Charity Case (Kings of Knightswood Academy Book 1)

by Ivy Clyde

  “Emily,” I replied, finding it strange he would ask about her name before anything else.

  “Stay there,” he said, getting back to his feet.

  He went away to a corner of the room and opened a drawer. I snuck a glance at Gabrielle. He shrugged, seemingly not understanding what his grandfather was up to.

  Peter came back to the couch with a flat tin box in his hands. From the rust stains on it, I guessed it to be an old possession. Taking a seat, he set the box on the coffee table and opened it.

  “Come here, Paris,” he said.

  I moved forward, reaching the other end of the low glass table. He took out a stack of old photographs and gave them to me. “Do you recognize the girl in them?”

  Straightening up, I glanced down at the photos in my hands. Gabrielle moved beside me and looked down at them too.

  A gasp escaped me as I recognized my mother in the photographs. She was about my age in them, wearing the Knightswood Academy uniform. Her auburn hair was even longer than mine, reaching down to her waist. A bright smile lit up her face as she stared into the camera, her arms wrapped around two smiling boys beside her.

  Gabrielle took the photo from my hand, staring at it while I checked the other five. My mom was in all of them.

  “How do you have these, Mr. Romano?” I asked, looking into the weathered face of Gabrielle’s grandfather.

  “Do you recognize her?”

  “Of course! She’s my mom!”

  Tears glittered in the old man’s eyes.

  “Gramps,” said Gabrielle, moving forward to sit beside his grandfather. “What’s the matter?”

  He shook his head, dabbing at his leaking eyes with a handkerchief. “I’ve finally found Emily.”

  “How did you know my mom?” My voice shook from trying to hold my emotions in control. “Who are these boys with her?” I asked, showing him the photographs. In all these years, mom insisted she didn’t have a single photo from her old life. Every photo in our home was from a time after I was born.

  “One of the boys in the pictures is my son. He passed away in the same accident that took away Gabrielle’s parents.”

  I glanced at Gabrielle who looked back at the photograph in his hand.

  “Gabrielle’s uncle went to Knightswood Academy too?” I asked.

  He nodded, beckoning me with his hand to sit beside him on the sofa.

  “You have to take me to meet Emily,” he said. “We have to go right now. That child’s been through far too much. I can’t believe I finally found her. And you, Paris.”

  “Grandfather,” said Gabrielle in a grim voice. “You have to calm down.”

  The old man shook his head. “I’ve waited far too long. I must see her now.”

  “Gramps, Emily Johnson is dead,” he said in a grim, cold voice. “Please calm down before you say or do something that hurts Paris.”

  “Oh.” Peter gazed at me with a grief-stricken expression. “She’s dead? What happened to her?”

  “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to,” added Gabrielle.

  “It’s fine,” I said, looking down at a photograph of Mom in polo gear, sitting atop a tall horse. All these years, I’d only seen the soft and humble side of her. She was my mother, the neighborhood baker…I could never imagine her looking so beautiful and commanding as in the photograph.

  I glanced up at Peter Romano’s grief-stricken face. He seemed to know what happened before I was born. He held the key to her life before I appeared in her life.

  “Mom died in a fire a few months ago,” I said in a low voice. “We lived in Kensington Row where she ran a small bakery. That’s been our life ever since I could walk and talk.”

  “Emily lived in Philadelphia?” asked Peter, his eyes widening in surprise. “I searched for her all over the country but she chose to stay closest to home?” He shook his head. A fond smile spread over his lips as he brushed a hand over his eyes. “Your mother was always too smart.”

  “Please tell me about her,” I said, my voice pleading. “She spoke of her days at the academy but never much about her friends. Did you know my father, Mr. Romano?”

  A strange look came over him as he shook his head. “I’m sorry, Paris. Back then, I didn’t even know she was pregnant.” He took a long breath before continuing. “Emily was very close to James. She would often come here with him. She was his only friend.” He smiled and shook his head. “Don’t think of my James as your father, though. Honestly, I would have preferred if she chose to be with him but Emily had other friends too. She was kind, beautiful and smart. Back then, every boy at Knightswood was in love with Emily Johnson, including James.”

