Page 26 of Ruined
CHAPTER 7
Haley
At the academy, Tina’s bun looked rounder than usual, like you could break it off of the top of her head, throw it down the hallway, and it would bounce back to you. Her facial expression when she saw me was something between a forced smile and a sneer. That wasn’t unusual. At first, I didn’t think anything of it.
I started signing into the visitor chart.
“Ms. Ramsey,” Tina said. “I’m afraid there’s been a change to the tuition fees.”
I tilted my head but still continued signing in. Get on with it, Tina. “Yes?”
“I’m afraid we’ve had to double the fees.”
Double? I finished the chart and handed it back to her. “So a ten percent increase instead of the usual five?”
“No, ma’am. Double the total cost.”
I blinked. “That would put it at over six digits a year.”
“Yes, I know, ma’am.” What was this ‘ma’am’ talk? She hadn’t called me ‘ma’am’ since I had first taken over Nora’s tuition payments. “If you cannot afford the payments, you can try applying for the annual scholarship next year, but I’m afraid we would have to put a hold on her admission until you’re able to afford it.”
It was a slap in the face. “You’re kidding me.”
“It’s a recent development.”
I tried to think over all of the different schools in the wider metropolitan area of Sage City. Even if I had to travel a couple of hours to visit her, I didn’t mind, as long as Nora was kept safe.
But the best part of Sage and Ivy Preparatory Academy wasn’t that it was close to where I lived, but that they kept privacy for their students higher than most other qualities, only second to education. Something to do with the lives of the wealthy. Nora and I weren’t rich by any means, but I needed her to be safe. Dahlia could never find out about her.
“Why?” I asked. Tina tilted her head. “It’s in the middle of the semester. Why increase now?”
“When certain developments occur, the headmaster is forced to make changes as he sees fit.”
“Developments?” Tina gave a tight shrug of her shoulders. “Tell me. What developments? If I’m going to be paying sixty thousand a semester, I deserve to know why.”
She leaned backward, away from me. Her upper lip curled. “I’m afraid someone told the headmaster about your profession.”
“My profession?”
The wandering teachers and students turned to look at us. Tina shushed me. “The headmaster simply can’t have someone who works at what is rumored to be a brothel associated with the academy,” she whispered. “But the extra fees are a worthy compromise.”
I concentrated on leveling my breathing and tone before I spoke. I would have to tread lightly here. “It’s not a brothel. It’s an entertainment club. Servers aren’t allowed to have—”
“Ms. Ramsey, we will not have this discussion about what your profession is and isn’t. The headmaster wanted to expel Nora, but a few of the teachers convinced him that she should stay. She’s very bright, and we would hate to lose her in our student body. But these are the conditions.”
As if I should be thankful. Like it was still an opportunity Nora couldn’t afford to lose.
Because it was.
“Am I—” then I paused. It wasn’t about me. “Is Nora the only one with the tuition increase?”
“Next year, we’ll be adding ten percent to the rest.”
We only had three years left. But at this rate, I would have to ask for another loan from Dahlia, unless I figured out a way to pay it off now.
“Who told you about the Dahlia District?” I asked.
“I’m not at liberty to say,” she said.Lucas. That smug bastard was screwing with me. Maybe this was part of his plan to make me so desperate for money that I’d happilygivehim my virginity.
