The Bet (Persaud Girl)

by Mott, Teisha

  “Klao said you probably wanted to be a diplomat,” Andie said, nodding.

  Nathan looked at her, puzzled. “Klao said that? When?”

  Andie flushed. “I-I-…” She stuttered. “I think it was after you were talking to her and Samantha and Bianca in the library last week.”

  “I was talking to you, too, Andie, but you seemed quite happy to ignore me,” Nathan pointed out.

  “I wasn’t happy to ignore you,” Andie said. “I just didn’t know you. How could I talk to you if I didn’t know you?”

  “How do you think you will know me unless you talk to me?”

  Andie hung her head. She did not say anything. Nathan smiled to himself. It occurred to him that young Ms Persaud was extremely shy and self-conscious, and that was a good thing. Shy and self-conscious girls were usually easy to seduce. It would not be difficult winning the bet with Jeremy. He just had to be very careful.

  In no time, they were at Preston Hall. It was four twenty and there was a queue of Prestonites at the gate awaiting the four-thirty school bus trip. Andie thought they were all staring at her. They were probably wondering why Nathan Hansen was walking with her.

  “Afternoon, Bev,” Nathan greeted the uniformed security guard at the gate. “Log in Andie Persaud, please. She is visiting me.”

  Bev, the security guard looked her up and down. “ID, Miss Persaud?” She said.

  Andie wordlessly handed Bev her student ID card. Bev looked from the picture to Andie, trying to decide whether it was the same person. When she was satisfied, she wrote her name in the huge black logbook, and handed the ID back to Andie.

  “Go ahead.”

  “Thank you,” Andie whispered.

  “Later, Bev,” Nathan said, ushering Andie into the hall

  “Nathan, come here,” Bev called.

  Nathan turned back and went to talk to Bev. Andie pretended that she could not hear what she was asking him.

  “Ravi Persaud granddaughter?” Bev asked Nathan.

  “Yeah,” Nathan replied.

  “She don’t look like them,” Bev commented. “How she so red?”

  “I’ll ask her and tell you,” Nathan promised. “Later.”

  Andie was quiet as she walked next to Nathan down the hill from the gate.

  “Welcome to Preston Hall, Andie,” Nathan said.

  Andie did not respond.

  “You all right?” Nathan asked.

  “I’m ‘so red’ because I look like my Aunt Janine,” Andie said.

  “What?”

  “Your friend, the security guard, wanted to know why I am so red.” Andie said. “You can tell her that I got my red hair and red skin from my late Aunt Janine. I was not fortunate enough to get my grandfather’s pretty brown genes.”

  “You are offended by Bev?” Nathan asked. “I don’t think she meant anything…”

  “People don’t say something unless deep inside they mean it, Nathan,” Andie said. Her eyes were filling with tears.

  “Andie you can’t seriously be bothered by Bev’s comment!” Nathan was shocked.

  “Wouldn’t it bother you?” Andie asked.

  “No, it wouldn’t!” Nathan told her. “I don’t let what people say or think bother me. Unless it is something rotten about my character, or my physical appearance that needs to be addressed.” He looked at Andie. “Why should I be offended if people say ‘he is tall’ or ‘he has curly hair’, or ‘he is half white’? I can’t change that, and I wouldn’t want to either. If they say he smells ‘green’, then I would be bothered enough to take a shower or use some deodorant or something. You get me?”

  Andie smiled, despite herself. She ‘got him’ perfectly. Nathan was telling her not to care what other people thought of her. He just said it differently from her parents and Dylan. “You’re half white?”

  “Yes, my father was white.”

  “He was white?” Andie questioned.

  “He’s dead!” Nathan said flatly. “Is this your first time on Preston?”

  Andie gave Nathan a questioning look. ‘My father is dead’ was not usually a statement followed by ‘is this your first time on Preston?’

  “Your father died?” She asked.

  “Yes. When I was nine.” Nathan confirmed. “I’m going to show you my house before we go to the study room. Walk this way.”

  “I’m sorry, Nathan.”

  “Sorry for what? That I want to show you my room?”

