think it allowed him to go at his own pace. It’s much less cut-throat here than on the east coast.”

“I can imagine,” I say. In high school, I’d seen the sort of competitiveness that drives kids toward acceptances in the country’s top colleges. Stories of sabotage and betrayal filtered down through the grapevine. Some had been absolutely appalling. One girl faked her own suicide to get the school to close down for a day, just so she could have extra time to study for a test. The year after, she matriculated at Harvard. “Still, if Rich is so smart, I don’t see how he can be satisfied with taking what are more-or-less remedial high school classes.”

“He reads a lot,” Amanda says. “You’ve been to his apartment, right? You’ve seen all the books on his shelves? They’re like his only possessions—other than the bed.” She purses her lips and looks uncertain for a moment. “Unless he’s changed the place around.”

A light comes on in my head. So that’s what all the boxes in his hall were. His books. Of course he’d want them out of harm’s way when it came time for his friends to trash the place. “No, it’s still exactly like that.”

Amanda smiles. “See? You’ve got to learn to piece these things together, Penelope.”

I shrug off the slightly-provoking comment. “So Rich didn’t go to Princeton. Is that what caused the rift between him and his father?”

“I’d say the rift was there long before. Princeton was more like the straw that broke the camel’s back. His father kicked him out of the house when he refused to go. But Richard was getting set to leave, anyway.”

“Hmm. And he was what, eighteen, when it happened?”

Amanda nods.

“How long ago was that?”

Amanda blows out her cheeks. “Um, it must have been seven, eight years ago now.” She seems surprised by the number. “Wow. I’ve known him for almost a decade. Sure doesn’t feel that long.”

I feel another spike of jealousy in my stomach. I’d only been eleven or twelve when Amanda first met Rich. They had a history together. He and I, on the other hand, had… what? A single night of passion followed by the worst kind of adventure possible? Knowing what I do now about the circumstances of that night, I can’t even be sure he was ever attracted to me. He just chose me because I looked like his sister.

I’m being stupid, I know. Yet a tiny part of me held out hope that maybe the reason Rich came back to rescue me was that somewhere deep inside, he felt something for me.

I shake my head in disgust. It’s a vain hope. And totally misplaced. Rich hasn’t shown any interest in me since. We’ve already spent two nights under the same roof. He’d just felt guilty about leaving me, that’s all. I’m sure the same thing would have happened with any other girl he picked out to fool Tam and Victor.

“He has a sister, too, you know,” Amanda announces without warning. “It wouldn’t surprise me if you don’t. He doesn’t talk about her. Ever. But, the way you look just now…” Amanda laughs. “It’s kind of silly, but I swear to God, you remind of a picture I saw of her once.” She narrows her eyes. “It’s uncanny, really, now that I think about it. The resemblance between you two. Of course, she’d been younger than you in