Betrayed (4 page)

My heart began pounding hard in my chest. I had never heard anything about a business plan. Why hadn’t someone mentioned it before? Why hadn’t Dana mentioned it before?

“No one’s ever mentioned anything about a business plan,” I said.

“It’s a new requirement,” she said. “It began this past semester due to the increasing popularity of the business college. We can’t let
everyone
in - so there must be some way of weeding through the applicants to find the real gems.”

I was at a loss. I had never come up with a business plan before - I didn’t even know where to start. How did they expect someone who wasn’t yet in the business college to come up with a plan for running a business? Wasn’t that the whole reason we were trying to go to business school?

“When is the business plan due?” I asked timidly.

“With the application,” she said simply.

“And the application is due by February 15
th
?” I asked. I still had almost two months to pull everything together. The beginning of the next semester would be busy, and I might fall behind on my classes a bit if I had to focus on coming up with a business plan - but it was feasible. Not all was lost.

“Technically, yes,” she said. “But you’ll want to meet the priority deadline at the end of this month.”

My gut wrenched and fell like it fell out of me.

“The end of this month?” I asked. “What are you talking about?”

Her mouth quirked upward in a knowing smile. “The college’s early submission deadline is the thirty-first of December,” she said. “It’s not mandatory - but I
highly
suggest you make that deadline if you want to secure your position within the college.”

I ran the numbers in my head. If I had to have it done by the thirty-first, I had just over two weeks. It was impossible. How could I be expected to finish my application and a business plan in that short amount of time?

“I don’t think I can do it that fast,” I said. “I have finals, adn then I have to move back home for the winter.” I shook my head, my eyes not focusing on anything. “And the holidays… It’s just not possible.”

Charlotte leaned back in her chair and folded her arms in her lap. She was tiny, but commanded authority.

“You’ll have to figure out a way,” she said. “It’s time to live in the real world, Kayla. And, sometimes, the real world requires sacrifices.”

I shook my head again, this time to try and clear the fog that was settling over it. The pounding ache was coming back, but this time it wasn’t from the wine at dinner. This time it was a wholly different kind of ache.

“Once you’ve submitted the application, it will be reviewed. If it acceptable, you’ll be moved on to the second part of the application process - the interview.”

My head swirled even more.

“Interviews?” I asked.

She nodded. “We conduct a formal interview with each and every applicant to make sure they will be an appropriate fit for our culture. It’s much like a job interview - only more important.”

“More important than a job interview…” I stuttered.

“If you mess up a job interview, the worst that can happen is you don’t get a job. If you mess up this interview, you may find yourself needing a new degree altogether.”

I could barely hide the outright horror in my voice.

“Right,” I said. “So I can’t mess it up.”

She nodded her head. “Now you’ve got the spirit of it.” Her lips spread apart in a tight smile. Her face took on the shape of a bird. “Now… if there’s nothing else?”

It took a moment before I realized what she was implying.

“No, I guess that about covers it,” I said. I slung my purse around my shoulder and got up to leave. “Thanks for your time,” I said. I made it to the door before she stopped me.

“Kayla?” she said. I spun and looked at her. “It was nice meeting you.”

I tried to smile, and hoped it didn’t look fake.

“You too,” I said.

I made my way across campus back to my dorm trying to feel anything but overwhelmed. But it was impossible. If life hadn’t been busy before - it had just become a whole lot worse. Christmas break was all but ruined. There was no way I could go home and still expect to get everything done.

I stopped as I realized what I had just decided. I couldn’t go home for Christmas break; there wouldn’t be enough time. If there was any hope of getting everything done by the deadline, I couldn’t let myself be distracted by the usual trappings of the holidays. I didn’t have time to spend with family; I didn’t have time to make the long drive between Tucson and Flagstaff; and I needed to be near campus in case anything came up, or in case I needed another meeting with Charlotte.

