Gilded Cage

Chapter 21

 That very afternoon, I rushed home to study the enemy. I started with her social media accounts. Sadly, my Instagram stalking skills didn't yield anything of value since Lily was new to Ashton Wellesley, and we didn't share mutual friends or acquaintances that I could contact like I had done with Evonne and Zac. Other than a slew of meticulously curated selfies, pics, and captions, I learned very little from her feed beyond how good she looked in a bikini, how much she loved avocado toast, and how often she traveled overseas to exotic locales like the Amalfi Coast and the Caribbeans.

Not yet discouraged, I turned to the internet. News articles. School websites. Even Reddit. I chased after dozens of leads before arriving at her dad's LinkedIn page. This was when I struck gold. I didn't find anything on Walter Sinclair's profile that could be used against his daughter, but, in failing to achieve this goal, I inadvertently accomplished another one. As I scrolled through Mr. Sinclair's job history, a possible clue began to emerge right before my eyes as to why Zac had been so determined to get close to Lily.

Lily's dad changed jobs about five times across several different cities—Atlanta, New Orleans, Queens, and finally Boston—but every position had only been a lateral move except, interestingly enough, for the last one where Mr. Sinclair had been promoted from an analyst to a VP presiding over the entire consumer retail division. Quite a step up in such a short amount of time. If I remembered correctly, Zac's dad, Timothy Mazur, had also served as a VP of Consumer Retail right before he was taken to prison. Both men had been working at Wyman & Rimmel, one of the largest investment banking firms in the greater Boston area, around the same time. It appeared Mr. Sinclair had inherited Mr. Mazur's old position shortly after the latter was convicted of his crimes.

I couldn't shake the feeling that there might be some sort of connection between the two men.

Was I grasping at straws?

Perhaps, this was merely a coincidence.

Did Lily realize that Zac was the son of her dad's former superior?

If the bitch actually recognized him and something shady had indeed happened behind the scenes at Wyman & Rimmel, then why the fuck was she so eager to date him?

This question continued to plague my thoughts for days. Never in my sixteen years had I encountered an obstacle that couldn't be overcome by sheer force of will. Yet, the more I learned about Zac, the less I seemed to know. Every answer led to ten more questions. The shit was exhausting.

***

The month of November descended on me like a fucking five-ton anvil. Midterms were fast approaching, and Tilton's big research project for AP History was due as well. Zac and I signed up to present on Thursday. We originally planned to meet one last time to review the PowerPoint portion of our project, but then the school library was shut down for tech upgrades. The identity of the anonymous user was still at large, and Principal Pratt had been forced to resign. Our new principal, Dr. Daniel Farnsworth, was on a mission to improve the school's security systems to ensure Ashton Wellesley would never get hacked again. I told Zac I'd email the slides to him along with my notes, and we could prepare for our parts separately. He didn't object.

November's hectic schedule forced me to put my wild theories about Zac, Lily, and their dads on pause. When I wasn't staying late for orchestra practice and concerts, I was meeting with my Model United Nations committee to prep for our upcoming conference at the College of William & Mary. Any spare time I had in between was dedicated to studying for midterms and cranking out assignments like a goddamn machine. I was only clocking about three to four hours of sleep a night, but, in a way, the insanity of it all was a blessing in disguise. I barely had any leftover energy to obsess over Zac. Regrettably, though, I still had front row seats to him and Lily's budding romance every morning in second hour. The mere sight of them together stung my eyes like needles, but it became easier and easier to shove aside all my angst in a sleep-deprived state as opposed to a fully alert one.

Sometimes, I would catch Zac's eyes drift towards me when he thought no one was looking, but I never returned his gaze or called him out on it. I was careful to keep a barrier between us. Not because I wanted to, of course. It was simply necessary for my sanity. A few more days passed before I realized how depressed I had become about the whole situation, and I couldn't even talk to Nat or Amari about it to unload some of the stress.

Call me a greedy bitch, but I fucking wanted it all. Zac's undivided attention. The whole damn truth from him, for once. Continued excellence in the realm of academia. Lily's head on a silver platter. The girl's bulldozer-like determination to become my friend was both creeping me out and driving me nuts, and I was itching to tear away her phony facade to see what was really hiding underneath.

Once I returned from my conference on the 15th, I intended to validate every single one of my theories about Zac, Lily, and their dads with some real hard fucking evidence. I simply needed to lay low for a while, study the players, assess the game board, before making my moves.

On Thursday, however, I no longer felt this way.

On Thursday, I did a one-eighty flip and completely changed my mind.

On Thursday, I no longer gave a flying fuck about Zac. Or Lily. Or their stupid dads.

On Thursday, I earned my first ever 'F' at Ashton Wellesley because Zac chose that day, of all days, to flake on class and skip our AP History presentation. I had been forced to present alone, but each partner carried 50% of the overall grade, and, even though Tilton gave me high marks for my portion of the project, there was no way I could make up for Zac's absence.

Initially, I was worried about the son of a bitch, wondering if he got into a car accident or if Lily had something to do with his no show. It wasn't until I checked my phone and saw his text message that made me want to skewer his balls.

so sorry about not being there. mom's in town. i'll explain everything later. i swear i'll make things right with tilton!!!

I texted back.

Fuck you.

Zac didn't reply. He didn't show up to school the next day, either.

What had I ever seen in him?

I was so fucking done with the asshole! My life had been going so well until he showed up at Ashton Wellesley. Now everything was coming apart at the seams. With this 'F' looming over me, the highest grade I could possibly earn for the semester was a 'B' in AP History. I hadn't done the GPA calculations yet, but I doubted I'd be able to hold onto my valedictorian title for junior year. It wouldn't be a deal breaker for Stanford, but I'd definitely have to bust my ass to shine like a motherfucking diamond in some other area.

I couldn't believe I let some stupid boy ruin everything I had been working towards my entire life. I should have fought Tilton to the death for a new partner when I had the chance. Looking back, even a moron like Hunter would've been a better option because, at least, he'd show up for the presentation. My heart was broken, shattered into a million pieces, and it had nothing to do with Zac.

He was dead to me.