Song for the start of the chapter!
Wren walked into the school building with a look of disdain. She was wasting her time here, but she couldn't skip. If she did, her parents would know that something was up, unraveling her secret that she planned to take to her grave. She only had weeks left until she graduated from high school. In her mind, she knew she could do it, but it was still pointless to attend all the same.
"Hey bird, when are you going to fly away?" a guy with golden locks asked her as he threw a paper ball at her. He laughed as his friends joined him, feeding on their support.
She shot him a look in silence as she got her books out of her locker. "You know, Chet, maybe you should watch out for your own back, after all, don't you need a c to graduate with your friends?" she asked, flaunting a smile as she stuffed her books in her bag then slammed her locker shut.
His smile slid off his smug, tanned face. He was sure no one knew about his grades. Somehow they got out.
And this is what she lived for. With a pleasant smile, she walked away to the first class she had. Charles, or Chet for short, was friends with Wren at one point, but a lot can happen in six years. Now they were committed to making each other's lives miserable.
Wren walked into the classroom and sighed, waiting nothing more to melt away from this place. She had 6 months and she was spending it here. She pulled out a book and opened it, trying to make sure she was more invisible than normal.
"Wren, are you going to help with the yearbook this year?" a girl asked with brown curly hair that was nearly as perky as her personality as she sat next to Wren.
Wren looked up from her book in silence. She never agreed to help last year, so why was she going to help this year? Wren signed up for nothing in her high school. Before yesterday, she saw high school as pointless, but now it was a complete waste of time since she wasn't challenged here.
"So what do you say, Wren?" the girl asked, snapping Wren back into focus.
Why did she think Wren wanted to do anything to help? Was she just that desperate for people? "No," Wren said simply as she turned to her book again.
"Give up Ally, Wren rather be nothing than something," Chet said with a chuckle as one of his friends gave him a high five.
Wren looked over to Chet and shot him a look. "At least I value life outside my high school career, something that you'll never seem to get over. Let's face it, Chet, these will always be your best years. You've already peaked."
Chet's face turned red from her harsh words. "You're a little piece of trash," he spat out to Wren.
Wren merely shrugged. It wouldn't be the first time she heard someone tell her that she was worthless. Instead, she put her nose in her book and waited until the teacher came. Words could only do so much damage, and she was good at refusing to listen to them.
Within seconds, a teacher that the class had never seen before walked into the room. She was tall, young, and beautiful, completely the opposite of Mr. Essig who normally was their teacher for this period.
She dropped her stuff at the desk and looked at the class with hope in her eyes. "Hello, I am Miss Jennings. I will replace Mr. Essig for the rest of the semester since he broke his back during the weekend."
A few people chuckled slightly, trying to imagine how Mr. Essig, a fat old man, broke his back.
Miss Jennings faced the class with a stony face. "That's not a laughing matter," she said firmly and instantly the class stopped. For as young as she was, she carried confidence and demanded attention and respect. She wouldn't accept anything less from her class, even if it was just temporary.
Wren inched forward as she watched her, fascinated by the new teacher and how she held herself. She owned the room and made even the most rebellious of students shut up. Wren wanted to hear everything she had to say, hoping that maybe she could learn a thing or two from her.
"I know that Mr. Essig was teaching finance, but I want to switch gears a bit. I want to talk about budgeting, retirement, and saving."
Finally, something useful that Wren could use in her daily life. She had been handling her father's money for years now, but she did not know how to save it or invest it. She planned on caring for her father until he died, but her doctor's appointment threw a kink in that plan. Now she needed to help him plan for retirement, because she wouldn't be around to help.
"Ok," Miss Jennings said as she wrote on the chalkboard. "The number one stress factor for American's is money. To stop this, we need to know where your money is coming from and what you are spending it on."
"It's hard to know what you are spending it on when you're always drunk," Chet said with a laugh as he looked at Wren.
Wren bit her lip. That was a low blow, even for him. She wanted to snap at him, say something just as hurtful, but unlike him, she knew when to throw a verbal joust. This was not the place to cause a fight, so it was better for her to stay silent.
The teacher looked at Chet and frowned. "Charles is it?"
Chet nodded at her.
"Detention," she said firmly, then went back to the board to take a note.
Chet squirmed in his seat uncomfortably. No teacher had ever given him detention before. This would mess up his plans for whatever he had to do today.
Wren smiled at him, knowing that this was enough of a reward for her.
"Guys, this is serious, 70% of Americans are not prepared to retire at 60. My job the rest of the semester is to help you understand the importance of budgeting," the teacher said with worry in her eyes.
The rest of the school day seemed to go by in a blur as Wren focused on her father with the words of Miss Jennings bouncing around her mind. 70% were not ready to retire. Without Wren around, how would he get his money? The apartment complex would force him onto the streets, and with his name tainted, no one would want to help him.
Wren took a long way home that day, passing by her father's apartment. She looked up at the 4 story brick building and knew she had to talk to him. She walked up the stairs with some difficulty, as she felt her legs moving slower than she wanted them to. Finally, she made it up to her father's floor and walked through his door without knocking, noticing that it was a little cleaner than last time.
"Ba!" Wren called out. She waited for a sound, but nothing came. "Ba!"
"Wren! Give me a minute, I'm in the bathroom," her father's voice rang out.
She nodded as she sat down on the small musty stained couch that may or may not have had bed bugs.
