Chapter 15 - Wakely

I don’t know why I was so nervous. It was just a gathering of students to talk and get to know one another.

Cora chattered incessantly about how excited she was. She tried on at least twenty different dresses and demanded that I give better reviews that that it ‘looked good.’

I was sitting in the dress she loaned me, my hair was in a ponytail that Cora curled the ends to make it look fancier, and my feet had a pair of sandals that didn’t go with the dress. But I didn’t have anything else.

Cora tried to loan me a pair of her shoes, but her feet were tiny, and I wasn’t about to wear too small shoes. un

“How do I look?” Cora said as she spun around in the flower sundress that she originally said she was going to wear.

“You look amazing.” I smiled at her. I learned that I had to give her better adjectives than ‘good’ or ‘nice.’

She looked at the clock. “Dang it, we are going to be late.” She grabbed her clutch and looked in the mirror one final time.

“I don’t think it matters if we arrive early. It’s a Meet and Greet, not a lecture.” I shrugged and straightened my dress.

I smiled at myself in the mirror. I looked good. I had very few reasons to dress up unless it was a public appearance with my father. And he always chose what I wore.  

He didn’t want me to embarrass him by looking like a whore. His words, not mine.

To think that he knew me my entire life and I preferred comfortable clothes that covered my body than too revealing shit that my generation tended to wear.

We walked through the quad to the garden where the party was being hosted. I looked around, tables were set up where people could stand and chat. There were buffet tables with finger foods a stage was constructed where a grand piano was the only thing on the stage.

“At least we can see the talent,” Cora said and waggled her eyebrows at me. “I am determined to live vicariously through you this semester since my boyfriend is so far away you are the next best thing.”

I snorted at her. “The only thing that I’m going to do is study and graduate early. I won’t have time to date. I’m going to be focused.” I waved my hand so my arm made a straight line.

“Oh, come on!” Cora tugged on my arm. “Just one little date that gets steamy. Just one!” She held up a finger and stuck out her bottom lip.

“Pouting isn’t going to get you anywhere,” I said as I shook my head. “I’m not going to force anything just so I can give you a story because your boyfriend is away and you can’t go out to play.”

Cora rolled her eyes. “But if it does happen organically?” She asked, tilting her head toward me.

“I will give you all of the details.” I sighed at her.

“Yay!” She clapped her hands together and skipped in front of me. “Let’s go get some punch and mingle.” She said as she shimmied her shoulders.

I rolled my eyes but kept scanning the crowd. At any moment, I felt like my father was going to pop out of the bushes, grab my arm, and pull me away from the party to scold me or hit me.

It was a silly idea. He was busy being the president of his company. He didn’t have the time to even think about me, let alone pop out of the bushes to hit me.

Cora was already chatting up the people around the punch bowl. They all looked like administration. I didn’t have a lot of time to learn about the school after my father switched me so I wouldn’t know.

“Hey, Wakely.” Cora waved me over. “This is Director Wilson.” She pointed at the woman, who looked nervous as she looked around the crowd. “She was the one who organized this shindig.”

“Nice to meet you.” I smiled and offered my hand to her, but she didn’t take it.

“Excuse me.” She said as she walked away from us.

“She’s having a fit because the entertainment is stuck in traffic.” Cora shrugged as she sipped her punch.

I grabbed a cup and scanned the crowd. My heart stuttered in my chest. “Oh my god.” My mouth hung open as I stared at the one individual that I never thought I would see again.

“What?” Cora looked around, trying to see who I was looking at.

I turned around. “Do you see that distinguished older gentleman standing across from Director Wilson, laughing?”

“Are you talking about that Zaddy over there?” She asked as she continued to look at him over my shoulder.

“I have no idea what that means.” I shook my head. “Anyway, his name was Director Ji-Ho Kim. He used to be the director at my school in Seoul. What the hell is he doing here?”

Cora’s eyes grew wide. “Did you date him or something? Cause damn, muy caliente.” She said as she fanned herself.

“Oh my god, no!” I whispered-yelled at her. “He was super engaged with his students and probably the best faculty that I have ever had in my whole life. I have felt guilty ever since my dad pulled me from that school. I never thanked him for all of his mentoring.”

“Okay, well, now you have the perfect opportunity. And then you can introduce him to me.” She said, turning me around and pushing me toward the group.

I didn’t have a chance to stop or say anything to her. Within seconds, I was standing next to my previous director.

“Ahh, Wakely.” He said in his normal, happy tone. “I was hoping to see you here.” He gave me an eye-crinkling smile.

Out of habit, I dipped and bowed to him. “Hello, Director.” I could see Cora dipping into a curtsy out of the corner of my eye.

