Promises Made, Promises Broken - SYTYCW (Bad Reputation)

Present Day (Chapter Nine) Monday

Tucker

I rolled over in my bed, glanced at my phone and groaned when I saw it was time to get ready.

"Nooooo," I said to the empty room.

For the last fourteen sleepless hours, I’d mentally tried out every excuse - any excuse - to avoid doing the job at the Fox residence.

Homework.  But I was totally caught up.

My ankle.  But I'd ridden my bike for four hours the day before, it really did feel okay.

As a last resort, it occurred to me that Liandra might take pity on me, come home, and go on my behalf.  I had typed up a complicated text at three a.m.,and stared at it for an hour before realizing how truly crazy I sounded.

Now that the morning was here, I wished that I'd sent it.

I swung my legs over the side of the bed and gave my ankle a final once over, hoping for a twinge.  But it wasn't swollen at all, and the unattractive bruise on my foot had already faded to a lovely shade of greenish-yellow.  I rolled it around a few times, then stood up and stepped into my work clothes.

I told myself I didn't care that my bulky shorts and baggy t-shirt were my least flattering outfit.  Then I told myself in an even firmer voice that it was better that I appear as unfeminine and as homely as possible in Joey Fox's presence.  I tucked my hair into two tidy braids, laced up my steel-toed boots, and headed out the door before I could change my mind.

I had made a mental list of the reasons to avoid taking the job, and I had to confront the first one as I headed over to dorm parking stalls.  The stark white, hybrid van made me cringe.  I had made an awfully big deal about not driving to Joey.  But the reality of gardening and pruning and lawn care is that it requires a certain amount of supplies, and those supplies have to be transported.

I knew if I said nothing to Joey about the fact that I was driving, I would seem like both a liar and a hypocrite.  But if I explained to him that the van was on loan from my roommate's father's car dealership for the duration of my fundraiser, I'd feel like I was making an excuse.  I also worried it would make it seem like I'd put a little too much stake in what Joey's opinion might be.

Wishing I hadn’t opened my big mouth in the first place, I climbed into the van and cranked the music to drown out my thoughts.  I was almost successful at doing so, until I rounded the corner into the Foxes' neighbourhood, and came face to face with the second thing on my list of reasons for rejecting the job.

Abject, utterly intimidating wealth.

Yes, most of my potential clients were well off.  But I hadn't made out with most of them in a humiliatingly tipsy state.  I hadn't handed most of them parking tickets.

Most of them weren't Joey Fox.

The last thing I needed was him, throwing his money in my face and tossing around his superior attitude because of it.  

The sign at the top of the Foxes' street read Woodrud Estates, and the sprawling properties located there made my head spin.  It could loosely be called a cul-de-sac, but only because it would look like one from a helicopter.  There were six driveways, each as long and winding as the next.

No wonder they can afford to donate a wing. 

And it was no wonder that Amber liked him and was willing to put up with his philandering ways.  I'd seen her house, and it was nothing compared to the Foxes'.  This level of opulence probably made her think it was worthwhile.