Chapter 15
Jason drove to Caitlin’s apartment building the next day. He had a terrible time sleeping the night before. All he could see was the hurt in her eyes, and he felt awful for causing her pain. He was still pissed off that Caitlin had a boyfriend, and when he met her at Lydia’s house, he wasn’t prepared to face her. She appeared so happy, and some petty part of him wanted to burst her bubble. Even though he was no longer interested in his ex, he allowed her to fawn over him. He did it because it obviously disturbed Caitlin. By the time he left Lydia’s house, the guilt gnawed at him, and he wanted to apologize to Caitlin. Unfortunately, it was too late to visit her at her apartment. It would’ve been much easier to call her except for some reason he never got her number, so he had to wait and see her the next day.
After he parked at the visitor’s lot, he went upstairs and stood in front of her door. He had no idea how he was going to defend his actions. All he knew was that he needed to speak to her, and perhaps take things back to how they were. Taking a deep breath, he knocked on the wooden panel.
“Aloha,” he said when the door opened.
But it wasn’t Caitlin. It was her roommate, Jessie.
“She’s not here,” she said, her voice cool. Jason shifted uncomfortably on his feet. It seemed that her friend had already heard about his callous behavior.
“There’s something I need to know. And maybe I can ask you?” he said.
When his question was met with silence, he decided to forge ahead anyway. “What’s her problem with me?”
“I don’t know what you mean,” Jessie said, folding her arms over her chest.
Jason gave her a pained look. She was going to make him explain himself. “I keep getting mixed messages from her. One day she’s fine with me, and then the next day she’s not. So what’s the deal?”
“She has a lot of stress,” her friend said defensively. “Since she has to pay for everything on her own, she’s under enormous financial strain.”
“Couldn’t her boyfriend help her?” he asked. “He has that nice fancy car, so he probably has the money to get her out of her financial straits.”
“Her boyfriend?” she frowned. “What are you talking about? Caitlin doesn’t have a boyfriend.”
“I’m pretty sure she does. I saw him pick her up from school in his Maserati the other day.”
“You’re talking about Nate,” she said, understanding entering her eyes. “He’s my boyfriend. She had to sell her Jeep, so she needed a ride home.”
“She sold her Jeep?” he asked, perplexed. “Why would she do that?”
“You don’t get it, do you?” she said, the corners of her lips turning down. “She has to help out her grandparents, pay the rent, and get something called food. Like everyone, she needs money to live, and she thought that by enrolling in the program she would get the job at Signatures and improve her chances of bettering her life.”
“She enrolled just to get the job?”
“That’s right,” Jessie said. “Nate offered to lend her some money to help pay her school fees, but she’s too proud to take the loan. Caitlin likes to do things the hard way, and doesn’t want handouts, or anything resembling charity.” She blew out a rush of air from her lungs.
“She won’t accept help even if it’s from a friend?”
“She just wants to do things on her own terms.” Jessie shrugged.
Jason scribbled his number on a piece of paper and handed it to Jessie before he turned to leave. “You can tell her I dropped by.”
As he made his way to his car, he became aware that there was so much he didn’t know about Caitlin. Maybe he did take things for granted, and from her perspective, it appeared that he had an unfair number of advantages.
Throughout the rest of the weekend, Jessie’s revelation continued to occupy his mind. There was no question about it. He was a selfish jackass. Since growing up, he had few cares, and anything he wanted, he had at his disposal. With that kind of privilege, it was hard to see how others lived. He never even considered how other folks paid for their food, much less their schooling.
More than once he found himself wanting to grab his keys from the kitchen counter, and drive over to Caitlin’s place. In his moment of insanity, he didn’t care how late it was. He wanted to force himself into her apartment and demand that she listen to him. But somehow through all the pacing he did, he managed to get a hold of his senses and remain in his condo. An act like that was sure to land him in jail and incur the wrath of his father. Since he had dutifully gone to school and done his work, his father hadn’t bothered with him. Ideally, he wanted to keep it this way.
Throwing himself on the couch, he stared at the ceiling as the TV blared in the background. It would’ve been easy to go out with his friends, get stupid-drunk, and forget his troubles. But he knew that once he sobered up again, he would remember everything with crystal clarity. He would see the hurt on Caitlin’s angelic face and know that he was responsible for her suffering.
His thoughts became jarred when the phone rang. Reaching over to the coffee table, he picked up the cordless phone. Was it Caitlin? Did Jessie explain to her that he’d come around, and was she now willing to talk with him? Not bothering to look at the Caller ID before picking up, he quickly answered the call.
“Hey, brah, you coming to the club?” his friend Aaron asked on the other end.
Disappointment slammed into his gut. “Nah, I’m not feeling up to partying tonight,” he said, which was the truth.
“You’re joking, right?” his friend said, his voice filled with disbelief. “You must be on your deathbed because I’ve never known you to cancel out on clubbing.”
“Yeah, well clubbing isn’t everything,” he said.
Aaron gasped in mock horror. “I never thought I’d hear that coming out of your mouth.”
“Yeah, okay,” Jason said, letting out a chuckle. “You guys go and party without me.”
Aaron was silent for a moment. “All joking aside, are you all right, brah?”
“I’m good. There’s just a lot on my mind with school and stuff,” he finished lamely.
“Well, if you need me, you know where I am.”
