Chapter 41

Chloe
When the FBI announced Operation Varsity Blues, Chloe and her sister, Veronica, were called home for a family meeting.

Their mother, Deirdre Price, was the female lead on the popular sitcom Everyday Guy, which had been on the air for the past seven years. Their father, Diego, had started off as a male model but now owned a Formula One racing team. He’d flown back from a race to be at dinner tonight.

After they’d finished eating, their mom told them what was going on.

“I’m sure you heard about the commotion on campus today,” Diego began.

“The FBI raided some of the campus offices. What does that have to do with us?” Veronica asked.

“Getting into a school like USC is highly competitive. When you said you wanted to go, I shared that with Jim, Trent’s dad. He suggested we talk to the placement consultant he used to get Trent into Harvard,” Diego explained.

“We were told he had connections and was an expert at helping people get into their dream schools, so I scheduled a meeting,” Deirdre said.

“But I was invited to join the rowing team,” Veronica said as she looked at her parents with concern. “Which meant I didn’t have to qualify, and you didn’t need a consultant to help me get in. Same with Chloe.”

“It was the consultant who suggested going through the athletic department. That’s why we took you girls to that rowing club to see if you liked it. The consultant told us that the two easiest sports to get through were that and soccer,” Diego said.

“And you hate to run,” Chloe reminded her older sister.

“If I’d known how hard rowing really is, I would have taken my chances through the normal admissions process,” Veronica admitted.

Everybody at the table, except Veronica, knew she would never have qualified. Veronica was more interested in boys and parties than doing schoolwork. She’d been popular all through high school.

For Chloe, it was a different story. She’d been a bit of a late developer. Even going into her junior year, she still had no breasts to speak of and was much smaller than most of the other girls. As a result, she was unpopular at school and completely lacked self-confidence.

Chloe would hang around with a few close friends and try to get by being ignored. It wasn’t so bad; she was close to the friends she did have, and they had fun. But the burgeoning social and sexual life of high school pretty much passed her and her friends by.

Then her senior year came, and her best friend Jen came out. She confessed that she was in love with Chloe, and they’d kissed at the Homecoming dance. By New Year’s, they’d become a couple.

That was all a roundabout way of saying Veronica’s worldview differed from hers. Veronica was invited to go on yacht trips with donors and lavish parties while Chloe stayed home. Veronica just assumed she could do anything because she’d never been told ‘no.’

“You haven’t answered Veronica’s original question. What does all the FBI stuff have to do with us?” Chloe asked.

“Because the consultant we hired is the man in the middle of all this mess. At some point, it will be leaked that we hired him to get you girls into USC,” Diego explained.

“But you didn’t bribe anyone to get us in, did you?” Chloe asked.

“Of course not,” Deirdre responded emphatically.

“Then everything should be fine,” Veronica decided.

“You know how the press is. Let me take the lead when fielding questions,” Deirdre said.

“What does it matter if we did nothing wrong?” Veronica asked.

“People are envious of the life we’ve created for ourselves. They’ll spin it that because we have money, we are somehow suspect for that fact alone. They’ll make it seem like we did something wrong when all we did was hire someone to help us navigate the admissions process,” Deirdre explained.

“They have no idea how hard your mom had to work to make her money,” Diego added.

Veronica was satisfied it was no big deal, but Chloe wasn’t as sure.

“What should we do?” she asked.

“Go about your daily lives like you always have. Get good grades and prepare for next year’s rowing season,” Diego said.

“I was planning on dropping my summer class and going on the Formula One circuit with Dad,” Veronica announced.

“That might be a good idea,” Deirdre said.

Chloe saw her mom glance at her dad before saying it. Chloe could guess that having her sister traveling the world, away from the press, was probably for the best. Veronica had never seen a camera that she didn’t pose for.

Chloe wasn’t happy that her sister left it to her to tell Andy and Cassidy that she’d bailed on summer workouts and would be vacationing all over the world instead. She found them on the rowing machines, training.

“I don’t understand why they call him Knackers,” Andy said about Oliver, the football team’s Aussie punter.

“Because he cried like a baby when I kicked him in the balls,” Cassidy said, wrinkling her nose. “It’s stupid, but what do you expect from boys?”

“Uhum. Sorry to interrupt,” Chloe said.

“We were just talking about Oliver’s balls. Do you have an opinion?” Cassidy asked.

“Not really. I’m kind of more interested in girls.”

“What’s up?” Andy asked to find out why she’d interrupted them.

“It’s Veronica. She’s dropping her summer class to spend time with my dad,” Chloe said.

“Let me guess. Your dad is going on a Caribbean cruise,” Andy quipped.

“Actually, it’s worse. My dad owns a Formula One racing team, and their next three stops are London, Paris, and Monaco. Knowing my sister, she’ll party and make bad decisions. She’ll probably end up married to some Brazilian driver.”

