Free For Love or Money by Tara Brown Page A

bringing me home tonight. He wants
you to do this all on your own. He doesn’t want you to have any help. He wants
the world to see that you did it on your own, one hundred percent.”
    I
swallow hard. “You too?”
    Henry
nods. “I am sorry, sweet girl. I have to leave you here alone to be a normal
college student.”
    “But
I’m not normal. The media wants to destroy me, Nance, and Leo—you can’t
leave.”
    “I
don’t have a choice. It has been made perfectly clear that my employment is
only guaranteed if I obey.”
    “HE
CAN’T HAVE YOU TOO! HE HAS GEOFF AND THE WHOLE WORLD, YOU ARE MINE!”
    He
grips my hands in his. Both of us are shaking. “I am so sorry. I will be
waiting for you in LA. I will watch from the sidelines as you win this thing
and show everyone what you are made of.” He leans forward, hugging me awkwardly
and then climbs back out. He drives to the school, opens my door, and hands me
a Visa. “This is all that he is going to give you for the next five months.
Once the show is finished, it will be cut off.”
    To
a normal girl this would be the greatest gift ever, a Visa for five months of spending.
To me this is the worst feeling in the world. It’s my last Visa.
    Henry
hugs me and nods. “Go and get some real-life perspective and win the show. I’ve
asked around and apparently the bars in Boston are loaded with talent. Thin Ice
was found here in a bar. Lochlan Barlow, the lead singer, was on a reality show
like The Next Mogul and he signed a music deal here in Boston. You can do
this.”
    I
shake my head, realizing for the first time I cannot do it. “I have no one.”
    He
lifts my chin. “I’ve been with you since you were one year old. In my
twenty-one years I have not seen you with a single person I would say is a
worthwhile friend. Trust me, you are better off.” He winks. “Apart from that
young man who fled the scene with you—James something or other. Nice boy.
You should see if he can help.” He places a baseball cap on my head before he
turns, leaving me there and walks to the driver door. He gets in and leaves me
standing in the parking lot completely lost and confused.
    I
feel like the world has crashed down upon me. I don't think anyone has ever had
a week this epically bad—ever. If I was just a little more unstable I
might laugh, but I have a clear sense of exactly what has happened and how. I
just don't see the why. Why would Nance and Leo screw me over so badly? Because
I fled?
    I
can’t believe the three men in my life—the only three people I count on,
would abandon me the same day. I look up at the sky and wonder if my mom is
watching. If she is ashamed, as ashamed as my dad is? It hurts more to imagine
that because from there she can see it all. She knows every secret, not just
the ones I’ve been caught for.
    I
ponder it and walk away from the path to my dorm in Hurlbut. It has the worst
name but it had the best potential for a renovation. Most of the dorms are
livable for regular students, but mine was renovated for me specifically after
my dad donated a huge amount of money toward improvements in all the dorms.
    A
knotty lump sits in my throat as each of the wonderful things my father has
done for me slip past in a movie montage-styled flashback. It dawns on me I
have never even thanked him once. It always seemed like the thing he was
supposed to do, because he was my dad. I don’t know how I feel now but
ungrateful is one of the words I am blocking my brain from mentioning.
    I
don't want to be the bad guy in the story. I don't even see how it’s possible,
but I have a horrible feeling I am. I have always been a let down, even as a
little kid.
    My
dad was so angry. I have never seen him that way, not even in Germany.
    A
girl gives me a narrow gaze, as she passes me. One of the annoying law
students, no doubt. They’re all pompous pains in the ass. Most of them are more
conceited than the real celebrities I have spent my childhood with. They make
most