The Runaway Bride

One

This chapter has been transcribed from 1st person to 3rd person narrative. Enjoy! :)

I: The Great Escape

HUMILIATION, SIMONE HAS HEARD TALK OF SUCH DISTURBANCES but aside from a select few instances in her life she's been graciously spared.

In her first year of grammar school Simone experienced her first taste of public ridicule. She was but a little thing, not a day past five years of age, when she encountered the evil that is George Covington.

He was a thing of horror stories, so mean and ruthless with his relentless vendetta against anyone who even breathed the wrong way in his direction.

One day Simone accidentally bumped into him on her way to the fine arts department for her Latin enrichment course, and the glare he'd sent Simone's way left her paralyzed with fear. Later, during their meal in the dinning room George Covington had approached Simone with a juice box in his little grasp, and with a grimace, squeezed the liquid all over her favorite hand-sewn tulle and organza dress.

He then proceeded to tell the entire academy that she peed her dress, ignoring of course the simple fact that girls didn't pee that way, not that anyone believed her. Simone went home crying that day, utterly embarrassed and vowing never to come back to the wretched place.

Of course, her parents didn't listen. St. Petersburg Academy was the only place a daughter of theirs would attend.

Another instance when Simone recalled being the object of everyone's entertainment is in the third grade when she lost the class elections to Meredith Blair. Back before Meredith became her dearest friend, they were arch-nemeses. They competed for everything, whether it was the affection of their professors or the attention of the ever dreamy Arthur Montgomery. The class elections were no exception.

Simone had prepared a speech to compliment her campaign, but as soon as she was up on that podium she no longer had control of her thoughts. Her nerves betrayed her, and even though she'd brought macaroons from the best shop in France, Meredith's speech won them over.

The last time the ever perfect Simone Mercer was ever tainted with the sour grapes of humiliation was in the seventh grade. She had gotten her period for the first time and had gone around with a giant stain on her wrinkle-free academy uniform. Said uniform had consisted of a navy blue skirt, white button down and burgundy tie so then no one could really tell what had occurred. But Imogen Hathaway, such a jealous girl, overhead Simone calling her nanny for feminine products, and spread a rumor that she'd stained all the chairs in the building.

It's safe to assume that Simone thought nothing could ever top that on her list of cringe-worthy encounters. That is, until she was unceremoniously left at the altar.

On New Year's Eve, her perfect fiancé ran off, leaving her to face three hundred of their closest friends, and skipped into the sunset with her younger sister.

He'd explained it all over the phone on his way to the airport; how he and Eleanor had fallen madly in love way before she had even met Maxton, and how after being reunited he's decided he can't live without her. His younger sister Hannah had told him Eleanor left town before the wedding, and blinded by his all-consuming love, he followed her to Italy.

It was all such a mess! There was a part of her that was crushed that the man she was ready to share her life with has left before Simone had even gotten a chance to lace up her stunning Vera Wang dress, another that was—as mind boggling as this will sound—actually at least a little glad Eleanor had Maxton by her side.