Ryan didn’t show up in math today, nor was he there at lunch. Elliot and Blake(Ryan's friends from Chapter 12) were sitting with a lot of other people, but Ryan was not among them. I don’t know why I cared that he was in school or not, but I couldn't help but notice his absence today.
After lunch, Morgan told me that she'd set a meeting with that director of Julliard tomorrow and that he'll email me the details later today. On my way home I opened his email, which informed me of the place and the time of our meeting. We were to meet at that restaurant on the upper side of town, the richer side to be exact, at 7 P.M. So, for the rest of the night, I practiced how I was willing to discuss my plans for college.
Kat helped me get ready for the meeting, picking my outfit and doing my hair and makeup. She told me I had to look appropriate and formal enough for tonight, and I didn’t understand what she meant by that. She suggested an outfit: a white dress shirt, a tight black skirt, and heels. But we I'm no good with skirts, so I substituted it with black pants. Kat had me keep the heels though despite me whining about it like a child.
I drove Kat's car to the restaurant and arrived there before 7. I parked the car and decided to wait till 6:55 at least before entering the place. At the gateway, a man asked me for my name and if I made any reservations. When I told him my name, he leads me to a table, where a man sat drinking some wine by himself.
"Nicole Shadow?" He asks when I stand by the table.
"Yes, sir."
"Scott Burke," he shakes my hand and invites me to sit down. "Have you had dinner yet?"
"It's okay—"
"No, please, pick whatever you want," he picks up his menu and motions his head to mine.
"Then I'll have whatever you're having, sir," I say without opening my menu.
"Very well," he smiles. After he orders our food, he pours some wine into my glass and starts talking.
"I've watched your play. Amazing performance," he nods.
"Thank you."
"Have you always been into acting?"
Here it goes.
"Frankly, I've never really liked acting."
He raises his eyebrows and displays a surprised expression.
"Is that so?"
I nod, "I'm more of a music lover." He remains silent and waits for me to explain. "I love making music, and I want to keep making it in the future. I really wanna build a career based on it, and I've always thought that Julliard will give me a chance to do so. That play you watched and that performance you liked were merely an accident, really. My friend just thought it would be funny if he signed me up for the Drama club, and so I ended up with a major role in a play. I never really intended to do it or perfect it in any way. It just happened that I was pranked, and that the school had a play, and that I had to take an important role, and that you were part of the audience to watch me, and that you were somehow impressed by my performance. And I know this is not how this meeting should go, but I came to ask you to help me in a way." Even when I finish talking, he sits in his chair silently looking at me. And I realize how much I spoke, and how much I must've disturbed him. But he doesn't look disturbed at all, but rather a bit concerned. He had his eyebrows drawn close together as he stared at me, looking deep in thought.
"Wow," he shakes his head. "That's a bit upsetting, to be honest. You were really good on stage, and I thought you belonged there."
"Thank you."
"No, I'm not just complimenting you. I really mean it. That was talent, and it's hard to believe that it was all just a joke."
I wait for him to continue, but he doesn’t say anything for a while. It was starting to become uncomfortable, and I kept playing with the ribbon around the collar of my shirt. The waiter places our meals on the table, distracting us. Mr. Burkely unfolds the napkin and rests it on his lap, while I still wait for him to add anything else.
"Actually, Julliard has always been my dream. I just always thought it was hardly approachable for me. It was my sister's dream too, and she was just so close to achieving it, but…"
It's hard talking about Nadine, or my family at all. I barely talk about them to anyone, so I don't know why I felt the need to mention her now.
"She died in a car accident on her way there."
"I'm sorry for your loss."
"It's not your fault. It was a long time ago anyway."
"So, are you good at making music then?"
I've been waiting for that question since the moment I saw him. I open my bag and bring my USB out and place it on the table in front of him.
"You can judge for yourself."
"Well, Miss Shadow, I will listen to this, and email you my feedback. I'm not a music expert, but I still recognize art. I'm not going to promise you anything, but if I really like it, I'll try to let the music director himself listen to this."
"Thank you so much, sir." I feel the smile stretch wider from cheek to cheek.
"No problem, but I need to see your effort as well. In Julliard it's not only about the talent; your academic level needs to look good too."
"Well, I'm an average student." Lie.
"We don't exactly accept average, but if this is worth it, we might make an exception. Nevertheless, you need to work on your GPA. Also, your SATs are coming soon, so do your best and apply, and you might very well be accepted."
"I'll work hard, sir."
After dinner, we leave the restaurant and he walks me to my car. I thank him again and promise him I'll do my best in school.
"It was nice meeting you, Nicole," he shakes my hand.
"Same here."
"Drive safely. Have a good night."
"You too."
Well, that went well.
I drive back home feeling satisfied with our the meeting went. I didn't exactly get an answer, but at least I have a chance. All I have to do now is work hard on my studies. I've had a lot of distractions lately, but I'm not going to let anything interfere with my plans again. I need to start fresh—open a brand new page for the next step in my life.
