Page 53 of Unwritten Rules

?Chapter 15

Fallon

Istared through theback window into the beautiful oasis that had been carefully curated for us by the not-so-hot construction crew that came in over the past weekend. Kelly was disgruntled there weren’t more hotties available to work with their shirts off. Despite the lack of eye candy, I was enamored with our newly installed hot tub and almost completed natural pool.

“These guys really knocked it out of the park over the weekend.” I took a sip of my hot coffee, snuggled in my favorite new pink robe.

Kelly stepped up beside me in her own blue robe. “The waterfall by the pool is going to be epic.”

“It’ll be especially great for whoever lives here next.” A silent lament that not all good things last. School wouldn’t last forever, and Kelly would move on eventually.

She sighed longingly. “Can we just stay here for, like, ever? No men, just us besties until the end of time?”

“I wish,” I scoffed. “I bet Evans would drag me out of here kicking and screaming to the concrete jungle of New York. You might want to look into getting a cat.”

I turned my attention to my bag that I packed my laptop and books into, hating that my future felt so...predetermined. By a bunch of men in a boardroom. By my mother. If she was still alive, would I still be facing the same future?

I shoved off the what ifs. She wasn’t here anymore. She left it all to me.

As for the boardroom suits, they were just doing their jobs. All very corporate, but still their jobs. Everyone had a family to feed.

The meeting on Sunday morning went far too quickly. My path to leadership was laid out very bluntly–no mention of the shenanigans that Sylvia got up to when I was under her care, but I figured that was a conversation for a different time. I was to be taking on meetings, listening to my bodyguard, and expecting someone to ‘drop in’ to deliver paperwork and catch me up to speed.

The drop ins were also their way of micromanaging me and ensuring I wasn’t acting out of line.

The meeting also wasn’tjusta meeting. It was an intervention.

“Remember how those stuffy men told me I needed to change my major to something moreappropriatefor an up-and-coming CEO?”

She didn’t break her gaze away from the hot tub. “Yeah, why?”

“Well, I need to go get dressed and get to campus so I can lament my freedom of choice in my life with my advisor.” I set my cup down on the counter and threw my robe off and onto the couch. “I am going to need some serious ice cream therapy after today.”

Kelly mimicked my movements dutifully, “I am coming with you. Homework be damned!”

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The student centerwas one of the largest buildings on campus, making one of those warehouse stores look like a boutique experience—minus the warehouse vibe. It spanned into more wings than I cared to keep track of, and the map for this place was so large you’d need a guided tour each time you came in. The wealthy loved two things: their architecture and their unnecessarily large buildings.

It was built to look elegant to impress the parents paying for it and the scholarship kids that attended here. The rest of us probably didn’t care as much. The neutrally bland color scheme saidI have money and no personality.With an entrance that looked like Grand Central Station, I could have easily mistaken this place for an actual train station.

My stop?

Academic advising.

I smiled awkwardly at the receptionist who looked like she didn’t care about her job. She was half scrolling through social media and half looking at me expecting an answer. “I have an appointment with my advisor, Mrs. Matthews.”

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