The Bet (Persaud Girl)

by Mott, Teisha

  “Well, I think…” Andie began, pulling the exit door of the lecture theatre open. She did not get to express what she thought. The thought dissipated when she saw Nathan Hansen leaning casually against the wall outside the SSLT.

  “Nathan!” Fern said. “You have class in here now?”

  “Actually, no,” Nathan replied. He was looking at Andie. “I was waiting on someone.”

  Andie blushed bright red, and studied her toes that were sticking out of the sandals she wore. Her toenails were painted blue. The same colour as Nathan’s shirt.

  “Hey Andie,” he said.

  “Hello,” Andie mumbled.

  Fern looked from Andie to Nathan and back to Andie. “I have class over by Chem/Phys lecture theatre.” She said. “I’d better run or I’ll be late.”

  She took off, and caught up with a group of students who seemed to be going her way, leaving Andie alone with Nathan.

  “I – I – I have class by Seminar Room 10,” Andie stuttered.

  “I’ll walk with you,” Nathan offered. “Can I carry your bag?”

  Andie conceded, and gave him her backpack.

  “Sorry I didn’t call you back last night,” he said. “I got your message, but I was at the library until almost midnight. I figured you’d have been asleep by then.” He looked at her and added, “If I knew you were going to call, I wouldn’t have stayed so long.”

  Andie was relieved. He did not ignore her call. “That’s okay,” She said. “It wasn’t like I was up waiting for you to call me or anything like that.”

  “So you called,” Nathan said. “That means you want me to help you with your paper?”

  “I don’t think I have a choice,” Andie said trying to conceal her glee. “If I don’t do well, my father will probably put me up for adoption.”

  “I doubt that very much!” Nathan grinned widely.

  They got to the Seminar Room 10. “I have classes ‘till four, and then I’m free for the rest of the evening,” he told her. “We could meet at the library, or better yet, at Preston Hall’s study room, so we can discuss the points?”

  Andie shook her head. “This evening is no good,” She said. “My sister finishes at two, and she wants to go home straight after. Daddy doesn’t have a class today, so I’d be stranded if Samantha leaves me.”

  “I have a car,” Nathan said. “I can take you home after.”

  “But I live all the way up in Norbrook!” Andie pointed out.

  “That’s not a problem,” Nathan assured her. “I mean, I don’t know where Norbrook is, but if you give me directions, it shouldn’t be a big deal. So is that alright?”

  Mrs Stone, the accounting lecturer appeared at the door.

  “I’ll tell my sister to leave me,” Andie decided.

  “Great!” Nathan said. “I’ll meet you at the library at four o’clock, okay?”

  “Okay!” Andie flashed him a brilliant smile before entering the classroom.

  Nathan watched her until the door closed. “So far so good,” he thought. “Game and set to Hansen.”

  In seven weeks, he would have won the match, and Jeremy Malcolm would have to eat his words.

  51

  The Bet

  chapter three

  “Is something going on between you and Nathan?” Fern McNally asked Andie as they walked together from English for Academic Purposes, their last class for the day.

  “Why you ask that?” Andie asked.

  “Because you were asking about him yesterday, and he asked about you this morning, and then he was waiting for you outside SSLT…”

  Andie did a double take. Nathan was asking about her? “Don’t be ridiculous, Fern!” Andie told her, quickly recovering. “We met in the library last week and he offered to help me with my GT11A paper.”

  “He just up and decided to help you with your paper?” Fern questioned. “I live one door away from Nathan. He’s my hall brother, my academic councillor on hall, and we have the same double major, yet he never offered to help me with any of my papers.”

  “You don’t need help!” Andie said. “You could teach the class in Professor Brown’s absence. By the way, how is your paper going?”

  “My paper is fine. As a matter of fact, I’m done and ready to present tomorrow. Now don’t try to change the subject.” Fern looked at her new friend. “It didn’t strike you as odd that Nathan offered to help you?”

  “You said he was as sweet as a teddy bear,” Andie reminded her. “Why do you now suddenly think he’s up to something?”