Within another minute, her father came out of the bathroom. He smiled at her, happy that she came to see him again. "Twice in one week. It must be my birthday," Li Wei said with excitement. Unlike yesterday, he was completely sober.
Wren smiled at him, knowing that he forgot her birthday was a week ago. He often forgot about it, both of her parents did. She was used to spending her birthday alone since often her mom was out of town and her father was too drunk to do anything. This year, she spent it at the park, doing a card scam, making enough for her father's rent for the month. "Something like that."
He nodded. "Oh, before I forget," Li Wei said as he walked into the kitchen and came back with a small box in his hands.
Wren smiled at him as she took it. She hadn't gotten a gift in years. But knowing that her father had no money, felt bad that he spent what little he had on her.
Li Wei noticed the frown on her face and knew what she was thinking. "Don't worry, got a good deal on it. Happy birthday," he said as she opened it.
She smiled as she pulled out a cap that said NYU on it. If she wasn't dying, she would go to that university in the fall. As she looked at her old man, she debated about telling him she wasn't going. Instead, she put the cap on her head, figuring that it was better this way if he didn't know. "How does it look?"
"Like it belongs there." He wanted to say more, like how he was proud of her, but stopped, unable to force the words out of his mouth.
She straightened the cap on her head and felt a headache forming. She frowned, knowing that within an hour or two it would be a raging migraine. That was what all her headaches turned into lately. That was one reason she went to the doctor. She figured it wasn't normal to have migraines twice a week. And she was right, it wasn't normal. "Thanks, Ba. I love it."
"I knew you would. Your 18th birthday should be memorable," he said, feeling ashamed that he couldn't give her more.
If only he knew, it had been memorable already. A death sentence isn't much of a birthday gift, but it was unforgettable. She nodded at him in silence. Unwilling to talk about her birthday any longer, she thought about the sub from her budgeting class. Those words still rang out fresh in her mind. "Ba, do you have enough money to retire?"
He frowned as he thought about his near empty bank account. There was no way to support himself. After everyone seemed to put his name on the blacklist. There was no hope for him to save because no one would hire someone that was accused of funneling money. "No. The pigs whipped all of that out a while ago."
Worry took hold of her. But She should have expected that. If she wasn't around no one would look out for him. He would be homeless. "Ok. Can you tell me what you know about power corruption?" she asked, hoping that he would be willing to share.
He nodded. Wren was too young to understand it, but now she was a grown young woman. She should at least know what truly happened. "Sure."
"Corruption. Is it still going on?"
"Of course it is. It's a machine, the gears keep turning smoothly. When, when something is out of place, they kick it out so the machine can keep on chugging forward," Li Wei said.
"How do they get away with it?"
"Easy. They use 501(c) are non-profit groups, also known as dark money groups because don't have to report who their donors are. That's how Larry Houser became house speaker," Li Wei said as he thought about it.
"How come the FBI hasn't stopped them yet?"
Li Wei shrugged. "I ask myself that same question often. I think maybe they pay people off and maybe they don't know where to look."
"And if these people weren't in power, do you think you wouldn't be cursed?"
Li Wei chuckled, knowing where this was going. As much as Wren was a go-getter, there was no way she could help him with this. The case was massive and she was just one girl, a no one, just like him. There was a reason he didn't press charges or report them to the FBI. Like Wren, he was invisible as well, and no one would help.
They told him that if he even tried to speak out about this, they would go after his family. Plus no one would believe an immigrant like himself. "Wren, there's nothing you can do. I have already made my peace with it," he said with a sad smile.
Wren shook her head, not liking that response. But she knew when to drop a subject. She would have to look into this on her own. "Life isn't fair," she pouted.
Li Wei nodded as he patted her shoulder. He knew that firsthand. "You're right. Life isn't fair."
After saying goodbye to her father, she made her way back to her mother's place to find her eating without her.
"Dinner's in the fridge," Jia said to her daughter as Wren took off her shoes by the front door of their modern apartment.
Wren nodded as she walked into the kitchen to pull out cumin lamb takeout. She quickly dished up some for herself and sat down across the table from her mom, glued to her phone, like she always was.
For a moment, they were silent as they ate food. Normally Wren was ok with this, but eating with her father made her realize she didn't like the silence. Life was too short to say nothing at all. "Mom, did you ever love dad?"
Jia looked up from her phone and sighed. She rather Wren ate in silence then ask hard questions like this. But this was what Wren was known for, she always asked too many hard questions for her liking. Wren was too smart for her own good. "At one point I did."
"Was it because of the money?"
Jia bit her lip, then turned back to her phone. She didn't want to have this conversation with her 18-year-old. There were a lot of actions that made her marry her ex-husband, yes money was one motivator, but not the only one.
The silence was enough of an answer for Wren. It just confirmed the fact that Wren had never seen genuine love before. As she looked back at her childhood, the spending, the trips, the houses, it was clear that money was the true motivator for her mother. "Do you love me?" she asked.
Jia put her phone down, getting irritated. Couldn't she tell that Jia didn't want to talk? "Of course I love you, Wren. You're my flesh and blood."
Although Wren didn't believe her words. Wren knew that most of the time she saw her as an inconvenience. She had told Wren before that if she could do it again, she would never had kids. If Wren was not loved here, and why was she spending her last days here? "Can I be excused? I have a test to study for tomorrow," Wren asked as she pushed the scraps of food away from herself.
Jia nodded in silence as she turned back to her phone as if Wren was not there.