Cassidy felt sick again.
◊◊◊
David had to stay because he wanted to get the Jaxson segment out while he had a scoop, so she went home. Precious curled up on her lap as she worried about whether Grace had paid for her to get into USC or not. If she had, Cassidy would have to quit.
Her phone rang, and it was a number she didn’t recognize. Usually, that meant it was a spam call. She really didn’t need a car warranty and was ready to dump it but decided to answer.
“Cassidy?” a woman’s voice asked.
“Yes.”
“This is Grace Davenport. I understand that you have some questions about your scholarship and if it might have been paid for.”
“Yes.”
“All I did was send your coach a video of you working out the football team. Brook did spend some money getting the video produced, but that was all she did. I explained to the coach that you worked harder than anyone and helped those around you to get better. And I told him he would be a fool not to offer you,” Grace said.
“That’s it?” Cassidy asked in relief.
“That’s it. He called me after your first semester and thanked me. He said you are even better than advertised. I expect you to continue to make us both right. You earned your spot there, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise,” Grace said.
“Yes, ma’am. I’ll do my best,” Cassidy said. “And thank you.”
When she hung up, she pumped her fist in the air.
“Yes!”
◊◊◊
Chapter 41
Chloe
Chloe and her sister, Veronica, were called home for a family meeting when the FBI announced Operation Varsity Blues.
Their mother, Deirdre Price, was the female lead on the popular sitcom Everyday Guy, which had been on the air for the past seven years. Their father, Diego, had started off as a male model but now owned a Formula One racing team. He’d flown back from a race to be at dinner tonight.
After they’d finished eating, their mom told them what was going on.
“I’m sure you heard about the commotion on campus today,” Diego began.
“The FBI raided campus offices. What does that have to do with us?” Veronica asked.
“Getting into a school like USC is highly competitive. When you said you wanted to go, I shared that with Jim, Trent’s dad, and he suggested we talk to a placement consultant that he used to get Trent into Harvard,” Diego explained.
“We were told he had connections and was an expert at helping people get into their dream schools, so I scheduled a meeting,” Deirdre said.
“But I was invited to join the rowing team,” Veronica said as she looked at her parents with concern. “Which meant that I didn’t have to qualify, and you didn’t need a consultant to help me get in. Same with Chloe.”
“It was the consultant who suggested going through the athletic department. That was why we took you girls to that rowing club to see if you liked it. The consultant told us that the two easiest sports to get through on were that and soccer,” Diego said.
“And you hate to run,” Chloe reminded her older sister.
“If I’d known how hard rowing really is, I would have taken my chances through the normal admissions process,” Veronica admitted.
Everybody at the table, except her sister, knew that she would never have qualified. Veronica was more interested in boys and parties than doing schoolwork. But she’d been popular all through high school.
For Chloe, it was a different story. She’d been a bit of a late developer. Even going into her junior year, she still had no breasts to speak of and was much smaller than most other girls. As a result, she was unpopular at school and completely lacked self-confidence. Chloe would hang around with a few close friends and try to get by being ignored. It wasn’t so bad; she was close to the friends she did have, and they had fun. But the burgeoning social and sexual life of high school pretty much passed them by.
Then her senior year came, and her best friend Jen had come out. She confessed that she was in love with Chloe, and they’d kissed at the Homecoming dance. By New Year’s, they had become a couple.
That was all a roundabout way of saying that Veronica’s worldview differed from hers. Veronica was invited to go on yacht trips with donors and lavish parties while Chloe stayed home. Veronica just assumed that she could do anything because she’d never been told no.
“You haven’t answered Veronica’s original question. What does all the FBI stuff have to do with us?” Chloe asked.
“Because the consultant we hired is the man in the middle of all this mess. At some point, it will be leaked that we hired him to get you girls into USC,” Diego explained.
“But you didn’t bribe anyone to get us in, did you?” Chloe asked.
“Of course not,” Deirdre responded emphatically.
“Then everything should be fine,” Veronica decided.
“You know how the press is. Let me take the lead when fielding questions,” Deirdre said.
“What does it matter if we did nothing wrong?” Veronica asked.
“People are envious of the life we’ve created for ourselves. They will spin it that because we have money, we are somehow suspect for that fact alone. They’ll make it seem like we did something wrong when all we did was hire someone to help us navigate the admissions process,” Deirdre explained.
“They have no idea how hard your mom had to work to make her money,” Diego added.
Veronica was satisfied it was no big deal, but Chloe wasn’t as sure.
“What should we do?” she asked.
“Go about your daily lives like you always have. Get good grades and prepare for next year’s rowing season,” Diego said.
“I was planning on dropping my summer class and going on the Formula One circuit with Dad,” Veronica announced.
“That might be a good idea,” Deirdre said.
Chloe saw her mom glance at her dad before saying it. Chloe could guess that having her sister traveling the world, away from the press, was probably for the best. Veronica had never seen a camera that she didn’t pose for.
◊◊◊
Chloe wasn’t happy that her sister left it to her to tell Andy and Cassidy that she’d bailed on summer workouts and would be vacationing all over the world instead. She found them on the rowing machines, training.
“I don’t understand why they call him Knackers,” Andy said about Oliver, the football team’s Aussie punter.
“Because he cried like a baby when I kicked him in the balls,” Cassidy said, wrinkling her nose. “It’s stupid, but what do you expect from boys?”
“Uhum. Sorry to interrupt,” Chloe said.
“We were just talking about Oliver’s balls. Do you have an opinion?” Cassidy asked.
“Not really. I’m kind of more interested in girls.”
“What’s up?” Andy asked to find out why she’d interrupted them.
“It’s Veronica. She’s dropping her summer class to spend time with my dad,” Chloe said.
“Let me guess. Your dad is going on a Caribbean cruise,” Andy quipped.
“Actually, it’s worse. My dad owns a Formula One racing team, and their next three stops are London, Paris, and Monaco. Knowing my sister, she will party and make bad decisions. She’ll probably end up married to some Brazilian driver.”
Andy grimaced, while Cassidy was unreadable.
“My advice is to use this scavenger hunt to show the girls that you’re nothing like your sister,” Andy suggested.
“Come back to my place after we work out. We can do the interview task, and I might be able to help you win the scavenger hunt,” Cassidy suggested.
“Really?” Andy asked.
“She needs this, or the girls won’t hang out with her because of Veronica,” Cassidy said.
Having never been the most popular girl in high school, Chloe was surprised that wasn’t the case in college. People used college as a chance for a fresh start, an opportunity to reinvent themselves. From those high school experiences, though, they also usually had no desire to be bullied by a mean girl just so they could sit at the cool kids’ table at lunch.