The Bet (Persaud Girl)

by Mott, Teisha

  “Andie, what’s wrong?” Samantha asked.

  “Nothing!” Andie snapped. One tear escaped her eye and rolled down her cheek.

  “You’re crying!” Fern noted. “Was it something I said?” She was beginning to feel guilty.

  Andie shook her head. She removed the CD from the player. “It’s ‘Mandy’. The band was singing it in the gardens of Bella Mia when Nathan and I.… We danced, and it was so nice, and I thought…” She paused and closed her eyes, annoyed at herself for allowing Nathan to have such a hold on her. “I just can’t believe what a complete ass he turned out to be.”

  “Andie…” Fern held her hand. “He may be an ass, but he really loves you…”

  “I must be a lucky girl!” Andie said sarcastically, tugging away from Fern. “Imagine how much more of an ass he would be if he didn’t!”

  “Andie…”

  “I guess I can’t listen to ‘Mandy’ again!”

  “But ‘Mandy’ is your favourite song!” Samantha pointed out.

  “Not anymore it isn’t!” Before anyone could blink, Andie broke the CD in two, and flung it into the pool. “Not anymore!”

  She stormed off, leaving Fern and Samantha by the pool deck. She had locked herself in her room for the remainder of the day, not even coming down for a meal, or to go with Samantha to take Fern back on campus.

  Samantha brought herself back to the present. She looked at Micah. “I will see what I can do,” she said. “But no promises.”

  “Thank you,” Micah looked relieved. “And I’m sorry for saying you have a stick up your ass!”

  “I’m sorry for having a stick up my ass!” Samantha smiled. “And I’m sorry for judging you, and cold shouldering you.”

  “I’m sorry you judged me and cold shouldered me, too,” Micah said, smiling back. “I’m really a cool guy!” Samantha could not help but notice how handsome he was. “So I forgive you. Under that layer of perfection, I am positive you are hiding a real, human girl, who eat ribs with her bare hands, and gets the sauce all over her face.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong!” Samantha laughed. “I don’t eat red meat. And besides, if you see all this potential, why you don’t stop acting like an ass and ask me out?”

  Micah did a double take. “You want me to ask you out?”

  Samantha rolled her eyes. “You are so dense!”

  “Okay!” Micah agreed. “I’ll ask you out.”

  “When?”

  “Soon,” he promised.

  Samantha smiled, showing off her pearly whites, that Micah did not know only got that way after twenty months of orthodontic work and a nightly ritual of Crest white strips. “Okay. See you!”

  She walked away leaving a pleased looking Micah standing on the lawns of the University. Something came to her. She turned around.

  “Hey, Micah!” She called.

  “Yeah?”

  “Don’t let me regret this. Any of it!”

  ***

  Samantha dropped into the seat next to Nathan in Intermediate Microeconomics class. He looked at her surprised.

  “What? You’re finally ready to kill me? He asked, coldly.

  “No,” Samantha said. “I am here to help you. I have a plan to get you and Andie back together.”

  Nathan did a double take. “You do? Wait a minute... Why?”

  “Because you are an idiot, and you cannot do it by yourself!” Samantha said, sensibly.

  “Fair enough!” Nathan looked away from her, and looked at the cover of his Intermediate Microeconomics text. “If I’m such an idiot, why are you being kind to me?”

  “I’m not doing this to be kind,” Samantha assured him. “I’m doing this for my sister, not for you. For some weird, inexplicable reason she seems to really like you, and all this crap is making her too unhappy for my comfort. And as much as I abhor your childish behaviour, and although your puerility reminds me why I don’t date twenty-year-old boys, I know you care as much about my sister as she cares about you.” She paused and took a breath. “Frankly, I’d rather her happy with you, than miserable without.”

  “Thank you – I think…” Nathan said, scratching his ear. He was not sure whether Samantha was insulting him or complementing him, but he was not too interested in that. He was more interested in the plan Samantha had to get him back with Andie. “What do you have in mind?”

