The Jennings have zero money.Like not even two pennies to rub together, thanks to my mother’s awesome financial skills and her obsession with men who invariably turn out to be thugs.
The only reason Kelsie can attend rich people’s school is because of a sweet old lady who lived in our neighborhood.When Mrs.Winters broke her hip, I used to pick up her groceries, help bathe her, and clean her house, and while girls my age were out partying, I preferred to be watching game shows on a Saturday night with Mrs.Winters.I didn’t want her to feel lonely.
She was all alone in the world.No kids of her own.No siblings.No one came to see her.She was the kindest, sweetest person I knew, and I wish she had been my gran instead.
Mrs.Winters was so grateful to me.She called my mom and insisted on paying my college tuition for me.Said she had a tidy sum of money just lying in her bank account and she wanted to do something nice, give someone in our rough neighborhood a chance to break the cycle.
I was eighteen and already enrolled at community college.I could have used the money to get a better education, but I was okay.What I wanted desperately was to give my sister, a freshman at the time, a better chance.
Besides, Kelsie was super smart and could make something amazing of her life, so Mrs.Winters deposited a little over a hundred and fifty thousand dollars into my mom’s bank account, and Kelsie switched to one of those prestigious private schools where, honestly, she just excelled.
And now someone, some kidnapper, thought we had money and is now holding Kelsie for ransom.All that is left of Mrs.Winter's money is the tuition for the last one and a half years of Kelsie’s schooling.She’s working extra hard so she can get a full scholarship to study medicine.A whole perfect life laid out for her.
This can’t be happening right now.
“I...I...I...”my sister continues to sob.
“Kelsie, listen to me,” I say, keeping my voice firm but calm.Wedging the phone between my ear and shoulder, I slip my feet, bundled in a pair of thick socks because my apartment is as cold as hell, into a pair of boots and unlock my door, which requires both my hands.I might not live in the worst neighborhood, but it’s definitely not the best either.We bolt up and stay that way.
“Can you tell me where you are?What are you looking at right now?Are there any sounds you can hear?A train, traffic, anything that can tell me where you are?”
My heart pounding nonstop, trembling with fear, I cross the corridor of my apartment building and start banging on the door, hoping my neighbor, a girl I only greet and smile at when I see her, is home so she can call the police.
“What?What sounds are you talking about?I’m looking at my desk; there’s choir practice, and they’re singing on the lawn outside my dorm,” Kelsie says, almost annoyed by my question, before she starts wailing again.“Skye, it’s over.It’s all over.I worked so hard, and now I’ll have to go home.I won’t get a scholarship.I’ll—”
“What?”Why is my sister not making any sense?What is going on?The door on which I’ve been hammering frantically swings open, and the beautiful girl from twelve B stares at me with a heavy frown on her face.
“Kelsie, where are you?”
“Skye, I’m at school.Are you on drugs?Why are you acting so weird?”
Oh, thank god.She’s at school.She’s safe.
Okay.Damage control.“Hold on,” I say to my sister, then turn my attention to the girl who I seemed to have woken up, given she answered her door in nothing but a tank top and shorts, her hair tousled and her look of sleepy confusion on her face.
“I’m so, so sorry.So sorry,” I say and repeat the phrase a few more times.“Just a bit of confusion on my part.Sorry again.”And then I take myself back to my apartment, with my sister now wailing even more in my ear.
“Kelsie, stop crying and tell me what happened.”
“I have to leave school.Mom’s coming to pick me up.My tuition isn’t paid, and unless the seven thousand dollars is paid immediately, they can’t keep me on anymore.And it’s finals, and I’m going to miss it and...what am I going to do?”Kelsie asks and starts crying hysterically again.
Of course.Why did I reach so far for kidnappers when I had a real culprit to choose from?My mother.This can only be my mother’s doing.
“Don’t do anything.Just wait.I’m going to sort this out.”
Cold spreads over me like a polar vortex.
“How, Skye?Mom doesn’t have any of the money left.She used it all.What about next year, Skye?”
That would be about fifty-seven thousand dollars that my mother used.Oh god.I curb my anger; it’s clouding my judgment.I assure my sister one more time that I’ll figure things out and disconnect.I immediately open my banking app.I only have five thousand dollars, which I’ve put into savings since I finished school and started doing odd jobs.
I never wanted to be caught without a contingency plan ever, and that meant savings for rainy days.Being raised by my mother, I knew exactly what not to do to live financially stress-free.
I make a call to the school administration and beg for more time, softening the ask by immediately depositing every last cent I have from my bank account into theirs.The lady gives me twenty-four hours.Twenty-four hours to come up with the outstanding balance.
How I’m going to do that, I have no idea, since as of 11 a.m.this morning, I also no longer have a job.Yay me.I text Kelsie to tell her everything is sorted out.She needs to get back to class.For now, at least.
And what about tomorrow and next year, Kelsie’s last year at school?How am I going to cover that?My panic is now replaced with fury.At my mother.
