Page 55 of The Ruling Class
Mission complete.
CHAPTER 35
Ivy picked me up after school, which I took to be a bad sign. Worse, she’d driven herself.
“Probation?” she said, the second I got in the car. “You’ve been at the school less than two weeks, and you’re already on probation?”
She started to pull out of the parking lot, and I hastily buckled my seat belt, remembering what Adam had said about her driving.
“What were you thinking?” she demanded.
Somehow,I was gathering intel on a political conspiracy you told me to stay away fromdidn’t slide right off the tongue.
“You know what’s going on right now, Tess. You know what I’m working on. Do you really think I have time to be dealing with some teenage discipline problem?”
That cut deeper than I would have expected. “I wasn’t trying to be a problem.”
“Can you at least tell me why?” Ivy’s voice was terse. “Is it because you feel like I’m ignoring you? Are you angry about the way I took care of Vivvie’s situation?”
“It wasn’t aboutyou.”
“I have been tryingso hard, Tess.” Ivy’s voice was softer now. “And I thought—” She cut herself off, then cut someone off in traffic. A horn blared behind us. “I thought we were doing okay. I thought you were starting to trust me. I thought …”
My eyes stung. I wasn’t sure if the tears were because she was acting like I’d crossed some uncrossable line or because a big part of me couldn’t helpwantingto get somewhere with Ivy,wantingthings to be like they used to be.
Wanting them to be better.
“Sorry if I’m complicating your life.” I stared out the windshield, my eyes on the road.It only hurts if you let it.I pushed back against the emotions building inside of me.
“Tessie,” Ivy said.
I stared down at my lap, willing myself not to care.It’s Tess.
Ivy’s grip tightened around the steering wheel. “Nothing is more important to me than you are.”
I felt like she’d slammed a knife into my gut. I pressed my palms flat against my stomach. I couldn’t do this. Not with her. We sank into silence like a drowning man sinks into water. Neither one of us could come up for air.
“I love you.” Ivy chose those three words to break the silence. “Whether you believe that or not, whether you even hear me saying it or not, I do. You’re my …”
Sister, I thought, the muscles in my throat clenching. For so long, that word had come tangled with meanings.
“You’re my family, Tess. And family isn’t something I have ever been good at. I wasn’t a good daughter. I haven’t been a goodgranddaughter. But I am trying to be the kind of sister you deserve.” Ivy pulled onto her street and slowed. “Consider yourself grounded.”
“Grounded?” I repeated incredulously.
Ivy pulled into the driveway. “Don’t plan on going anywhere for the next two weeks.” By the time she finished that sentence, her attention was clearly elsewhere. I followed her gaze to a dark-colored sedan across the street.
“Stay in the car,” she told me, unbuckling her seat belt.
A second later, she was standing in the driveway, and William Keyes was striding toward her, like this was his house and she was the visitor.
My hand went to the door handle.Ivy told me to stay in the car.I pulled the handle and cracked the door open.She never said I couldn’t listen from here.
William Keyes had the kind of voice that carried. “We need to talk.”
“You need to leave.” Ivy’s voice went up on the last word.
“I thought we’d reached an understanding. When the president came to you for your thoughts on Edmund Pierce, you were supposed to back him.”