My stomach lurched at the thought of meeting with her again. We surely didn’t start things off on the right footing - maybe there was some way that I wouldn’t be stuck with her for the next couple of years.

My phone buzzed in my purse and I pulled it out. I frowned as I read the text message from Dana.

WE NEED TO TALK, CALL ME

I bit my lip. I knew what she wanted to talk about - and I wasn’t ready to have that conversation. She was going to grill me about Ethan and what I was doing with him. I hated myself for having covered up the relationship for so long already, but he and I had agreed that we couldn’t tell anyone. But he wasn’t my professor anymore, right? Didn’t that mean it was alright if we were together? Didn’t that mean that I didn’t have to keep it hidden from my best friend anymore?

I breathed in deep and pushed my thoughts of Dana aside. There was something more important that needed to be handled first. And it was something way scarier.

I clicked through my phone until it was calling the person I most dreaded talking to at that very moment. It rang twice before he answered.

“Hi, Cupcake,” my dad’s familiar voice answered.

“Dad, you know I don’t like cupcakes that much anymore,” I said to him, but a smile spread across my face anyways.

“You’ll always be my little Cupcake,” he said. His voice was warm and genuinely happy to hear me, as always. I felt my unease begin to settle immediately. “I remember when you were a little girl, and it wasn’t too long ago, you would race to the kitchen and bake the most splendid cupcakes. You still do that down there?”

I grinned. “No, Daddy. I don’t have my own kitchen down here.”

“That’s a shame. You should bake us some cupcakes while you’re in town. I can run out and get everything you need - you just tell me what.”

I winced at the thought of it. This was going to be hard.

“Daddy, I have some bad news,” I said. His voice immediately changed its tone while I composed myself. “I’m not going to be able to come home for Christmas.”

There was a short pause while he processed what I’d said.

“What do you mean? Did something happen?” he asked.

“I just got out of a meeting with my new business advisor,” I said. “She told me that the application I thought was due in February is actually due by the end of the year.”

“Oh no,” he said. “That’s in a few weeks.”

“It gets worse. In addition to the usual application, I have to come up with a business plan for a made up business. Daddy, I don’t know the first thing about writing a business plan - how am I going to come up with one in two weeks?”

There was a short silence.

“Sounds like a lot of work,” he agreed. “But you have other friends down there don’t you? You’ve met people in the college already, surely they could help out?”

My mouth quirked as I thought about Ethan. Daddy was right, I did know people that could help me out. But I couldn’t tell him about Ethan no matter how much I wanted to. I had already told him about the professor that was helping me out with extra credit - he didn’t need to know that I was also dating him.

“Daddy, I can’t come home for Christmas,” I said again. “I really want to, I just can’t.”

The phone echoed a static noise when he blew out a long sigh.

“Don’t worry about that,” he said. “You do what you gotta do and everything will work out.”

My gut tied up into knots again. The thought of not seeing my family during the holidays was one that had never occurred to me. I knew I was in for a long few weeks.

“Where are you going to stay? Don’t you have to move out of the dorms?” he asked.

“I have some friends in town. I’ll figure something out.”

“You let us know when you do,” he said softly.

“Mom is going to throw a fit,” I said.

“Just focus on what you have to do,” he said. “I’ll handle her. Everything will be alright. We knew that college was going to be hard, and we know that you’re only doing what is necessary.”

“Thanks, Daddy, that means a lot to me.”

“I love you, Cupcake. And I expect to hear regular updates on how everything is going.”

“You got it,” I agreed. “I love you, too.” There was a small pause. I was almost back at my dorm, and it was almost time to return to the real world. “Daddy, I have to get going,” I said. “I have to start studying for finals so I’ll have time to get some work done on the application.”

“Of course, of course,” he said. “Good luck. Let us know how your finals turn out.”

“I will, Daddy. I love you.”

“I love you too,” he said before I clicked the phone off.

