in his dark eyes. “I have always thought of you as a family member. I always will. When you win this contest I will be waiting to come back and work for you, and one day when you have kids I will resist the urge to tell them just how naughty you were.”
My eyes flood with more tears than I knew I had. “What? What does that mean?” I know what it means and my heart is breaking, actually breaking. Everyone is shitting on me and abandoning me. Did they conspire to do this all at once? Am I being punked or is this one of those mean intervention shows?
Jesus!
He shakes his head slightly. “Your father is bringing me home tonight. He wants you to do this all on your own. He doesn’t want you to have any help. He wants the world to see that you did it on your own, one hundred percent.”
I swallow hard. “You too?”
Henry nods. “I am sorry, sweet girl. I have to leave you here alone to be a normal college student.”
“But I’m not normal. The media wants to destroy me, Nance, and Leo—you can’t leave.”
“I don’t have a choice. It has been made perfectly clear that my employment is only guaranteed if I obey.”
“HE CAN’T HAVE YOU TOO! HE HAS GEOFF AND THE WHOLE WORLD, YOU ARE MINE!”
He grips my hands in his. Both of us are shaking. “I am so sorry. I will be waiting for you in LA. I will watch from the sidelines as you win this thing and show everyone what you are made of.” He leans forward, hugging me awkwardly and then climbs back out. He drives to the school, opens my door, and hands me a Visa. “This is all that he is going to give you for the next five months. Once the show is finished, it will be cut off.”
To a normal girl this would be the greatest gift ever, a Visa for five months of spending. To me this is the worst feeling in the world. It’s my last Visa.
Henry hugs me and nods. “Go and get some real-life perspective and win the show. I’ve asked around and apparently the bars in Boston are loaded with talent. Thin Ice was found here in a bar. Lochlan Barlow, the lead singer, was on a reality show like The Next Mogul and he signed a music deal here in Boston. You can do this.”
I shake my head, realizing for the first time I cannot do it. “I have no one.”
He lifts my chin. “I’ve been with you since you were one year old. In my twenty-one years I have not seen you with a single person I would say is a worthwhile friend. Trust me, you are better off.” He winks. “Apart from that young man who fled the scene with you—James something or other. Nice boy. You should see if he can help.” He places a baseball cap on my head before he turns, leaving me there and walks to the driver door. He gets in and leaves me standing in the parking lot completely lost and confused.
I feel like the world has crashed down upon me. I don't think anyone has ever had a week this epically bad—ever. If I was just a little more unstable I might laugh, but I have a clear sense of exactly what has happened and how. I just don't see the why. Why would Nance and Leo screw me over so badly? Because I fled?
I can’t believe the three men in my life—the only three people I count on, would abandon me the same day. I look up at the sky and wonder if my mom is watching. If she is ashamed, as ashamed as my dad is? It hurts more to imagine that because from there she can see it all. She knows every secret, not just the ones I’ve been caught for.
I ponder it and walk away from the path to my dorm in Hurlbut. It has the worst name but it had the best potential for a renovation. Most of the dorms are livable for regular students, but mine was renovated for me specifically after my dad donated a huge amount of money toward improvements in all the dorms.
A knotty lump sits in my throat as each of the wonderful things my father has done for me slip past in a movie montage-styled flashback. It dawns on me I have never even thanked him once.