“Your car runs great, Cas,” Aunt Estelle smiled.
“I assume you wanted to make an entrance on your first day.” She laughed.
“After this, no one cares if I wear expensive gear,” I replied.
“I’m not going to dress like a slob just because I’m going by Griffin at school.”
“How was your day?” she asked.
“Dead boring,” I noted.
“I almost fell asleep twice during morning classes.
I scored a few phone numbers, but that’s it.
I think I’ll skip tomorrow.
Once a week is more than enough to pull a C in this crap.”
“Why don’t you try to fit in?” she asked.
“Because I don’t care about finance, and that place is crawling with pathetic losers,” I said.
“Besides, I already have friends.”
“You mean your lowlife buddies who live off the fact that you pay for everything?” Aunt Estelle asked.
“Don’t stay in school to learn finance, Cas.
Stay to observe people.
You’re a writer; observing people is part of your job.
Places like that are great for inspiration.
Everyone has a story, even if it’s a boring one.
Besides, if you drop out again, your father will be right.”
“So, I should finish a finance degree just to prove him wrong?” I asked.
“We both know, Cas,” she smiled at me as she pulled up to a red light, “that you’re bright.
It wouldn’t take much effort for you to graduate.
Just find something else that interests you and meet some new people—ideally, ones who are less snobbish than you.”
“I’m not a snob,” I remarked.
“But don’t expect me to play football or make friends with Mother Teresas who look like they’re barely seventeen.”
“I don’t get you, Cas,” Aunt Estelle said.
“But as your publisher, I’m warning you: start gathering material.
Your characters are getting one-dimensional, and your plots are becoming predictable.”
“Was there no rush for the current volume?” I asked.
“Oh, there was a rush,” she admitted.
“But if you don’t start fleshing out your ideas, that’s going to change.”
“I’ll innovate,” I promised.
“But I’m definitely not going in tomorrow.
I can’t take it.”
“Suit yourself, Cas,” she answered with a sigh, pulling over.
“My car is parked here.
Thanks for letting me drive this beauty.”
“My pleasure.” I smiled as she got out.
I slid into the driver’s seat and headed to the beach to meet the twins, Leo and Mike.
We had a favorite spot on the shore where plenty of kids hung out, mostly those burnt out by school pressure.
I usually sat on a stone wall where I could watch the ocean.
“Man,” the tattooed Leo greeted me, “we thought you’d never show.” Leo looked intimidating with all his ink, but he was short, thin, and wouldn’t hurt a fly.
“First day of school,” I laughed.
“It’ll be easier tomorrow.
What do you have for me today?”
“We’re already tailing the two suspected cheaters,” Leo said.
I popped open a Coke.
I rarely drank alcohol; I loved my car too much for that.
“And Mrs.
Stewart called.
Says her son is hiding something and wants us to find out what it is,” Mike said.
“Tell Mrs.
Stewart she’s got enough money to settle her previous tab.
If she puts half down for this new job, we’ll see what we can dig up on her son.”
“She said she isn’t paying because we didn’t find anything on her daughter,” Mike said.
“I’m not going to tell her that her daughter is dating their rival’s son.
She pays for the work, not for an outcome she likes—and we already assured her the girl isn’t involved in anything shady.
Tell her that.
Either she pays, or she can forget it.
”
“You got it, Cas,” Mike said.
“Come on,” I said, grabbing my gear.
“We’re going to that bistro again today.
I like the violin.”
I dropped my car off at home with the twins following, then took the keys to the beat-up junker from Leo.
It might have been blue once, but now it was a dented mess.
“I’m going to buy myself something better soon,” Leo said proudly as he climbed into the back of the scrap metal.
“That violin girl is weird,” Mike noted once we were on our way.
“The way she got spooked yesterday.”
“I didn’t see it,” Leo said.
“What happened?”
“She wouldn’t reach for the book because she didn’t want anyone touching her, and then she dropped it just because a woman bumped into her,” Mike explained.
“It was weird.”
“Don’t worry about her,” I said.
“I want to pick up some hot chick,” Leo said.
“Just don’t bring her back to my place.”
“I know a great spot at the beach,” Leo replied.