Elite (Eagle Elite) - By Rachel Van Dyken Page 0,2
I needed to do this for him, for us.
Taking a deep breath, I stepped away from him and gave them my most confident smile. “I’ll be fine, Grandpa, but I’ll miss you so much.” Warm tears streamed rapidly down my face as I stepped into his embrace.
“I have some things for you. I know…” Grandpa coughed and wiped at a few of his own stray tears. “I know she would have liked you to have them, Trace.”
Wordlessly, he walked away from me and pulled out a small box from the back of the car and handed it to me. “Don’t open it until you’re in your dorm. Oh sweetheart, I’m going to miss you so much.”
I hugged him again and closed my eyes, memorizing the way his spicy scent filled my nostrils with all the comforts of home. “I’ll miss you more.”
“Not possible,” he said with a hoarse voice. “Not possible, sweetheart.”
He released me and folded some cash into my hand. I looked down into my clenched fist where a few hundred dollar bills were rolled with a rubber band. “I can’t take this.” I tried to give it back, but he put his hands up and chuckled.
“Nope, your grandma would roll over in her grave if she knew I was dropping you off at some fancy school without an emergency fund. You keep it. You hide it in your pillow or something, okay?”
“Grandpa, we don’t live in the Depression anymore. I don’t need to go hiding money under my mattress or in my pillowcase.”
He narrowed his eyes and laughed. “Just keep it safe.”
I hugged grandpa one last time. He sighed heavily into my shoulder. “Be safe grandpa. Don’t let the cows out and keep milking the goats. I really will miss you.”
“And I you… just, do me a favor.” He pulled away and looked into my eyes as I nodded. “Be careful. There are people out there who…” He cursed. Grandpa rarely cursed.
“What is it?” Okay, he was starting to scare me.
He looked behind me and pressed his lips together in frustration. “Nothing. Never mind. Just be careful, okay, sweetheart?”
“Okay.” I kissed his cheek.
Grandpa grinned and got into the car. I waved as he drove off, then turned back toward the girl with the clipboard.
Okay.” I took a soothing breath and faced my future. “So where to?”
“Name?” she asked, sounding bored.
“Trace Rooks.”
The girl smirked and shook her head as if my name was the most amusing thing she’d heard all day. Was everyone rude here?
“It’s your lucky day,” she announced, motioning toward the building. “You are in the United States.”
I looked around just to make sure I wasn’t getting punked. “Um, yeah, I know. I’m American.”
“Gee.” She put the pen in her mouth and sighed heavily. “I didn’t know that. You seemed foreign to me. Where did you say you were from? Wyoming? Do they even have electricity there?”
I opened my mouth to defend myself, but she interrupted me… again.
“I know where we are, New Girl. Rooms are themed based on countries. Don’t ask me why, it’s just how it’s done. Your room is the United States Room. Go make yourself at home, oh and welcome to Elite.” She eyed me from head to toe twice before finally spinning around and returning to the building.
How was I supposed to get all my stuff in the building? Wasn’t there some sort of welcome packet or directions or something?
I vaguely remembered some information that had come in the mail the week before. It had my student ID card amongst other things. I rummaged through my purse and found the packet and quickly began scanning it for the schedule.
“Are you lost?” a deep voice asked from behind me. I turned around and quickly came face to face with the same guy I’d seen before. Only this time he had three friends with him, not one. Lucky me.
“Nope. Apparently I live in the United States.” I gave him my best smile and tried to lift my heavy suitcase with my free hand. It didn’t budge and I almost fell over. Awesome.
“I’m Nixon.” He moved to stand in front of me. His icy stare did weird things to my body. I’m pretty sure what I was experiencing was called a panic attack. Every part of my body felt hot and then cold as if I was going to explode any minute.
“Tracey, but everyone calls me Trace.” I held out my hand.