Wildly Acceptable

Cousin Jana and the Trust Fund

Josie's POV

"Don't mope guys it'll be like before!" That's me trying to convince Diana, Gilbert, and Jane to cheer up. Anne is away this week, she went upstate to the Cuthbert's farm to get stuff together and also the funeral. We were all sitting in the courtyard before school, just talking. I looked at my Apple Watch and realized the bell was going to ring in 5 minutes, "I've gotta go. Dance starts soon."

I've been dancing since I was 2 and I love nothing more, well maybe Chris Evans, but this is a different kind of love. This is the irreplaceable, "God I hope this never ends", kind of love.  I walked into the locker room, and made my way to my locker. Leotard, tights, pointe shoes.

I have advanced ballet with the seniors and only one other girl is en pointe. I'm the on freshman girl in my class and I'm en pointe, but there is one other girl en point. Winnie. Winifred Rose. She's a junior and everyone's obsessed with her. Boys and girls. They have been forever. There was this one party in the 6th grade, and we had all played spin the bottle, Winifred included. The bottle chose her and Gilbert. Ruby had gotten so mad and meanwhile the boys were just fawning over Winnie. It went on for weeks before the next party and the next game, Seven Minutes in Heaven. And she got paired up with a different boy. Sometimes even a girl. It didn't matter because she was Winifred Rose.

I walked into class, made my way to my barre spot, and started warming up. The room was quite. Half of the class was still in the locker room and the other half was just plain tired. After doing a couple plié combinations, she walked in. Winnie. She looked at me and gave the fakest smile. She seriously makes my skin crawl, but I've been practicing and today is the day I show her up. Ms. Hadley walked in and began the music, signaling all of us to start the first combination. Demi and stretch. Demi and stretch. Grand plié and stretch.

After barre we moved to center, which Winnie and I typically split. "You know," Here she goes, let the taunting begin. "It's kinda good that Anne's gone for the week. We're not running any scenes with me, so Ms. Stacy asked me to fill in. She'll finally see that I was the proper choice and that red-haired freak wasn't." Oh hell no. "Bitch!"  The class froze and looked at us. "How dare you! Not only is that my friend, but she is going through a tough time right now and you're making it about you and disrespecting her." Winnie smirked, "And?"

No way was she smirking, "And you're a bitch! I'm surprised no one else sees it and I hope you get what's coming to you." I felt a tap on my shoulder and I already knew it was Ms. Hadley, "Yeah, detention I know."

Throughout my next couple of classes my blood was still boiling. She did all that knowing I'd respond and get detention. Anne and I aren't even close, but she came to this school to get away from the bullying. It shouldn't follow her, she didn't ask to be ginger. Besides she sweet and harmless and doesn't deserve it.

Lunchtime finally came and as expected the whole group already heard the news. "You called Winifred a bitch?" Ruby asked with wide eyes. I shrugged, "Yeah, because it's the truth. She's a shit-talking bitch. Excusez mon français" Diana rolled her eyes, she hates when I do that. Ruby continued on, "You can't do that she's a junior."

"Ruby, that doesn't mean anything. I wouldn't care if she was a freshman like us. She. Is. A. Bitch. She was saying messed up stuff about Anne." That's when the table gave their full attention to me. Especially Gilbert. Our relationship is pretty weird. Like everyone else we've known each other our entire lives, but I mean other than Billy I don't talk to the boys that often. "What did she say about Anne?" Charlie asked. It weirded me out. Charlie and Anne? Dating? Yuck. I kept my attention focused on Gilbert, "She called her a freak, and sure it isn't the worst thing, but it could've gotten worse." I couldn't read Gilbert's expression, but he was borderline brooding. The rest of lunch was spent figuring out how the Winnie problem should be handled and any ways to make it go away before Anne gets back.

Detention isn't terrible when it's for dance, you just have to clean the room for an hour. This means I get to make sure my sweet spots are extra sweet. A sweet spot in dance is a place in the studio where you feel you preform best. I stand there everyday and flourish. "I haven't seen you all day." I look in the mirror and see the source of the voice. Billy. I smile at him and continue to spray the mirror. "Yeah, well I wasn't in the best mood to be around anyways." He nodded, "I heard you cursed out Winnie."

"Cursed out is strong, I only called her a bitch." He was standing next to me now. "Don't lean on the barre." I scolded smacking his elbow. He chuckled and then pulled me into a kiss. Billy is rotten and rude to everyone in the entire world, except me. I like to keep a lot of things private, so no one else really knows about us. Not that we're exclusive, which based on all the girls Billy likes to kiss at parties we are definitely not, but at the end of the day we always make our way back to each other. All of this is fine with me, anything too serious could distract me from ballet and I don't need that.

"So wanna go to the diner tonight." I laughed, "Everyone is already going to the diner, of course I'll be there." Billy nodded, "What about tomorrow night?" I shook my head, "I can't eat diner food every day Billy." He pulled out his phone, "Right, yeah, well I'll see you later and we can talk about it more." I smiled and said "Later" as he kissed my forehead.

"You idiot he probably wants to make it official with you!" I rolled my eyes, "Ruby, could you take it down an octave?" We were walking to the diner. Everyone else was already there, Ruby and I were just fashionably late. We slid into the booth, which was already bustling with conversation.

"My aunt was so ready to cut off Jana from her trust fund!"
"Wait is that the cousin that lives Cabo?"
"No that's the one that lives in Bora Bora."

All of my friends come from old money and essentially two rich parents. My family is somewhat different. My mother was not rich, nowhere near rich, and my father worked for a startup tech company. She took a chance on him and they got rich. Now she wants me to marry rich, so we can "continue to climb the social ladder". Hearing that my entire childhood sucked, but then I joined our school's system in the 2nd grade and met all these insanely rich kids. I've made connections, I've networked with all these other insanely rich people, and I sort of became one of them. Or at the very least learned how to act the part.

"Hamptons house is the first week of July right?" I asked as I adjusted myself. The Andrews owned a house in the Hamptons and we stayed there at some point during the summer, with the date varying based on everyone's schedules. Jane nodded, "Yeah, just in time for 4th of July." Diana nodded, "And we'll be back in New York for Anne's birthday. God, I hope she's doing okay." The booth fell into a silence. We've survived for nearly 14 years without Anne, but this past year she shifted the way our group is. I cleared my throat, "So, Cousin Jana and the trust fund?"