As I got nearer to the dorm, I saw the throngs of kids milling around outside. They walked back and forth between the dorms and the student union without a care. It was Dead Day. It was
supposed
to be relaxing and care-free. One last day to pull yourself together before finals started. Somewhere along the line, my day had gone horribly wrong.

I climbed the stairs to the third floor. It was faster than taking the elevator. I navigated the hallways toward my room, and when I came around the final turn I saw someone writing something on the small whiteboard on the outside of my door. My heart leapt into my throat and tried to suffocate me.

I recognized Dana immediately.

* * * * *

I stopped in my tracks as she turned to face me. It was a momentary hesitation, and I hoped she didn’t notice it. What was she doing here? Of course I knew what she was doing there - she was going to grill me about what was going on with Ethan. She knew something was up; she knew that I had lied to her, and had been lying to her for a while.

Shame washed over me, and if the day hadn’t been difficult enough already, it was about to get worse.

“Dana,” I said with as a big a smile as I could muster. “What are you doing here?”

“I left you a message,” she said. She gestured at the small note written on the whiteboard.

I nodded at her. My hands shook slightly.

“I saw your text,” I said.

“Were you out all night?” she asked.

My eyes shot over to the door.

“I had a meeting with my new advisor this morning,” I said.

“Business advisor?” she asked. Dana was in the business college, too. She was a few semesters ahead of me.

I nodded and blew out a sigh. I dug around in my purse for my keys.

“The college made the application process a bit more difficult,” I said. I unlocked the door and let us both into the room. It was quiet and still. “All students now have to come up with a business plan for a made up business as a part of the application process.”

“I heard something about that,” Dana said. “I thought it was a joke - they’re really doing it?”

“It’s done,” I said. “And that means I have two weeks to not only take finals and move out of the dorm, but also to finish my application and somehow find the time to pull together a coherent business plan.”

She cringed. “That sounds like a lot. But I’m sure you’ll manage - you always come through.”

I smiled.

“Now’s probably not the best time. But I have a favor to ask of you.”

“Anything,” she said, without hesitation. A small pang of guilt pinched in my chest.

“I was wondering if I could possibly crash at your place this winter?” I said. “I don’t want to risk going home - I don’t think there would be any chance of finishing everything up there with all the distractions. Plus, I think it would be smart to stay close to campus in case I need to meet with my advisor again for some reason.”

Dana waved her hand. “Of course you can stay with me. I’m going to be leaving in a few days, anyways, so you’ll have the place to yourself.”

I smiled at her. “Thanks,” I said.

A long silence drew out between us. We both knew exactly what the other was thinking, but neither of us wanted to be the first to bring it up. She was wondering what was going on last night, and I knew I had to tell her.

“About last night,” I said. “I’m sorry.”

Her head tilted to the side slightly. “Sorry about what?” she asked.

I blew out another sigh and ran a finger through my hair.

“The truth is, I wasn’t totally honest with you when I said that I was supposed to be on duty last night.” Her brow tightened. “I had a date.”

“With Professor Dewey?” she asked. I nodded. There was another silence while she considered it. “Was it a first date?”

I winced. Technically, it
had
been a first date - but Dana wouldn’t care about the technicalities.

“Ethan and I…” I stopped and composed myself. “Sorry, Professor Dewey and I have been seeing each other for a couple of weeks, now.”

Dana stared at me blankly for a moment, then smiled and shook her head. She turned her back and walked over to my desk, leaning herself against it. She chuckled, softly, though I wasn’t sure what she found amusing. The whole act threw me off guard.

“I can’t believe it,” she said, almost to herself.

After a while she looked up at me again.

“Is that why you’ve been distant lately?” she asked.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I should have told you, but I didn’t know what you’d think of me.”

Her eyes widened and her face softened. “Kayla, I don’t think any less of you. You can tell me anything.” That made me feel even worse. Part of me had hoped she would be pissed off; pissed that I had lied to her, and pissed that I had been keeping things from her. I didn’t want to realize that I could have been honest with her from the start and avoided the entire issue.