Elite - Chapter 24
Saturday
“Sorry, Daddy,” Isabella said with a smile. “Everything’s fine. It’s just Brooklyn’s friend. I was mistaken.”
He didn’t seem to care what she said. “Where is Miller?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” I said. “I snuck Kennedy in on my own though. It wasn’t his fault.” I stepped in front of Kennedy as if that would save her from his wrath.
“Not his fault? It’s his job to watch you 24/7.”
Miller was watching me 24/7? What? I tried to shake away his comment. That wasn’t important right now. “I’m sorry I snuck her in,” I said. “But…”
“Did your little friend do this?” he asked and gestured to my destroyed clothes.
“What? Of course Kennedy didn’t do this. It was like this when we got here. It was…”
“It was Sir Wilfred,” Isabella said, cutting me off.
She gave me a death stare. I didn’t dare contradict her when she was staring at me like that.
I’d heard Mr. Pruitt loud and clear the other day.
Isabella had murdered people before. I think.
And I just wanted to go to homecoming, not land six feet under.
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure it was Sir Wilfred,” I said.
Mr. Pruitt shook his head. “Isabella, I told you that you had to keep him in your room while he’s being trained. We talked about this.”
“I’m sorry, Daddy. He must have slipped out when Anderson came in to clean. I told you we should fire her. She’s horrid help. This is all her fault. Not mine. And not poor Sir Wilfred’s. He didn’t know any better. But Anderson did.”
Anderson. I didn’t know any of the staff’s last names besides Miller. I wondered who was going to take the blame for Isabella’s cruel prank. I bit down on the inside of my cheek. I didn’t want to start World War 3.
“Very well,” Mr. Pruitt said. “I’ll take care of Anderson. As for this…” he shook his head. “Will you be a dear and let Brooklyn borrow one of your dresses for homecoming? I’m sure the two of you can find something that fits her.”
“But, Daddy…”
“No buts. Your dog did this. So you will share with your sister.” He turned to me, his expression void of the anger that had been there moments before.
“Brooklyn,” he said and cleared his throat.
“I wasn’t sure if you had hired someone to help get you ready, so I arranged for Justin to assist you.
He’ll be here shortly. And I’ll have him order another of everything that was ruined.
” He sighed like Isabella was as exhausting to him as she was to me.
“Your friend can stay, of course. It’s the least I can do after this disaster.
” He stepped forward and put out his hand.
“I’m Richard Pruitt. You must be Kennedy Alcaraz.
I’ll add you to Brooklyn’s list of approved visitors. ”
For a second Kennedy just stared at his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” she finally said and shook it. I swore she curtseyed, and the corners of Mr. Pruitt’s mouth ticked up ever so slightly.
“The pleasure is all mine. You two have fun getting ready. And if there is anything you need, please don’t hesitate to ask. I’ll be in my study.” He turned back around. “Apologize before you leave, princess,” he said as he walked past Isabella and out the door.
It looked like Isabella was going to explode.
The three of us just stood there awkwardly for a moment as Mr. Pruitt’s shoes echoed in the hallway.
“If you think I’m loaning you one of my dresses, you’re out of your damned mind,” Isabella said. “And I can’t wait to cash in on that favor you owe me.”
“What favor? Your dad came up here anyway. I don’t owe you anything.”
“Yeah, but I told him I made a mistake. That everything was fine. That’s what you asked me to do. And I did.”
What the hell was wrong with her? “You were supposed to do that before he came up here. I don’t owe you a thing.”
She shrugged. “Too bad. We had a verbal agreement, Sissy. Now you owe me whatever I want. I believe your exact words were… anything .”
“You should be thanking me,” I said. “I went along with your Sir Wilfred lie.”
She kissed the side of her dog’s head and put him down on the ground. “Which was your choice. I can’t help it if you’re a little slow. Make, Sir Wilfred.”
I was about to ask her what she was talking about when Sir Wilfred pranced over and proceeded to pee all over the pile of ruined clothes.
“What is wrong with you?” Kennedy said and held her nose closed.
“Me?” asked Isabella. “Absolutely nothing. I’m perfect if you haven’t noticed. Come, Sir Wilfred. I need to get ready for the dance.”
The fluffy dog lowered his leg and ran after his evil master.
“Stupid dog,” Kennedy said when Isabella left.
“Stupid Isabella.”
“Why’d you go along with her?” Kennedy asked. “The clothes clearly weren’t destroyed by that dog.”
I didn’t want to admit that I was scared of Isabella. That I was worried she’d actually kill me. I was pretty sure it was all in my head. And I needed to learn how to stand up to her if I was going to live here. “I’ve learned to pick my battles with her.”
