Chapter 5 - Eight Weeks
Bellmore University looked beautiful in the brochure.
Brick buildings.
Oak trees.
Students carrying backpacks across green lawns.
Jada hated the brochure by Tuesday.
She sat in the guidance office at Franklin High while Ms. Carla Ellis studied the financial aid portal.
“You already submitted your FAFSA.”
“Yes.”
“Bellmore gave you twenty-one thousand in merit aid.”
“Yes.”
“And your family contribution was entered based on your mother’s income.”
Jada stared at the carpet.
“The problem isn’t our income.”
Ms. Ellis lowered her voice.
“What happened?”
Jada had practiced the sentence.
She still struggled to say it.
“My mother used my education trust to fund her boyfriend’s business.”
Ms. Ellis stared.
“All of it?”
“Almost.”
“How much?”
“Ninety-two thousand.”
The counselor removed her glasses.
“My God.”
Jada felt shame even though she had done nothing wrong.
That surprised her.
She hated telling people.
Each retelling made her feel exposed.
Like the theft had revealed something embarrassing about her family that everyone could now inspect.
“I don’t want Bellmore to know all of this.”
“They may need some version of it if we request a financial aid reconsideration.”
“Will they think my family is crazy?”
“They will think you had a significant change in financial circumstances.”
“That sounds cleaner.”
“Financial aid offices like clean language.”
Jada almost smiled.
Ms. Ellis printed three pages.
“Emergency appeal. Special circumstances request. Outside scholarship list.”
“How much can any of this really cover?”
“I don’t know.”
“I need thirty-two thousand after the scholarship.”
“For the year?”
“Yes.”
“And your housing?”
“Included in that number.”
Ms. Ellis nodded.
“We don’t solve thirty-two thousand today.”
Jada felt her stomach drop.
“We solve the next document.”
That sentence stayed with her.
The next document.
Not the whole ruined future.
The next document.
After school, Jada returned to Renee’s house and found Tamika’s car parked outside.
She stopped on the sidewalk.
Renee stood on the porch with her arms crossed.
Tamika waited inside the living room.
Darrell was not with her.
That mattered.
Jada entered.
Tamika looked terrible.
No makeup.
Hair pulled back.
Eyes swollen.
A thick envelope sat on the coffee table.
“I brought records.”
Renee did not sit.
“All of them?”
“What I have.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means I don’t have access to Darrell’s business books.”
Jada remained near the door.
Tamika looked at her.
“I’m sorry.”
Jada said nothing.
“I know that isn’t enough.”
“No.”
Tamika nodded.
“I want to explain.”
“You already did.”
“No, I told you why I transferred the money.”
“That is the explanation.”
“It isn’t all of it.”
Renee spoke.
“Then talk.”
Tamika stared at her sister.
“Can I speak to my daughter without you prosecuting me?”
“You forged my name.”
“I know.”
“So I’m staying.”
Jada sat.
“Talk.”
Tamika placed both hands in her lap.
“Darrell’s company had three major projects delayed last winter. He had payroll due. Suppliers stopped extending credit.”
“How is that my problem?” Jada asked.
“It wasn’t supposed to become your problem.”
“You made it mine.”
Tamika winced.
“He needed temporary capital.”
“How temporary?”
“Ninety days.”
“When did you send the first money?”
“January seventeenth.”
Jada calculated.
“It’s June.”
“I know.”
“That’s more than ninety days.”
“I know.”
“When did you realize he couldn’t pay it back?”
Tamika looked away.
Jada leaned forward.
“When?”
“March.”
The answer stunned her.
“You knew in March?”
“Yes.”
“My birthday was in May.”
Tamika began crying.
“You let me turn eighteen and keep applying for dorm housing and buying textbooks and talking about Bellmore while you knew the money was gone?”
“I kept believing the contract would close.”
“What contract?”
“The Easton Community Center project.”
Renee frowned.
“City contract?”
“Yes.”
“Has it been awarded?”
Tamika hesitated.
“That’s what Darrell said.”
Renee held up a hand.
“No. Was it awarded?”
“I don’t know.”
Jada laughed bitterly.
“You gave him ninety-two thousand dollars and you don’t know whether the contract exists?”
“I trusted him.”
Jada’s eyes burned.
“You trusted him with my money more than you trusted me with the truth.”
Tamika lowered her head.
“I was ashamed.”
“Good.”
Renee glanced at Jada but did not interrupt.
Tamika absorbed the word.
“I deserved that.”
Jada looked at the envelope.
“What records?”
“Transfers. Emails. The promissory note.”
“And the investment agreement?”
Tamika’s face changed.
Renee noticed.
“What investment agreement?”
Tamika froze.
Jada’s pulse jumped.
“The bank document called it an investment.”
Tamika rubbed her palms together.
“Darrell had me sign another document.”
“What document?”
“He said it protected the money.”
Renee closed her eyes.
“Oh Lord.”
Tamika pulled a stapled packet from the envelope.
Renee took it.
Her face hardened as she read.
“What?”
Jada asked.
Renee handed it to her.
The heading read:
MEMBERSHIP INTEREST SUBSCRIPTION AGREEMENT.
Investor: Tamika Williams, as Trustee for Isaiah Williams Education Trust.
Contribution: $92,000.
Equity interest: 18%.
Jada’s hands started trembling.
“You bought part of his company.”
Tamika spoke quickly.
“That means the trust owns something.”
“No.”
Renee took the pages.
“It means Tamika used trust assets to buy a speculative business interest.”
Jada looked at her mother.
“Can we sell it?”
Tamika said nothing.
“Mom.”
“I don’t know.”
Renee turned to the last page.
Then stopped.
“What?”
Jada asked.
Renee held the paper toward Tamika.
“You signed this in February.”
“Yes.”
“This says the investor acknowledges King Home Solutions has existing secured debt senior to the investor.”
Tamika stared.
Renee’s voice dropped.
“How much debt?”
“I don’t know.”
“You invested Jada’s money without knowing how much debt was ahead of her?”
“Darrell said—”
Jada stood.
“Stop.”
Tamika went silent.
Jada’s tears finally fell.
“Please stop telling me what Darrell said.”
She pointed at the papers.
“For once, tell me what you knew.”
Tamika whispered.
“I knew he might leave if the business failed.”
There it was.
Not business.
Not investment.
Not family security.
Fear.
Jada nodded slowly.
“So I was right.”
Tamika looked at her.
“You risked my future because you were afraid to lose your boyfriend.”
Tamika covered her face.
Jada picked up her Bellmore scholarship brochure from her bag.
Eight weeks.
She looked at the woman crying in front of her and understood something that hurt worse than the missing money.
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Tamika had known exactly what she was choosing between.
And she had chosen.
