Chapter 2

Once they had their refunds, every last one of them handed the money straight to Bianca.

I went back to the agency.

Summer had started and business was good. We were closing big bookings every day.

"That Aurelia trip for my class is off. They think it's too expensive."

My parents stared at me. "Nine ninety-nine is too expensive? We only gave them that price because they're your classmates."

I made a noncommittal noise and told them what had happened.

"Mason pulled the rug out from under you? That little punk. Our contract with Northcrest Air is almost up, and his parents have called me three times about renewing. Maybe we just let it lapse."

My mother snorted. "That shopping mess had nothing to do with us. I can't stand people who hear a rumor and treat it like gospel."

The mess she meant started with a man who bought a designer bag overseas for the woman he was cheating with, then picked up an identical knockoff on the way home and gave it to his wife. She spotted the fake immediately.

To save himself, he swore up and down that our guide had walked him into a counterfeit shop, and the two of them came storming into our office demanding compensation.

Mason knew the whole story. I'd been miserable for days over it, and I'd sat him down and told him every detail.

And now he'd flipped it inside out on purpose and used it to smear us.

"Let them go. At least we're not eating the cost anymore. You've been asking about the Coralwind Islands for years, so let's take the three of us next month."

They could see I was down, and they were trying to cheer me up.

I gave them a vague answer. Right then a big client walked in, and they hurried off to handle it.

I checked my phone. Someone had messaged me.

It was Hannah Pierce, class president of the senior class next door. We knew each other from the school broadcast club, and she remembered my family owned an agency, so she was asking about a summer trip.

I sent her the itinerary I'd built for my own class, except I put the price back to the standard $1,299 instead of the subsidized $999.

I wasn't obligated to lose money for anybody.

She called almost immediately. I braced for her to say it was too expensive.

"Twelve ninety-nine? That's insanely cheap. Did you drop a zero?"

It took me two seconds to recover. "No, it's twelve ninety-nine. There's no mandatory shopping anywhere on the trip, and every cost is on the contract."

"I believe you. My grandma took one of your senior tours and she raved about you guys."

Hannah and I agreed she'd come by the next day to put down a deposit for her class.

My parents had already locked in the flights and the hotel rooms for the graduation trip.

If nobody used them, we'd eat the whole loss ourselves.

And now, out of nowhere, the whole thing had turned around.

I'd barely hung up when Bianca tagged everyone in the class group chat.

The entire class had signed up for her $569 tour, the money was collected, and now she needed everybody's ID information.

I was about to close the app when she tagged me directly.

"@Riley Fairmont you still haven't paid. This is our class graduation trip. Refusing to come means you're tearing this class apart."