  “So, it could have been anyone,” I said in a disappointed voice. Even Clara wasn’t sure who my father was. Was she so popular that no one could guess who my father was? Or was I the product of a one-night stand with a random guy? I shook my head, not wanting to believe it.

  “If your father didn’t manage to find you in all these years, then he deserves neither you nor your mother,” said Peter in an aggravated tone.

  “Mom didn’t talk much about him either.”

  “Forget about him,” said Peter, his large, wrinkly hand covering mine. “Tell me how Emily lived all these years. I haven’t known of her whereabouts since the day before her graduation when she suddenly decided to run away.”

  Over the next few hours, I told Peter everything about our lives. Gabrielle sat with his grandfather, listening to me narrate the life I’d never get back. They were both patient and kind, letting me halt in between if it got too difficult to talk.

  By the end of it all, I’d cried a lot but my heart felt several times lighter too. Not wanting to upset Zoya or Clara, I never let myself think about mom and feel the crushing grief that accompanied those thoughts. But things were different with Gabrielle and his grandfather. They were no strangers to grief and loss.

  In turn, Peter told me about Mom’s academy days. She’d received a scholarship to study at Knightswood when she was fifteen. Within the four years she spent there, Mom became the top student at school along with being valedictorian and a full scholarship to study at Stanford. A part of me was fascinated. Mom was always strong but I had no idea she was that brilliant.

  Sadness infused my short-lived fascination with her past. Mom gave it all up to run away on the day before graduation. Was that the night she found out she was pregnant with me? Did my arrival destroy the amazing life she could’ve had?

  “Don’t dwell on the past,” said Peter as I sat there, lost in my thoughts. “Let’s go have some food. After that, we’ll visit Emily.”

  “What?”

  “We should all visit her,” said Peter.

  I swallowed. Could I face standing before her grave?

  “It will get easier with time,” said Peter, placing a hand on my shoulder. “After a while, you’ll realize she’s always been beside you. And inside you. That she’s never really left your side.”

  I nodded, looking at my knees, wanting to believe it desperately.

  “Come on, sweetheart,” said Peter kindly, taking my hand and slowly leading me out of the room. “Let’s have some lunch and then we’ll go see Emily.” Gabrielle followed after us.

  Peter’s house was huge, an old-fashioned mansion from the early seventies set in the middle of the Pennsylvanian hills and woods. If possible, it was grander than the Davenport residence.

  A valet served us an amazing lunch of Italian dishes, brimming with flavor and heartiness. Peter made sure both Gabrielle and I ate third helpings of everything on the table, acting very much like a guardian grandfather.

  If I’d given up on staying at Knightswood Academy, I would have never met Peter Romano. Hard as it had been over the past few months with all the bullying and torturing, some deep intuition within me strengthened my resolve to stay at the academy. No matter how much they hurt me, I had to stay and graduate. I had to grab that shiny future my mom gave up for me.

&nb
sp; After lunch, both Gabrielle and I followed Peter inside one of his tinted Rolls Royce cars. I hadn’t visited Mom’s grave before but Peter seemed to know the exact cemetery she was buried in. His army of black suits was amazingly resourceful, giving him the location of my Mom’s grave within a few hours.

  On the way, Peter stopped at a florist. He chose a beautiful a wreath of white lilies while Gabrielle ordered a bouquet of pink tiger lilies, interspersed with white roses.

  “I get the same one for my parents,” he explained in a low voice.

  It gave me the idea to get a bouquet of pink lilies. Mom used to love them.

  Once we’d made our purchases, we went back to sit inside the spacious interiors of the luxury car. Two men in suits drove us towards the church close to Clara’s home where Mom’s funeral services had taken place.

  A weak afternoon sun shone overhead as we climbed out of the car.

