Page 8 of Shattered

Sam cringed. No one outside of Kristin really knew about the Giving Hearts Foundation, but Stacy and Sam had pretty much circled through the same classes since fall of freshman year. They had formed a study group with a few others and on one drunken night last fall when they’d been trying to liven up the periodic table, Sam’s tongue had become a little too loose and she’d explained that she had been awarded a scholarship that paid for school. As soon as the phrase had left her lips, she’d promptly sobered up and realized one too many shots too late that alcohol and keeping secrets didn’t really mix very well. She’d never spoken another word about it, to avoid Stacy digging too deeply into her past, and let Stacy go on thinking she didn’t have to pay a dime for anything. Which was, sadly, not the case.

“I know. But I have to keep my grades up in order to keep it. If I lose it and don’t have enough saved up, then I will have to drop out. I can’t afford this place on my own.”

“Well, promise me you will at least relax a little this weekend. Even if it’s just for a few hours. You are like the Energizer Bunny. You never stop, but one of these days you are going to completely burn out.”

Sam laughed and rolled her eyes at Stacy just as the instructor walked in.

It was true, though. Sam never stopped. She probably should take more breaks, but she had a plan, and there was nothing that could cause her to deviate from it. If she lost this money, she was screwed. There was no way in hell she would be able to afford tuition on her own. And there were so many stipulations to maintaining the funding that literally any wrong move could cause it to be snatched away without a second thought.

She’d been eight when she and Christian had found out about the Giving Hearts Foundation. Basically, a bunch of rich wives got together and funded scholarships for underprivileged youth. Applicants had to jump through so many hoops to get it, though, that it seemed almost unattainable. Not only did the contenders

need an almost perfect GPA, but also high SAT scores, and no bad marks of any kind on their record in order to even be considered. Oh, and, of course, a sob story for the ages.

Sam and Christian only knew of a couple people who had applied over the years, but one thing or another caused them not to be able to keep up with the requirements. Even Christian had been overlooked, which was more than odd, since he’d had better scores than Sam on almost everything. She was the lucky one. She’d been awarded the largest scholarship that had ever been given out by the foundation.

But with a check with that many zeros on it, she’d known there would be conditions that even the best would have a hard time achieving. The foundation’s board checked up on her and the few other recipients across the state every semester to make sure they were doing well and cranking out the high scores.

She was sure it looked good on whatever pamphlet or flier they used to garner theoohsandaahsthat their support had helped the less fortunate. She had only met with the new round of board members a couple of times since they’d taken over in August, both times at events designed to show off all the good work they were doing. Thankfully, while most of the new members seemed to fit the mold of past members, the new head of the board had been kind to Sam both times they’d met so far.

The luncheons she attended were a stipulation of the funds. Make a speech every couple months about how grateful you are, how much the money has helped you, garner some newsworthy achievements so the members could be fawned over for their kind hearts, and then you get to keep your funding.

She had skipped one luncheon freshman year because she’d been swamped with meetings and class and work, but that hadn’t gone over well, and it had taken a lot of tears and even downright begging in order for the money not to be snatched away from her.

She hated those luncheons with every fiber of her being. She never wanted to go to them. She couldn’t stomach it. She couldn’t sit at a table for lunch with those men and women while they fawned over her like she was some enigma they couldn’t figure out.

The girl with no home. No parents. No family. No money.

It was too much pity.

Most meetings left her breaking down in the back of an Uber before she’d even made it out of the drive. Even though he was sour about never getting the money, Christian had come as her date to all of the functions. He was the only one who had always been able to hold her together in those moments.

*******

“Miss Williams, can I see you for a moment?” Stephen, their graduate instructor, asked as they all headed out the door.

“Yes?” Sam said as he handed her a paper that had her heart racing and her jaw dropping.

“We aren’t giving these back until Wednesday as there are a few more to grade, but I wanted you to see.” He paused for a moment, gauging her reaction. “What happened? You are the best student I’ve had since I started this lab. This isn’t your typical work.”

She could hear him speaking, but the sound of her heartbeat filling her ears took over, masking anything else that tried to enter.

“Now, this won’t really affect your grade in the grand scheme of things, but I don’t want this to become a habit.” Sam handed the paper back without a word, not sure what there was to say. She’d never failed an assignment before. She’d never even made a C, and rarely, if ever, had made a B on anything.

Her mouth opened in an attempt to verbalize an excuse, but no response came, and she silently walked out of the room, hot tears running down her face, before the panic attack took over.

Thankfully the bathroom was empty, and she could lock the door, spending a few minutes trying to calm herself down.

Don’t panic.

It’s one grade.

They can’t pull the scholarship for one bad grade.

She repeated this mantra in her head for the rest of the day which, if she was being honest, went by in a blur. Kristin knew her all too well and hadn’t for a second bought her excuse of being tired, so Sam knew she was going to have to explain later when she got home from her shift.

When she walked into Topline that afternoon, she couldn't focus on anything. She was too consumed by how she was going to correct this. She was supposed to inform the board at the Giving Hearts Foundation if she made anything less than a B on an assignment. She was going to have to tell them. Which also meant she would now be planted firmly on their radar.

“Move.”

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