Delicate ✔

Chapter One

Dedication is to Pythian for a beautiful banner for my other story, 'The Best Prank'. I posted some of the banners on here, because I don't have many chapters on the actual story yet. :D >>

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Mom and dad are gone for the day again. They're both very good lawyers. I think it is true that rich people can be the loneliest, but my mother and father don't let that happen. I feel lonely most of my days, but I'm not rich, my parents are.

Lily is gone too. She's not like me. Lily is normal. I wonder what it's like to go to a normal school. My tutor should be here soon. I sit up in my bed, fiddling with my blanket. My parents don't like to leave me alone, but I'm older now. They don't need to be taking me to work. I remember when I turned fifteen, I had such a hard time convincing my mom to let me stay home alone. We agreed that I'd stay in my bed until Ella arrives.

I may not have been to school a day in my life, but Ella is a good teacher. She's like a second mother, except she's not as protective as my real mom. Ella is fun. And my mom, well... she's always so serious. My mom trusts Ella though. She even gave her a key to our house. Ella has been her since I was little. My mom won't admit it, but I know that she uses my tutor as a babysitter while they're gone. I worry about what will happen when I'm old enough to move out. I can technically move out in less than a year when I turn eighteen. But will my mother approve?

I reach for the remote on my bedside table that goes to my stereo. The radio holds more than one CD at a time. I press the number three,knowing that it contains one of my many Beethoven discs. I set the remote down next to me on my over-sized bed. I lean my head against the wooden headboard and close my eyes. Beethoven's Ode to Joy fills the room.

Several minutes later, I hear a firm knock on my door.

Ella cracks the door open with a soft grin on her face. "Can I come in?"

I beam at her. "Always."

She opens the door and gracefully makes her way to my bedside. She sits across from me. I cross my legs under the blanket and lean off the headboard. I click the radio off and the room falls silent for a moment.

"Can we go outside today?," I ask hopefully.

"Hmm," her brown eyes light up, "We need to work on your math skills for a while. And I need you to not be distracted. We can go outside when we move onto English."

"Can we stay in here then?"

"Sure," she says brightly.

I push my blanket and sheet to the side, and slide off the bed. She strides past me to the desk in the corner of my rather large room. I sit next to her in my pale wooden chair. She is sitting in the black office chair. She pushes my laptop and other various objects to the side. She places the several text books she'd been carrying on the desk with a soft thud.

"Let's get started, dear," she says while opening the trigonometry text book to the chapter we left off on yesterday.

......

Around noon, my mother pulls into the driveway early. Why?

Ella uses the pin in her hand to underline the place we left off in the English book. My mom climbs out of her green mustang with her slim figure that is covered in a suit. She pushes back her blonde hair while she walks quickly over to us. A frown is etched onto her flawless face. Ella's face falls as my mom approaches us sitting in the soft grass under the apple tree.

"It's only noon. You don't get off work until five."

My mom looks down at us. "Katherine had a heart attack last night," she sobs softly.