Living Like Sleeping Beauty

Chapter One - The Beginning Of The End

Hello Lovely Wattpaders...

Enjoy...

A/N at the end.

:)

Chapter 1 - The Beginning Of The End

I will not cry.

I will not cry.

I will not cry.

"I am going to miss you so much!" My best and only friend Ashley wailed, flinging her well toned arms around my neck and choking me with her iron grip.

I cried. The traitorous tears make this presence known, accompanied by sniffles and odd sounding groans.

I was a mess.

I had the fortune to have lived beside Ashley my entire life, this being the only reason we became friends. Being home schooled meant my opportunities for meeting new people never mind actually befriending them were few. Ashley was the loophole. She appeared as my guide to the outside world, the exterior stimuli to my interior existence. She told me about the inane gossip in the local high school she attends. In her eccentric way she described the boys she crushes on, the many times she chokes up when they actually talk to her followed by her rants with the girls they would eventually end up with. I lived vicariously through her and her experiences. However, now this part of my life was over and her experiences would no longer be mine to share.

"I'm going to miss you so much too." I whispered back, my throat constricting as my cheeks felt stick and cold as the breeze tickled the wetness. I quickly wiped them away with the back of my hands, not wanting Ashley's last image of me to be a leaking mess of tears and snot.

"You'll call or email me every day?" She ordered while pulling away, sniffling almost as loudly as me.

"I promise." I replied solemnly, nodding my head and pulling away from her to catch my breath but before I could, she pulled me into another bone crushing hug.

"This is all your grandmothers fault! I can't believe she is stealing you away like this. It is so unfair!" Ashley complained pulling away again. And I couldn't agree with her more. This is all my grandmothers fault.

Exactly one month ago, my mother and father decided to enlighten my brother and I about the fact that we were going to live with my grandmother for a year.

A year. With a woman we barely knew.

She lived in Beverly Hills, the epitome of everything she stands for. Wealth and more wealth.

Upon finding out, I gave in to the stereotypical teenage expectation of a tantrum. I was not proud of it. Doors were slammed, small, dispensable objects were thrown and words were hissed and sometimes screamed. I was quite frankly a brat. My parents, who had never seen such behaviour from me were appalled. As was I. I immediately apologised and attempted to have an adult conversation about the terms of the trip, yet afterwards, in bed that night I could not remember feeling so scared in my seventeen years of existence. The air seemed to get stuck in my lungs and my chest had felt heavy as it did now.

I didn't want to leave the safety of the cocoon I had here.

Yet my grandmother was offering us the chance to have our college education paid for. The strain on our parents would be gone. It would be selfish to not acknowledge the generosity she was demonstrating. Our college education paid for by one year of being in her company? The feral quality to my anger subsided and I agreed to do it, with no complaints and an attempt at optimism. Besides, I wasn't the only person affected.

Chase was included in the deal too. If I refused to go, Chase would not receive the college experience that he deserves. When this thought had past my mind, I had already made my choice.