When I pull over in front of the house, I find a familiar car parked in front of our porch, and a very familiar guy stepping out of it. He walks all the way to the door and rings the bell then wait for it to open. Kat opens the door and they start talking. I leave the car and stride towards them.
"Sorry, Ryan, but she's not here."
"What the fuck are you doing here?" Cody shows up next to Kat, all fired up to start a fight. "You dare come here and ask to see her?" He catches Ryan by the collar of his shirt while he yells profanities at his face. Ryan pushes him away, and then Cody charges forward, punching Ryan's face. And it turns into a full-on fist fight.
"Cody, stop! He's not worth it," I yell, but he ignores me. And then they're on the ground, attacking each other's faces. Kat calls for them to stop, but doesn't get too close for it's too dangerous. They were rolling on the ground like wild animals, and anyone would get hurt just interfering.
But I was the reason they're fighting. So I plunged toward them, and pull at Cody's shirt as he sat above Ryan, punching his face. He pushes me away, and I end up falling to the ground and scratch my hand and possibly my butt too.
"Nicole, are you okay?" Kat helps me stand up. I catch the boys' attention, distracting Cody so Ryan pushes him off of him.
"Are you hurt?" Ryan asks and reaches to hold my arm.
"Don't touch me!"
"I'm still not done with you," Cody pushes himself off the ground and aims for Ryan again.
"Stop it, both of you," I stand between them. They both looked pretty fucked up, and if they continue at that, one of them might lose consciousness or even die. "Kat, can you please take Cody and get back in the house?"
"I'm not leaving you alone with him," Cody says, with blood running down from his nose.
"Yes, you are," I try to sound as firm as possible. "Please. I can deal with him."
Kat urges Cody back to the house, pulling his arms with all her force. Cody looked like he was pinned to the ground and it was obviously hard to pull him. He glared at Ryan for a few seconds before giving in to Kat and allowing her to pull with her.
I don't let Ryan speak, but rather ask him what he's doing here for.
"I wanted to see you. There's something you need to know."
"I don't care. Now, get lost," I look into his blue eyes--one of them was swollen and starting to turn purple. "Actually, wait here for a minute."
I leave him and run inside the house and up the stairs to my room. I find what I can to get and take it back downstairs and out the front door. I push the bag to his chest, and shove the necklace in his right hand.
"Here's your shit," I say.
"No, I don't want this back--"
"I don't want anything to do with you. I don't wanna see your face again. And stop calling me and texting me. Whatever you want to tell me, you can shove it up your ass because I won't believe any of it."
At that point, he knows there's no way he can reason with me or get me to listen to him. And so, he just leaves me standing there and rides his car.
I watch him drive away once again.
In the house, Kat was cleaning up Cody's wounds and scolding him for starting a fight. He barely listens to her, and I know this because Cody hates being scolded for something he thought was right.
"You're so stupid," I stand behind the kitchen counter and watch Kat do what she can do best. She's a paramedic, so it's only natural to treat cases even worse than Cody's.
"I didn't do anything wrong. And if I see him again anywhere else, I'll beat the shit out of him too."
"Like he beat the shit out of you?"
"It was the other way around."
"What does it matter? You both got pretty fucked up."
Kat moves to his chin, where he has a small cut there probably from Ryan's ring.
"I just wanna get the Hastings out of our lives," Kat mutters. It was a bad timing for her to say that considering Cody just got out of a fight with Ryan. Now, she's just reminding him of Marc.
"Did your boyfriend do something too?" Cody brings his head back to look at her.
"He's not my boyfriend anymore."
"Why? What has he done?"
"Nothing."
"Did he cheat on you, too?" He stands up from his seat.
"Are you getting worked up before even knowing?" I ask when I notice his shoulders tensing up.
"Well, let me know," he demands.
"He's married," Kat says.
"How?"
"What do you mean how? He and his wife are still together," I say.
"Oh, how great! So he made you his mistress."
"You're speaking to your mother, Cody. Watch your words," Kat scolds.
"You, ladies, have a really good taste in men." He's sarcastic, and when Cody's sarcastic, it's not good. It means he's angry and might end up hurting someone or even himself. He did hurt Ryan and himself, but now he got angry again, so there's no telling what he'll end up doing now.
"Shut up. You're not making anything better."
"Well, I'm sorry about that, Nicole." Sarcastic yet again. He leaves the kitchen, grabs his car keys, and leaves the house without another word added. His mother calls his name a couple times, but he ignores and drives his car away.
I notice a rip on the side of my pants, which are not actually mine but Kat's. I apologize to her, and she says it's okay.
When he's not back for another three hours, I call Denise, and she tells me that Cody went to her place, drunk. She told me not to worry and to assure Kat that he'll be safe with her. I tell her what happened, and she doesn't sound the least bit surprised like it was only expected for Cody to get fired up like that. I trust her to take care of him regardless of the problems they have between each other.
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