False Start - Jessica Ruddick Page 0,14

I’d been nothing but a disappointment to them from the time I was a kid, and it was apparent that I was never going to excel at anything intellectual. Playing football didn’t exactly further the family’s business and political interests.

Cheer up, Dad. Maybe if I make it to the pros, I can be a celebrity endorser for your business.

My mother came from a wealthy family, but my father was a self-made man, something he liked to remind me of every chance he got. He’d started with nothing, and his highest education was a degree from a local community college. Fleck Holdings was now a multimillion-dollar company with business interests up and down the East Coast. Though my dad prided himself on being self-made, he sure as hell didn’t like to remember where he’d come from. My grandparents had been good blue-collar people who’d worked hard to eke out a meager living. But Charles Fleck would have never been satisfied with that. He had wanted more. It was always more with him. Nothing—including me—was ever enough.

Except maybe Chelsea. My older sister could do no wrong in his eyes. I tried not to hold that against her.

“You’ll be receiving a formal invitation shortly,” Stacey said finally.

“Thanks, Stacey,” I replied. “I’ll handle it from there.” I didn’t want to put her in the middle of family drama. She’d always been good to me. Besides that, I didn’t need any help disappointing my parents.

I could do that very well on my own.

CHAPTER 4

Becca

THE FOUR WIE board members lounged in Nicole’s living room, munching on popcorn and sipping boxed wine. High class. Of course, I was sticking to water.

I nudged Nicole. “Are you taking notes?”

She looked between her two hands, one of which was full of popcorn while the other held a wine glass. “Um, no.”

I sighed. Nicole hadn’t wanted to take over as secretary, but we’d had a shortage of candidates this year, so I’d begged her to step up. She had only agreed after I’d promised her the position was easy. It was, but I hadn’t promised her it wasn’t tedious.

“Well, could you? We have to document our meetings for the Student Activities Board.”

She shoved the popcorn into her mouth then wiped her fingers on a napkin before opening her laptop and saluting me.

I looked at the agenda I had pulled up on my phone. “Courtney, did you reserve space for the welcome pizza party?”

The vice president nodded. “I got a room in the student center. I’ll email the invitations this evening.”

“Great.” Membership in WIE had dwindled over the past few years, and we didn’t understand why because the number of females enrolled in engineering hadn’t decreased. Our focus for this semester was building our membership.

“I bought a few cases of water last week,” Hanima, our treasurer, said. “I wanted to beat the freshman rush.”

“Good idea,” I said. Several thousand freshmen and their parents had invaded Bleaksburg over the weekend, which meant stores were a nightmare. “Make sure you fill out the reimbursement form, and I’ll sign it. Are we good on funds?”

Hanima scrolled through her tablet for a moment then read off the financial report. I didn’t like how low our balance was, but it was still worth spending the money to make the incoming freshmen feel welcome. Engineering was a hard enough major without being outnumbered five to one by males. Most guys in the major were okay, but there were some who were demeaning toward the girls.

“What do you think about my idea for a weekly study hall?” Courtney asked.

“I like it.” I tapped a pen on the table. “But that would require the commitment of a lot of juniors and seniors. I’m willing to do my part, but I don’t want it to fall completely on us.” I hoped our members would step up, but I knew how busy they were, how busy we all were.

“Good point.” Courtney made a note. “I’ll touch base with our members and see what they’re willing to do. We’ll need to get moving on it soon.”

Hanima leaned over to see that we’d come to the end of my agenda. “Can I bring in some new business?”

“Sure.” I looked up from the agenda. “What do you have?”

She slapped a pink flyer on the table in front of me. “This.”

I squinted at the flyer. VVU Homecoming Court—Apply Now!

“Okay…” I’d gone to VVU’s homecoming football games for the past three years, but I’d never paid much attention to the homecoming court presentation. I didn’t understand why