College Fund

//What am I, Twelve//

I didn't want to startle my dad by knocking on the door, so I fumbled through my purse for my key while thinking over the night's events. It had started out like most of my nights: work. Then Margaux and Spencer showed up with Bria, shortly after that I got jealous and started thinking ungrateful thoughts, and then... this. Bria's unexpected and completely unnecessary generosity had just brightened my outlook on life.

Finally, my fingers closed around my key and I unlocked the door as quickly as possible. As stupid as it may sound, I wasn't used to spending time apart from my dad, and I really missed him during the few hours that we were apart.

"Hey, party animal!" I heard my dad call from the living room.

I followed the sound of his voice to find him flopped out on the couch, flipping through sports channels. "It was hardly a party, dad," I protested. "We just went to the mall."

His eyes were light and happy, and I could tell he was pleased I finally spent some time with my friends. But then his eyes flickered down to the Forever 21 bag in my hands, and they turned stormy.

"You bought something?" He asked. His voice sounded calm enough, but I knew better.

"No, Dad, I-"

"Cassidy," he cut me off. "I know you work hard. But we've always agreed that money goes toward university first. You might have enough money saved up for tuition, but there's still your textbooks, bus tickets, and other school supplies to buy. I won't allow you to spend your money on frivolous things."

"But Dad-"

"Your mom wouldn't want this for you, Cassidy. Valuing stuff more than your education. I'm very disappointed."

I couldn't take it anymore. I yelled: "Dad, would you let me talk for one minute?!"

My dad stopped ranting, shocked into silence. We never yelled at each other, never even raised our voices. Typically we agreed, but even when it came to things we viewed differently we would always talk it out instead of having a yelling match. I knew I had crossed a line, but I couldn't take him chastising me for a minute longer when I hadn't even bought anything at the mall.

I took a deep breath. "Dad, I didn't buy this shirt. I tried it on, and Bria said it looked good on me. I told her I wasn't going to buy anything because I was saving for University and putting all my earnings into my college fund. So she tried the shirt on, and said she was going to buy it for herself, and then when she dropped me off she gave it to me. You have no reason to be upset."

My dad's hardened gaze slowly softened during my speech. When I was finished, he hung his head and massaged his temples. "Oh Cass, I'm so sorry."

I sighed, not really in the mood for sob story apologies. "It's fine." I glanced at my watch and saw that it was quarter to eight.

My dad seemed like he just wanted to move on. "I got some interesting news in the office today."

"Oh yeah?" I asked, taking a seat beside him on the couch. "What's up?"

"My boss wants me to go check up on our 'sister bank' in New York. Apparently there's been some sketchy business going on there with some money going missing and people's tempers going short and I'm a part of some plan to calm things down."

"New York?" I gasped. That was so cool! My dad and I rarely travelled, with him and I both working during the summer there wasn't any time. "When are you going?"

"This coming Monday." Today was Thursday. He'd be leaving in three days.

"Really Dad? A Monday? I have to work then. I can't take you to the airport."