Chapter 46
Quill
Ink Flowers
Girls Just Want to Have Fun
Cyndi Lauper
“You've gone crazy,” Lara blurted out as I grinned and put one of the nineteen bouquets into one of the gray clay vases in the kitchen, which I had just placed all over the house.
Monica, who was here to bake cinnamon rolls with her, turned to me and examined all four bouquets of white tulips I had placed in the kitchen.
“Oh, I think there's something lovely about decorating this house with flowers.”
She knew I lived here because it was already enough for Davian to lie to Tony. He had explained it to her earlier and asked her to keep it to herself, although he had left out the part about Joseph.
Surprisingly, she hadn't commented on it, only saying that she was glad I was living far away from my parents and continuing my studies.
And here I was again, suppressing my feelings of guilt and turning this house into an ink garden, like the parasite I was.
“What you don't see is the amount of ink she put in the vases.”
Lara rolled her eyes, even though that wasn't the catch.
What the two of them didn't know was that I had used my fake driver's license to drive Lara's car to campus and secretly sheared an entire flower bed.
It had happened in a moment of enthusiasm, because the bookstore had actually agreed to give me the temporary job.
Monica looked at me in surprise, then back at the vases.
She was sweet, easily amused, and definitely a woman of her generation, though a damn strong one.
“She wants to dye them blue.”
Lara turned away with a sigh, as if it were me and not her who was the spirited one with the playful decorating ideas.
I quickly disappeared upstairs to my room, where I had already filled three more vases with bouquets, and Streusel followed me excitedly.
With a smirk, I grabbed as many tulips from the box as I could carry and returned to the kitchen, where I sat down to cut their stems and bring them to the same height.
While Lara and Monica rolled out the dough and talked about Lara's journalism studies, I hummed softly to Girls Just Want to Have Fun by Cyndi Lauper.
The whole kitchen already smelled of cinnamon, and Streusel was practically drooling.
He had visibly grown, which upset Lara every day because she wanted to keep her little baby.
“I hope you manage to make it to the Fitzeks', Fabers', and Richters' galas.”
First Day in Court
Atli ?rvarsson
Alarmed, I looked at Monica, who was concentrating on cutting the dough, while Lara brushed the dough strips with a pastry brush, giving Monica a “Probably.”
“Gala?”
Lara gave me a pitying look.
“After each debate, one of the professors hosts a gala at their home in honor of the winner, to which the most respected lawyers from across the United States are invited to get to know the candidates.”
I hadn’t known anything about this until now.
“Our dearest director, Arnold, will host the first one. Professor Richter will host the second.”
Over my dead body would I set foot in that house again, even though I still had to come up with a plan for how to get my manuscripts from the attic without being noticed.
“I... unfortunately don’t have any decent clothes for these galas,” I said quickly. A truth.
“You have to come, Quill.” Monica gave me a serious look. “Think about the impression we’ll make with you there. The first woman at Maplecrest.”
She sounded proud.
And I wanted to be buried alive.
“I picked out a dress for you when we were at the mall. You'll like it. I put it under your desk.” Lara looked away with an apologetic smile. “If not, we can go and get another one.”
Definitely not.
And anyway, why hadn't she told me about this?
“I thought Dad had already told you.”
“He didn't...”
Maybe because he had never planned to go. At least not to the second gala.
“I have to be honest, in the fifteen years I've been working there, there has never been such a tense debate competition,” Monica began.
“The most outstanding student at Maplecrest and son of a professor.
A McMillan, the son of our most generous sponsor.
The first woman. And on top of that, Troy Fitzek wants to convince his father to leave him the law school.
A move that pits his candidate against Joseph's. Two boys who grew up together like brothers.” She laughed, sounding concerned.
“And unfortunately, Troy has a good chance.
Lucas McMillan is an excellent candidate.
I can see it in his eyes. He's the kind of person who doesn't play fair and takes what he wants. He'll win the first debate.”
“Tony has prepared Feng well,” protested Lara, who seemed to talk to my brother often.
“We know Anthony,” Monica sighed. “He didn't choose Feng because he's good. Feng is one of the students with the greatest learning difficulties. One who tries very hard, and Anthony doesn't like to see that effort wasted.”
Interesting. Usually, all the Asian students at Maplecrest always had such good grades.
“He should have picked Quill. Now he's going to ruin this boy's career just because he's so idealistic.”
Lara looked thoughtfully at the dough and pressed her lips together.
I also looked down at the flowers and cut more stems.
I didn't want to talk about the debates. Nor did I want to talk about Anthony or any Richter Galas.