  “No, I’m sorry that your father died.”

  “Yeah,” Nathan said shortly. “So am I.”

  Andie did not say anything further. The note of finality in Nathan’s voice made her decide not to. She silently walked next to him, looking around Preston. It was beautiful, she thought. The lawns were immaculately kept, and baby palm trees lined the walkway. Preston Hall, unlike the other halls of residence at the University, was not the traditional dorm setting. It was made up of fifteen groups of four two-story cottages called ‘clusters’. Some clusters had flower gardens, and they were in full bloom. Each cluster had a sign. One said, ‘Welcome to Italia’. Another read, ‘Welcome to Shamrock’. There was a mural of a leprechaun sitting on huge green four-leaf clover. Andie felt that she would have liked living on Preston Hall. It looked more like a resort than a hall of residence.

  “You’ve never come down here before?” Nathan asked.

  “I went to the bowl once,” Andie told him. “We had all-island high school swim meet by the pool earlier this year. I spotted the cupolas on the roofs but I never had a chance to come over.”

  Nathan heard something that piqued his interest. “You swim?”

  Andie nodded. “I was on the swim team at my old high school. Hialeah Academy.”

  “I was on the swim team at Cornwall High, too,” Nathan said. “You still any good?”

  “I get a lot of practice swimming laps with my father on weekends,” Andie told him.

  “What’s your record?”

  “One hundred meters butterfly in a shade under two minutes,” Andie bragged.

  “Not bad!” Nathan was impressed. “Perhaps we can go swimming together some time.”

  Andie looked at him out of the corner of her eye. “Maybe.”

  “Here is my cluster,” Nathan said.

  Andie looked at the sign. The background showed a bullfighter with his red cape dodging a huge, angry bull.

  “Bienvenido a Los Matadores,” she read. She looked at Nathan. “Welcome to the killers?”

  “I only live here,” Nathan shrugged. “I didn’t name it. Come on in.”

  “Does Fern live here, too?”

  “Fern McNally? Yeah, she lives in this cluster. That house.” He motioned to the door adjacent his as he fumbled with the key in the lock. “She’s my cluster sister. You know her?”

  Andie nodded. She did not let him know that Fern told her that he had been asking after her. ”She’s in my class. I think we’re friends.”

  “Fern is great,” Nathan finally got the door open. “She’s loud and smart and crazy as a bat, but I think she’s a good person to have as a friend.”

  Andie looked around the living area. Her mother would have conniptions if she saw it. The floor was stained an ugly red, and there were cheap-looking red couches in the room. The fabric looked rough and uncomfortable. It was strange how outside the hall could look so beautiful, but inside look so shabby. She decided she probably wouldn’t want to live on hall after all.

  “This is the common area,” Nathan was saying. “Neutral territory for all the guys who live in here.”

  “How many of you share?” Andie asked.

  “Six in this house, since two of us have single rooms.” Nathan said. “Some houses have eight. “This house is me, Omar, Micah, Jeremy and two guys in first year. Jeremy and I have single rooms because we
are on the Hall committee.”

  “You are?” Andie was impressed. “Wow! What position do you have?”

  “I am the Los Matadores rep,” Nathan explained. “That pretty much means I’m responsible for ensuring that everything runs smoothly on this cluster. Jeremy is the Hall Treasurer. Come, let me show you my room.”

  Jeremy Malcolm lived in the same house with Nathan. Then they must be friends. She followed Nathan to his room.

  “Is Jeremy your best friend?” Andie asked

  “No!” Nathan sounded almost indignant. “We’ve known each other since High School. He’s more like my nemesis. Most times I can’t even stand him.”

  Andie was relieved. Maybe Nathan was not like Samantha’s description of Jeremy. Nathan opened his room door and ushered Andie inside.

  “This is where I sleep,” he said. He flung his backpack into the small armchair in the corner. “It’s not the presidential suite at the Ravi P, but it has been home for the past three years.”