I could die of embarrassment.

“Don’t worry about the pleasantries. We are in the United States! No bowing necessary.” He waved a hand in front of himself.

I stood up straight. “I’m sorry that I never got to say goodbye. And I wanted to thank you for all of your mentoring. For everything.” I nodded at him.

“It was my pleasure, Wakely.” He leaned closer to me. “I had to come visit the school that stole our brightest student.” He gave me a laugh.

“My father wanted me closer to home.” That was the only excuse that I could give him. He didn’t need to know that my father was a control freak, and having me halfway around the world didn’t allow him to control me.

“Ah, family is important. I’m glad that you are in this program. Director Wilson here has let me know about the engineering program, and if you were going to go somewhere, I’m glad it is here.” He nodded at me and then at Director Wilson.

“I’m so sorry, Director Kim. I’m a little flustered right now. My entertainment has been delayed, and I’m waiting to see if anyone from the music department could come and fill in until they get here.” Director Wilson said as she held her cup in a death grip. She scanned the area, looking for anyone who could help her.

“Well, I have the perfect solution for you. Wakely, here is a fabulous pianist.” Director Kim patted my shoulder and chuckled. “She did an amazing rendition of one of our K-pop songs for a talent show the school was holding.”

My mouth hung open as I watched my old Director volunteer me to help Director Wilson.

My current Director turned toward me, and a small smile formed on her face. “You play?” She looked at me expectantly.

“I mean…yeah. But I don’t have anything prepared.” I shook my head.

“It’s okay, just something in the background would be fine. You would be saving the day. The musicians should be here in fifteen minutes tops.” She nodded at me.

“Do it, Wake. What a way to start the semester.” Cora said as she laughed.

My heart started to pound in my chest. The talent show was fun, but I didn’t need to impress anyone. Even though in the end I won.

But here, I felt like I had to be perfect or else word would get back to my father and I would have to suffer the consequences.

I smiled at Director Wilson. “It would be my pleasure.” I bobbed my head at her.

“Thank you so much. It was Wakely, right?” She smiled at me with a gleam in her eye.

“Yes, that’s right.” I nodded and started to walk toward the stage.

“Girl, you need to tell me about all of your talents,” Cora said as she squeezed my arm. “Break a leg.”

I prayed that I would break a leg on my way to the stage. Prayed that there was a cord or something that I would trip over and it would snap my leg in two.

I would deal with traction just to get out of this.

As I surveyed the ground, nothing was in my way from here until the stage, which was only raised a foot off the ground.

“Just play a song or two, no one is going to pay attention to you,” I muttered to myself as I stepped onto the stage. “No one is looking at you.”

I took a deep breath and sat at the piano. My hands ran over the keys, muscle memory was always going to be there. Playing the piano was practically beaten into me as a kid.

My mind blanked on all of the songs I knew, though. The classics were out of my head, and the only song that came to mind was Thnks Fr Th Mmrs by Fall Out Boy.

“I’m probably going to be kicked out of school for playing this.” I shrugged and started to play. It was the only song that I could remember right off the bat, and if no one was listening, then it wouldn’t be an issue.

Right?

I ignored my panic and continued to play. Completely focused on the keys as I worked through the song. There was one key that was slightly out of tune; every time I hit it, it made me cringe.

Thank god that my father wasn’t here to hear the out-of-tune piano. For some reason, he would make it my fault.

As I played the song, my tension started to fade away, and I was getting lost in the music. When music was enjoyable, I loved to play. But then it became this thing that showed our status, and every time I played, I did something wrong. And then I suffered.

I don’t know how my father would have known if I did something wrong. He didn’t have an ear for music. But for some reason, he just knew if I messed up.

I played the last note on the song, took a deep breath, and pulled my hands away from the keys. A crowd of people were clapping.

I turned to them and smiled. At least I got through it. Cora gave me a thumbs-up. I let out a breath that I didn’t realize I was holding.

I scanned the crowd to see if Director Wilson wanted me to continue, but my eyes locked on someone I wasn’t expecting to be here.

Waylon.

He smirked at me and clapped slowly with the rest of the crowd. What was he doing here? This didn’t seem like something he would attend. Let alone dress up for it.

“Can you play one more? They are parking and should be here shortly.” Director Wilson waved at me from a few feet away.

“Of course.” I nodded at her.

“Play Lady Gaga!” Cora shouted.

I laughed and shook my head at her. It was a request, and Poker Face was next on the roster. Before starting, I glanced over at where Waylon was standing. He looked at me expectantly and nodded his head.

That, for some reason, soothed my nerves that were eating at me. I could dig into that later when I was alone in my room. I took a deep breath and started to play.