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“Now is almost too late for you, Teal. Yes, right now.”

“But my things.”

“Everything you need is already in the automobile.”

I shook my head.

“I’m not going anywhere, Daddy.”

“I pulled some strings and, believe me, paid a lot of money, twice as much as your private school costs, to get you a spot right now, Teal. Someday, I hope, you will appreciate it. I realize you won’t for a while, but that’s a bitter pill I’ll swallow.”

I kept shaking my head.

“Where is this school?” I asked, seeing how determined he was.

“It’s wherever your last chance resides,” he said.

Instinctively, I backed up and suddenly hit what felt like a stone wall. I turned to see Tomkins smiling down at me.

“Tomkins will handle your transportation,” Daddy said.

Panic swirled around me.

“Where’s Carson?”

“He’s gone home.”

“I’ve got to go up to my room and see if there is anything I need that you didn’t put in the car, Daddy,” I said, playing for time.

“You didn’t think about any of that when you ran off with your mother’s car and my money earlier, Teal, did you? Why would anything matter to you now?”

“Please, let me call Mommy?”

“I don’t understand all this interest in us suddenly, Teal. You didn’t speak to your mother before you ran off, did you? You didn’t speak to me or Carson. I’m giving you some of what you want—an escape from us,” he said.

That wasn’t what I wanted from my family, I was about to tell him. I wanted love and concern. I wanted attention and I wanted to feel wanted, but I said nothing. We were like oil and water, Daddy and me. For the moment, I was too angry and stubborn to do any more pleading. Send me to another school, I thought. See if it matters.

“Good-bye, Daddy,” I said.

“Good luck to you, Teal. I really mean that,” he said.

I turned and marched out of the office. Tomkins was right behind me. As we went by the stairway, I glanced up at it. Tomkins thought I might make a mad dash up to my room, I guess. He sped up so that he clearly blocked any such move on my part. He opened the front door.

There it was, as Daddy had described, a long stretch limousine.

At least I’m going in style to wherever I’m going, I thought.

What surprised me was that there was another driver. What was Tomkins here for, then? This driver was in a chauffeur’s uniform. He got out as soon as we appeared and opened the rear door for me. To my further surprise, Tomkins followed me into the limousine and sat across from me.

“Are you going to a new school, too?” I asked him.

He stared coldly at me. What was Daddy doing, making sure I didn’t have the driver stop and jump out somewhere? This is getting ridiculous, I thought.

The chauffeur got in, and we started away. It was funny how I didn’t look back at the house with any sort of sadness the last time I had left it, but for some reason, perhaps because of Daddy’s tone of voice and his strangely calm, almost defeated demeanor, I did now.

When I glanced at Tomkins, I saw a smirk on his face.

“That’s a lot to throw away,” he muttered.