The Way Tom Is

Summer: Only Part

Summer: Only Part: 

I packed my suitcase, pausing every so often to stretch a bit as my back had become increasingly stiff over the summer. I was bigger now, older, taller and stronger, I could do more to help around the house, Father said.  So I did.  I worked nearly constantly the first month and a half of summer, and then yesterday my parents told me that I would be going to a summer school.

"It will do you good, you snotty brat.  Teach you how to be a real lady," my mother had sneered, her lips curling unattractively.

"I'm tired of seeing you walking and talking like some sort of barbarian.  No doubt something you picked up from that horrid school.  It is absolutely disgusting Chamille.  You are nearly of age, and once that time comes, you'll be married off to Mr. Richards.  I wont have you ruining our family's good name with your discooridination and lack of lady-like virtues or skills."

The words had stung more than I was willing to admit.  

I had been trying all my life to be as ladylike as possible, I sat correctly, back straight and all. I spoke politely, never uttered a curse word or spoke out of turn.  I walked slowly and steadily, head up and proudly.  

What did I do wrong?  

I shook my head, telling myself not to think of it as I put another dress into the suitcase, flinching as I heard the front door downstairs slam open.  I could hear my father yelling, but from up here I couldn't hear what was being said. 

I could suddenly hear footsteps running up the stairs that led to my room, and I cringed thinking of my father coming for me.  But it wasn't, thankfully, instead one of our maids, Marianne I believed her name to be, knocked on my door, calling my name at the same time.

"Your father wishes you to finish packing and bring your things immediately to the sitting room."  

"I'll be right down, thank you Marianne."  

Sighing, I put the last few things in my case before tying it up and lifting it, grunting under the weight as I heaved it over my shoulder.  It took a while, but all too soon I was in the sitting room where my father waited for me impatiently.  "Charles!  Take her things to the car, we need to leave immediately if we have any hope of getting the brat to Lady Baringer's before she closes the gates."

Father gave me a shove just as Mother came into the room and she sneered, "This is what I was talking about. You obviously don't even know how to do something as simple as walking."

I closed my eyes for just a few moments before I kept moving, heading out to the car Father had only just recently purchased from our next door neighbor.  He'd bought it just four years ago, so it was practically new as he'd rarely driven it.  It was Father's prized possession and he valued it above everything else, even his own wife or daughter.

*_*_*_*_*

Lady Baringer's School for Unbecoming Ladies wasn't quite what I had thought it would be, in all honesty.  I'd expected a grandeur filled home with many paintings, vases, flowers and maids, butlers and the like.  However, instead I found a simple, yet quite large, home with simple furnishings, very few flowers and it was filled with the smell of baked sweets. 

Lady Baringer wasn't a mean old lady with a crooked nose and yellowed teeth either, not at all like I had imagined.  

Her teeth were white and straight, her lips perfectly plump and not a wrinkle upon her youthful face.  With flowing, shiny brunette hair and pink lips and cheeks, plucked eyebrows and a heartshaped hairline, she was utter perfection.

She introduced herself to Father and Mother, smiling beautifully and even I could tell that my father was utterly infatuated with her.  Mother looked on angrily, jealousy burning in her eyes as they bid their goodbyes, kissing my cheek and cooing over me like the perfect parents they desperately tried to make themselves out to be.