Kennedy flopped down on my bed. “What do you think she’s going to do when she realizes your homecoming dress is in Miller’s room?”
I had completely forgotten. I breathed a sigh of relief. Thank God. I couldn’t care less about homecoming. But I would have cried if something had happened to my mom’s dress. “She’s going to lose her mind. Well, she’d lose it if she hadn’t already.”
We both looked at each other and laughed.
“This is actually great,” Kennedy said. “We got Isabella’s shot at sabotage out of the way early. Now we can just relax and have fun.”
That was a good point. “Unless she’s planning more.” I sat down next to Kennedy on the bed.
“Why would she? She thought her first trick would prevent you from going at all.”
I nodded. “You’re right,” I said with a smile. But I was thinking about Anderson. And if there was a way to make sure whoever she was didn’t get fired for something she absolutely didn’t do.
“Your dad actually seems kinda nice.”
“Mr. Pruitt is not my dad.”
“Technically…”
“I never saw the results of the tests,” I said with a laugh.
“Fair enough. But he took your side over Isabella’s. No one ever takes anyone’s side over Isabella’s. Maybe he’s not so bad. He’s letting me visit now. And he’s going to replace all the clothes. He’s at least trying. He seems kinda nice.”
Nice? He’d immediately blamed her for destroying my clothes.
But I bit my tongue. Mr. Pruitt was trying.
I knew that. And yet…I was still uncertain about him.
But maybe if I could convince him not to fire Anderson.
If he took my side on that, then maybe I could finally let my walls down.
Because he was trying. He did care. He was acting like the father I never had.
And I was pretty sure that was a good thing.
Maybe I’d just been fighting it off because Uncle Jim had felt like a father to me too.
And as soon as I’d let him in, I’d lost him.
Tiffany, the timid server, rushed into the room carrying some black trash bags. “Mr. Pruitt said I needed to clean up…” her voice trailed off as she looked at the mess. “Oh my. I’ll get right to it.” She hurried over.
“I can help,” I said and started putting clothes in the plastic bags before Tiffany could stop me.
“This was probably cute,” Kennedy said as she started helping us too. She was holding a pink dress that would have looked amazing on her. I made a mental note that when Justin replaced it, I’d give it to her.
“It smells so gross.” I shoved another jacket into the trash.
Tiffany laughed.
“What the hell happened in here?” Miller said. My mother’s dress was clutched in his hands.
“Isabella,” I said as I grabbed a pair of pants by the leg where there was no pee.
He shook his head as he stared at the now stinky ruined clothes. He looked beyond pissed.
“Oh, you’re so lucky that you had a dress at the dry cleaners,” Tiffany said.
I guess she didn’t realize that the dry cleaner’s bag was years old and not from New York. Which was good. Because there was no other excuse for Miller to have my dress.
“Let me grab that so I can steam it for you,” she said and pulled it out of Miller’s tight grip. “You’re wrinkling it.” She laughed.
“Sorry,” he said.
I stood up as I put one of the torn pairs of leggings in the trash bag. “Who’s Anderson?” I asked.
Tiffany pulled my dress out of the dry-cleaning bag and turned around. “That’s me.”
What? My face fell. She was so sweet. And polite. But up here she’d laughed at our jokes. She didn’t complain about the dog pee. She was wonderful.
“Why?” she asked.
I swallowed hard. Why did Mr. Pruitt send her up here to help with this mess if he was just going to fire her?
“No reason,” I said. “I actually need to run to the bathroom real quick. I’ll be right back.
” Mr. Pruitt wasn’t a nice man. He was a monster just like his legitimate daughter.
And I was going to give him a piece of my mind.
I practically ran into Justin as I beelined for the door.
“Careful, darling,” he said as he adjusted two large plastic containers in his dainty arms.
“Sorry, I need to…”
“What in tarnation happened here?” Justin asked. “All my clothes! And is that urine I smell?”
“Miller will fill you in,” I said. “I’ll be right back.”
“Well I certainly have no problem with Miller filling me wherever he pleases,” Justin said and handed off the plastic containers to him.
He winked at Miller. “But we don’t have much time to get ready for the dance.
And it’s my understanding that I need to give two makeovers in the time I’d allotted for one. ” He looked over at Kennedy.
“Great,” I said. “You can get started on Kennedy and I’ll be right back. It’s a bathroom emergency.” It seemed like no one had any intention of letting me get away. But adding that it was an emergency silenced the room. Awesome.
Yes, it was nice that Mr. Pruitt had asked Justin to help Kennedy get ready too.
But that didn’t take away the fact that he sent Tiffany up to clean up a mess she hadn’t made.
Right before he was going to fire her for that very same mess.
He had some explaining to do. I hurried out the door before anyone else could stop me.