Chapter Twenty One
For Fallon, lectures for the last few days of classes were taking forever. Luckily today was her last day of classes. Tomorrow she had a whole day to study before her exam on Friday. She had two late night exams one on Friday night, the other on Monday, but also she had two exams on Monday…one was in the morning. On Tuesday she only had one in the early morning.
Once she was done class, it was already six o’clock. Her professors had given handout after handout on topics that had been covered in class. Some of them had even given an exam break down, so that students would know what to expect. She had loved her math professor the most. She had allowed the class to bring a double sided sheet of paper that could have whatever it was that they might forget on the exam. Fallon could have hugged the professor. She was so happy.
Fallon was now sitting in the computer lab, she just wanted to check her email, and check plane ticket prices again. Her cousin had emailed her back saying that it would be great if she stayed with her family. They were all looking forward to seeing her. Fallon wrote back saying that she would be coming soon hopefully.
Fallon was still undecided about when to leave. The perfect date was on the Tuesday right after her exam. Since her exam was at 8:30 in the morning for two hours and a half, she would be done before lunch and then could go to the airport. Still Fallon hesitated to buy tickets. Fallon logged off of the computers, and left to go home.
Fallon still hadn’t been able to talk to Cheryl. Each time she saw her, Cheryl walked the other way. It was like living with a ghost. Cheryl didn’t come to eat if she knew Fallon was there. Fallon was at her wits end trying to figure out what was bothering her friend.
As she reached her driveway, she noticed Cheryl sitting on the steps. Did she forget her key?...-Fallon wondered darkly. Fallon got out of her car, and got her backpack from the trunk. As she reached Cheryl, she saw that Cheryl was in tears. The anger that had started to come up, disappeared.
“Cheryl, what’s wrong?” Fallon asked, concerned for her best friend. “Fallon, I’m so sorry for what’s been going on. I just feel miserable.” Cheryl said. The older girl got up and led the way into the house. Fallon followed after checking the locks on the door…and not knowing what to expect from Cheryl.
“Cheryl, can you please just tell me what’s wrong?” Fallon said as they reached the living room. “If I tell you, you can’t tell anyone. You can’t even react to it. Not even when you see William.” Cheryl told her. “Sure, is it that bad?” Fallon asked. “Yea, it is. Promise me you won’t say a word about this to him.” Cheryl said. “You know I won’t” Fallon told her. “Say it.” Cheryl insisted. “Fine, I promise.” Fallon told her.
“Look the only reason I’ve been pushing you to go out with William is…well it was because he was pushing me.” Cheryl started. “What?” Fallon asked in confusion. “When you told him no the first few times he asked you out…he called me. I don’t even know how he got my number but he did. He told me to get you to agree, or Lively! would be in trouble. I didn’t believe him at first, but he told me his father owned a bit of stock in Lively! and he could get him to sell it…I check my father’s files and sure enough…his father bought seven point five percent of our stock. His dad owns 75 shares in our company.” Cheryl told Fallon.
“So he called me again…and he told me if I didn’t help him…he could get his father to sell…do you know what would happen if some started to sell 75 shares at once?” Cheryl asked Fallon. “No…but I imagine it’s not a good thing.” Fallon replied. “No it isn’t…it would send the rest of our shareholders into panic…they would all sell…the price of Lively!’s stock would plummet almost instantly. My father and I…we would be screwed…everything we worked so hard for, William could ruin in one instant.” Cheryl told her, more tears ran down her face.
“So I pushed you into going with him. I tried everything to get him to sign those shares over. I mean he doesn’t have a controlling share…my father is the one who owns 45 percent of the stock in our company…I bought 5 percent so that together we have 50 percent. Still he has enough to cause panic.” Cheryl said angrily.
“So why didn’t you just call the police?” Fallon asked. “Because they wouldn’t have reacted as fast. He could have sold them before they could get him. Besides they were rightfully his. He’s just blackmailing me for you…that’s all.” Cheryl answered.
Fallon felt relief at finally knowing what was going on. Yet the more she thought about it, she couldn’t help but feel a little angry that Cheryl had kept all this from her. If Cheryl had kept this from her, what else was she capable of keeping her from. Fallon thought maybe she could help solve this.
“Did you only talk to William about getting the stocks?” Fallon asked. “Yea, I didn’t think it would help involving anyone else.” Cheryl replied.
Fallon thought for a moment longer. She would need a proposal, Craig, and money to get Cheryl out of this…but Fallon thought she could do it. Fallon’s only hope was that by the weekend she would no longer have to be nice to William.
“I’m really sorry, Fallon. I should never have pushed you to go with William.” Cheryl said apologetically. “It’s alright, I guess. But I think I know how to help you.” Fallon told her, although not forgiving her just yet. “Really how?” Cheryl asked. “You’re just going to have to trust me on this one.” Fallon told her, as she left to her room. “That’s not an easy thing to say.” Cheryl said quietly.