The Tale Of A White Rose

Chapter 1

Turning off the television was the only way to control the disdain Deliah Augusto had for the Pacific Empire. To her they were a crop of people ruled by their ego; the proprietors to be precise. She placed the remote control on the counter and walked away to take her seat, not minding the scowl that had suddenly developed on her best friend's face.
"Hey what was that for, I watching that!". Madeline Thompson cried.
"Maddie you can't keep watching that stuff all the time". Deliah answered.
"And why is that?"
"Well because it's just an advertisement and it's not like they actually have all those things".
Maddie gave a sarcastic stare as she made all efforts to sound dissuading which was in vain.
"Who hasn't heard about Pacific Empire or how fast it is specialized in electronics, exporting and importing, fashion designs to name a few..."
Deliah arched her brows in surprise as she listened to her blab all about the company.
"That's my point Maddie, they've taken over the economic market".
"You know there's no point in us fighting about this just turn it on". Maddie spoke in disagreement.
"No way it sucks". Deliah answered.
Maddie jolted from her chair and made for the counter to snatch the remote control from her, but just as she approached her, the door came open and the bell jingled, diverting their attention to a man in his mid thirties, wearing a black leather jacket. He had a dirt brown shaggy hair color and he itched at it every nano second, sending chills that ran down Maddie's spine-lice.
Maddie wiped her hands across her apron and gave him a welcoming smile.
"Welcome to Nelson's place can I take your order?".
"Yeah". He answered ruffling his hair in a way that made chills run down her spine.
"Okay then go ahead and have a seat".
Maddie picked up the pen and clipboard to take his order.
"One plate of lasagna please".
Maddie froze at her exact spot and stared at him with surprise while Deliah bit her lip to stop herself from laughing at his Italian accent.
"Erm excuse me we don't run slow food services here did you not see the NO SLOW FOOD sign outside?".
"No I did not" He answered.
"Sorry we don't run slow food, so I guess you could go find some other restaurants, probably Italian ones". Deliah spoke trying to sound as polite as she could but she knew that was impossible.
Maddie turned her with a scornful expression on her face as she began to loose her patience."Is that the best you can say?".
"I'm just trying to lighten the mood here". Deliah answered in total surrender and smiled as she saw Maddie crease up with frustration as he let out a cry of complaint."But I ordered lasagna and I want it".
"And I've told you we don't make that here". She walked away leaving the pesky customer unattended to and after moments of waiting for the meal that never came he Rose to his feet and cursed in italian as he crossed the door, slamming it loudly behind him. Deliah sighed and let her head fall on to the counter with frustration, Maddie came creeping out of the kitchen hoping that he had gone.
"Hey he's gone". Deliah said as soon as she noticed her.
"What did you do?". Maddie asked sensing something sinister about her.
"I just sat here and said nothing and then he left".
"He left?".
"Yes isn't that what we both wanted, for him to leave?".
"It was but then I called Nelson and I told him so he's on his way".

