The Billionaire Boys Club (Billionaire Romance Series Book 1) (11 page)

“Did Ian get off safely last night?”
 

“He couldn’t find his ID. I think he drove up here without a license. They took pity on him since he’s only 18.”
 

“Lucky,” Kelsey replied.

“He’s my mother’s problem now,” Dylan said, as Jessica re-entered the row.
 

“Did you understand anything that Professor Dudley said?” Jessica asked them.

“No,” Kelsey said.

“I know where Erie is. Pennsylvania,” Dylan quipped.

“What was that question? Tyler showing off?” Kelsey said.

“He seemed to understand the subject,” Jessica shrugged. “Unlike everyone else.”
 

“I’ve spoken to him. He seems smarter than Matthew,” Dylan added.
 

“My pillow seems smarter than your roommate,” Jessica replied.
 

Dylan laughed. “Yeah, that’s true,” he said.
 

A prim woman in a white shirt and black skirt walked into the room.

“Right on time,” Dylan said, glancing at his laptop. He closed it.
 

“Students,” the woman said from the front. “I’m Miss Tanner, Professor Wadsworth’s assistant. I’m here to help you get into your proper seats. Please remember these, as these will be your seats over the next two semesters.”

“What happens when another half of the class drops out?” Dylan said quietly as he stood up. The girls joined him and the rest of the class as they walked into the aisles.
 

“Andrews,” Miss Tanner said, pointing to the first seat in the first row. “Appleby,” she continued pointed to the next. She walked across the floor, reading and pointing in an orderly fashion. As their names were called, students gathered their things and moved to their assigned seats.
 

“Hunter,” Miss Tanner said.
 

“Bye,” Jessica said sadly, picking up her bag and walking to the front. Miss Tanner continued.
 

“Poor Jess. She’s next to my roommate,” Dylan said. “Matthew Hudson.”

“Yikes,” Kelsey said.
 

Finally, Miss Tanner called out, “North.”
 

“See you,” Kelsey said, taking her bag.
 

“Olsen. Payne. Perkins,”
 
Miss Tanner continued as Kelsey headed to her seat. Kelsey looked up in surprise. Three members of the Billionaire Boys Club were walking in her direction. Kelsey reached her seat and put her bag on it.
 

Tyler walked behind her and sat down. Zachary, who she had only seen at the cookout, put his bag on the seat next to him. And the cute Ryan Perkins took the next seat.
 

“Hi, Kelsey,” Ryan called out with a wave. Kelsey waved back.
 

“Zach, Tyler, this is Kelsey,” Ryan said, introducing them as Tyler retrieved his laptop from his backpack.

“Hi,” Zach said, and Kelsey gave him a smile. Tyler glanced at her and put his laptop on the long table in front of them.
 

Kelsey sighed inwardly. It was going to be a long year.
 

The students were seated, per the seating chart, by 10:29. Promptly at 10:30, Professor Wadsworth walked in. He said a couple of sentences to Miss Tanner, who nodded and walked off, handing him the seating chart.
 

“Hello, everyone,” Professor Wadsworth said, without preamble. “I’m sure that Miss Tanner has informed you that when you are in my class, you are to sit in your assigned seats. I call on students in alphabetical order, so I highly suggest that you be prepared to answer questions about the readings when it’s your turn. Miss Andrews, I will be calling on you on Wednesday, so you may have a couple of long evenings ahead of you.“

Kelsey breathed out gently. There was a benefit to having the name North, even if she had to sit next to the standoffish Mr. Olsen.
 

“As you know, this class is called Torts. Contrary to popular opinion, you will not be learning to bake cakes in this class.” There were a few laughs in the room. “Torts is….”

As Professor Wadsworth continued, Kelsey smiled a small smile. She finally understood something here at Darrow. Thank goodness not everyone was as confusing as Professor Dudley.
 

She glanced at Tyler, who was typing notes into his sleek laptop. She looked away and turned her attention back to Professor Wadsworth.

“Are there any questions?” Professor Wadsworth asked a while later. Unlike in the previous class, there was no nervous laughter.
 

A girl in the front asked if there would be an exam at the end of the semester.
 

