Tall Poppies Read Online Free

money.
    St Michael’s, Jeff and her parents all taught Nina the same lesson: money was everything. It was new uniforms
    and fancy cars. It was American Express cards and
    ‘ respect. It was a house on the North Slope and your own business, versus a walk-up on the South Slope and a rundown deli. Jeff’s folks versus her parents. Hope versus despair.
    People who said ‘Money isn’t everything’ had one thing in common.
    ‘None of them was poor.
    Nina Roth had known since she was a baby that the worst thing in life would be to turn out like Mom or Dad, sitting around, waiting for rescue, waiting for something to happen. She was filled with contempt when she thought about it. There was no White Knight. You made things happen yourself. When Duane Reed advertised for a junior clerk, Nina marched off to the interview, lied about her age, and was hired on the spot. First week, she’d taken her paycheque and opened an account at Wells Fargo. Each month, she checked her balance, watching the tiny green glowing numbers with intense satisfaction. She spent only what she had to, and those numbers were creeping up. They were small, but they were growing.
    Money was independence, power, freedom.
     
    Nina’s eyes narrowed as she looked at her teacher. No way was she giving up her job.
    ‘I work at a drugstore part-time,’ Nina said. She sat up in the chair, determined. ‘I need the money, Mr David.’
    ‘Well, we all need money,’ the older man replied, surprising her, ‘but you’ll be giving up a lot more money if you go on this way.’
    ‘I don’t understand,’ Nina said, but she was listening. She respected Mr David; he took an interest in her when other staff hadn’t bothered, just dished out good grades and no feedback. Early on, Peter David graded one of her projects a ‘C’ when any other student would have gotten an ‘A’. When Nina complained, he told her she was smarter than the rest of the class, and therefore he wanted better results. She’d get graded by her own standard, s, and she’d only get an ‘A’ for outstanding
    work. If she didn’t like it, she could drop his class. Nina never got a ‘C’ since.
    ‘You have your SATs coming up, assessments, reports. You’ll need all that for college. Now, we both know that you’re good for an academic scholarship to NYU, Mount Holyoke, Brandeis, maybe Vassar, but you can do better than that, Nina.’
    ‘Better than Vassar?’ Her eyes widened.
    ‘Sure. Sure.’ Peter David nodded impatiently. ‘I’m talking Harvard or Yale. Maybe MIT if you planned to specialise.’
    She shook her head, glossy raven hair gleaming in the light from the office window. ‘I’d.need a full scholarship for that, and they only give out a handful each year.’
    ‘That’s right. You could easily take one of them, Nina, but not the way you’re performing now.’ Her teacher brushed aside her protests with an impatient wave. ‘No, stop giving me excuses. You are a student gifted with outstanding mathematical ability. Your economics ate
     
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    fluid and perceptive. You’re strong in physics, chemistry
    and business studies, but you’re letting yourself down.’ He leaned forward.
    ‘It amazes me that someone like. you would sacrifice longterm profit for pocket money. Look, Nina, the graduate market is a market. Maybe it doesn’t matter to some of your fellow pupils, but when you come out of college, do you want a rsum from somewhere OK, or do you want to be the best?’
    Nina sat there, taken aback.
    ‘Something’s got to give,’ Peter David said.
    She pushed back her chair, stood up straight, and offered him her hand. She’s so dignified, David thought,
    his dry academic’s heart touched by this tall, awkward
    ‘ teenager, standing there so seriously.
    He shook it warmly.
    ‘I hear you, sir,’ Nina told him. ‘I’ll work something out.’
    From now on, she thought grimly, Morn and Dad are on their own.
    ‘Starting that day, Nina cut back on her hours