"That was so unnecessary Madeline". Deliah sighed out with exasperation.
"I didn't know what else to do and besides we can't afford to lose customers like that you know, customer ethics".
"To hell with customer ethics Maddie, Nelson is going to be here at any moment from now and the Italian is gone".
The door opened and the bell jingled again. Nelson walked in the with brown boxes he carried under his arms.
"Hi girls!". He smiled as they stood staring at him speechless. He rubbed both palms together and looked round the restaurant.
"Maddie you talked to me about a critical customer who wanted lasagna- I don't see anyone".
She fumbled with her apron as her mind gambled on the best way to present the disappointment.
"He left already" Deliah answered.
"Why?". Nelson asked handing Maddie one of the boxes.
"We couldn't get him lasagna because we don't run do that".
"That's quite disappointing" Nelson said. "It's not like I couldn't make it for him".
"So you're saying it would have been great to watch you waste time and resources over a silly lasagna?" Deliah asked mimicking the Italian accents.
"No but we just lost customer, it's not refundable-customer ethics Deliah". Nelson replied and walked away from them.
Maddie looked at her and gave a sheepish smile. Deliah groaned and walked away to take her place at the counter. "Customer ethics". she scoffed.
*
The headline of the newspaper remained a shocking one for the last four times Bianca Carrington scanned through the paper. She saw no reason why the press should criticize the educational sector of the Pacific Empire just because some of them were against the fact that they had taken over the economic market.
She had to up her game. She couldn't let a bunch of pen folks ruin the Pacific Empire's image. She needed Maxwell, she called and he showed up in no time.
"I need to reinforce plans Maxwell" Bianca spoke the moment he stepped into her office.
"And what do you suppose, negotiating with the public press?".Maxwell asked.
"No. You and I know that isn't the best solution, perhaps we could assure them that the severe bullying would stop".
"That's left to Neil and friends to decide". Maxwell said. "What about the idea of admitting only high class students?".
Bianca slipped her fingers through the edges of her hair and groaned with disdain." These mediocres!"She spat spitefully. "Whose fault is it if they can't afford to get enough daily bread?".
She turned to him."Perhaps we could try another way, we'd stick to original plan". She gave her response to his inquiring facial expression. "Lottery. We would carry out an admission by lottery so that those kind of people can get a scholarship from us perhaps that should keep their mouths shut for a while, likewise an end to the bullying talk to Neil and the others".
Maxwell saw the complete sense in what she had said. He smiled and nodded in agreement. He acknowledged it now that she had always been a crafty vixen and she would forever remain like that as long as she didn't run out of ruthless decisions.
"Tomorrow we start the lottery admission, we already have a record of one hundred and fifty candidates from the previous years, we can't afford to waste anymore time if we want to save our image from being tarnished". Bianca stated.
"I understand". Maxwell said and turned to take his leave.
"Are you aware of Neil's whereabouts?"
"Yes Fiji Island, he'd be back in two days' time".
Bianca nodded"Monitor his movements and report to me".
"I'll see what I can do". Maxwell said and left her office.
**
The days' work was over, Deliah retired herself to bed and sleep evaded her to ease the stress of the day, bringing her to another busy-stressful day that paid off for her. Watching desperate housewives with her mother was the only thing that subdued the stress of the day and that was the moment the Pacific Empire took to interrupt the show. Deliah groaned and shoved the blanket off her socked feet.
"Hey it's not going to be that bad after all today's the lottery admission". Annabel said as she leaned back into the sofa.
"What lottery?"
"They want to admit at least five candidates, promising them scholarship".
Deliah shifted in the sofa, paranoid over what she said. "Why?"
"Well I don't know, maybe they don't want to be discriminating anymore but if we watch this we might get to find out".
"Maybe" Deliah thought.
Maybe they didn't want to be egocentric anymore or maybe they wanted to consider the dreams of people like her, for all she knew Pacific Northwest was that school no average person like her ever dreamed of being admitted to though she had that dream as a child, she bore and undying zeal to get the feeling of being a Pacific student but those dreams had only been the illusions of an average class child. She watched on as Bianca Carrington stepped out into the camera; the proud proprietor of the Pacific Empire, appeared in a royal blue dinner dress and took her position next to her personal assistant.
"This year's admission would be special because we have decided to take a step down. We want the average and less opportuned to have a glimpse of what it looks and how it feels to be a Pacific personnel".
Deliah have a skeptical look and tried to give the programme a chance to prove it's worth.
Her personal assistant moved forward to the tumbling machine, took hold of the handle and rolled it back and forth.
"We would begin the whole process first by tumbling the names on the papers".
He picked out five papers the machine, unfolded and handed them over to Bianca. She took them from him and read out the names; "Magaret Oliverez, Samantha Doyle, Dice Stinski, Francis Freeman and Deliah Augusto". It took a while before she actually realized that her name he been called out to be among the lucky winners. Annabel jumped from place to place with happiness at her success but she sat still, reluctant to join her to celebrate her success. Something felt wrong; how they managed to get her name was what shocked her and nowshe was a lucky winner. Whoever signed her up must've wanted the best for her and Annabel was responsible for that.
Annabel noticed her sudden reluctance to succumb to the new emotions that flooded the atmosphere. "Congratulations sweetie I'm so happy for you, after all the years of dreaming big you finally got what you wanted".
"Yeah thanks but I think something is wrong somewhere". Deliah as she began to pull away from Annabel's arms.
"What could possibly go wrong, they had your name mentioned didn't you hear it?".
"I did and that's the point, they had me mentioned because someone signed me up".
Annabel sighed and placed a hand on her shoulder." I signed up for you".
"Why?". Deliah asked seeing no reason why she should have done that.
"I thought you needed it". Annabel answered casually. Deliah sighed with exasperation as she looked away from her and got up from the sofa to the kitchen. "That's not the truth is it?".
"Yes it is the truth. I did it because I felt that you needed to be among those kids they haven't got more than one head so why shouldn't you be there?".
Deliah fumbled with the fridge's door, she knew she had a point and she was right. She was the last person who'd watch her give up on dreams like they didn't matter at all. She opened and closed the fridge and then finally gave up on being stubborn.
"How did you get my name up there?"
"I've been using part of the insurance money for that and we got lucky just imagine what could have happened if your name hadn't been called up there, it means that I laboured in vain".
After all that Annabel said she still found it hard to believe that she would actually go that far to pay every chance that they had denied her of just to make sure that she got admitted into Pacific Northwest and finally all her efforts paid off.
She stared for a while short of words and trying at all cost to fight back the tears that stung the corner of her eyes. She moved away from the fridge and threw her as around Annabel."Thank you so much I really didn't expect you to do this much for me".
"It shows I love you Deliah". Annabel said as she stroked her dark Auburn hair." It's a sacrifice I have to make, a promise I made to your father before he died".
She sniffed and wiped the tears off her face as she pulled away from her." I never thought life could get any better". Deliah said and pulled out a carton of milk from the fridge and set it up on the table.
"Well you better believe it, from now on life would be better for us I promise". Annabel smiled and picked the carton from her and put it back in the fridge.
Few hours after she retired to bed, Deliah walked into her room turning the lights on, she closed the door gently behind her. The day turned out great afterall. She moved to her bed with happy thoughts. She wasn't sure if she'd ever been this happy in her life. Her trampled dream found a way to slowly spring up, finally she was a student of the Pacific Northwest college. She picked up her phone to break the news to Maddie but then she thought she might be long asleep so she turned it off, placed it one bedside table and slowly fell asleep.
Morning broke still fresh with the joys of the previous day. She woke to the sound of her alarm blaring into her ears. She had a long bath and left for Nelson's place to start her day, probably break the news to Maddie and plan how she'd spend the last two weeks of the summer holiday.