The Indentured Mistress of a 'Human'

Making a Deal That Changes Your Life...In the Bathroom

"MISS- AVERY-," an outraged store clerk hissed through her teeth. "I would suggest not wearing our clothes like that even though you own them."

The skinny, boyish brunette turned around with a bored and annoyed expression. Her waxed eyebrows turned inward with a scowl, and she tossed her style, wavy long hair behind her shoulder.

All she had done was tear the legs off of her skinny jeans once getting them. How the humans got around these low cut contraptions was a mystery to her. Now, the four hundred fifty dollar pair of pants had turned into denim shorts that showed over half of her thigh. Never before had anyone seen such an outrageous pair of pants; it simply wasn't the elegant style humans admired.

Nathan poked his head around the brand name store's doorway, and walked briskly up to "Miss Avery".

"Sorry about my fiancée," Nathan somehow managed to smile. "She's not accustomed to the nobles' lifestyle yet. One moment."

Nathan dragged the brunette out of the store, through the halls of La Blair Mall, and into an unoccupied bathroom. The brunette plunked down into one of the fancy white armchairs and crossed her legs in an unladylike manner. Nathan locked the door, and paced around the clean white tiles before exploding.

"Can you AT LEAST pretend that you're here on your own will?" he growled.

"What do you expect me to do?! All day long, since six in the morning, you've dragged me to the salon, a cosmetics store, the optometrist, a sushi buffet, gotten my ears pierced, and now you want me to shop for outfits?!" the brunette snapped back, counting off the list of meaningless things with five manicured fingers.

"You have to re-make your image," Nathan argued brusquely. "Your old image screamed 'indenture'."

"I am one!" the brunette shouted, rising to her feet. "No matter how much you style my hair, make me eat, and force me to wear these stupid red eye contacts, I'll still be one!"

Nathan froze, his eyes narrowing. After a few moments, he tore his eyes away from Number 31's glare and leaned against the wall, pressing his fingers to the bridge of his nose and closing his eyes.

"Fine. What do you want in exchange for co-operating?" he growled.

"What do I-" Number 31 repeated in outrage. "I'm not exchanging my pride as an indenture for anything!"

Nathan looked up suddenly, his eyes flashing as an idea formed in his head. "Your pride as an indenture...What if I let you go?"

"Excuse me?"

"What if I let you go; release you? I can send you to one of those indenture reserves, and you can live freely and safely there for the rest of your life."

Number 31 raised an eyebrow. "Uh huh. What's the catch?"

Nathan smirked, shoved his hands in his pockets, and raised his chin arrogantly. "You obey every command that I tell you until you're disposable."

"Until I'm WHAT?"

"Until you aren't needed anymore," he explained. "I only need a wife for a little while. When you aren't in the limelight anymore, we'll fabricate some kind of incident, sneak you into one of the reserves, and announce to the world that you died."

Number 31 felt light headed with joy, but forced herself to get details. "When exactly will I be able to leave? And what do you mean by 'every command'?"

Nathan's smile grew larger. At least the girl knew a good deal when given one. "I'm not sure exactly when, but let's set the deadline down for 2097, 15 years from now. I have to let you go by then. As for commands, I mean everything excluding those that endanger your life."

Number 31 narrowed her eyes, not trusting the man. Surely he'd try to pull something sly. Nathan caught her look, and rolled her eyes.

"Look, I'm not trying to trick you. You're not the only one here with pride."

Number 31 bit her lip, and finally blew a sigh. She'd probably regret this later, but it was worth a shot.

"Alright then."

The store clerk was amazed by Miss Avery's transformation. The inelegant brat ten minutes ago was no where to be seen, and only a graceful young woman stood before her now.

"I'm very sorry about my behavior earlier," Number 31 smiled. "Nathan told me about how things work in rich society, and it's very different from what I thought it would be."

"It's fine," the store clerk blinked, wondering if Brooklyn Avery had a twin. "Do you want a new pair of jeans?"

Number 31, the perfect "Brooklyn Avery", looked up at an equally shocked Nathan. "Can I? It's a bit expensive'

"S-Sure," he stared, trying to mask the shock. Was this person the same indenture he had bought two days ago? "It's no problem." As he watched Brooklyn follow the store clerk to a wrack of denim pants, Nathan asked himself what he thought of her now.

He couldn't find the answer.