Jason ended the call, and stared at the TV monitor, the sound of canned laughter echoing in the room. Picking up the remote, he shut off the TV. He had too much to think about, and he didn’t know how he would ever fall asleep.
***
When Jason woke up on Monday morning, the perfect solution appeared to him, and he almost laughed at the simplicity of it. All he needed to do was to help Caitlin get her dream job.
After he grabbed a small breakfast, he hopped into his car and went to school much earlier than usual. As he entered the administrative office, he noticed that three students were ahead of him. Jason started to move past them to speak to the secretary, but then he suddenly changed his mind. He didn’t anticipate that it would take too long just to wait for his turn. With this in mind, he went to the end of the line.
While it was still morning, the warmth had already settled inside the school, and the fans were spinning at full blast. The window in the office was open, and he could hear the distant voices of students arriving at the school.
The two people ahead of him had already left, but the final person in front of him was taking his sweet time. He shifted restlessly on his feet and glanced over at the clock.
“Man, hopefully we won’t be here all morning,” he muttered to the student who had come to stand behind him.
The girl let out a small giggle. “The lineup isn’t that bad.”
But she was wrong. The clock seemed to move at an excruciatingly slow pace, and when it was his turn, he breathed a big sigh of relief.
As he walked to the counter, the secretary shook her head in dismay, and she began to mutter to herself, “Another student reporting a missing knife kit. I don’t know why —”
“The school needs to invest in a better security system,” Jason said, cutting her off.
“Can I help you?” she asked, frowning slightly when she looked up from her papers.
“I need to speak to Mr. Molowa,” he said.
“Mr. Molowa isn’t available to see you at the moment.” She glanced down at the papers again as if dismissing him. “You’ll need to make an appointment.”
“He’ll see me,” he said, his tone firm. “Tell him Jason Wekiu wants to speak to him.”
The woman seemed to sense the assurance in his voice, although there was doubt etched on her round face. She punched in the number. “I’ll have to see whether he’s free,” she said, reluctantly.
“There’s a Jason Wekiu to see you, sir.” Her brows furrowed slightly as she listened to the other person on the line. “Yes, sir. I’ll send him right in.” When she looked up at him again, there was puzzlement in her eyes. “He says he’ll see you now. He rarely sees students without an appointment.”
Jason pushed himself away from the counter and made his way to the director’s office.
“Jason,” Molowa said, showing the whites of his teeth when he saw him at the door. “What can I do for you so early in the morning?”
“I want a new deal,” he said.
His smile faded, and he leaned back in the chair. “Did you speak to Jordan James as promised?”
“I did.”
“And?”
“I have a tentative time and date set for a day after exams,” he said. “But first I want to amend the terms of our agreement.”
“Now why would you do that?” he asked as he folded his hands together, his voice calm but suspicious. “I’m not giving you any more than what you asked for.”
“I’m not asking for anything additional,” he said. “I just want the top ranking to go to Caitlin Moray. And I want her to get the job placement.”
“I see,” Molowa said, his eyes assessing Jason, trying to determine his level of desperation. “I fear that I don’t understand your motives. From our previous conversation, I remembered that you somehow lost your job and wanted it back. “
Molowa’s memory was keen, and Jason immediately recognized the game he played. If he wanted to change the terms, he needed the upper hand. Walking to his desk, he braced his hands on the messy surface. Leaning forward, he stared down at the smaller man. “If you’re not willing to make the change, then you can kiss your TV show goodbye. Right now you want the TV deal more than I want the job placement. It’s up to you.”
The director remained silent for a long while, pondering Jason’s words.
“I guess the deal’s off,” Jason said, turning to leave.
“Wait! Let’s not make any snap judgments here,” the director said, getting up from his chair. “I don’t want you to cancel the meeting. If it’s that important to you, I’ll see that Caitlin Moray gets the top ranking in the program.”
“Good.” He pivoted around to face the director again. “Just make sure that it’s believable. She has to think she earned the job on her own.”
As Jason said that, he felt guilt tugging at him but he immediately shook it off. As long as she didn’t know who helped her get the placement, then what was the harm? After all, he was only doing this to help advance her career. And since she would be too proud to accept his help, he had to get sneaky about it.
“All right, we’ll shake on the new agreement,” Molowa said finally, putting out his hand.
Jason grasped it. “Okay, now I need to know the recipes that will be included in the final practical.” If he knew beforehand what recipes she needed to study, then she would feel that she aced the exams.
“Yes, right.” Molowa picked up his glasses lying near his computer keyboard and put them on. Stacks of paper and folders sat on his desk. He lifted one binder after another until he finally picked one out from the untidy surface. He took a few minutes more to sift through the papers.
“Ah, here it is,” he said, finding the sheet of paper that he searched for. Scanning down the sheet, he then looked up at Jason. “These are the three recipes we decided on.”
“Good.” Jason quickly keyed the information into his phone. When he was done, he put it into his pocket. “I expect you’ll take care of all the necessary arrangements and make sure everything runs seamlessly,” he said. Then to ensure that he would follow through on the new promise, he added, “Of course, if you don’t, I’ll just assume that you’re no longer interested in doing the cooking show and will cancel the meeting with Jordan.”
The threat hung heavily in the air.
Jason could tell that the older man didn’t like the ultimatum. But if the director negated on his side, then the deal was off, and he could stay in his so-called hellhole.
“Don’t worry,” Molowa said bristling. He lifted his chin up a notch. “If you keep your end of the bargain, then I’ll keep mine.”