“No,” Professor Wadsworth replied. “Your exam will be at the end of the second semester, the end of Winter term. You should have a copy of the exam schedule.”

“We didn’t get that,” the girl in the front said. Kelsey didn’t remember seeing one either.
 

“Must be an oversight,” Professor Wadsworth said, taking a pen out of his brown sweater-jacket and writing a note on the seating chart. Kelsey belatedly realized that Professor Wadsworth had spoken about torts for almost the entire hour, without notes. “I’ll see to it that it’s provided to you tomorrow…” He glanced at the chart, “Miss Carlson.”
 

“Thank you, Professor,” Miss Carlson replied.
 

“Any more questions? No? All right, then you’re free to go. It’s been my experience that I usually call on three to four students per class period. So I suggest that you are ready when it’s your turn. Also, don’t decide that you need to take a sick day when your day arrives. Be here, on time, and prepared to discuss the reading. Have a nice lunch, everyone.” Professor Wadsworth picked up the seating chart and left the room.
 

Kelsey finished typing her notes, as the boys to her right stood.
 

“Bye, Kelsey,” Ryan said.
 

“Bye,” Kelsey replied, glancing up. But the Boys had left.
 

“He’s awesome!” Kelsey heard a voice say. She looked up again. Ashley had appeared at her side. Ashley was wearing a red dress, which looked surprisingly professional. Kelsey had become used to Ashley’s cute style.

“It was nice to understand someone. Finally,” Kelsey added, closing her laptop.

On Tuesday, Kelsey got out of bed at 6 a.m. as quietly as she could and got into her new workout outfit. As she picked up her keys, Jessica turned over.
 

“Is it time for class?” Jessica asked.
 

“No, I’m going to work out. Go back to sleep,” Kelsey said softly. After one week at Darrow, Kelsey had realized that the only way to deal with her mounting stress was to start running again. And the only available time to do it was first thing in the morning.
 

“Okay,” Jessica said sleepily. Kelsey left the room and gently closed the door behind her. She crept down the stairs and out of the door. She walked across the silent quad and went into the athletic center.
 

She smiled as she walked into the empty weight room. Since Darrow left the athletic center open 24 hours, she had expected that she wouldn’t be alone, so this was a pleasant surprise. No waiting for a treadmill. She put her jacket on a workout bench nearby, along with the small towel she had brought along, and placed her earbuds in her ears. She jumped on one of the treadmills and pressed the button on her mp3 player. Kelsey began to run to the beat of Shakira.
 

A few minutes later Kelsey sensed someone else in the room with her. She glanced over, attempting not to break stride. She had got a good rhythm going. To her surprise, Tyler was standing a few feet from her, arms crossed. Kelsey stopped running in surprise.

“What are you doing here?” Kelsey blurted out, taking out an earbud.
 

“I imagine the same thing as you, Princess. Getting some exercise,” Tyler replied.

“My name is Kelsey,” Kelsey snapped. She replaced the earbud and began running again. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Tyler putting on his own headphones, then jumping on the elliptical trainer.
 

Kelsey finished running, then walked over to the free weights. Ever since her mother had been diagnosed with thinning bones, both of them had started lifting weights to improve their bone mass. Kelsey picked up a set of hand weights and began working out her arms.
 

A few moments later, Tyler got off the elliptical trainer and moved to the weight machines. Both of them worked out silently, headphones in place. Finally, Kelsey was done. She walked over to her jacket and glanced at her phone. 7:15. She shrugged into the jacket and left the facility. Neither she nor Tyler had spoken another word to each other.
 

After breakfast, Kelsey sat in her second Civil Procedure class, which was just as confusing as the first. In fact, Kelsey and Jessica spent the free hours between Civ Pro and their first Property class trying to understand what they were supposed to be learning.
 

“We’re doomed,” was Jessica’s honest assessment.

Arriving in her small group Property class, Kelsey discovered that they were expected to sit in alphabetical order. So she was next to Tyler Olsen once again. When Kelsey sat, he seemed as thrilled to to see her as she was to see him, which was not at all.

