Four
1166 Words
“I’m sorry, I can’t do much on my end. You’re already late on the tuition payments. Your accommodation fees will have to be paid by the end of the week or we’ll have no choice but to evict you from the premises,” the woman on the other end of the line said.
The lump in my throat grew. “Yeah, I understand. It’s just, things are a little tight right now. Give me two weeks. I swear I’ll have the money,” I said with a break in my voice.
“I’m sorry, I can’t do much on my end. Believe me, I understand how tough things can get but I’ve done all I can do for you. Maybe you should think about transferring to somewhere more affordable next semester.”
“Right,” I said. “Thanks for everything.”
I cut the call and rubbed at my eyes. My mother was already doing the best she could trying to pay for my tuition. I made a little money on the side as a tutor but most of the money from that went into paying for the fees my mother couldn’t cover. Why did everything in life have to be such a struggle? This was only my first year at Eden U and it was already proving to be too expensive.
I should have gone to a more affordable community college but my mother had insisted that she wanted the best for me. I shouldn’t have let her convince me to come here. Now I was going to be homeless if I couldn’t come up with the thousands required to keep my dorm room.
Would I have to move back to my mother’s house? It would be a three-hour commute every day, especially since I would have to take public transportation. And I would have to spend so much on transportation costs too.
I couldn’t ask Christine for help because she had already bailed me out once before. I walked with unseeing eyes and sat on a bench on a lawn. A group of male students were using the lawn to play with a ball. They were laughing and tackling each other to the ground.
I wish I could be like them. I wish I was allowed to just let loose and enjoy my college experience without having to worry about money and bills.
Christine texted me, asking where I was. I told her I was on my way and got up from the bench. My eyes were fixed on my phone when I felt a blow to my head. I fell to the ground in a pained heap, my phone cluttering to the ground. I rubbed at my forehead and looked around. A rugby ball lay on the ground next to me, no doubt the culprit for the pain. All the guys from earlier were gaping at me. One of them approached me, maybe to apologise or maybe to laugh in my face as he picked the ball, I don’t know. I grabbed my phone and hightailed it out of there before I could find out.
I couldn’t believe how badly my day was going. Was this real life? When would I get a break? I shook my head and tried not to cry.
…
Christine rubbed my shoulders in comfort. “Hey, come on. It’s okay.”
“It is not okay.”
“Maybe you can move back home and come from there when you have class.”
I shook my head before she even finished talking. “That would be a three-and-a-half-hour commute every day and it would still be too expensive. My life is over.”
“Your life is not over. I’m here for you. You can come and live with me, it’s no problem.”
“But… what about Ben? Wouldn’t he mind? Isn’t that like his place?”
Christine and Ben had kept up a friends-with-benefits relationship they both claimed wasn’t serious for ages. It wasn’t until a month ago that they’d decided to make it official. Not wanting to waste time, they moved in together. I always knew they were destined for each other and wondered why they had spent so much time pretending it was only casual.
“Ben is a sweetheart. He knows how important you are to me. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind. You can stay with me until you get back on your feet. f**k this school and their dorms, right?”
I could have cried with relief. Wait, I was crying with relief. “It’s just that everything is going wrong. First with that party, then everything with Matt, the stepbrother thing and now this.”
Christine froze. “Wait, what? Stepbrother thing? What the hell are you talking about?”
Oh, that was right. I had been so distraught when I came back from the disastrous lunch that I hadn’t told her what happened during lunch with my mother.
With a teary voice, I relayed what happened the other day. My voice grew increasingly angry as I recounted Weston’s rude behaviour and words.
“This has to be a joke, right?” Christine asked with a shell-shocked look on her face.
I shook my head, pleased that I wasn’t the only one who saw how ridiculous the entire thing was. “That’s exactly what I thought.”
“Weston Montgomery is your stepbrother? Do you know how rich his family is?”
“Rich enough that he called my mother a gold digger,” I grumbled.
Christine took a step back and levelled me with a mischievous grin. “Maybe this is the solution to all your financial worries, Isa.”
I raised my brows at her. “Are you being serious right now?”
“Listen, listen. If he’s going to call you gold diggers anyway, why not live up to his opinion? A Montgomery is going to be your Stepdad, you’re going to be loaded.”
“I don’t think that’s how it works.” I rolled my eyes and sighed. While it was true that the Montgomerys were known for having more money than God, I knew my mother and knew she wasn’t the type to take advantage of that. My mother didn’t care about material wealth and most likely only married Arthur because he made her giggle. I still shivered at the memory of her giggling like a schoolgirl with a crush.
My phone vibrated with an incoming text. I read the message and then read it again to make sure I read that right. My brows furrowed.
“What?” Christine said, noticing my change in mood.
“My mother just texted. She and Arthur have decided to have a redo of our lunch from the other day. At his house this time.”
“Okay. And? Why would that have you looking like you’re going to a funeral?”
“Weston is going to be the one to pick me up.”
- Writer
