Chapter 2
Charlotte
“Damn, Charlotte!” Freddie said from my doorway in his awesome English accent. “You look gorgeous. If you weren’t my stepsister, I’d definitely tap that.”
I turned away from my mirror and looked at my stupid stepbrother. “Okay, that was seriously gross, Freddie,” I said, rolling my eyes.
I looked back at myself in the mirror. I had on a black lace top that came off one shoulder and was completely see-through. Under it I had on a tight red tank top and then white skinny jeans and red pumps. I had just put diamond studs in my ears when Freddie spoke.
“So why are we dressed to kill today?” Freddie asked, walking in to sit on my desk chair.
Freddie’s mom and my dad got married a year and a half ago but I’d known him since we moved to England when I was in eighth grade. He was my best friend when I started school in England and our parents had worked with each other, though they didn’t know that before they met. They’d fallen in love and got married, so Freddie and I were officially siblings, even though we acted like it before.
When I first started to school, I was still heavy from my depression. Freddie – his real name was Fredrick but I only called him that when I was mad at him – was the popular guy with all of the girls hanging all over him, even in eighth grade. I would have thought that he wouldn’t make friend with the new fat girl but he did. We’d been best friends ever since.
He was the one who encouraged me to lose almost eighty pounds three years ago. When I broke down one day after school, he was the one who told me he’d work with me. He was the one who got me into running. Now I was running two miles every morning and three every evening.
I got myself into dance, though. Since I did, I had a lean dancer’s body but with all the right curves that every girl seemed to envy. I never thought that I was going to have a body that girls would want. It had been the other way around for a while.
When our parents got married, we easily fit into the brother/sister roles. I never could have wished for a better big – even only by three months – brother.
“I haven’t seen any of these people since eighth grade when I was a two hundred and ten pound fourteen year old,” I said. “They probably still think I’m that way.”
“But now you’re a hundred and thirty-three pound sex goddess that will have all of the guys falling over her and death glares from the girls. You should be proud to show them all what you accomplished,” he said, smiling, looking at me in the mirror. “Really, Charlotte, you look absolutely gorgeous.”
“And how exactly do you know just how much a weight?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Because you told me,” he said, rolling his eyes.
I walked over to him, my heels tapping on the dark hardwood floor of my massive bedroom, and kissed him on the cheek. “Thanks,” I said. “You don’t look half bad yourself.”
He looked down at himself. He was wearing dark jeans, a black button up shirt that was rolled up at the sleeves, and dressy shoes. His golden blond hair was styled into looking like he’d just rolled out of bed.
“Thanks,” he said. “Mum picked it out.”
“You let your ‘mum’ pick it out?” I asked in my fake English accent.
“Oh, shut it,” he said, standing.
Even with my heels on he still towered over me, him and his six-foot-four muscular glory. I felt so short next to him, even though I was five-foot-seven. He slung an arm around my shoulders and we headed downstairs.
After getting a plate of eggs and toast that our cook Laurel made, I sat down at the breakfast bar next to Freddie. My stepmother Elizabeth – Liz for short – walked in dressed in her suit for work. She was probably the best stepmom anyone could ask for. She couldn’t replace my mom – who had died when I was thirteen of breast cancer – but she was pretty close. She and Freddie shared the same blond hair and brown eyes.
A few moments later my dad walked in. He was always happy now. When my mom died, he was completely miserable. When he was able to transfer to England for his job, I think he took it to make a fresh start. He got a fresh start alright.
Freddie and I were the ones to set our parents up. We still take full credit for it until this day and they let us, even thank us. We’d gotten in trouble on purpose with the headmaster of our school and they both had to be called in to discuss what happened. I think it was love at first sight because they both kind of stopped when they saw each other.
They had gone out that night to ‘discuss the children’ but that quickly led to something more. And now I had a happy dad and a fabulous stepmom and stepbrother.
“Good morning, you two,” Liz said, coming to give us both a kiss on the cheek.
“Morning, Mum,” Freddie said.
“Morning,” I said.
Dad walked over and stood in front of us, the bar in between us. He had a smile on his face and was hiding his hands behind his back.
“Well, how do you guys plan on getting to school this morning?” he asked, still smiling.
