Beauty and the Billionaire

"Ms. Alice, are you alright? Maybe I should make an appointment during your office hours," I said. "I'm going online right now to put in the request. I don't want to take up any more of your time this evening."

"Wait, Quinn, I'm calling late for a reason," my advisor said. She cleared her throat and paused again.

"Oh no! You're right. I didn't know how late it was! I promised a friend I would cover his shift at the front desk of our dorm. I gotta go, Ms.

Alice. I'm sorry. Thanks for your concern. We'll talk soon!" I hung up the phone and put it down as if it burned my hand.

I was never rude and I never lied, but I had been both to Ms. Alice for no discernible reason. Something in her heavy tone and her pauses made me nervous. I looked at the clock. It was past ten o'clock on a weeknight. My stomach twisted. Why would my college advisor be calling so late?

I stood up and brushed my hair back, doing my best impression of my sister's hair flip. Sienna never let other people bother her. My sister would have cut the strange phone call short twenty seconds after it started. On the other hand, I was wracked with guilt. I felt as if Ms. Alice was trying to tell me something and I had not done a good job of helping her spit it out.

Despite the guilt, I brushed my hair and got ready to join Darla at the gamer party. I moved quickly and was out the door before I could even shut my abandoned textbook.

"Oh, sorry. Excuse me," I said.

The taller of the campus security guards held up both hands. "Whoa, slow down. Are you Quinn Thomas?"

My stomach turned sour. "Yes?"

"Your advisor is Alice Bonton?" he asked.

"Yes. Wait, what's going on?" I asked.

His rotund partner shoved his hands in his pockets and scowled. "Your advisor needs you to meet her at Alton Tower. We're here to give you a lift. That's all we know."

"Please come with us, Ms. Thomas." The taller guard stepped aside and ushered me past.

I took a step before I saw the sharp look pass between the two men. "What is this all about? Has something happened?"

Neither said a single word more. I fought the urge to run and instead walked downstairs and out the front doors. The fat guard waved a thick hand towards the campus vehicle. My feet froze and an angry buzzing started in my ears. The taller guard stepped around me and opened the passenger side door, relegating his partner to the backseat.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

The lanky man folded himself into the driver's seat. Instead of answering, he turned the key in the ignition. I tried to close my eyes and take a calming breath, but an incessant flashing of lights stopped me. An ambulance drove past and joined the whirling lights of a police car not far away.

Alton Tower. That's where the guard said my advisor was waiting. I knew it because it was my sister's dorm.

The campus vehicle bucked the curb and drove right onto the lawn outside Alton Tower. Another campus security Jeep, the police car, and the ambulance blocked the front door of the dorm. I sat in the car, not sure where I was supposed to go.

Ms. Alice appeared, skittering around the front of the police car. She ran up to my door, and I could see she was talking before she opened it. "Quinn, I'm so sorry, but I was afraid you wouldn't answer if I called back."

"What is going on?" I asked. I gripped the side of the passenger seat and refused to get out.

"There's been a… Um, well, an accident," my advisor said. She reached for my hand.

"My sister? Is Sienna alright?" I slapped away Ms. Alice's hand and vaulted from the security vehicle. The rotund security guard tried to stop me, but he was too slow getting out of the backseat.

"Wait, Quinn, stop. Let me tell you what happened," Ms. Alice said.

The raw agony in her voice made me stop, but I could not turn around. She slipped around to stand in front of me and held out her hands. I crossed my arms tightly and waited for my advisor to speak.

"Sienna committed suicide tonight."

I laughed. The sound fired out of me. The two security guards backed off as if I brandished a gun. "That can't be right. Sienna would never do that."

"Quinn, I'm so sorry. Her roommate came back from the library and found her in the bathtub–"

"She slit her wrists?" I asked. The world was spinning away and getting smaller. It felt as if everything around me was shrinking onto a television screen and some terrible after school special was on.