Page 126 of Old Money
I knew they’d talked. He had that look—like he was going to set the place on fire.
Again, I assumed it was Jamie he’d seen by the cloakroom. Jamie was the one working there.
I stand still and force myself to think in slow, deliberate thoughts: it could’ve been anyone. There were tons of other Wheaton kids there—freshman, seniors, lower-school students. Just because it wasn’t Jamie does not mean it washim. I can’t jump to conclusions like this anymore. I don’t know anything.
My relief is shallow and short-lived. It lasts only until I openthe door and see him sitting there, on the bench in the hallway, by himself.
My brother smiles at me, tears standing in his eyes. He raises a hand.
“Hey, Alice,” he says, his voice high and watery. “I need to tell you something.”
Chapter Fifty-Seven
He followed us. He saw us leave the party—Caitlin with her chin held high, pissed at her mother for scolding her in front of everyone, and me, trotting along beside her. He’d been keeping tabs on me since dinner, watching us at our separate table, on the other side of the room. He’d been curious at first, then concerned by the way Caitlin kept whispering to me—suddenly treating me more like a friend than a little cousin. It bothered him.
“She had this hold on you,” says Theo. “You were obsessed with her.”
As if it had been Caitlin’s fault for being an older, beautiful, confident girl.
He hadn’t realized I’d been drinking until the dancing started. He watched Caitlin and I spinning each other around, doing goofy dance moves and laughing loudly. He’d never seen me behave like that—certainly not at the club—and as more partygoers took notice, he started to get nervous.
“I was pissed off too. It was embarrassing, you know? We were guests and you—because ofher, you were making an ass of yourself, in front of all those people. And Uncle Greg too—you know how I was back then. He was the closest thing I had to a dad, and I thought,Shit, they’ll never invite us again. I just imagined losing all that because you’d made this big, stupid scene,and I knew it wasn’t your fault. She was playing with you like a toy—dressing you up like that, making you perform for her, getting you drunk for the fun of it.”
Then Barbara intervened, and Theo watched the tense exchange. He been relieved when Caitlin stormed off, but then he saw she’d taken me with her. He kept his distance, following just close enough to see us, but not close enough to hear or to be heard. He watched us leave the clubhouse, alarmed to see us heading for the rear path. It was dark. I’d been drinking and so had she. What if we went to the pool? He’d slipped out the north exit and waited in the shadowed doorway, craning to see the bottom of the path. He just wanted to make sure we stayed on the grass—that we didn’t wander too far. Then he saw Caitlin jogging toward the pool gate, laughing and waving for me to follow.
“I got really scared then. The way you were walking...”
He took off after us, barely registering the floodlight clicking on behind him. He hurried down the side of the hill, nearly running as he reached the bottom, and quickly ducked into the evergreens beside the pool. From there, he watched with mounting panic as Caitlin hitched up the hem of her dress and stepped into the water. She stood on the top step, up to her ankles, and she was saying something to me. He couldn’t make out all the words, but her voice was loud and insistent. She was telling me to come in too.
“And then she fuckin’ did it. I couldn’t believe it,” Theo recalls, staring into his open palms. “I was waiting there in case you slipped or something. But she actuallypushedyou in.”
“What? No.” I shake my head. “No, Theo, that’s not what happened.”
He looks at me, his forehead knotted, his eyes wide and desperate.
“I fell in,” I continue. “She was getting out of the water, and she slipped on the step. I reached out to grab her and just lost my balance.”
Theo turns his head sideways, his eyes still on me. He shakes his head.
“Alice,” he scoffs. “Look, I know you think she was this goddess who could do no wrong, but—that’s just not what happened. Maybe she pretended to slip, I don’t know. But shegrabbedyou. She pulled you forward, and then—” He leans back and mimes a hard shove. “She pushed. In fact, I think she pushed hard, to make sure you hit the water and not the banister or the edge of the pool. I thought about that a lot after.”
“You did?”
“Oh God, constantly. For years. I kept trying to convince myself that maybe shehadwanted to hurt you. And then it wouldn’t be as bad, what I—”
Theo cuts himself off, squeezing his eyes shut and shaking off the image.
“But I knew it was a prank—just the kind of mean prank she’d do.” He sighs a ragged sigh. “But youcouldhave been really hurt, you know? And in that moment, I thought you were.”
Theo had waited only a second as I thrashed under the water. Then he fumbled out of the thicket, clumsy with fear and rage. He tried to run, but the grass was slick beneath his dress shoes, forcing him to walk, which only made him angrier. He was going to ream her out. He’d make sure I was okay first, but then he was going to let her fucking have it. She thought she could do whatever she wanted, didn’t she? She was like every other spoiled, snotty, upper-school bitch, acting like she was better than everyone just because she had big tits and blond hair and old money. And the sick part was that no one ever stopped her. Everyone fucking worshipped her, just like they worshipped Patrick—only she didn’t even have the excuse of a famous family. She was just a high and mighty cunt who had it coming to her, andhewas gonna be the one who gave it to her.
I was gone by the time he got to the pool—already walkingup the rear path back to the clubhouse. It didn’t matter. He took one glance in my direction, and then I was all but forgotten. He exploded at Caitlin: Who the fuck did she think she was? What sick game was she playing? How about she pick on someone her own size?
Caitlin had looked at him, confused but not frightened. Theo lunged at her, and only then did she rear back with a surprised shriek. He grabbed her wrists, not knowing why, and held on as she tried to pull away. They lurched and shuffled in the awkward pose, Theo’s panic rising now, in tandem with his rage. He shouted in Caitlin’s face—called her a nasty bitch, in a growling voice he didn’t know he had in him. She yelped again, then twisted away and broke free.
She’d stood there, bewildered, catching her breath, and Theo thought it was over—this fight, whatever it was. Caitlin’s mouth began to tremble, and Theo waited for the tears. But then, she laughed. It was breathy and nervous at first, then she was properly giggling. And then, seeing the wide-eyed shock on Theo’s face, she laughed and pointed. She laughed so hard her eyes shut and she bent forward. And in that moment, Theo, for the first time in his life, had balled his fist and stepped forward and slammed it into the side of Caitlin’s face.
She’d stumbled back, stunned silent. It was a hard punch, but a clumsy one. She was hurt, but not terribly—just a red mark on her temple and the top of her cheekbone. But she was incensed. She stood up straight and marched toward him, shouting at him, hurling expletives. Theo felt himself react, surprised by his own swinging limbs. He had the strangely lucid thought that they were two angry animals—all reflex and survival instinct—and then he wasn’t thinking at all. He wasn’t even angry anymore; he was just shoving and snarling and hitting as hard as he could. He didn’t even hear the sound of her skull on the cement. He didn’t realize what he’d done—what he was still doing—until he saw the blood.