“Um,” I said, looking over at Freddie. He shrugged. Neither of us had cars even though we had a lot of money. We didn’t need them in England. We just walked since it was only a fifteen minute walk from our house. “Can we get a driver or something?”
“Okay,” he said, shifting a bit. “We’ll give you two the ‘or something’.”
“Oh, Todd, just give them their presents,” Liz said, laughing as she made herself tea.
Dad laughed and placed a black box in front of both me and Freddie.
“What’s this?” I asked, grabbing the box.
“Open them up and you’ll see,” Dad said.
When I opened mine, there was a key…a car key…and I knew what kind of car it was by the key chair it was attached to.
No. Freakin’. Way.
“You got me the Lambo?” I screamed.
Both Dad and Liz laughed.
“And you got me the Bentley New Continental GT?” Freddie said, eyes wide as he looked at them. He was so much more controlled than I was in this situation.
“Oh, my God, I love you guys!” I screamed, launching myself at Dad and Liz. I hugged them tight. “But why?”
“It’s your back to school presents,” Dad said.
I laughed. “If this is my back to school present, I wonder what we’ll be getting for Christmas,” I said, looking at Freddie. He was hugging them beside me.
“Just one of you drive a week, though,” Liz said. “You can alternate.”
“I call driving this week!” I yelled.
“Alright, Charlotte, you don’t have to bloody yell,” Freddie said, grinning.
“Yes, I do!” I yelled. “Because I got a freakin’ Lamborghini!” I hurried to put my dish in the dishwasher. “Let’s go!”
I ran to get my bag and out into the ten car garage.
Dad and Liz had bought the biggest house in town when they were both transferred back to my hometown. It had ten bedrooms, fourteen bathrooms, and tons of other rooms that I hadn’t even had the chance to explore. There was also a huge pool and basketball/tennis court in the back yard.
I flipped the lights and – cue angelic music – sat my white Lamborghini Gallardo. I had only been fantasizing about this car for forever. I had jokingly told Dad that I wanted one when we got back to the States but I hadn’t thought that he would actually get one for me.
I opened the driver’s side door – butterfly doors! – and slid into the beige leather seat.
“Oh. My. God,” I said slowly, running my hand over the steering wheel. “I don’t think I want to get out of this car ever.”
“Well, you’re going to have to,” Dad said, leaning down to look at me. His eyes flickered over to Freddie, who was in his Bentley.
“Dad, thank you so much,” I said, getting out to hug him.
“You’re welcome, sweetie,” he said. He looked over at Freddie, who was staring at his car in awe. “You’d better start heading to school. You don’t want to be late. You’ll have to take it for a test drive when you get back.”
“Come on, Freddie,” I said, getting back in my – totally awesome – car.
“You still know how to drive a stick?” Dad asked, smiling.
I rolled my eyes. “Of course,” I said.
He laughed. “Good, or I would have had to take it back.”
I shook my head and watched Freddie When he got in, looking longingly back at his car, I started the engine and sighed happily when I did.
“Have a great day, you two,” Liz said, smiling from my father’s side.
After pulling out and turning around on the driveway, I let go and speed down toward the street. Our driveway was a quarter of a mile long with a security gate at the entrance. Once we were on the road, I had to tone it down at bit but I was itching to see how the car could really maneuver.
“So you like the car?” Freddie asked, laughing, as he looked at the goofy grin on my face.
“Hell yeah!” I said, and turned up the radio. The bass pulsed through the air.
But as we pulled into the road leading toward the parking lot of Jackson Academy, my heart started to race.
“Nervous?” Freddie asked.
“A little,” I admitted. “I’m anxious to see what happened to everyone.”
“And Ian?” he asked quietly. I’d told him about my ex best friend a few months into our friendship.
I parked in an empty place in the middle of the parking lot. Everyone still had a clear view of my car, though. They were all staring with open mouths and trying to see who was driving it. My windows were tinted so dark they couldn’t see either me or Freddie. There were Mercedes and BMWs everywhere so mine was the nicest car in the lot.
I took a deep breath.
“So, are you going to go into bitch mode?” Freddie asked, laughing.
“Oh, yeah,” I said, narrowing my eyes as I watched everyone in the grassy area in front of the school. “Because every one of these people used to make fun of me. And now they’re going to totally regret it.”
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