  “That depends. How badly do you want her back?”

  “Badly enough to do whatever you say, as long as it is guaranteed to work!”

  Samantha smiled. “Good!” She put on her best French accent. “Now listen very carefully – I shall say this only once!”

  ***

  Wednesday Afternoon. Eve of week 10

  “Hey Andie- Cap!” Samantha plopped her books on to the table in the commuting students’ lounge, and sat next to her sister.

  “Finally!” Andie said, not bothering to return the greeting. “I’ve been dying to get out of here. Where have you been all afternoon?”

  “Do you think I have nothing better to do than to chauffeur you around?” Samantha asked. “Anyway, you’re going to have to wait a little longer. I only came in here to tell you that I have to go to the library and do some research for the paper I’ve been working on for Caribbean Economy class. I have a ton of work to do on it, and only God knows how long I’m going to be.”

  “What?” Andie screeched, earning glares from the other students in the lounge.

  “I’m sorry!” Samantha said. “It’s not my fault that I totally misunderstood the question, and I am going to have to redo everything. It’s a good thing that I decided to give Dr Watson a draft of the paper before I gave in the final thing, or I would have certainly failed!”

  “How am I going to go home?” Andie whined.

  “Is that all you care about, Andie?” Samantha asked. She sorted out her books, putting the ones related to The Caribbean Economy on top. “I came this close to getting an F, and all your concern is how you are going to get home? Why don’t you get one of the twins to take you?”

  “They already left when I was here waiting on you like a fool!” Andie raged. “You could have at least told me from early that you had to stay behind…”

  “I just found out ten minutes ago!”

  “You’re only doing this to spite me!” Andie said. Her eyes welled up with tears. “I told you from this morning that I really wanted to go home early today, and you promised we would leave, and now at the eleventh hour, you are coming with this crap!”

  Samantha looked at her sister. “Do you believe that my mission in life is to sit down and come up with ways to spite you?” She asked. “I said I am sorry, Andie. There is no way I can take you all the way home and come back down here to do the research I need to do. As it is, it looks like I have a long, long night ahead of me, having to write over this paper!”

  “And what do you propose I do? Take the bus home?”

  Samantha sighed. “Why don’t you wait on Daddy?”

  “He won’t be finished until nine o’clock!” Andie said. “That is almost five hours from now. What do you expect me to do for the next five hours?”

  “Go to Preston and hang out with Fern!” Samantha suggested. “You can get a lot of studying done in five hours.”

  Andie gave her sister a withering cut-eye. “I really don’t think hanging out on Preston is a good idea!”

  “You can’t hide from Nathan forever, Andie!” Samantha said sensibly.

  “Yes, I can!” Andie mumbled. “I can’t believe you’re doing this to me, Sammy!”

  “Why don’t you stay in the library with me?” Samantha asked. “Stay until Daddy is ready.”

  “I don’t want to be anywhere where you are right now!” Andie said. She grabbed her bag and her books. “And the worse part is that I left my stupid cell phone a
t home, or I would call Mommy to come get me.”

  “Call her from Daddy’s office!” Samantha said.

  Andie did not respond. She slung her backpack over one shoulder and marched out of the commuting students’ lounge.

  Samantha watched her go. “Father, forgive me for that lie!” She whispered. There was nothing wrong with her paper for The Caribbean Economy. As a matter of fact, she had turned in the final document two days ago, and Dr Watson’s initial response had been favourable. Leaving Andie stranded was just the first step in her plan to get her to talk to Nathan. Sending her to find her father was another step. Samantha knew her father had cancelled his Graduate School Economics class that was scheduled from 5:30 to 9:00 that evening, because of a Persaud Financials board meeting. Andie hadn't forgotten her cell phone. She had left it in the kitchen counter next to her books that morning, and Samantha had hidden it. She had also taken her ridiculous 'Pinky and The Brain' wallet that held her precious credit card and allowance. She wanted to make sure Andie had no money or no means of making a call home. And if Andie did manage to get a call home, Samantha had made it perfectly clear to her mother and Nursey that neither should be available to pick her up. Andie would be pissed that she had to walk all the way to the Economics office in vain, but it would be worth it.

