"It's fine, really. Eat as much as you like. I knew three people couldn't finish everything, so I kept the portions small for each dish."
Edison wasn't stupid, and he hated letting food go to waste.
The table was covered with dish after delicious dish. Claire pulled out her phone and snapped a picture, posting it on Facebook.
She had a huge list of friends-within minutes, the likes and comments were rolling in faster than she could count.
A call came in from Shirley. "Claire, where are you eating? Why didn't you invite me?"
"At Edison's place," Claire answered.
"What, is there some rule saying I'm not allowed at Edison's? I'm getting in the car right now!" Shirley never pretended to be a guest.
"I wouldn't mind you coming, but—”
Claire paused. She could already hear Patti's furious yelling in the background.
"Never mind, I can't go. My mom is calling for me," Shirley said, exasperated.
"Next time, you better invite me."
"I want to taste Edison's cooking myself."
"Oh! Did you hear what score Cindy got this time?”
Claire hadn't heard anyone mention it yet. She figured she'd find out soon, since everyone was headed back to school the next day.
"I don't know. What's up?" Claire asked, though she wasn't interested in Cindy's grades at all.
Whatever Cindy scored, it had nothing to do with Claire's life.
"Heard she did really badly-Octavia's livid. When my mom called Octavia to celebrate my grades, she casually asked about Cindy. Octavia wouldn't say a word."
"All she said was Cindy didn't do well and might need to repeat the year."
"I'm guessing she didn't get into college at all."
Patti, to be honest, had never expected that much from her own daughter. She was even ready for Shirley to just go straight into the workforce after high school.
But Shirley had done way better than anyone expected.
Both her parents had wired her ten
grand each as a reward, annet
were planning to throw her a huge
party to celebrate.
Patti had suggested that, if Cindy was having a party too, they could hold a joint bash for the two families.
But Cindy had crashed and burned, and Octavia shot down the idea without a second's hesitation.
Claire could imagine exactly what Octavia's expression looked like right now.
Those two cared more about saving face than anyone-Cindy's bad grades must have been a massive slap in the face.
No surprise, the atmosphere at the James household was far from peaceful right
now.
Cindy had woken early that morning, nerves on edge, knowing the results would be out that day.
After relentless pressure from Octavia, she finally logged in to see her scores.
She couldn't believe her own eyes; tears sprang up the instant she saw her results. But if it was tough for Cindy, it was torture for Octavia.
"How could your score be this low? Did they mess up your test grading?" Octavia fumed.
In Octavia's mind, even if her daughter didn't measure up to Claire, there was no way she'd crash so badly.
Maybe not Ivy League, but a regular college should've been the bare minimum.
Instead, reality had slapped her square across the face.
"I don't know..." Cindy was crying outright now. "Mom, I'm sorry."
Octavia used to feel her heart break watching her daughter cry. But now,
all
felt was an overwhelmin
irritation
"What happened to you? Before you went to Silverpeak, your grades were decent. Why do they keep getting worse?"
"Silverpeak International's tuition is
insane way higher than any normal
school They have the best teachers
inall of Apex."
"Plus, I hired tutors for you for every single subject. How did you manage to tank this badly?"
Octavia just couldn't make sense of it.
But the more she spoke, the harder Cindy sobbed.
By now, she was bawling so hard, you'd think it was Octavia who'd flunked the tests, instead of her.