  “This way, sir,” said one of the black suits.

  The funeral ground was located on a low hill behind the church. Large, bare trees lined the edges of the plot. Their leaves had fallen by now but it would look beautiful in summer.

  We were led to the exact spot where Mom’s grave stood.

  A kind of peace settled inside me as I realized she was resting beneath the grassy earth, that some part of her still remained behind even when the fire consumed most of her. There were remnants of withered flowers on the grave, telling me that others had come to visit her. It could have been Clara or Aunty Cathy, but people came to pay respect to her. She hadn’t been lonely or forgotten.

  Peter and Gabrielle placed the flowers before Mom’s grave and stepped back.

  “We’ll wait for you,” said Peter, giving me a gentle hug before walking off with his grandson. Gabrielle turned back to glance at me. I gave a nod, silently telling him I’d be okay.

  Once they left, I began cleaning up the area near the grave. It was clumsy as I used my hands to get rid of dried leaves and flowers petals. Once it was clean, I laid the bouquet of pink lilies on it.

  “Hey, Mom,” I said in a low whisper like I was waking her from a nap. “I’m sorry it took so long to come and visit you but believe me, not a single day has passed where I didn’t think of you.” I paused, gathering the thoughts that had been left unsaid in my mind. “There’s so much you never told me about your past. Were you protecting me? Did you think I’ll feel guilty that you had to give up so much just to bring me up? I do feel guilty, Mom.”

  I cried and sniffled, saying everything I’d kept bottled up in my chest.

  I told her about the people who cared for me after she left, asking she blessed them. I told her about Liam, Gabrielle, and Nikolai, the three boys who left me hot and cold every time I was with them. After a moment of hesitation, I also spoke of those who bullied me.

  I stayed there for a long time, talking to her like she was really there, listening to me.

  The peace that came with crying so much and letting out every unspoken thought was oddly calming. Part of me felt like I could curl up near my mom’s gravestone and just sleep.

  As the sun dipped below the horizon and the sky began turning a shade of gold, I walked back to the cemetery’s exit gates. Peter and Gabrielle waited for me outside their car.

  Gabrielle ran towards me as soon as he spotted me.

  “Are you okay, Paris?” he asked, his sea-green eyes raking me from head to foot.

  “Yeah,” I said with a gentle smile. “I’m sorry to keep you both waiting. You must be tired, Grandpa Peter.”

  Peter chuckled. “Did Emily tell you to call me that?”

  “Maybe,” I teased back.

  “Come along now,” he said, gesturing towards the car. “I need to get you kids back home. And this old man needs his nap.”

  25

  Paris

  Ruben sent me the winter uniform of the academy on Sunday along with a box of his usual cookies and cakes. For winter, girls wore thigh-length gray coats trimmed with a red plaid border at the hem and sleeves. Mine fit me perfectly and was amazingly warm.

  With the arrival of November, the air turned cold. The academy blazers would be no match for the weather once it started snowing.

  A smile lingered on my lips this morning as I studied and made notes for Organic Chemistry. After the day I spent with Gabrielle and his grandfather, my heart and mind felt much lighter, allowing me to focus better on my studying.

  Both Lucas and Zoya went home yesterday afternoon. I wanted to tell Zoya everything about the things I learned about Mom but it had to wait until tomorrow. Not letting it bother me, I stayed focused on my assignments.

  Monday’s Physics class held a surprise for all the students.

  I was ready for Dr. Lincoln’s lecture with my laptop open with all the class slides, ready to take down notes on a separate document. He entered the classroom as usual but instead of starting with the day’s planned lesson, he started talking about the project that would weigh in 40% of our overall scores this year and the next.

  “I will sort you into groups of two. Both will be required to work equally towards the project.”

  I glanced at Lucas who sat a few rows behind me. He gave me a thumbs-up.

  “I have selected your partners based on your grades through assignments and quizzes. This will ensure both parties to be on equal footing,” said Dr. Lincoln, dampening my excitement of teaming up with Lucas. “Here’s the list.” He pressed a key on his laptop and the projector sprang to life.

