Page 108 of Tis the Season to be Bullied

Those guys won’t know where to find us.

We’ll be safe.

And they’ll be locked up before the weekend is over.

I manage a smile. “It can wait.”

“Really? You’re sure?” Dad’s frown intensifies. “Nim, I know this all might feel a bit, odd, but it’s important that you know where you came from.”

They told me on the way over here that I’d been born in Cinderhart. They moved before I was a year old, so I don’t consider this my hometown. But it sounds like people around here are really attached, like itmeanssomething to live here. But aren’t rich people always crazy obsessed about lineage and stuff?

“I’m good. Just a little tired after that car ride.” I pat Dad’s shoulder. “You go and enjoy your evening. Just make sure you don’t drink and drive.”

Dad holds up his beer. “This is my last one.” He gives me another lopsided smile. “Think they’d let me have any fun tonight? I’m going to be carrying both of them back to the car, I tell you now.”

I watch him go upstairs and sit back down on the stool.

I’m a fucking coward, but at least I’m honest about it.

Chapter 5

Nim

I’m left alone for about fifteen minutes before my father reappears dressed in a tuxedo, his brown hair slicked back and a different cologne to what he normally wears hitting my nose when he comes to stand beside me in the kitchen.

I haven’t moved from my stool. Somehow, if I stay just like this, I can pretend I’m just here on holiday with my parents. That I stayed with them in the car, and that nothing else happened.

“Are we weirding you out?” Dad asks, going to the fridge and getting himself another beer. I crook an eyebrow at him, but he waves away my concern with a flip of his hand. “I’m not driving there, just back. And there are a lot of coffees lined up for me tonight, trust me.”

“Why are you meeting with the Harts tomorrow?” I ask him.

Dad looks away for a moment as he cracks open his beer, and then turns back to me with a strangely frozen smile on his face. “Your mom and I should have discussed with you a little sooner, but…We were kind of hoping you might be open to enrolling in Cinderhart Academy.”

I blink at him, and then shake my head. “What?”

“Nim, honey, you have no idea how exclusive this university is. Just the fact that we could get you in is…it’s an amazing opportunity.” He comes closer, taking another swig of his beer. “Will you at least keep an open mind about it?”

“But, I don’t want to come here,” I tell him, waving a hand. “I don’t know anyone here.”

“Nothing’s more important than a good education, Nim,” he says, frowning. “And you won’t be alone. You’ll be surrounded by kids your own age.”

I slip off the stool, backing up. “Are you saying we’re going to move here?”

“Oh no, not at all.” Dad shakes his head, grimacing before taking another quick swig of his beer. “No, that’s not what I’m saying, honey. The Academy has full room and board for its students. And the grounds…the activities…Nim, it’s better than anything you can imagine.”

I cross my arms over my chest, anger fizzling deep inside me. “Better than Harvard?”

My dad frowns, still smiling, like he’s caught between two extremes. “Nim…Harvard was never on the table.”

Gees, that was a low blow, Dad.

I get goodish grades, but I know I’m no Einstein. My high school teachers were always telling me to apply myself...which was their way of saying I wasn’t trying hard enough.

Except I alreadywas.

“Nim, I’m not being mean. You understand me, right? Most of the colleges you applied to already rejected?—”

Dad doesn’t finish his sentence, because Mom interrupts us both when she calls out from the grand staircase. “Oscar, sweetheart, can I get a hand?”

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