Bold and Simful

Elizabeth tried to concentrate on her paper, it was the last one after all, but with Xavier and Kitty growing closer with each passing day the recent conversation with her father replayed on a loop in her mind “Do you think there’s something you can do about that?, do about that?” She pushed it away and tried to focus on defending trickle down economics. “something you can do? you can do?”

‘Am I that kind of person? She really loves him, she’s waited so long to be happy. And her poor mother, all alone in that house, grandchildren would be such a blessing for her. I can’t. There’s just no way.‘

Her decision set, she was able to focus and finally finished her paper, it wasn’t her best work but it was passable.

‘This is so stupid. Why didn’t I pay attention before?‘ Maleena was having a time of it with her schoolwork as well. She had never done particularly well academically, she had never seen a reason to bother but now that she had decided to marry a poor man, she realized that she would have to get a job and a good one too if she was going to live the lifestyle to which she had become accustomed.

“Do you have to be so loud? I’m working here,” Maleena grumbled without looking up from her notebook.

“He asked you already?” Kitty repeated, a little quieter this time.

“Xavier didn’t ask, huh?” Monica was instantly sympathetic, “There’s plenty of time, the semester only just began. I didn’t even answer Randal yet…”

“What?” Kitty’s eyes bulged again.

“I told him I needed to think about it, there is so much going on right now with the whole family thing and well, you know…it’s just weird right now.”

Kitty was unbelieving. ‘how can she be so reserved and calm?’ “Do you know who Randal Winfield is? His family is the richest in Orion Bay, they make the Mendenhalls look like paupers.”

“No, I didn’t know,” Monica said slowly, “He doesn’t act like it. It doesn’t matter anyway, I wouldn’t know what to do with so much money. I like being me, it’s one of the problems I have with being Robert’s daughter, money makes me uncomfortable.”

“You don’t like money?” Maleena slid into the seat next to her newly discovered half sister, her homework completely forgotten. “Who doesn’t like money?”

“I just never had it before, I guess,” Monica was still self-conscious around her new family; even though neither sister had been outwardly hostile toward her, she was sure that potential existed.

“I think you should say yes. Just imagine living in High Lawn!” Maleena turned to Kitty and whistled.

“His house has a name?!” Monica was even more overwhelmed. She decided that her answer would be no.

Turner Ignatowski had already compared women to buses and to fish in the sea but nothing was working and now he wasn’t sure what else to say, so he stood by uncomfortably while his friend sobbed seemingly without end. “Randal, you gotta pull yourself together, I have to go out soon.” Turner wanted to leave, he had a date with Veronica, but he didn’t want to leave Randal alone like this.

“I’ll be alright,” Randal hitched between gulps of air.

“Sure you will, she’s just a girl,” Turner patted his friends shoulder awkwardly. He could see crying over cockroaches, but over a girl? There were thousands, millions, even billions of them out there.

“Just a girl?!” Randal started all over again and Turner sighed. This was getting old.

“Well, if you’re sure you’ll be alright,” Turner wasn’t as much a jerk as he sounded, before he left for his date he called Eric, Lamda Chi’s newest pledge, and ordered him to come to the house.

Turner loved being seen with Veronica and out of convention, he had planned to propose to her tonight, but after what had happened to Randal he left the ring stuffed in his pocket while he danced and debated. ‘She’s pretty but I could never accuse her of being smart. She has money, which I don’t, but do I want to be that guy? What if she says no, but then what if she says yes?’

Then he hit upon an idea, “hey, Veronica, if you could have anything, what would you want?”

Veronica stopped dancing immediately, “Fall back in love with Xavier!” she said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“Thank god, I thought you were going to say you wanted to marry me,” Turner said with all too obvious relief after they had seated themselves at their table.

Veronica covered her mouth and giggled, “You what? Oh, no no, silly. I mean, you’re nice and all but I thought we were just having fun.”

“That’s exactly how I felt! but with everyone running around with engagement rings, I thought you expected me to ask you but now… oh thank god!”

“You don’t have to keep thanking god, you know,” Veronica pouted.

“I’m sorry, really,” Turner flushed, “Let’s see what we can do about getting Veronica what she wants.”

Turner hadn’t been very helpful in coming up with a plan to win Xavier back from Kitty, but the next morning Veronica found a surprisingly ally in her old friend.

“I think you and Xavier are a much better match,” Elizabeth confessed, “Furthermore, I think Xavier knows it too.” She had decided not to get involved and to leave Xavier to make his own decision as to who he would marry, but if doing her father’s bidding would help both her family and her friend, that changed things. She also saw how settling this matter could help Kitty as well, if the girl would accept her offer.

“Ok, so here’s the plan,” Elizabeth started. Veronica narrowed her eyes and listened.