  The excel sheet showed my name at the top. However, my joy at being top of class faded away as I saw the name beside mine. Liam Davenport. I blinked, hoping my eyes mistook it.

  A groan escaped me. I had really been paired with Liam Davenport.

  My gaze searched for him from my vantage in the first row. He sat a few seats behind me with Gabrielle. Our gazes met briefly before I turned my attention to Dr. Lincoln.

  “This is the list of topics you can choose from,” said Dr. Lincoln. “It ranges from mechanics to electrodynamics. You will be expected to study and research things that are far beyond the regular syllabus of public schools in the country. Be prepared to work hard.”

  “What if two groups choose the same project?” asked a girl.

  Dr. Lincoln shook his head. “There will be no repetition. Once a team has chosen a topic, I will cancel it out. It will be on the first-come-first-serve basis.”

  I perused the list of topics on the board before me. There were plenty of topics related to integrating both wind and solar energies to the existing electrical grid. They were the ones that excited me most but I worried Liam might not be interested in them at all. Just the prospect of talking and spending time with him had my stomach in a knot.

  No matter how much I rebelled against him, Liam rarely showed me his true feelings. He made sure to keep up his walls around me, making him seem like an asshole. While I knew there was more to him than he let on, it would make communication between us difficult. I wish I could have paired off with someone like Lucas or Gabrielle.

  I let my gaze shift to the right to check the list of groups again. Lucas had been put into a team with Gabrielle. A twinge of jealousy passed through me. They would make an amazing team.

  “Talk to your partner over the week and decide on which project you’d like to work on,” said Dr. Lincoln. “I want you to make the selection through the school portal.”

  A buzz started in the classroom as people started talking amongst themselves.

  “I will leave ten minutes before the bell today,” announced Dr. Lincoln loudly over the noise. “You can talk to your project partners then. For now, we focus on the second law of thermodynamics.”

  The class fell silent as Dr. Lincoln promptly started the lesson, taking away all our attention from the impending project that would eventually account to 40% of our final grades next year. My mind was churning with the consequences of Liam being difficult and how it would affect my grades.

  I struggled to kee
p up, taking notes the best I could but my mind kept straying to the project. Maybe we could swap partners? I would happily do it with Lucas and Liam would definitely be fine partnering with Gabrielle.

  When the lesson came to an end, Dr. Lincoln cleared his throat loudly. “There are other classes going on, so don’t be noisy.” Gathering his things, he walked out of the room.

  Next moment, I heard the scrape of wood against marble. Turning to my right, I found Liam in the next seat to me. His beautiful azure eyes were gazing at me with intensity.

  “Hi,” I blurted out. We hadn’t really talked after the incident at his birthday party. It had been too embarrassing after that. The only communication between us since then had been polite nods and waves.

  “Which area of Physics are you confident in?” he asked without preamble.

  “I like both mechanics and electrodynamics,” I answered. My heart throbbed as I met his gaze. “I would love to do something related to wind energy, especially the projects that deal with integrating it to our existing power systems.”

  Liam blinked. His shoulders relaxed as a slow smile blossomed over his luscious lips. “That’s something I am interested in as well. That’s the direction I want to lead the company in.”

  “What company?”

  “The Davenport Corporation,” he said with a slight frown. “I thought you knew.”

  I shook my head, feeling completely awed. “I had no idea you were the Davenports.”

  He stared at me as he scoffed. “You had no idea?”

  “I never had a conversation about what your family did. I assumed it was old family money.”

  He shook his head as a slow smile came on his lips. He smiled at me so rarely that for a moment, I was mesmerized by the effect it had on his beauty.

  “It is very old money,” said Liam. “My family came into fortune since the times of the first railroad. As time passed, we ventured onto steelworks, gas and petroleum works, and other related subsidiaries. When my time comes, I want to venture into sustainable energy solutions.”