  “Your room’s not half bad,” Andie said, and she meant it. It was small, but neat. She remembered going into Dylan and Darrin’s room at Grandma’s and Grandpa’s and almost freaking out at the mess. She was at a loss, wondering how the twins could survive in such chaos. Christopher’s room was worse. It took Nursey, his full time nanny, most of her day picking up his toys and his clothes. She had taken it for granted that boys, as a rule, were messy. Nathan was proving otherwise. All his books were neatly organised in his bookshelf and on his desk. The floor was the same ugly red stain like in the common area, but Nathan had hidden most of it under a fluffy brown rug. There was nothing out of place, and even the bed was made. Andie blushed, recalling that she had not made her bed that morning. No doubt, when she got home it would be made. Rosilda, the housekeeper, would see to that, but it was different actually doing it herself, like Nathan had done, and like Samantha did without fail.

  “Thanks,” Nathan said. “My mother put up the curtains. Personally, I think curtains are girly, but she insisted that they make the room more roomy.”

  “These are nice curtains,” Andie stated. “Although I don’t like curtains much, either. I think they serve one general purpose – to hide lizards.”

  Nathan laughed. “Every girl I know is afraid of lizards – including my mother, my grandmother and my sister. You can put down your bag. Let me try to find some American politics books and notes that I have.” He moved towards the bookshelf.

  “I wouldn’t know where to put it,” Andie said. She put her bag on a chair, and took her Politics notes out. “Your room is so neat.”

  “That’s Grandma’s doing!” Nathan pulled an accordion folder from under his desk and flipped through, pulling out, on occasion, a periodical or a paper. “She always told me that I should leave my room neat in case I get run over.” He noted Andie’s puzzled look and continued. “I always used to tell her that if I get run over, the state of my room would be the least of my problems, but she says that’s not the point.”

  “Your grandmother lives with you?” Andie asked.

  “Actually, we live with her, and my grandfather,” Nathan stocked all the books and papers into a pile. “Let’s go to the study room. Leave your bag here.”

  “My grandmother has a lot of weird sayings, too,” Andie said, following Nathan. “When my brother, Christopher, was a baby, she would always tell us she had to kiss his cheeks so he would get dimples. And we couldn’t raise our voices in his presence, because we would startle him and give him frayed nerves.”

  “I find it hard to imagine your grandmother repeating old wives’ tales,” Nathan said.

  “She may be Sylvia Persaud, founder of Izzy Fashions and Persaud Publishing, Inc, but she is still Grandma!” Andie pointed out. “And I take it you got kissed a lot, particularly on your left cheek.”

  “How’d you figure that?” Nathan asked.

  “That dimple,” Andie pointed to Nathan’s left cheek. “It appears even when you talk. Your grandmother must have kissed it every day when you were a baby.”

  “My grandmother didn’t see me much when I was a baby, so I doubt it very much,” Nathan told her.

  “Didn’t you always live with your grandmother?”

  “No, just since my mother and I moved here!”

  “What do you mean, ‘moved here’?” Andie asked.

  Nathan looked at her. “I wasn’t born in Jamaica,” he explained. “I lived in New York until my – until I was nine.”

  “Until your father died,” Andie thought. She wanted to ask why they moved, but decided not to. She stole a glance at Nathan. He was looking into space. “I was born in New York, too,” she said shyly.

  “Were you?”

  “Yes. My mother had a fashion show. It was fashion week in New York, they told me, and the stress put my mother into early labour.” Andie frowned. “Samantha said my mother cried after I was born. She and Daddy had wanted a son. That’s why I’m called Anne Dru.”

  “Hence the low self-esteem,” Nathan thought. Aloud he asked, “Was Samantha there when you were born?”

  “She was a baby, too,” Andie told him. “She is only seventeen months older than me.”

  “Then you don’t listen to what she said,” Nathan advised. “She couldn’t possibly know what was taking place if she was only one year old. I am sure your parents were happy to have another little daughter.”

  Andie decided that she liked Nathan. He always said things that made her feel better about herself. He had the uncanny ability to put a positive spin on everything. Given her natural knack for negativity and cynicism, positive thinking was like a fresh breeze to Andie.

