Free Prep School Experiment by Emily Evans Page A

fingers and considered all the options. Igloo alone in Alaska or New York with his new grandparents? Kaitlin was there. But, why should she get to stop him from ditching this rat cage? “I’ll come to Manhattan.”
     

 
     
     
     

PART THREE – New York
     

 

Chapter Ten
     
    October
    The further Rhys got from Alaska, the more confusing he found everything. Even if his brain had been working right, he’d have found Manhattan baffling. He needed a school uniform. The uniforms Grandmother ordered arrived via a tailor. The man took his measurements and marked everything so his clothes were cut to fit: navy jacket, khaki pants, white shirt, green-and-navy striped tie.
    The styles and the materials felt foreign. The clothes didn’t stop there. The tailor fitted him for a tuxedo, day suits, evening suits, casual clothes, boat clothes. He didn’t know half the references Grandmother threw at him. His feet weren’t just measured. He stood in gel blocks so molds could be taken. Everything was custom made and placed in his cedar-lined closet.
    He had a floor to himself, like Christian’s suite, but literally a whole floor within the multi-storied house. The Wentworths had money, but the Brentwoods had old money. First-people-off-the-boat money. Before-New-York-was-New-York money.
    His room held a wall of books and a wall of electronics. Everything had been decorated in black and white. His favorite spot to stand was in front of a wall of windows overlooking Central Park. The leaves were orange and red, and the grass was green. He hadn’t expected New York to be so colorful. Trallwyn, Texas stayed mostly green all year around. This place had autumn.
    His mind spun while his grandparents took care of everything. The only time his brain halfway calmed was when they told him stories of the past, of his family and how they came to this country. Their stories grounded him in a way he knew any other teenager would hate. But for someone with no history, gaining hundreds of years of it was wonderful.
    Tomorrow school started, and he hoped he didn’t embarrass his grandparents. He hoped his mind worked, and he hoped he’d see Kaitlin. He wanted to see the look on her face when she realized that What happened in Alaska had followed her to New York. There was one hurdle to face first. Tonight, his grandparents were going to tell the librarian and the senator that Rhys was here, in Manhattan.
     
    ***
     
    If Norman Rockwell had painted this dinner, he’d have captured an incredibly modern image. The computer screen at the end of the table showed Rhys’ whole family. Live pictures of the librarian, the senator and Christian were spaced across the top of the screen. His New York grandparents were on the next row. The bottom slot belonged to the one person he hadn’t met: the senator’s father from West Texas.
    The only member of the family not displayed on the screen was Rhys himself. His camera was off.
    Grandfather Brentwood flattened his palms on the table. “I called this family meeting to apprise you of a new development.”
    “Everything all right?” the senator asked.
    “Let the man talk,” the senator’s dad said with a pure West Texas accent. “If he’s going to say something that makes me lose a tooth, I want to hear it before my steak gets here.”
    Rhys had expected the senator’s dad to be polished, someone who looked like the CEO of Wentworth labs. Instead, he got an old coot, which was kind of cool.
    The librarian held tongs over a salad bowl, hooked a golden section of mango and dangled it at the camera. “I thought you were watching your cholesterol, Pops?”
    “Ain’t no mango gonna hold me.”
    “Pop, you’re a scientist,” the senator said. “You know the benefits of cutting back on red meat.”
    “This meeting ain’t about me.” The old man’s face pursed. “Cal’s got news.”
    The librarian smiled indulgently. “Maybe he does, maybe he doesn’t. Dad likes us to eat