Chapter 10 #2
“If I was going to do it, I’d do it myself.
I wouldn’t have Parker do it. You know how he’s always fucking everything up.
” Briggs just started sweeping and already got a few feet of the sidewalk done.
At this rate, we’ll be done in a few minutes.
“I went to see the principal. I told him someone might try to hack into the system.”
I keep quiet, deciding not to tell him that Charlotte overheard his conversation with the principal.
“If you don’t believe me, ask Principal Perkins.” Briggs stops and looks at me. “If I was the one who called Calvin, why would I tell the principal that the system might get hacked? It doesn’t make sense.”
He’s right. It doesn’t. So maybe he’s telling the truth, but I still don’t get why Parker would do this. Is it just because he hates me, or because he wants to get Briggs back on his side?
“So what are you telling me? Are you saying you’re over your obsession with being valedictorian?”
He looks down, not answering me.
“Are you or not?”
He blows out a breath. “It’s complicated.”
“How is it complicated? You either accept that I’m valedictorian or you keep fighting me, hoping I’ll give in to your demands. So which is it? And by the way, I’m never giving in to your demands.”
“Ella!” I hear my dad yell.
I turn back and see him coming around to the front of the house, his eyes on Briggs.
“Hello, Mr. Quinn,” Briggs says.
My dad looks down at the broom in Briggs’ hand. “I don’t remember hiring a new crew member.”
Briggs smiles. “I was just helping Ella out.”
“How did you know we were here?” I ask Briggs.
“I remembered you saying how much you hate Wednesdays because every Wednesday you have to work here and sweep for hours and how it hurts your back.”
My dad glances at me, probably wondering why I never told him that.
“I appreciate the help,” he says to Briggs, “but technically you’re not an employee and I’m not allowed to have non-employees doing the work. I’m sure you understand.”
“Yeah, okay.” Briggs walks back to the truck to drop off the broom.
“Nice job, though,” my dad says, admiring Briggs’ section of the sidewalk.
“Thanks,” Briggs says, walking back to us.
“Is that the first time you ever used a broom?” I ask Briggs.
“Yeah, I think so.” He gets his phone out and checks it. “I should get going. I’ll see you tomorrow, Ella.” He goes past me to his Porsche.
“What was that about?” my dad asks as Briggs drives off.
“He wanted to tell me something.”
“It must’ve been important if he showed up while you were working. Did you tell him he had to help sweep?”
“No. He just did it. I think he thought I’d listen to him if he helped out.”
My dad turns to me. “I know I’ve asked you this before, but what’s going on with you and Briggs? Are you two seeing each other?”
“No,” I say with a laugh. “Could you seriously see me with Briggs?”
“Actually, I could,” he says, wiping his hands on the rag he keeps in his pocket. “You’re both smart. Get good grades. You seem to get along okay.”
“It depends on the day. Some days we can’t stand each other.”
“From the way you were looking at him, I’d say today wasn’t one of those days.”
“What do you mean? I wasn’t looking at him. I was sweeping.”
“Okay,” he says with a slight smile.
“Dad, I’m telling you, Briggs and I are just friends, not even that.”
“He seems to show up a lot for someone who isn’t a friend.”
“Only because we have to do assignments together.”
“It seems like more than that to me. I was once a young man and I know what it means when a young man keeps showing up at your door.”
“It means he has a question about the assignment,” I say, rolling my eyes. “What are you implying? That I should be friends with Briggs? I thought you didn’t like him.”
“I don’t like his father. I haven’t made a decision about his son. But I do like seeing my daughter smile more.”
“That isn’t because of Briggs. It’s because I’m almost done with high school. I’m counting the days until it’s over.”
“It’s not just that. There’s something else behind that smile.”
“So what’s going on with you and Susan?” I ask, changing the subject. I don’t want to talk about Briggs, and he is not the reason I’m smiling more. I don’t even think I am. My dad probably just said that to see if I’d admit that I have feelings for Briggs.
“I was hoping to talk about that later,” my dad says.
“Talk about what?”
“Let’s finish up. We’ll talk when we get home.”
“I don’t want to wait. Just tell me now.”
He pauses. “I’d like to give Susan a key to the house.”
“Our house?”
“Yes. I know we won’t have it for much longer, but there are times when I’m late getting home from work and she’s stuck waiting outside.”
“I can let her in.”
“You’re not always home when she’s there. Ella, if this makes you uncomfortable, I won’t do it. It’s just that she gave me a key to her place and I feel like it’s time she had a key for ours.”
“Do you really want her to be alone at our house? What if she takes something?”
He smiles. “She works at the police department. I think we can trust her not to steal from us.”
I try to think if there’s anything she could find that would link me to the hit-and-run, but I can’t come up with anything. Even if there was something, it’d be in my room, which she wouldn’t be going into.
“I’m okay with it,” I say.
“Good. I’ll give it to her tonight. She’s going to stop over after work.”
“How’s the case coming? Is she getting closer to catching the person?”
“I think so. She has someone working on the video from the gas station camera. As it is now, it’s too blurry to see the faces of the people who were making the call at the pay phone, but apparently they can fix it to make it clearer.”
“I didn’t know they could do that,” I say, suddenly panicking. If they fix that video, Susan will see it’s me standing by the pay phone, and Briggs making the call.
“They can do all sorts of things,” my dad says, taking the broom from me.
“Dad, I can do that,” I say as I watch him sweep.
“I’ll do it,” he says, moving to a new section. “Why didn’t you tell me this hurt your back?”
“Because then you wouldn’t let me work. It’s not that bad. I just get sore after sweeping for hours. The sidewalks here go on forever, and then I have to sweep the porch and the patio and the stones by the garden.”
“I’ll finish this up. You go ahead and go home.”
“Dad, I’m fine. Just let me do it.”
“I’ll see you at home.”
Why did Briggs have to tell my dad what I said about my back? Now my dad will hire someone to help me, or maybe not let me work here at all.
Briggs shouldn’t have shown up here. He’s determined to prove to me he didn’t make that call to Calvin, and I think I believe him, but it doesn’t matter if he’s still determined to be valedictorian.
I’m not giving it up, no matter how much he pressures me, so what’s he going to do? How’s he going to get what he wants?