Becoming a Scott

Chapter 11

"Really, it's no problem." Uncle Joel added as he stood by the entrance of race track. He held up the umbrella and made sure to shield Christina from the rain, allowing some it to trail on the shoulder of his jacket.

"I've already interrupted enough of your time together," Ander excused. He held up his own umbrella and stood in frot of the car that had driven up to pick him up. "I'm sure you want to get to know Christina better and I shouldn't be around to pester her."

"Yeah, that's a good idea." Christina added from behind her uncle.

"Fine, fine," Uncle Joel sighed, "But I want to hear what Michael was up to while the three of you were abroad."

"And you will.  By the way, Christina, my mother would like for you to come by the house some time." Ander added simply.

"What? Why?" She shouted over the growing sound of the rain.

"She's from the islands," Ander explained. "She just wants to talk, nothing else. I can grantee to you that she's not as annoying as I am."

Christina kept silent, not really knowing how to respond to this information.

"Alright then! Stay out of the rain if you can!" Ander shouted as a goodbye before turning back to the car and climbing in.

Uncle Joel stood and waited for Ander's car to drive off before wrapping his arm around Christina's shoulder and walking her to their car. "Are you truly that annoyed by him?"

Christina looked up at her uncle, "Are you not?"

His boots sloshed against the wet, pebbled road. "Christina," he started to say with a tone that sounded as if he was going to lecture her, "you should think before you act."

She tensed. She expected to be lectured on behavior by everyone else but her Uncle Joel. He had given her the impression that he didn't care about things like that.

"Ander Vivaldi is a very prominent man, he has a lot of connections and dealings-"

"If he was really that important then why does he feel the need to annoy me. He's like a child." Christina complained.

"Whatever the case may be, use it to you advantage." Christina tilted her head, trying to understand what her uncle meant. "If you want to establish yourself as a Scott, like I assume you do, befriending Ander is the best place to start."

"He's not even a Scott."

"You're missing the point, sure your grandmother needs to officially acknowledge you, but she won't do such a thing unless you can prove you can mingle among the society. You need to bargain, and entertain, and encourage people to engage with you."

"I don't see Riley and Michael doing any of that."

Uncle Joel shook his head, "They don't need to."

She took a deep breath and stopped walking, forcing her uncle to stop too. Looking away from her Uncle she instead glanced at the gray clouds rolling above. The weather had shifted seemingly out of nowhere, causing the races to end early. "Grandmother isn't waiting for me to mingle, she already told me what she expects from me."

Her Uncle furrowed his brows, wanting to speak but not knowing what to say exactly. But the question was written all over his face.

"She wants me to get married before the end of the school year."

"God, that mother of mine." He sighed, "Let's hurry to the car, you're practically shivering."

"That's all your gonna say?"

Uncle Joel shrugged though he seemed to realize that was not the right thing to do. "There's not much I can do about that, Christina."

"Try to convince her otherwise. I can't spend my time on the mainland, time I'm supposed to be dedicating to college, trying to seduce men into marrying the newest Scott from the islands." She urged.

He looked down at her for a moment, "Well, if that's the problem then I believe it's already been solved."

"What?" She asked in sudden anger. "No, I don't think you understand-"

"The Vivaldi kid is practically begging for your attention, Christina." He spoke in a low tone, trying to get her to listen to his words carefully.

Christina blinked, speechless, and then let out a laugh of disbelief. "No and even if he was, you said it yourself, he won't marry anyone."

Uncle Joel shrugged, and this time he knew it was the right thing to do. "Who knows what's going through the idiot's head? But if I had never met him and happened to see the way he interacts with you..." He let his words linger in the air.

"Somehow, Uncle, you've done an excellent job of making me feel even more hopeless."

"How so?" He laughed as he urged her to keep walking.

"Cause I don't know that I'm desperate enough to go chasing after Ander."

Opening the car door, he helped his niece into the passenger seat. "It would be fun to watch you and Riley duke it out for his attention."

"Let's hope neither of us have to stoop so low."

Uncle Joel let out a sigh and spoke in a remorseful tone, "You might just have to, Christina."

In the car Uncle Joel grumbled about the weather and sang along to his soft rock music while Christina grumbled about the fate of her life and sang along to the little lyrics she knew from her father's CD's. The two of them managed to pick up a light conversation when they sat to eat at his favorite restaurant in town but by the time they had reached the house Christina was back to sulking.

It only worsened when Riley knocked on her door and woke Christina up from sleep. "Are you up?"

I gotta get a door lock, Christina thought before answering her cousin. "What is it?" She asked as politely as she could manage.

"I don't know if my mom told you," Riley walked into the room and sat at the edge of the bed. "But Mrs. Vivaldi has invited you to tea tomorrow morning."

Christina pressed her hand to her face and let out a groan. "Tomorrow?"

Riley nodded, "We got the invitation this afternoon. Mom said she would tell you but I guess it slipped her mind."

"Okay," Christina said with a sigh, "Thank you for letting me know, Riley."

Riley paused for a moment, not getting up from the bed. "Can I come with you?"

"What?" Christina turned to her cousin, her voice coming out with more force than she intended.

Riley cowered for a second before coming back to her relaxed posture. "I want to know if I can join Mrs. Vivaldi and you for tea."

"Do you think she'd be okay with that?"

"Well, I'm not rea-" she noticed Christina's agitated expression and changed her answer. "Yeah, she'd be happy to see me."

"Okay, cool," Christina fell back onto her pillow. "At what time do we have to leave?"

"She asked you to be there at nine."

Christina rolled over and waited for the door to snap closed before letting out a cry into her pillow.