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I saw it coming from a mile away. A little bit of empathy goes far, sometimes. This was far from the first time I saw our father crying.
"I'm broke," he sobbed. "I'm broke, I have less than nothing, I'm in crippling debt, even."
It was the first time he had done it in front of all three of us, and looking how Karen reacted, she was very surprised. Olivia was too, but she always tried to cover it up with some bitchy exterior. I knew my sisters all too well, and sometimes better than they did.
This suit came in and started crushing on Karen. She didn't know a thing to do about it, and was probably flipping out. Usually, I would console her.
Nothing changed what father said however. It was true – and I couldn't help my sisters until I helped myself.
After the family meeting broke up, I headed back up the stairs. I was worried as the rest of them. Father was paying for my tuition at the best school in the state, Ivy League level. It was one of the ways I knew something was askew with his finances – he didn't pay in full, instead opting to pay by semester.
This semester was drawing to
a close, and the next one was coming. I had gotten a mail or two about sending in payment for the next, and father was evasive when I did ask.
I was supposed to be the smart one. The one that would be the professor, and now, I wasn't even sure that I could stay in college instead of standing in a checkout line ringing up some guy's groceries.
Opening the door to my room, I already had my friend in there lounging on my bed, her eyes barely breaking from her phone to acknowledge me. She had kindly waited here when my father called for the family meeting.
"So who died?" she said.
"You're as bad as my sister sometimes," I replied, taking a seat at my desk.
"You do have that dour doom and gloom look on your face. I doubt your dad was telling you about the new puppy he got."
"Bea, quit it. Yeah, it's bad."
"How bad?"
"I'm going to have to drop out of school because I can't pay for it bad."
She put down her phone and glared at me. "How? Isn't your family stupidly rich?"
"Was. My father just broke into tears like it was the worst thing to ever happen. Basically told us we're losing this mansion soon and because he delayed so long, we literally have no savings."
"So you're completely broke?"
"Yeah. Broke enough that I have to go get a real job on top of dropping out of school."
Bea sighed. "You're young and pretty, Christine. You don't have to worry about that if you do the smart thing – and you're also smart, so you're going to do the smart thing."
"What's the smart thing?"
"You're not getting kicked out from the university immediately for being poor. There's time. There's a big frat party tonight. You should go there and flaunt your stuff, you know."
I raised my eyebrow at her. "What are you implying, Bea?"
"Go get yourself a sugar daddy."
"You can't be serious."
"Completely," she said, sliding off my bed. "A girl like you can have any man. To come to a school like this you have to be loaded. Even a scholarship usually isn't enough. A lot of these guys already have millions themselves and would buy you the rest of your education in a second if it meant getting you to spread your legs."
I turned away. I didn't want Bea to see me blushing.
"Oh wait, I forgot, you're Christine. You want to wait for true love, like it's going to be in a movie where you fall in love instantly and have a big beautiful wedding night."
"It's not like that. I just," I stammered, trying to think of a good excuse.
