Chapter 16: Contract
Zen and Candace are standing outside the door of the bathroom. They both have their arms crossed and the both look extremely pleased with themselves.
~Yeah, I'm sure you're pleased... you basically were torturing me.~
I glare at them, "alright, I'm out of my room." I say, "What do you want?"
"I have a feeling you already know what we want." Zen says.
"I'm not coming back to the club." I say flatly and shove past them.
"C'mon Tia," Candace says, and they both follow after me. "I don't know what happened with you and Luca, but I'm sure we can fix it."
I scoff but say nothing.
"I talked to Charlie." Zen says, "and if you don't want to, you never have to practice with him again. I know he can be a bit of a prick."
That comment makes me laugh a little, but it still doesn't sway my position.
"Look," I say, as I open the door to my room. "It's not just Luca, the ping pong club just isn't for me, okay."
"But what about the contract?" Candace asks.
I shrug, "I'll deal with the consequences."
Candace and Zen share a look that makes me think the consequences for breaking the contract are not good.
"Are you sure?" Zen asks.
"I'm sure." I say. "so please leave me alone, and tell everyone to stop calling me."
Candace gnaws on her lip. I guess she didn't assume that I would be so adamant about quitting.
"goodbye." I say before they can say anything else, and I close my door.
I hear them shuffle uneasily on the carpet outside my door. Then Zen speaks loud enough for me to hear. "We'll let Charlie know."
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Charlie comes knocking on my door the next day, and I decide to not ignore her like I did Candace and Zen.
"Tia!" she hugs me as soon as I open the door and nearly squeezes all the air from my lungs. "I was so worried about you!" She says and holds my face between her hands. Her eyes look over me as if to asses if there are any bruises or cuts. luckily she doesn't inspect my neck or my knees.
"I'm fine," I begin, but I stop when she grabs hold of my arm and yanks me into my room.
She closes the door behind us and walks me to Anna's bed, where we both take a seat. I don't tell her it's not my bed.
"Alright." she takes both my hands in hers, "Tell me what Luca did to you."
"what?" my eyebrows crunch.
"Tell me." She squeezes my hands, "He must have done something terrible to make you quit. But tell me what it is, and I'll punish him for it."
I shake my head and try to pull my hands from Charlie's, "He didn't do anything." I say, although that's not entirely true, "I just don't want to do the club anymore. Ping pong just isn't for me."
Charlie blinks, "So you're willing to pay the $5,000, just because you don't like the club."
My body freezes.
~did she just say $5,000?~
"I- I-" I stutter, "5,000?"
Charlie nods. "Didn't you read the contract?"
"I lost it." I say shaking my head, and I feel so dumb.
~5,000? I don't have 5,000!~
"Isn't there any other options?" I ask.
Charlie acts like she's thinking. "I'll talk with Hezi... maybe we can think of an alternative to the payment."
I nod my head, "That would be nice."
Charlie watches me, she looks concerned. "there's nothing I can say to change your mind?"
"I don't think so." I say.
She sighs, "well, you should at least start going back to class." and I wonder how she would know that I've been skipping. "It's not good for you to miss too much."
"I know." I say, but the reason why I haven't gone back to class yet pounds at the side of my head.
~Luca.~
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