  “I don’t think he’s up to something, per se…” Fern began. “I just think it’s weird that he would just up and offer to help you out of the blue like that. Nate is nice, but not that nice.” She looked around her. “Where we going?”

  “I’m going to find my sister. Apparently, you’re following me.”

  Andie’s mood had taken a 180-degree turn since Nathan had waited for her outside the Social Sciences lecture theatre. She was full of energy, and was actually effervescing. She was running towards the car park to tell Samantha to leave her. She smiled to herself. Nathan Hansen was going to take her home.

  “Look at you beaming off your face!” Fern commented. “You like Nathan, don’t you?”

  “I like anybody who can help me get a good grade in GT11A!”

  “And its inconsequential, the fact that he is really, really cute!” Fern rolled her eyes. “Is all right. Many girls like Nathan. Many, many girls.”

  Andie did not comment. She did not know what comment to make, but fortunately, she did not have to. She and Fern had gotten to the students’ parking lot where Samantha usually parked. Andie spotted her sister waiting for her, leaning against the Rav4. In her pale blue jeans, yellow shirt and sunglasses, and with the late September breeze whipping her hair around her face, Samantha looked like a girl in a car magazine. When they were growing up, Andie always thought that Samantha would have become an Izzy model. She had always been beautiful, poised, and polished, from the way she spoke to her calm, even temper and agreeable personality. They were total opposites, Andie had decided from she was old enough to understand. Apart from Dylan, none of her cousins had liked her much growing up. At one point, her parents had put her in therapy, thinking she was bipolar. Her temper and moods remained as changeable as the weather, and had earned her a reputation for being miserable.

  As she approached her sister, the blatant differences between them became more obvious to Andie. She immediately felt dirty and scruffy in her worn, crumpled jeans, and her hair was coming loose from its ponytail.

  “Your sister is so pretty!” Fern commented. She was whispering, as though she was in the presence of divinity.

  “Yeah, she is,” Andie mumbled. “Hey, Sammy,” she greeted her sister.

  “Hi, Andie-Pandie!” Samantha said, whipping off her sunglasses and showing off her gorgeous eyes. “Who’s your friend?’

  “This is Fern McNally,” Andie said, introducing Fern to Samantha. “Fern, my sister, Samantha Persaud.”

  “Nice to meet you, Fern,” Samantha said, extending her hand.

  Andie was shocked to see Fern actually wipe her hand on her jeans before taking Samantha’s.

  “Nice to meet you, too, Samantha.”

  “So, are we ready?” Samantha asked, opening the car doors. “Is Fern coming with us?”

  “Actually, I’m not coming,” Andie said. “I’m staying back to do some work.”

  Samantha looked puzzled. “What you mean you staying back? How you getting home?”

  “A friend of mine is going to drop me,” Andie told her.

  “A friend of yours?” Samantha repeated. “What friend of yours? You don’t have any friends, Andie!” She glanced at Fern. “No offence, Fern.”

  “None taken,” Fern responded.

  “I�
�ll be fine, Samantha,” Andie assured her sister. “I have to stay back and work on my paper for Uncle Marcus’ class.”

  All the bells went off immediately in Samantha’s head. “Nathan Hansen. You are staying back to work with Nathan Hansen! You have a crush on him, don’t you?”

  “No I don’t!” Andie turned red. “He said he would help me with my paper, and I’m taking him up on his offer. That doesn’t mean I have a crush on him, and I need the help, Sammy. Besides, I don’t see you breaking your neck to help me!”

  “And he is the ‘friend’ who is taking you home this evening!” Samantha pushed her hair back, a gesture of frustration. “I told you, Andie, I don’t like his friend Jeremy Malcolm. I don’t want you getting too chummy with Nathan!”

  “Nathan and Jeremy aren’t friends,” Fern contributed. “I live on hall with them both, and Nathan cannot stand Jeremy.”

  “And why is he offering to help you?” Samantha asked, ignoring Fern. “What does he aim to get out of helping you get an A for GT11A?”

