In The City [On Hold]

Chapter 6

“Surprise!” Mrs. Clemons cheered as she flicked on the light to the walk-in closet in my room.

No way… I thought as I stared at my once vacant spaced closet, now filled from top to bottom with vibrant colors of shoes and clothing.

Today was the second day of school and I had just come home when Mrs. Clemons appeared out of nowhere saying she had something to show me. 

My high school experience wasn’t much of an improvement from the first day. James Randy High is just another name to add to my list of high schools that I’ve went to, but who knew this would be the one to have the biggest amount of pricks. 

“I expected you to spend all of that money, Violet,” Mrs. Clemons said. I felt her gaze towards me, but was too distracted by the soft silky fabric that I held in my hands to look at her at the moment. It was a dark velvet red dress, but was sparkly in a way. There was something poking out near the top of the dress and I couldn’t help but glance at it. 

I broke out of my mini-trance and stared at Susan with shock. “That dress… It costs th-three hundred dollars."

“I didn’t really know what you liked so I called in some help from a woman who said she knew all about what teen girls liked in fashion. What’s wrong dear? We could always exchange it.”

What have I become…

“Dear?”

I had to get out of there and before I knew it, I was frantically running out of the place before Mrs. Clemons could utter another word. Once I rushed through the living room and out the entrance, I smacked the elevator button many times. Seconds felt like hours and the sign told me that the damn thing was still on level nine. I could already hear Mrs. Clemons footsteps nearing me.

Fuck it. Busting through the staircase doors, I hastily ran down the stairs, skipping almost three steps at a time. Finally reaching the lobby, I dashed across the room towards the exit and bumped into a few people on the way out.

I ran as far away from Rockwell as I possibly could, not really caring where I was headed. Sooner rather than later, my legs gave out and I had to rest on a bench, in front of some coffee shop.

What am I doing here? Living in a rich penthouse, going to a rich school with snobby rich peers, and now expensive clothing. Heck, I even have my own chauffer.  I’m surprised it’s taken me this long to snap in fact. Sure, it’s true that I have no need to run away back to the orphanage because Kaylee is no longer there, but I can’t believe I went against my own word of how nobody could replace my mother. Even the richest of people…

But this brings back a new topic that I’ve been struggling about ever since I was brought here. Where is Kaylee? I told Carrie to give her the number here at Rockwell if she ever decided to call. But of course, no luck. How could she not have called yet? Surely Kaylee wouldn’t forget to call me after she settled into her new home. Maybe she forg-

I was abruptly pulled from my thoughts as I felt two large hands suddenly grip my shoulders from. Going into survival mode once more I jerked my elbow backwards as hard as I could.

Standing up to take a good look at the person, I noticed a familiar looking mop of blonde curls. “Paul?”

“Note… to self,” he said in between groans. “Never try to scare Violet.” He was still lying on the sidewalk while holding onto his stomach. It was kind of weird not to see him with his usual lively grin –which is in fact my fault, but hey he snuck up on me- but I could still recognize his surfer physique anywhere.

“Are you okay?” I asked as I gave him my hand to pull him off the ground as the crowd of people milling around were almost trampling over him.

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” he said standing up. I could tell he was trying to show me his usual bright smile but I still caught the mini grimace he made while I lifted him.