“I didn’t think so. Now listen,” Mr. Worthington said conspiratorially, as though he were talking to the students directly and did not want the faculty to hear. “We at the bank know that most of you will not be going to college. Even with your new accounts, who can afford that, right? But Pam and Ned, if you put in two dollars a week, by the end of the school year, you’ll have enough saved for a night at the El Rancho Motor Lodge out on the highway. A night of bliss, if you know what I’m saying.” He grinned lewdly at the couple in the front row.

“And Hanson Berg! “ He pointed to the long-haired senior at the top of the bleachers. “You’ll have enough to rebuild the engine on that old Mustang your dad left you.”

He continued picking out students in the audience, not only knowing their names, but bringing up the things each of them wanted, the specific things they could buy or do with money earned from their new savings accounts. The gym gradually grew quieter, until eventually it was completely silent, everyone finally aware that there was something definitely amiss.

Principal Whittaker looked pale and ill, but he made no effort to cut off the banker or stop his intimate suggestions as to how they could use the money from their accounts.

Mr. Worthington finished his list of examples with Nick. “Nicholas Decker,” he said, pointing. “Maybe you can use your college saver account for college.” He paused cryptically. “Or maybe not.”

Smiling, he went on to explain that in order for students to access their accounts, they would have to go into the bank with a valid ID and fill out some paperwork. But the accounts were all there, under their names, linked to their Social Security numbers.

How was that possible? Nick wondered. But he knew enough not to open his mouth and ask aloud.

Things seemed weird at home that night, too. Both of his parents were quiet, his dad distracted and in his own head, his mom preoccupied by thoughts she obviously had no intention of sharing.

Your mom’s getting boned by the gardener.

He pushed that thought out of his mind.

Thankful for once to have homework, Nick went straight to his room after dinner, closing the door and putting on his headphones so as not to hear whatever conversation his parents might be having. Before turning on his laptop, he checked his phone on the off-chance that Victor had responded to the message he’d left after the strange day at school.

He’d received fifty texts.

All from The First People’s Bank.

Heart pounding, he quickly scrolled through them. The first few were generic come-ons, trying to get him to open a new account—

hadn’t he already been assigned a college saver account?