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“Avery?” The concern in Tyler’s voice is clear. “Talk to me.”

My heart pounds as I turn to face him. His eyes soften as soon as he spots my face and he takes a tentative step toward me. I open my mouth to speak, but no words will come to me. I’m too overwhelmed, and for the first time in my life I can’t think of one thing to say.

He lifts his hand slowly as if to ask permission to touch my face. When I don’t move away, he gently caresses my face with the tips of his fingers. “Fuck those rich, uppity assholes. Don’t let them get to you. From what I’ve seen, you’re too good for them.”

I shake my head and sniff. “No I’m not. They’re right. I don’t belong—not anymore.” With that admission I cry harder. “I’ve got to go.”

I turn and run again—away from Tyler. Away from everything that is my life. It’s time for me to start living in my new reality, and letting go of a life that no longer belongs to me.

AVERY

I don’t want to be packing right now, but I don’t really have a choice in the matter. I haven’t been to any classes since the party two weeks ago and I’m too far behind now to even attempt to go back and finish spring semester. I withdrew from all my classes this morning and came to terms that moving out of the city to start a new life with my dad is the best thing for me right now. Since Dad filed bankruptcy, it’s not the best time for me to be getting mixed up in loans that I know my family has no way of repaying.

Dad and I are both completely broke. All we have left is the money my granny has floated us, along with the one car we are allowed to keep.

The entire student body now knows that I’m the daughter of the CFO caught in a recent embezzlement scandal. Charity’s been busy leading the charge to ruin my reputation with anyone who would listen—even my cousin, who also attends Ohio State, has heard the story. I’m sure by now all the people I know at school have had a good laugh at my expense.

Chance poked fun at me yesterday on social media, so I made the decision to delete all my accounts just so I won’t have to see the evidence of being the laughingstock of all my so-called friends firsthand.

I would like to say that we’re moving somewhere uberglamorous and exotic, so that we can put all this behind us and start a new life, but that’s not the case. Where we’re going is a total hole-in-the-wall town. I haven’t been there in years. I’m moving to Wellston, Ohio. Jeez, just thinking of the name puts me to sleep. Why Wellston? Well, that’s easy. That’s where Granny lives, plus we have nowhere else to go. I’m so not looking forward to living with her. She’s great and I love her dearly, but she smokes like a freakin’ freight train, she cusses like a sailor, and I know she’s going to be hell on wheels to live with. She’s not the little-old-lady-that-bakes-cookies type, that’s for sure, but she’s kind enough to allow her soon-to-be-homeless son and granddaughter to move in with her. I have to learn to make the best of the situation because I honestly don’t have any other options right now.

Dad loads the last of our things in the only car the court let us keep. Our Mercedes SUV is top-of-the-line. I pleaded with him to trade it in for something a little less flashy because it’s going to stick out like a sore thumb where we are going, but Dad didn’t want to walk into a car dealership and risk the embarrassment of being turned down due to his current credit predicament. We’re lucky to have a car at all right now. Wellston isn’t really known to be a wealthy area by any means. Matter of fact, it’s a part of what’s referred to as Appalachia—one of the poorest regions of the United States.

I know I’m going to hate it there. I’m already desperate to find a way back to Columbus as soon as I can. I even stooped as low as making plans with my cousin Stacy, whom I barely speak to. The plan is that I come back to Columbus and live with her and my aunt Donna, my mother’s sister, once Dad gets back on his feet and I find a way to pay for my tuition. I want to finish my degree even though I’m still not sure what I want to do with my life. College seems like the only option for a decent future. I’ll find a way to support myself, but I’ve always been told I need a college degree for that.

I don’t like the idea of leaving Dad in his current state. He’s been really depressed since everything’s gone down and is overly emotional. I let out a big sigh as I stand there looking at my room for the last time. This is totally heartbreaking. I’ve lost everything—my house, the people I used to think were my friends, and even my mom because of all this. She can’t take being poor. At least that’s what she told us when she left two months ago after Dad broke the news about what was happening to him at his job. Even though Dad explained that he wasn’t responsible for taking all the money that the investigators claimed was missing, he did confess to taking a little extra money off the top of his company’s profits. Dad was the CFO, so he controlle

d the money, and when the VP of the company discovered what Dad had done, he took millions of dollars from the company and set it up so that my dad would take the fall for all the missing money. Once my dad’s lawyers dug into everything, they were able to provide the court with a paper trail leading back to the VP, which is how my father escaped without any jail time.

Even with that, the damage to his career was done. He says no other company will even consider hiring him after everything that’s happened.

My mother couldn’t stomach the fact that she was married to a broke criminal, so she left, and hasn’t contacted either me or Dad since.

Mom is now dating her plastic surgeon, according to her social media page.

Money is a crazy thing. When you have it, people stick to you like glue. When you hit rock bottom, people scamper away and never look back.

“You ready, kiddo?” Dad asks. “We have a long drive ahead of us.”

“Yeah, I’m ready. I was just, you know . . .” I mumble.

“I know,” he says softly, while giving my shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “I am so sorry about all of this, Avery.”

I pat his hand that’s resting on my shoulder. “I know, Dad. You don’t have to keep apologizing to me.”

“But I do. I feel like I’ve ruined your life.”

“It’s going to be okay, Dad. Me and you . . . we’re a team.”

He gives me a small smile. “I’m so lucky to be your dad. Thank you for not giving up on me.”

I turn and wrap my arms around him. “I’ll never give up.”

It’s taken a couple months for me to forgive him for everything, and a small part of me hoped that Mom would come around like I did, but I’m not holding my breath for that to happen anymore.

I put a lot of the blame for what’s happening to our family on her. If she wasn’t so greedy and hooked on impressing everyone, Dad probably wouldn’t have felt compelled to take money that wasn’t his to take in order to support Mom’s lavish lifestyle.

Dad pulls back and frowns. “We should get going if we want to make it to Granny’s before dark.”

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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