  “Here we are!” Nathan said, pushing the door to the study room. It was deserted. Apparently, no one used Preston Hall’s study room at four forty-five in the afternoon.

  Nathan chose a couch in the corner of the study room. He pulled a small table closer and put the books on it.

  “This should be more comfortable than the desks,” he explained. “Let’s get started so I don’t keep you out too late. What you have so far?”

  Andie turned her book to show Nathan the notes she had taken so far. “I was thinking I would look at it from both angles,” she said. “I would discuss why it shouldn’t matter first, then why it does, and then to whom it matters.”

  “That’s good,” Nathan said, opening a huge red white and blue textbook. “This is ‘Governance and the United States’. It explains all the constitutional constraints that you were talking about the other day.”

  Andie took the book, and scanned the page. “Hey, this is good,” she commented. “Let me take some notes here.”

  “Your words, please,” Nathan reminded her. “You know the University’s policy on plagiarism.”

  Fifteen minutes later, she had made as much notes as she thought she needed on the constitution. Nathan was going through the periodicals and papers he had.

  “Hey, Andie, check this!” Nathan said. “This paper says that if Clinton had lost in ‘92 or ‘96, America would have had some really questionable laws. See, it does matter who wins.”

  “Let me see!” Andie said, taking the paper. “Abolition of estate taxes larger than $675,000, the reform of bankruptcy laws to the detriment of the poor and middle class, outlawing of ‘partial birth’ abortions... What is a partial birth abortion?”

  “Let’s just say it’s a very unpleasant exercise,” Nathan said. “I will explain it to you another time. Jot this down, ‘notwithstanding – no, actually, use ‘despite’. Yes. Despite the various constitutional restrains on his power, the U.S. President retains an awesome ability to…’”

  “I’m not taking shorthand!” Andie squealed. “Hold on.”

  “Sorry!” Nathan slowed down.

  Three hours later, Andie had pages of notes all over the place. She was sure she had enough information to p
ut her paper together.

  “Jeez, I’m starving!” She said, getting up and stretching her tired muscles. “What time is it?”

  “Half past seven,” Nathan said. “Time certainly flies when you’re having fun. Would you like me to make you a sandwich?”

  “As long as it involves peanut butter, I’m game,” Andie said gratefully. “You are a true Prince Charming. First you rescue me from a sure F in GT11A, then you feed me!”

  “I need to offer sandwiches to girls more often!” Nathan declared, as he packed up the books. “I didn’t know that was all it took to be classified a ‘Prince Charming’.”

  Andie laughed. “You know what would really boost your ratings? If you allowed me to call home when we get back to your cluster. My parents must be wondering where I am.”

  They walked slowly back to Los Matadores. The hall had become more populated, and Andie noticed that on the short walk back from the study room, everyone they passed knew Nathan. Everyone said hello, and some even engaged him in conversation. She also noticed that most of those who stopped to chat were girls. Andie wondered which of them was, or had hopes of being, his girlfriend.

  “You certainly are the toast of the town!” Andie commented after Nathan was thoroughly hugged by a buxom, dark skinned girl with her hair in afro twists.

  “That’s Sanaa, the deputy cluster rep.” Nathan said. “She hugs everybody. I wish she wouldn’t hug me, though. She’s a squeezer.”

  They got back to Nathan’s cluster, which was awash with lights. The first person Andie saw was Fern, bouncing out of her house. Fern saw her, too.

  “Andie! What are you doing down here till now?” She screeched. “Come and see my room!”

  Before she could object, Fern grabbed her arm, and pulled her in the opposite direction from Nathan. She looked at him.

  “Go on with Fern,” Nathan told her. “She’ll help you call your parents. When you’re finished you can come have your sandwich and I’ll take you home.”

  Andie went with Fern, who pulled her directly to her room. Fern’s room was a typical ‘girly room’, with pink curtains, a pink, ruffled comforter on the bed and a fluffy pink rug with yellow chickens dancing across it on the floor. It was a double room, and much larger than Nathan’s. A thin dark skinned girl lay on one of the beds reading a Sidney Sheldon novel. She smiled at Andie.