Elizabeth found Kitty working on her term paper, “How’s it going, Kit?” she asked casually stretching out on her own bed.

“Not bad, I guess,” Kitty sighed, “I’ll be glad when graduation gets here though.”

“So what are you planning after graduation? Moving back home with mom? How’s she doing anyway?” Elizabeth didn’t have to feign interest, she actually liked Kitty and her mother and now that she saw a way she could help them out, she was even more interested.

“I think so, it depends a lot on where Xavier wants to live,” Kitty answered, “but I think Mom could really use the company, not to mention our incomes could restyle Cwik Terrace.” Kitty wasn’t shy about her family having lost so much, every already knew anyway so why be shy now.

“About that, I would like to offer you and your mother a grant from the Mendenhall Foundation. Say §50,000 to get your house back in order,” Elizabeth’s plan was simple, buy Kitty out of Xavier’s life and help everyone in the process.

Kitty stared straight ahead, unsure what to do. The money would help, mother had sold every last antique to pay for her dad’s defense, but what she had a creeping feeling that Elizabeth wasn’t just being nice. The Mendenhall Foundation had been around when her father was on trial and had never offered to help then, why now? She asked Elizabeth as much.

“You’re right, Kitty, there is a catch,” Elizabeth explained and wasn’t surprised at all when Kitty stormed out. ‘She’ll change her mind, like Father says “Everyone has a price”,’ she thought as she settled back for a nap.

“She offered you what?” Xavier dumbfounded. “She wasn’t serious,” he scoffed, “probably just a test to see if you were marrying me for my money.”

“I don’t think so,” Kitty protested slowly, “She sounded as serious as a heart attack.”

Xavier laughed, “She always sounds serious, she doesn’t have funny mode. I’ll talk to her and find out what’s going on. You don’t have to worry about a thing.”

Kitty was not convinced at all, but more than that Elizabeth’s offer had a certain appeal. It would mean giving up Xavier again but it would help buy back the family furniture and they could hire a new team of lawyers to get her father out of prison.

With Turner’s willing assistance, Veronica put her part of Elizabeth’s plan into action a few nights later. Her responsibilities were light, make Xavier jealous and be where ever he and Kitty were. So far, she was doing a fine job.

“Have you ever felt like you were being squeezed?” Xavier asked as he leaned back to toss the football. Spring had arrived and graduation was barely a day away, Xavier had finally earned a 4.0, something he would normally brag to his father about but he wasn’t speaking to his father. “I feel like a trap is being set.” He let the football fly.

Jodie caught it easily. “You mean Veronica?” he had noticed that Veronica was suddenly around…a lot. “I think she’s still in love with you,” he teased and paused before throwing the ball back. “You think that’s what it is?” he grew more serious, “I know her and Turner broke up a while ago, maybe she saw you and Kitty together and changed her mind about you,” without realizing he had done so, Jodie had reveled a nugget of information that Xavier had not been aware of.

“Oooff,” the football hit Xavier in the stomach, “So Veronica is available?”

“I had to Xavier, you understand don’t you?” Kitty’s eyes begged him to see the situation from her perspective.

“Sure, it’s understandable, at least this way you are guaranteed money,” Xavier answered philosophically. He wasn’t that upset, he could easily see how far §50,000 would go toward helping Kitty’s parents. In one way, it was the right thing to do. “And Veronica and I will be very happy together,” the last was a stab at Kitty, ok maybe he was a little upset.

“Don’t get nasty, Xavier,” Elizabeth chastised, “It has all worked out for the best.” Elizabeth was as pleased with herself as she sounded. Not only had she done as her father wished and managed to stop the contamination of her family name but she had helped to reunite true love and aid a family in distress at the same time.

The Bettencourt girls, that included Monica now, had already finished breakfast when Maxine arrived for graduation. “What’s that all about?” Maxine asked as Kitty stormed by them.

“Who knows?” Maleena dismissed the drama. Veronica, who knew exactly what the drama was all about, stood by wringing her hands.

“Are you all ready? Your father is there. Monica, your mother…” Maxine questioned. Monica shook her head slightly. “Ok, then, let’s go girls, the real world awaits.”

“I have a stop to make first, I’ll meet you there,” Monica said.

“I’m so glad you changed your mind,” Randal breathed, embracing his new fiance.

________________

Note: I am so glad college is over, never again will I attempt to play 9 people through 8 semesters. I don’t know what I was thinking *forehead slap* But it’s all over, relationships were built, some were torn apart, 4.0s were earned (Yay!) and now it’s time to get everyone settled into their new homes.

 

Posted on July 19th, 2008 under Wingate Hall. Tags: elizabeth, jodie, kitty, maleena, monica, randal, turner, veronica, Wingate Hall, xavier. RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback.