Keegan
Three weeks later…
I hear my Megz ringtone—Calm Your Tits by The Offsailors—just as I hit Submit on my story.
Stretching across the table in the newsroom to grab my phone, I send up a quick prayer that Megz isn’t in one of her prickly moods.
Because I’m feeling good, and I don’t feel like tangling with her.
After the Sorenson debacle, I’ve been eager for another front-page opportunity.
And last week, I got it.
Jason assigned me a story involving possible wrongdoing in the Ikana Admissions office.
It’s evolved into a series of stories that will require a lot of digging, a lot of lead-following.
It’s exactly what I wanted.
And I don’t think my grandmother could in any way be involved.
There’s been a weird silence between me and Megz since Halloween. No calls. Only a couple of texts.
I’ve picked up the phone a few times to check on her. See if she’s ready to tell me whatever it was she was holding back.
It’s been bugging me, though I can’t pin down exactly why. Just that something feels off.
But each time, I’ve put the phone back down. I guess I feel like the ball is in her court.
She’ll tell me when she’s ready.
So maybe she’s ready now.
“Hey!” I say, pressing the phone to my ear. “I was wondering when I was going to hear from you.”
“Yeah, right back at ya, bitch.”
It’s one of Megz’s standard lines and normally a sign she’s in a playful mood.
But this time, there’s a flat, sour edge to her voice.
“You okay?” I ask. “What’s up?”
I put my feet up on the table, glad the newsroom is deserted so we can speak freely.
Most of Ikana’s students left town last weekend. I guess I’m the only one crazy enough to still be working two days before Thanksgiving.
Megz still hasn’t said anything.
“Megz?”
More silence.
This is not like her.
“Okay, now you’re kinda scaring me,” I say, only half in jest.
“Keekee.” Her voice wobbles.
What the hell?
“I need your help.”
In all the time we’ve spent together, Megz has never once asked for my help. Not that I can remember, anyway.
I pull my feet off the desk and sit up straight, clutching the phone tighter.
“Megz, of course. What’s going on?”
For a few long moments, all I hear is the soft sound of her crying.
“Megz?” My mouth feels dry, and my heart is thudding. “Did someone hurt you? Tell me. I’ll help you.”
She lets out a harsh laugh. “No one hurt me,” she responds.
Then after another long pause, she sighs heavily.
“I fucked up, Keekee. Big time.”
What on earth is she talking about?
I hear her take a deep breath.
“I got arrested,” she says on the exhale. “For shoplifting. At Nordstrom’s. Like, for a lot of stuff.
“I kept going back into the store and bringing more shit out, and I kept it all in the car I was borrowing. They caught me with all of it.”
My mouth opens and closes a couple of times, but no sound comes out.
“So fucking stupid,” she adds.
I’m stunned. This is not what I was expecting.
“What are you talking about?” I finally manage to say. “Why on earth would you be shoplifting?”
Another harsh laugh.
“Why on earth? What do you mean, why on earth, Keekee?” Megz scoffs, suddenly furious. “Why do you think I would do it?”
I’m stunned into silence again.
“Oh, of course you wouldn’t need to do it. You wouldn’t have any clue what it’s like to be somebody who has to do that. You’ve never had a clue.
“I told you all the shit I needed for A Chi O. I told you how expensive it is.”
I drag my hand down my face in frustration.
For a moment, I can’t even make my mouth form words.
But then I tear into her.
“And your only option was to steal to stay in some stupid sorority?”
I slap the table in front of me. “Give me a fucking break!” I cry, shoving my chair away from the table.
“Why didn’t you come to me, Megz?” I go on. “I could have found at least some of the money you needed. Somehow.”
“Because I didn’t want to ask you for help, Kee,” she snaps. “I didn’t want to have to beg from anybody.
“I know all your money comes from Granny Dearest. I didn’t want to put you in that position.”
I slam my fist on the table again in disgust.
“I didn’t think I needed to,” she adds, defiantly. “Cause I was good at it. The shoplifting. I’ve been doing it for months, getting all kinds of great shit.”
I can’t believe I’m hearing this.
“Well, gee, you weren’t that good at it, though, were you?” I snarl. “Since you got caught.”
I hear her sharp intake of breath. A door slams in the background of the dorm or wherever she is.
“Jesus, Megz.” My eyes prickle with tears.
“I could have helped you somehow,” I say. “There had to be an answer that didn’t involve you turning into a goddamn criminal.”
For a second, I regret saying that. But only for a second.
“What the hell makes being in a sorority worth all this, huh?” I go on, frustrated by her silence. “What is the big deal?”
She doesn’t respond.
I look at my watch. I told Blue I’d be back at the house by now. We’re going on a run together.
Things have been so good between me and Blue for the last three weeks.
We’ve gotten so close that when I’m not with him, it almost feels like I can’t breathe. Like I’m only half alive.
Right now, I desperately wish he was here with me.
“So why did you say you need my help?” I ask, adding sarcastically, “since you’ve got it all figured out.”
Megz probably won’t go to jail. Not if it’s the first time she’s been arrested.
But she’ll still have a criminal record unless the charges are dropped.
She’s going to need a lawyer.
It could end up costing her thousands of dollars. I know that, even if she doesn’t yet.
Like she said: So fucking stupid.
As mad as I am at her, though, I want to help if I can. We’re friends.
But there’s only one place I could get that kind of money.
“It’s not just about the money, Kee,” she finally goes on, her voice tearful. “I can probably borrow that from…various people.”
I don’t even want to know who she means.
“I need your grandmother’s help, her…influence.”
What the hell is she talking about?
“I tried to get them to drop the charges,” Megz goes on. “But they won’t. So I’m probably going to be convicted.”
She sniffs a couple of times, and I hear someone on her end yelling something about beer pong.
“Even if I pay all the fines and stuff,” she says, her voice lowered, “it’ll be reported to the group that pays my scholarship.”
Oh shit. Now I know what she’s asking for.
“It’s in the contract I signed, Keegan,” she cries. “They’re very strict about it. Any criminal conviction means I lose my scholarship. The whole thing.”
“Megz—”
“Your grandma is the only person I know of who could make the charges go away.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
I don’t know if I meant to say that out loud. But what the fuck?
The last thing I want to do is try to get Virginia to bail out the girl she’s always insisted was nothing but trash.
I groan. “Megz, I have no idea if she will agree to do it. Hell, Virginia might make sure they send you to jail and throw away the key.”
Another pause. I can feel her frustration.
“She’ll do it if you ask her,” she says evenly, “if you make it clear how important it is to you. I know she will. You told me yourself she seems to be trying to repair your relationship.”
I wish now I hadn’t told Megz that.
It’s true, Virginia has invited me and, surprisingly, my dad, for Thanksgiving.
My brother went to work for her at the ranch after I left for college. So he’ll be there, too.
She even went along, after putting up a fuss, with my insistence that I wouldn’t come unless I could bring Blue.
She might just be trying once again to stir up family drama.
But I really want to see my brother. Things have been strained between us for a long time.
And I’ve missed the ranch a lot more than I thought I would.
“You’re going to see her tomorrow, right?” Megz prompts. “You’re spending Thanksgiving there?”
I let out a heavy sigh. “Yes, I’ll see her tomorrow.”
I stand and push the chair under the table, picking up my backpack and shutting off the lights.
I need to get back to the house.
“Look, Megz, I will ask her. I will do my best to get her to do it.”
“Thank you, Keekee.”
“And if she says no,” I go on, firmly, “we’ll find some other way. If you lose your scholarship, it won’t be the end of the world. We’ll— ”
“It will be the end of my world!” she screams into the phone. “How can you not see that? It will be the end of my whole fucking life!”
She hangs up...
~~
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