Chapter 22: The Roast

Founders' Night was open to the public, and the suspension only covered classes.

That was how George got a seat in the front row, in a good coat.

His three friends from the trek sat on either side of him.

They were smiling.

They had a plan, and Jude could see it from the curtain.

The student council had put George on the program as "a friend of the senior class."

The council chair had put Jude on it as the last act.

That way the whole hall would be there to watch.

Ken stood beside him in the wings, in a suit July had pressed.

"You don't have to go out there," he said.

"I know."

"Say the word and we leave by the loading dock."

"Ken." Jude straightened his tie. "Do you remember what I said in the cafeteria?"

"You said you own several cars."

"I'm going to say something worse."

He walked out onto the stage.

The hall was full, four hundred people, and the first row began to moo.

It was soft, almost polite, and it spread back through the seats.

Jude waited.

He let the whole room run out of breath.

Then he took the microphone off the stand.

"Thank you," he said. "I've missed that sound. It's the first honest review I've had all year."

A few people laughed.

"I'd like to talk about my ex."

He found George in the front row and smiled at him warmly.

"George and I dated for a year. In that year he told me I was perfect forty-one times. I counted."

"In the same year he cost me one silver coupe, three vacations, and a watch he said was for his father."

"He also cost me a winter of thinking I was unlovable."

Nobody laughed now.

"I'm not here to cry about it. I'm here to say thank you."

George's smile stiffened.

"Because the day he left, I learned my first lesson in accounting, and I want to share it."

"Every debit has a twin. Wherever the money went, someone else gave it up."

"Mine went to a young man who called me a pet on camera."

Jude held up his phone.

"You've all seen that video. Tonight I'd like you to hear a voice memo."

"It came out of the senior trek group chat. A friend of mine found it for me."

Keep reading free with an account. Start He Took Jude's Money, Ken Won His Heart from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.