Andy grimaced, while Cassidy was unreadable.

“My advice is to use this scavenger hunt to show the girls you’re nothing like your sister,” Andy suggested.

“Come back to my place after we work out. We can do the interview task, and I might be able to help you win the scavenger hunt,” Cassidy suggested.

“Really?” Andy asked.

“She needs this, or the girls won’t hang out with her because of Veronica,” Cassidy said.

Having never been the most popular girl in high school, Chloe was surprised that wasn’t the case in college. People used college as a chance for a fresh start, an opportunity to reinvent themselves. From those high school experiences, though, they also usually had no desire to be bullied by a mean girl just so they could sit at the cool kids’ table at lunch.

“And if she’s to be a cox, she’ll need respect,” Andy agreed.

“And that won’t happen if they don’t get to know her and give her a chance,” Cassidy added.

They both turned to Chloe.

“You up for this?” Cassidy asked.

“Yes. And thanks.”

She went home with Cassidy, and they found themselves alone. Well, except for Precious, who chose to ignore them.

“I feel like nachos. If I make them, do you want some?” Cassidy asked.

Chloe answered in the affirmative, so Cassidy got out a large platter and began assembling the dish.

“There’s no way we can eat all that,” Chloe worried.

“David will be home soon and will either have some football players with him or Crystal. I make this much so he doesn’t get all pouty when I don’t share,” Cassidy said.

While Cassidy made the food, Chloe began asking her a list of questions.

“What is something that no one knows about you?” Chloe asked when she finally got to the good questions.

“I hate that one because I think I have to give a different answer each time,” Cassidy admitted.

“What are some of the ones you’ve used?” Chloe asked.

“Let’s see. I am afraid to step on manhole covers. I’m sure that if I do, it’ll give out, and I’ll go crashing to my death.”

“I can see that.”

“When I was little, I wanted to grow up to be a thief. I’d seen an old movie about a cat burglar, and I would plan out the perfect caper.”

“Did you ever do it?” Chloe asked.

“No. I knew stealing was bad, so I chickened out,” Cassidy admitted.

“Tell me a new one, and make it good.”

Cassidy thought for a moment.

“I know that David and I will grow old together.”

“You love him?” Chloe asked.

“I do.”

“Then why aren’t you dating?”

Cassidy shrugged.

“Neither one of us is ready to settle down. Until then, we’ll be friends and have our own fun.”

“I didn’t know you were dating anyone.”

“I’m not, but you don’t have to be dating to have fun,” Cassidy admitted.

“You’re seeing someone,” Chloe guessed. “Who?”

“If I tell you, you can’t tell anyone. Only David knows,” Cassidy said.

“I promise.”

“Tank.”

“Tank, the strength and conditioning coach?” Chloe gasped.

Cassidy nodded.

“Oh, he’s hot,” Chloe admitted.

Cassidy’s eyes got big.

“I thought you liked girls.”

“I do.”

“On a scale of zero to ten, zero being I only want dick, to ten where dick makes me physically ill to think about, how gay are you?” Cassidy asked.

“I honestly don’t know. I looked like a ten-year-old boy until my junior year of high school. Boys were more interested in breasts and stuff, so I was ignored. Then my best friend, Jen, came out and showed interest in me. I think if we were still together, I’d never give it a second thought. The funny thing was that once we started dating, guys began to ask me out,” Chloe admitted.

“The little pervs wanted to see two girls making out,” Cassidy guessed.

“Yep. Which made me want to run.”

“What happened to Jen?”

“Through her church, there was an opportunity to go to Africa for the summer. At one of the orientation meetings, she met someone. Ironically, it was a guy. When I found out, I was devastated.”

“Has a guy even kissed you?” Cassidy asked.

Before she could answer, the back door opened, and in walked David with Ruth, his security person. The cat yowled and then hissed at him. Chloe almost peed herself.

“Jesus!” David said as he jerked to a stop. “Are we finally doing this?”

He and the cat stared at each other until the feline had made her point and strutted out of the room. Ruth also left to go up to her room.

“That cat has got to go. I might pay Brit to move into an apartment so we can ship Precious home,” David said.

Cassidy got a pained expression.

“Let me take care of it.”

He looked both happy and surprised.

“I’m not going to question that.”

The doorbell rang, and David went to answer it. He came back with Crystal.

“Did you miss me?” he asked.

Crystal turned to face him.

“Wouldn’t you just love for me to say ‘yes’ so your enormous ego can get stroked?”

He acted wounded.

“Ouch. That one crushed me.”

“Oh, please. If your head gets any bigger, you’ll look like a bobblehead doll.”

David waggled his eyebrows at Crystal.

“Yeah, it’s already hard to get my shirts on in the morning. Pretty soon, I’ll have to start greasing the doorways so I can get through them.”

She turned back around and came into the kitchen.

“Nachos!” she said happily when she saw them. “You guys always have the best food.”