“UCL?” I ask Will. The happiness in his expression dries up.
“University College London,” his mother explains.
“I thought he was stuck on Oxford,” Will mutters.
“He’s come to terms with...” She waves her hand vaguely through the air.
“With my rubbish marks? No, he hasn’t. And it doesn’t matter. They won’t get me into UCL any more than they’ll get me into Oxford.”
She cuts her eyes to me. “We can discuss this later.”
“I don’t want his handouts. I don’t need to go to university to do well in life.”
“Willoughby, really. This isn’t the time to get into this. Now—” She shifts her focus to me. “What area of America are you from? I’ve always been partial to the West Coast.”
“I’m from Washington, DC. I’ve actually never been out to California.” I glance at Will, who is glaring down at his food. “I’d love to go one day. I’m sure it’s wonderful.”
“Oh, it is!” Beatrix exclaims before telling me about her love of the Santa Monica Pier. I smile and nod encouragingly, relieved to be talking about something other than Will’s college prospects (orlack thereof). I’m so thankful Mom never pressures me like Will’s parents do, but all this college talk still stresses me out. At least Will and I have our indecision in common.
Dinner ends without more discomfort—thanks solely to Beatrix, because Will doesn’t speak and I have almost nothing interesting to say. As soon as we stand, Will and his mother step into the kitchen with our plates and I excuse myself to the bathroom. But when I come back out, I can hear Will’s voice clearly.
“He likes keeping me hostage.”
His mother shushes him. “Stop speaking like that about your father. You know he wants what’s best for you. He’s trying to give you some work experience in Northampton.”
I gingerly retreat back into the dark bathroom. Maybe I should announce my presence by stomping down the hallway or clearing my throat excessively?
“He doesn’t want to give me experience,” Will retorts. “He wants to keep me under his thumb out there. It’s his form of jail.”
“And if you’d done better on your A levels, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
“You know, all your talk of America is making me think I should move there for a while. It might be best for all of us if Father and I had some time away from each other.”
“Really, Willoughby.” She sighs dramatically. “What would you possibly do there other than spend more of our money?”
Ouch. Maybe I should kill a few more minutes in the—
“Elle! I was wondering where you went off to.”
Beatrix stands in the open doorway with her hands on her hipsand a smirk on her face.
“Oh... yes. I—” I swivel around for any excuse as to why I’m standing alone in the dark. “I got confused about which way to go. Your house is so large.”
“It’s only this way.” She threads her arm through mine and pulls me with her. “They’re always like this. Going on about universities and all that. Best to get used to it now.”
She marches me back into the living room where Will and his mother stand side by side, stiff but smiling.
“How about some tea before you go?” she asks me.
“We can’t,” Will cuts in. “We already have plans.”
“Fine, fine.” She gives us both a double kiss on the cheeks. “Take care of our Willoughby. He certainly needs it.”
“Oh—of course. I will.”
I high-five Beatrix and she tells me to come back and she’ll take me to all the cool spots Will doesn’t know about. That makes everyone laugh.
“I assume you heard Mum and me arguing?” Will asks when we’re on the street outside the house.
