The Education of Hailey Kendrick - Eileen Cook [55]
“Ah, the Mandy Gallaway scandal.”
“You know about it?”
“Are you kidding? The whole staff was pulled into a meeting where we got our asses handed to us. We were all warned that if the administration finds out anyone is selling pictures of the golden children, there will be hell to pay. I’d be surprised if it was anyone on staff after that. I can’t think anyone would risk their job over you.” Drew pulled out the rag to wipe down the desks. “Is the story a problem? I would think people here would be used to that kind of thing.”
“People like Mandy might be used to it, but I prefer to keep my private life private. Half the stuff in that story isn’t true anyway.”
“Do you really have a bunch of homework you have to do tonight?”
“Yes. I’m sure it seems like all we ‘golden children’ need to do is manage our media events and look good, but some of us have academic goals too.”
“I never doubted you were smart.” Drew looked over. “Crazy as all get out, but smart.”
I tossed a roll of paper towels at his head, and he ducked.
“Careful. Those are the double thickness towels. Nothing but the best. You could make a baby diaper out of those. You waste supplies, and they take it out of your check.”
“Seriously?”
“You think they don’t watch our Windex usage? You better believe it. Winston is always convinced people are stealing. He caught a secretary a few years ago taking home a pack of Post-it notes, and you would have thought she was embezzling gold bars instead of some office supplies.”
“What were you thinking of doing later?” I asked.
“I thought you had all that homework, not to mention those academic goals.”
“I’m not saying I want to go. I’m just interested to know what you’re doing. That’s what friends do, take an interest.”
“What if I won’t tell you? Then you’ll have to come to find out. It’s a surprise.”
“I don’t like surprises.”
“You’re missing out. Surprises are what make life interesting.”
“Isn’t that supposed to be a Chinese curse, that you live in interesting times?”
“I’d take interesting over dull any day.”
“So are you going to tell me what you’ve got planned?”
“Nope. Either you come or you don’t. Your choice.”
I bustled around emptying the trash cans as if I were too busy to even consider his plan. Without even glancing over at him, I knew he would be smiling. Smirking, most likely. He was a big smirker. Sneaking off campus was a bad idea. I might have been able to convince Winston once that I was an emotional wreck, but if I got caught again, he wouldn’t go so easy on me.
I sprayed the windows with Windex, perhaps a bit less than I might have used in the past, now that I knew there was a cleaning supply Nazi keeping track. I wiped the glass, watching groups of students walking across the quad. I spotted Tristan walking with Kelsie. I raised my arm to wave and catch their attention. Kelsie jabbed Tristan and he pushed her back, and she fell onto her butt on the ice. She threw her head back, and I could see she was laughing. Tristan tried to pull her up, but she used her weight to cause him to fall into the snowbank. I stood frozen, watching them. Tristan got up and tried again to help Kelsie. They were both laughing now. He finally settled for picking Kelsie up like a bag of laundry and throwing her over his shoulder to carry her off. I stepped back slightly so that if they looked at the window they wouldn’t see me.
Drew was standing right behind me. He looked past me out the window. “That’s Tristan, isn’t it?”
I nodded, watching as he and Kelsie headed back toward the dorms.
“Who’s with him?” Drew asked.
“Her name’s Kelsie. She’s my best friend.” I pinned Drew in place with my expression, stopping him before he could say anything. “The two of them are friends too. They’re always joking around like that. Tristan says Kelsie’s the annoying younger sister that he never wanted.”
“Fair enough.” Drew turned away to go back to the mopping.
I kept an eye out the window, waiting to see if I would spot them again. “I’ll go with you after work,” I said