  Samantha gathered her books again, and left the commuting students’ lounge. She had parked in the opposite direction of the Economics office, to avoid running into Andie. Micah was waiting for her at the car. They would hang out on Preston until Andie finally made her way there, then they would watch as the plan unfolded. As she made her way to the parking lot, Samantha prayed her plan would work. If it did, Andie would not only have a ride home, but she would come home a happier Andie than Norbrook had seen in more than a week.

  ***

  “What you mean he left?” Andie demanded. Her brown eyes were flashing with anger, and Martina, her father’s secretary actually cowered a little in fear.

  “He cancelled his class,” Martina explained. “This evening is the board meeting at Persaud Financials. He left just after his last undergraduate class, which ended at one.”

  Andie sighed and pushed her hair back. The day was turning out to be awful. “Can I borrow your phone to call my mother?” She asked.

  “Sure!” Martina allowed Andie to come behind the counter of the economics office. “Remember to dial 177 first.”

  Andie dialled her home number. It rang four times before Rosilda answered.

  “Rosie, let me speak with Mommy, please?” Andie asked.

  “She not here.” Rosilda said dryly.

  “What you mean she’s not there?” Andie asked.

  “How many things ‘she not here’ mean?” Rosilda snapped.

  “Where is she?” Andie asked.

  “I don’t know, chile!” Rosilda said, clearly annoyed. “What you want?”

  “Is Nursey there?”

  “Hold on!” Rosilda said. Andie heard her calling Nursey to the phone.

  “Nursey, can you come pick me up at school?” Andie asked, when Nursey came on.

  “I would love to, my darling,” Nursey said. “But I don’t have any car.”

  “Where’s your car?” Andie asked. She could not believe this was happening.

  “Out for servicing,” Nursey said. “Why you don’t come up with Samantha?”

  “Samantha isn’t going to be ready any time soon,” Andie said. She was close to tears. She was officially stuck on campus with no hope of getting home until Samantha was ready. “Do you know where Mommy is?”

  “She had something to do at the office,” Nursey informed her. “Call her cell phone, nuh?”

  “Okay,” Andie said with a sigh.

  She hung up from Nursey and turned to Martina. “Can I call my mother’s cell phone?”

  “Nope!’ Martina said. “This phone is not programmed for long distance or cell phone calls. Sorry!”

  Andie thought really hard. Her last option was to call her grandparents’ house, and ask whether Dylan or Darrin could pick her up. She dialled the number. It rang until it went to voice mail. That was strange. Grandma and Grandpa would have gone to the board meeting, but the twins, Bianca and Klao should be there. She tried again. Still no response. Not even the housekeepers were answering. Andie felt totally defeated. What was she going to do? She was, in a word, stranded on UWI campus. Two weeks ago, it would not have mattered. She would have gone to Preston, and Nathan would have taken her home. She blinked back tears of disconcertment. In more ways than one, right now, she missed Nathan so much. She looked at her watch. It was almost four thirty. She was hungry and tired, and fresh out of ideas on how to get home. She had no idea how to take the bus. She did not have any money on her to take a cab. She didn’t even have her stupid credit card.

  Andie realised that she had no choice but to go back and wait for Samantha. She only hoped that Samantha, as bright as she was, could finish her paper in no time. She also hoped Samantha would lend her some money to get a sandwich at the Subway over at the graduate school. She slowly made her way back to the commuting students lounge. She looked around. There was no sign of her sister. Andie decided that Samantha had already gone to the library. She turned and went in that direction, getting hungrier and hungrier, and increasingly tired with each step she took.

