章 13: The cost of privilege. BD

Lucas

13 years ago

Preston Private Academy could pass as a college. It offers the same kind of freedom for students but not so much for teachers. One could offer different ranges of subjects for example, I am an art major but I offer calculus, Economics and Finance courses.

The school was located in one of the high-end communities in California; that was expected because the majority of the students were from rich homes. The minority are students from middle-class homes and scholarships. There has been segregation of students based on how rich their parents are.

Even among the rich kids, there were tiers. If I was interested in their bullshit, I would be placed in the first tier a.k.a filthy rich kids with trust funds. But I don't care about tiers rubbish so I just stay on my own.

Of course, I had a few friends in different classes and clubs that I belong to but there was no one that I was very close with. Until Brittany. I went to parties in people's homes but I never invited anyone to my house.

I wouldn't say that I was secretive but my refusal to participate in most events in school earned me a reputation. They said I was proud and picky. Will, an Asian student in my economics class, said that students had bets on whose party I would attend.

The fact that my schoolmates were concerned about parties, riches, trust funds, women and many more irrelevant frivolities was the reason why I didn't like being with them. My close friends consist of students who think more about their future. Those of us who were rogues in Preston High.

I drove my brand new BMW into the school compound and I could feel stares from students. If there was one thing that I flaunted, it was my cars. I love my cars and I love the limited edition one that I was currently sitting in.

There are only twenty-five of the cars in the world and I managed to snag one after a phone call by GrandPa. Till the end of the day, the car and my presumed wealth would be the topic. It was barely 9 am but I was already tired of the day. Everything would be better if Brittany was in that school.

If I waited in my car long enough, my friends would pull in too. One by one, they drove into the school garage and we walked to class together. Math class was one of the classes that the seniors had together.

"Hey, Luke. You missed Mr. Willow's last class, you won't understand this. Let's skip together. I need a smoke," Paul whispered to me. First, Paul's parents are politicians. Second, he was suffering from a smoking addiction.

Having gone to rehab two times without much change, his family have regarded him as an unalterable resolve. The truth was that the problem was not Paul's smoking habit, it was that his whole family was crazy. Smoking was his rebellion against the family and he only smoked in public places, he loved to be reprimanded.

In other words, he just wanted attention. "Fuck off, Paul" Will responded. Will was another crazy specimen of the rich families and a good friend of mine. "You know I don't skip math class. Besides, Mr. Willow would simplify today's topic."

Paul felt silent beside me and waited until the lanky math teacher walked into the classroom. It took a few minutes to get the class in order and another twenty minutes to revise the last class. All through the class, there were whispers about my car, Paul's parents and a lot of other gossip.

Most of the minority of the class; scholarship and middle-class students are doing excellently in school, only a few of the majority of students felt the need to do extra in school. This is because it was not hard to get into Ivy League schools if one or both of your parents sat on the board. A few of us, Paul included, were not interested in University or colleges, we just wanted to leave the preying eyes of our family.

Over the day, they paste the details of our graduation, important dates for college application and porm. The details would be sent to all parents and I knew that my father would bring up the discussion of colleges during the weekend. I didn't want to do anything he asked, I hated school, and I just wanted to spend my day with a blue-eyed scholar.

We were in the last period of the day when the Principal requested my presence in his office. The last time I was there, it was because I beat a student. The fucker harassed a scholarship student, nobody was going to reprimand him so I took matters into my hands.

The fight led to a call to my father's office, my allowance for the month was stripped and the principal's son interned at the company the summer after. The Principal opened his office door just before I knocked and waved me in "Come in, Lucas"

I listened absentmindedly as he pretended to care by asking me about the classes and preparations for college applications. I nodded at everything until he got into the details of the meeting. The details were simple; they wanted me to convince my father to show up at the valedictory service.

Even the Principal knew that my father would not show up but the school would get 'a sizable donation' as compensation. He let me go as soon as I agreed to talk to my father. You see, school was super boring and repetitive, I couldn't wait to finish high school.

The weekend came and so did my father. Like always, he called me to his wing of the house but instead of auditing financial reports, he wanted to talk about suitable schools for his only son. It was also the first time he brought a woman home.

Instead of calling my cell or the house intercom, he came to my wing of the house. It was so unusual to see him standing in my living room that I lost my voice. My father was not a big man, at eighteen, I was already taller than him, but my living room felt smaller and tighter with him in there.

He asked me to dress well, and that he had a visitor who would join us for dinner. If you must know, I don't remember eating dinner with my father before that day except on family occasions. "Don't fuck this up," he warned before he left my room.

I showed up to dinner in a casual dressing, black pants on a black t-shirt. There was no acknowledgement from my father or his visitor until I cleared my throat. My father introduced me and she 'hmm ed' in response.

At some point during the dinner, she started a conversation. I was so stunned to see my father acting differently that I didn't notice her nonchalance in the conversation.

"So, what do you want to major in when you get to college?" She asked. I said Business Administration and she said cool.

Like, just cool.

She asked about my relationship, best foods and favourite pastime. I answered honestly and she replied, great, beautiful and nice. When I've had enough, I excuse myself.

My father never called me back, the woman was also not at breakfast the day after. I never asked him about her and he never mentioned her again. It was only the first time, but there were other women after her. Some of the women would show more interest and some would not pretend to care about their boyfriend's son.

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