The cheerful Professor Weber seemed pleased to see them all.
 

“It’s wonderful to have such a small group when teaching Property,” Professor Weber enthused. “Each day, I’ll have a discussion with one of you about the day’s subject. We’ll go in alphabetical order, which is why I’ve changed the seating this term.”

Kelsey sighed mentally. Her small group began with last names beginning with the letter M. It would be her turn in just a few weeks at most.

For the rest of the two-hour class, Kelsey and the rest of the class feverishly took notes about Professor Weber’s expansive view of Property and its place in the legal universe. To her surprise, Tyler actually seemed to be paying attention.

On Wednesday morning, Kelsey arrived at the empty gym and began her usual run. To her chagrin, Tyler arrived a few minutes later. He started his routine without comment.
 

The rest of the day was a replay of Monday. Complete confusion in Civ Pro, slight understanding in Torts.
 

“Why isn’t this getting easier?” Jessica asked at dinner, head resting on the table.
 

Kelsey patted her shiny brown curls. “It’s got to improve,” Kelsey said hopefully.

“No, it doesn’t, Kels,” Dylan said, violently stabbing his dinner.
 

“Hi!” Ashley said, sitting down with her tray. “Guess who asked me out?”

“Tell me it wasn’t my roommate,” Dylan said under his breath.
 

Ashley frowned at him. “Of course it is,” she said. “We’re going out on Saturday!”

“Lucky you,” Jessica said, sitting up.

“Congratulations,” Kelsey said.
 

“I don’t know why you guys don’t like him,” Ashley pouted.
 

“He’s just not our type of guy,” Jessica said diplomatically.
 

Ashley tossed her curly blond locks, and started eating.
 

“Where’s he taking you?” Kelsey asked.
 

“Out for Thai food,” Ashley replied.
 

“Nice. Have a good time,”
 
Dylan said unenthusiastically.

“I will,” Ashley replied. “Matthew is a sweetheart.”
 

“What will you wear?” Jessica asked. Ashley put her fork down. She smiled.
 

“Actually, I wanted to ask you guys about that. I have a great dress, but I wanted to go to Madison Park and find a nice piece of jewelry. Do you want to go tomorrow?”

“Sounds like fun. Sure,” Jessica said.
 

“Let’s go after Property,” Kelsey added. “I want to study in the morning.”
 

“Perfect,” Ashley said, picking up her fork again.

After Property class the next day, the three girls dropped off their bags and headed into town.
 

“Ooh, that’s a cute dress,” Ashley said, stopping at a boutique window. “Maybe I should wear that instead. Why don’t we go in?”
 

“Why not?” Jessica grinned. They trooped into the store, and Ashley started looking through the racks. Jessica looked at a price tag.
 

“Wow,” she said to Kelsey. She held up the tag. “$400.”
 

“For a cotton dress?” Kelsey asked.
 

“Resort wear. For those who can afford a resort,” Jessica replied.
 

“What do you girls think?” Ashley asked, holding up a blue-and-white knit dress.
 

“Pretty. I like the colors,” Kelsey said.
 

“You should try it on,” Jessica added.
 

“Okay, hang on,” Ashley said. She took the dress, and handed it to the sales clerk. She continued to look through the racks. Jessica and Kelsey glanced through some jewelry on the table.
 

“Two hundred. It’s a little cheaper,” Jessica said. “Practically a bargain.”

“We could go downtown,” Kelsey said.
 

Jessica shrugged. “Ashley doesn’t seem to care,” she replied.

Ashley walked into the dressing room to try one of the dresses she had picked out. Jessica and Kelsey looked around the shop as they waited. Kelsey glanced out the window and spotted a bookstore.
 

“Let’s go there next,” Kelsey said to Jessica.
 

Jessica looked out of the window. “Might be able to afford something there,“ she grinned.

“What do you think?” Ashley said, walking out in a beautiful black-and-white striped dress.

“That’s pretty,” Kelsey said.
 

“I haven’t seen you wear anything black,” Jessica said. “It’s very sophisticated.”

“It’s not my usual style, but I like it,” Ashley said looking in the mirror. “Okay, I’ll get this.”