  Andie checked her bags at the door of the library, and went to Samantha’s favourite spot in the main reading room. The person who sat at the table they usually occupied was certainly not her sister. The person was a middle-aged woman in oversized glasses, who appeared to be at least thirty years late in reading for a degree. Andie scanned the reading room. Her sister was nowhere in sight. She walked up the two flights of stairs to the West Indies Collection reading room, and looked around. Samantha was not there either.

  “Where the hell is she?” Andie muttered. She closed her eyes. There was no possible way that she could walk out the entire library searching for her. Andie walked back to the front desk. The Librarian behind the counter was keying returned books into the system.

  “Excuse me…” Andie said, trying to get her attention. The Librarian did not look up right away. “Excuse me.”

  “May I help you?” The librarian asked.

  “I was wondering…” Andie began. “Could you page my sister, please? She said she was coming here, and I don’t see her anywhere…”

  “What’s her name?” The librarian asked.

  “Samantha Persaud,” Andie said. “Ask her to see Anne Dru at the bag check counter, please.”

  Andie made her way to the bag check counter as the librarian paged Samantha. Andie thought, as she waited for her sister, that the Librarian had a voice like a radio personality. After five minutes, Andie went back into the library.

  “My sister didn’t come,” she informed the Librarian. “Could you page her again, please?”

  “One page per person per evening,” the librarian told her, shaking her head. “Sorry.”

  “This is an emergency… Please…” Andie began, but she was thoroughly ignored.

  “Ma’am!” Andie said to the top of the librarian’s head. “Ma’am, please…”

  The woman continued keying returned books as though Andie did not exist.

  Andie lost what little of what was left of her temper. She reached over the counter, and slammed down the lid of the Dell laptop computer that the woman was using. It was a wonder her fingers were not caught.

  “Look!” Andie snapped, raising her voice. “I need to find my sister, and she’s in here somewhere. I am sure that some endowment that my grandfather made to this stinking library pays your paltry wage labour, and bought that God damned paging system, so do your job, and get on it, now, and page my sister!”

  The woman did not flinch. She looked at Andie’s angry face. “I don’t care if your grandfather built this library
with his bare hands, and paid for every book, pamphlet, and spider web in here!” She snarled. “Sorry to disappoint you, Miss Persaud, but not everybody gives two hoots who your grandfather is. Now, this is a library, and people are studying. I am not going to disturb them to page your sister – who clearly isn’t even in here – a second time, because, I repeat, one page per student per night. Now, if you have nothing to do in here, I suggest you leave now, or I can ask campus security to escort you out.”

  “Cow!” Andie spat. She tossed her hair, and haughtily strode out of the library. Tears were burning her eyes. She was embarrassed by her behaviour, and even more worried about how she would be getting home. Samantha could be anywhere on campus. She had no idea where. As she waited to retrieve her bag from the back check counter, she felt someone tap her shoulder. She turned around. It was Fern.

  “Hey, friend!” Fern said. “What you still doing here?”

  “I’m stranded!” Andie lamented. I can’t find Samantha, and Daddy isn’t here, and I can’t reach Mommy or the twins, and Nursey can’t come for me, I don’t have any money, and I’m hungry, and that – that – that indigent in the library yelled at me!” Andie burst into tears and collapsed into Fern’s arms.

  “Come to Preston with me,” Fern suggested, holding her hand. “I’ll give you something to eat, and then we can try calling your house again…”

  Andie pulled away from her. “I can’t go to Preston, Fern!” She said.

  “Why not?” Fern asked, already knowing the answer. “Andie, you have to be a big girl, and stop hiding from Nathan.”

  “C’mon, you heard what happened the last time I was at Los Matadores?” Andie asked. "I suffered the greatest embarrassment of my entire life. I can never show my face there again.”

  “You’re being ridiculous, Andie!” Fern said. “You’re not going down there for Nathan. You are coming with me. You’re going to get something to eat, and try to find somebody to pick you up. Besides, tonight is hall meeting, so Nathan won’t even be on the cluster.”