  “He doesn’t have to get anything out of helping me,” Andie said. “He is being nice, and I am not looking a gift horse in the mouth.”

  Samantha looked at her sister. She found it strange that Nathan was suddenly everywhere, and more importantly getting friendly with Andie. She smelled a rat – a big, dead, stinky one. Unfortunately, she could not find it. She could not figure out what was going on. She just had to keep a careful eye on Andie.

  Samantha sighed. “You know what, Andie? Do what you want. Just make sure you reach home in one piece tonight, and don’t let me have to answer to Mommy and Daddy about your whereabouts. It’s my job to get you to school and back home safely…”

  “I’m not a child, Samantha,” Andie reminded her sister. “I can take care of myself, and I know my way home. You go and meet with your mentor, and tell Mommy I will be home as soon as possible.”

  “At least ask Dylan or Darrin to drop you home,” Samantha suggested, getting into the Rav4. “Do you even know if Nathan is a sensible driver?”

  “He drove me to St. Ann once, and I’m still alive,” Fern contributed again.

  “Maybe he got lucky,” Samantha said, looking crossly at Fern, who was not doing much to help her argument.

  “Samantha, relax! Nathan will take me home and I will be fine.” Andie closed the car door behind her. “See you later.”

  “You give an eye out for her, Fern,” Samantha started the engine. “My sister needs looking after!”

  She waved and sped off, leaving Andie and Fern in the parking lot.

  ***

  Promptly at four, Andie was waiting on the library steps for Nathan. She wondered what class he had, and whether he remembered that he should be meeting her. Andie was very excited. She had never been on Preston Hall before. She had taken a glimpse of it back when she was in sixth form at Hialeah Academy, and the finals of the all-island high school swim competition was held at the University’s Olympic-sized swimming pool. She had hoped they would have been allowed to tour the hall, but although she had won the over sixteen 100m freestyle and butterfly, her two main events, Hialeah Academy had not done well in the meet, and the swim coach had been cross with the team. They were immediately hustled back into the school bus and deposited back at the school.

  Andie shook her head, trying not to remember Hialeah Academy. It was a ritzy private school that educated the children of the upper class, diplomats and expatriates. Although she had had friends there, they were not ‘real people’. She was sure that in all her years spent at Hialeah – from Kindergarten to Upper Sixth – she had never met anyone like Fern McNally. Neither had she met anyone like Nathan Hansen.

  Nathan Hansen. Andie looked up and spotted him walking from the direction of the Social Sciences Lecture Theatre. He was walking with three other boys, one of whom was not quite as tall as Nathan, but built like a brick wall. Nathan spotted her and waved. She waved back. In no time, the four boys had joined Andie on the library steps.

  “Hey, Andie!” Nathan said. “You waiting long?”

  “Oh, no,” Andie told him. She tried not to look at his friends, who were all staring intently at her. “Not even five minutes.”

  “Andie, these are my friends,” Nathan pointed them out. “Omar Phillips, Micah Elliott and Jeremy Malcolm.”

  Andie looked at Jeremy Malcolm. He was the one built like the brick wall. He wore a tight grey shirt, and his biceps and firmly toned abs pressed against the fabric. Andie counted a well-defined eight pack. It was as though Jeremy Malcolm lived at the gym. His head was shaved clean, and Andie thought he looked like a thug, and frankly, she was a bit scared of him.

  “It’s nice to meet you, Dr Persaud’s daughter,” Jeremy said, reaching to take her hand.

  Without even thinking, Andie winced and pulled back. She almost hid behind Nathan. Jeremy was wearing a vain, too good for words expression, and Andie decided she did not like him one bit.

  “My name is Andie, not Dr Persaud’s daughter,” she said.

  “We spoke on the phone last night,” Jeremy reminded her. He was smiling and looking at her as though he knew something she didn’t. Andie did not comment.

  “We’d better get inside,” Micah said. “I booked a computer for four, and them librarians don’t make joke to reassign them if we’re late!”