“Is there a book club at Maplecrest?” I asked, and Monica looked up.
The Remsen
Carlos Rafael Rivera
“You read?”
I nodded.
“Gruesome horror books like Lara?”
“Worse,” Lara said with a grin, and I looked back at the tulips with reddened cheeks.
“There's nothing worse than books where men in pumpkin masks chase defenseless women through corn fields with scythes. The world is filled with enough horror.”
Lara loved reading anything that gave off spooky vibes. She was the embodiment of autumn.
“What are you currently reading?” Monica pressed further.
Far too proud, I pulled the hardcover book I had been reading that morning from under the newspapers.
“Batteries of Ink.”
Lara lowered her pastry brush and stared at me as if I had slapped her. Or rather, the book.
“Where did you get that?”
“Your dad has a copy. Two, in fact.”
I put it back down and raised an eyebrow questioningly, but she immediately turned away from me and walked over to the fridge to get another bowl of dough. The one for the pumpkin cookies.
“That title rings a bell.” Monica cut the last piece of dough. “Wasn't that a bestseller?”
Good thing she didn't ask any more questions about the content.
“Yes. Until the author stopped writing.”
The frustration in my voice was unintentional. However, now that I was reading it again, I found it even harder to accept that I might never hold a sequel in my hands.
“I'd like to talk to others about this book, but there are only a few who know it.”
“There's a Maplecrest forum for books. A very active one, from what Anthony has told me.”
Oh, I hadn't thought of that.
“I'll check it out.”
With that, I got up and took some more flowers in my hands, almost tripping over Streusel before rushing into the living room to fill the next vases.
Lara appeared behind me.
“Dad will be happy to see all these flowers.”
She grinned as mischievously as I did, following me through the hallway, where Davian was just coming down the stairs at that moment, stopping and staring first at me, then at the flowers in my hands.
“What are you doing?”
If Lara hadn't been there, I would have stuck one behind his ear.
“What does it look like?”
Grinning, I sneaked past him and felt like a goddamn Disney princess as I arranged the flowers in the vase at the front door.
“Quill thinks it would be a good idea to spruce up the house a bit. But be careful…” She shook her head, grinning as she made her way back to the kitchen. “...if you knock over those vases, your beloved carpets will get a new color.”
He stared at the vases and I could literally hear his gears turning, so I took advantage of the moment while Lara disappeared into the kitchen to give him a mischievous smile before disappearing upstairs.
Now that I knew about it, I also discovered the black shopping bag under the desk that Davian had kindly placed in my room, along with an old PC he'd been keeping in his garage.
I ignored the bag, not wanting to deal with galas I probably wouldn't even attend, and sat down to open the Maplecrest main forum.
Mysteries of The Devine
Carlos Rafael Rivera
In fact, I quickly found a link to the website with the book forum, where a heated discussion about a best-selling crime novel was in full swing.
I nonchalantly interrupted it.
Feather: Has anyone here read Batteries of Ink?
Benny213: Haven't even heard of it. Doesn't seem worth mentioning.
Bookqueen: Author?
Feather: Atrianima
Luckycharm12: That was a bestseller a few years ago, wasn't it? The one where you couldn't get any copies because it was so sought-after.
Benny213: Sought-after??? So... maybe it's worth talking about after all? Are there any collector's editions?
Luckycharm12: I wanted to read it, but I couldn't get a copy. Not even the regular paperback edition.
Feather: The copies sold out so quickly and the publisher didn't print enough. They weren't reprinted. Instead, the author uploaded it for free on the internet. Copies are expensive online.
Benny213: @Feather You've got my attention.
Gin222: Oh, finally something I can read.
Nomorebookstoread: I've read it. Have you @Feather?
Feather: Yes. This book changed my life.
Bookishpiranha: Oh my God. Gimme!
Luckycharm12: Now I want to read it too!!
Triumphantly, I leaned back in my chair.
That went faster than expected.
More people started asking questions about the book, which I tried to answer without spoiling anything, and more and more people showed interest.
Nomorebookstoread: @Bookqueen Believe me, it's more than worth talking about and not just one of those bestsellers that people only read because the author is trendy.
This Bookqueen seemed to be the boss here, at least more and more people were tagging her with exclamation marks.
Bookqueen: I think we've found our next book for the group reading.
So effortlessly you fill the fibers of my paper with ink,
letting me watch as it comes closer and closer to me.
Yet the most fatal thing for a paper bird
would be to drown in an ocean of ink.
– Leaking Batteries Diary