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“Well, if you don’t practice, the grade won’t go up,” her mom continued. “You need perfect scores to get into an Ivy!”
“No, Mom, you’re not listening,” Raina interrupted, her voice rising. “I don’t want to study right now. I don’t want to take practice tests. I want to enjoy my night at home with my family, not spend it stuck in my room doing schoolwork.”
Her mom laughed. “Don’t be ridiculous, Raina. You’re not doing schoolwork, you’re preparing for your future. Did you know Lauren’s oldest graduated from UPenn’s medical program? He’s going to be a surgeon. He’ll make a good husband for some lucky girl. And her next son is studying to be a lawyer, and her youngest is about to start college at Columbia.”
Raina choked out a noise somewhere between a laugh and a sob, all the reasons she’d dreaded coming home rising to the forefront of her mind. This was part of the reason she’d been so miserable last year, the reason she’d been so eager to go to Trinity. There might not be a Jewish community, but at least there was no overbearing mother. She’d been excited to come home and see her family, but now, all Raina wanted was to be back at school.
“I can’t stay here.”
“Oh Raina, you’re overreacting!” her mother snapped. “Let’s go upstairs and we can look at the college options I’ve been exploring. Are you sure you’ve completely discounted Stern? Yeshiva University is nearby, and all the nice Orthodox boys go there.”
Raina ignored her mom, grasping around on the marble counter until her fingers touched the cool plastic of her phone case. Blindly unlocking the phone, Raina went straight for the one app she knew would save her.
Jesse picked up the call within seconds. “Yes?”
“I need you to come get me.”
ChapterTwelve
It was an awkward half hour as Raina waited for Jesse to arrive. Her mom tried to talk to her a few times, but Raina barricaded herself with her dad in his study. Tzipora brought her bag down, upset that Raina was leaving but very understanding, and as soon as she heard the roar of a car, Raina hurried out the back door, avoiding any further interaction with her mom.
“Are you okay?” Jesse asked once they pulled out of the driveaway, Raina’s bag tossed in the back seat and Raina herself in the passenger seat. He shifted gears to turn around, leaning back and peering over Raina’s shoulder.
Raina turned to stare out the window, watching as her house faded. “Sure.”
They didn’t talk much. Jesse turned on the radio, country music playing softly until they reached Nicole’s house. Well, house didn’t even begin to describe the sprawling estate in front of her. Even though it was dark outside, Raina could still make out marble columns, a porch bigger than Raina’s bedroom, and…was that a turret?
“Do you really want to sit in the car all night?” Nicole called from the doorway.
Managing a smile, Raina climbed out and grabbed her bag. The house was gorgeous up close and Raina spent a minute admiring the pearl trim on the porch before a cough from Nicole had her moving inside.
“I’m going to steal Jesse for a minute,” Nicole informed her, grabbing the boy by his arm and dragging him out of sight.
And that was how Raina discovered it was incredibly awkward to be standing alone in the middle of your frenemy’s (is that what she could call Nicole?) massive foyer, shifting from one foot to the other and waiting for someone to return. Jesse and Nicole never made an appearance, but after a few minutes of examining her reflection in a ridiculously large gold plated mirror, a slender, blonde woman appeared in the foyer.
“Darling!” the woman exclaimed. Despite the obviously dyed hair and bright expression, the woman’s resemblance to Nicole was uncanny. Gracie had mentioned Nicole’s mother before; she was an award-winning movie star best known for crime films. “Are you one of Nicole’s little friends?”
“Uh, yes, I’m Raina.”
“So lovely to meet you,” the actress said with a winning smile. It was the type of smile that made you stop and stare and wonder where you’d seen her before, the complete opposite of Nicole’s usual stony expression. Even this woman’s clothes screamedmovie star, her sleek white jumpsuit giving off the same expensive vibes as the elegant house. “Call me Melinda. And where is my daughter?”
“I think Jesse had to speak with her.” Raina tapped her foot against the floor nervously before stopping when Melinda pointedly glanced down. Raina didn’t want her flats to scuff the gleaming floor. “They went through one of the doors.”
Melinda sighed dramatically and waved an arm around the hall. “That daughter of mine, always doing what she wants! I thought she knew better than to leave a guest waiting. I’ll show you to one of the guest rooms then. Come, it’s up the main staircase.”
Melinda kept up a steady stream of chatter as they passed by various doors, paintings, and assorted artifacts on miniature tables. “That vase was a gift from my great-aunt after my first movie,Holiday in Haiti. Ooh! That painting over there is me, from my latest movieTerror in Thailand. That door is my husband’s study; we don’t go in there. He’s very busy, spends most of his time working on his latest project. He’s tearing down a chain of hotels in order to build a casino. Casinos areinright now, you know?”
Raina most certainly did not know, but she nodded anyway. “Is this my room?” she asked when Melinda stopped in front of an ornate cream-colored door.
“Yes, yes, this is one of our guest rooms,” Melinda said airily. “We have twelve, you know, for when all of my husband’s family comes to visit. It’s so nice when Nicole is able to to hang out with other kids her age.”
“Thank you?” Raina offered. “I think I’ll go freshen up now.”
“Yes, yes, of course. I’ll send Nicole up when I see her. That girl has learned nothing about entertaining guests!”
Raina smiled politely before stepping into her room. It was almost double the size of her dorm room with a large bed smack in the middle that Raina was extremely tempted to use as a trampoline. She took off her flats and left them by the door, her feet sinking into plush carpet. The walls and the blankets were a pretty pale yellow, and when Raina checked out the bathroom, her eyes were drawn to the yellow and white tiled walls.
“Cohen!” Raina stepped back into the bedroom to see Nicole standing by the bed, casting a disdainful look around the room. “Sometimes I wonder what my mother was thinking when she designed this house.”