  “Straight!” Omar agreed. “Later, Hansen. Bye, Andie. Nice to meet you.”

  “Later,” Nathan returned, and Andie smiled politely.

  Jeremy, Micah and Omar went into the library, and Andie was left on the library steps with Nathan.

  “Ready?” Nathan asked.

  “Yeah,” Andie said. “How we get to Preston?”

  “We walk!” Nathan could not help but be amused by her shattered expression.

  “Walk?” She exclaimed. “Isn’t Preston far away? And I thought you said you had a car.”

  “I do have a car,” Nathan assured her. “It is not any hottie-hottie car, but it works, and it’s safely parked down by Preston.

  “What’s the point of having a car if you are going to walk to class?” Andie asked

  “So I don’t have to walk up and down Kingston, or worse, subject myself to the JUTC buses!”

  “I am not a fan of walking in the sun all the way to Preston,” Andie said. “Perhaps we’d better stay at the library, or we can go to the commuting students’ lounge.”

  Nathan looked at Andie. He did not see why she was so against walking to Preston. All he could think of was that she was probably spoiled and lazy and accustomed to being chauffeured, as his grandmother would say, ‘from nose hole to mouth lip’. He would not mind staying on campus and helping her with her paper at the commuting students’ lounge. However, he had to step up Operation Seduce Andie Persaud, and he did not think he would make any headway in a crowded campus facility. He had no delusions of getting lucky that evening, but he figured Andie would be a bit more amicable towards him when they were alone.

  “Andie, Preston is not that far away, and the sun has gone in….Tell you what, I’ll carry your bag, and if you faint, I’ll carry you, too.”

  “That won’t be necessary,” Andie told him sourly. “Let’s go.”

  “So how you enjoying UWI so far?” Nathan asked her as they walked.

  “As much as one can enjoy University, I guess,” Andie said, shrugging.

  “It must be a thrill having your father as your lecturer!”

  “It’s something all right,” Andie commented. “I don’t know whether I would call it a thrill, but it’s definitely something.”

  They stopped on the ring road and allowed a few cars to pass.

  “You’re doing Banking and Finance,” Nathan stated, as soon as they had crossed.

  “Yup!”

  “You like Banking?”

  “I like Math,” Andie confided.
“I’d rather do a Math or Actuarial Sciences degree, but my grandfather had other big plans for me”

  “What you mean?” Nathan asked.

  “I’m expected to get a banking degree, then do my MBA, then work at Persaud Financial Services until I have enough experience to take it over!” Andie explained. “But no pressure.”

  “Ah!” Nathan said. “Well, guess what? At least you already have a good job lined up for when you graduate. Most people leave UWI and have to bounce about until they can get some crappy job. Plus most of those same people have students’ loans to pay back, so they take the first job they’re offered, whether they like it or not. At least you don’t have that to worry about.”

  Andie looked at Nathan surprised. She never thought about it that way before. She always thought her parents and grandparents were putting unfair and excessive pressure on her. It never occurred to her that she was in a privileged position.

  “Do you have students’ loan, Nathan?” She asked.

  “Nope,” Nathan grinned. “Your Aunt and Uncle pay my mother too much. I didn’t qualify. But, I was lucky enough to get a scholarship.”

  “Not to mention smart enough,” Andie hastened to add. She looked around. They had passed through Mary Seacole Hall, and were outside the Health Centre.

  “There’s the Health Centre,” she said. “My Uncle Jeffrey used to work there when he was a student!”

  “He studied at UWI, right?” Nathan asked.

  Andie nodded. “The first Persaud to ever do so. Are we near Preston?”

  “That’s the Preston Highway in front of you,” Nathan told her. “We’ll be there before you know it. Are you tired? Want me to take your binder?”

  “Nah,” Andie said. “You were right. The walk’s not too bad. So where do you plan to work when you get out of here?”

  “I have another two and a half years to worry about that,” Nathan said. “I want to do some graduate studies when I finish undergrad. But I think I want to work in government – maybe Ministry of Finance or Foreign Affairs…”