56I. The Boring Beginning
"Who is rich? He that is content. Who is that? Nobody."
-Ben Franklin (1706-1790) Poor Richard's Almanack
Ever thought that your life couldn't get any more boring? That everything is like a routine and planned? Ever gotten days that were just plain normal?
Ever gone through weeks without having anything exciting disrupt your normal day? How about months? Years?
Well I know quite well what you're going through. I always get up being kicked out of bed (sometimes literally), go to school, go 'home', eat scraps of leftovers (no wonder I'm so skinny), get beaten up a bit for a hardly reasonable excuse (i.e. for forgetting to turn off the light in the bathroom), be tortured endlessly by my evil step-mother (figuratively), and finally fall asleep, then repeat the cycle.
This might be a not-so-normal way of living, but to me it is. And believe me, other people have it rougher, and they all treat it like a routine. They got used to it, like I did.
And they say school's supposed to be exciting.
Everyday is the same for me in Condor Academy. Sleeping in classes, the usual C's, the stingy teachers and the crappy pop quizzes…
The only thing that makes school worthwhile is my two bestfriends, Ashton and Jenny.
Jenny Goldberg's a cheerleader who completely proves the stereotypical cheerleader untrue, in her case, and she can also kick ass. She's smart and very friendly. She's quite popular because of that. And most of her cheerleader friends find it hard to accept how 'sweet, honest little Jenny' can be friends with someone like me—who, by the way, is the complete opposite of 'sweet', 'honest' and 'little'.
Ashton Devon, in the mean time, is someone you would call a jock. He's a member of the Basketball team, and let me tell you, he's damn good. He's single, in case you guys are interested, and I don't think he's ever had a girlfriend (Hell, I've been his bestfriend for 5 years now, and I've never seen him prancing around with a girl attached to his arm). But believe me; a good deal of the girl population in the school has tried to be.
Yes, I'm friends with the right people. So you might be thinking that I'm probably some popularly-challenged little nerd who is actually evil inside…or perhaps a cheerleader like Jenny? Bah. Like those perky girls would ever admit me into their posse.
They won't even let me set foot in the field or gym if they're going to practice in it. Well, they would, if I'm willing to lose an arm or two, or, you know, suicidal. Apparently, they're not afraid to break a nail when it comes to me, and uses them to their full capacity.
Anyway, I am not a nerd. Nor am I secretly evil inside. I am evil on the outside too. Besides, I don't think the name Roxanne would fit a nerd. Yeah, that's my name. Mom gave me the nice name.
Unfortunately, she died of cancer when I was 10 years old. Hardest part of my life was to see her undergo chemotherapy. A painful thing to watch: chemotherapy. Everything just went to waste since she died anyway.
Don't get me wrong; even thought I talk like this, I love my mother.
My dad loved my mother too, of course. And my big sister. And guess what, he feels the exact opposite for me.
I really don't know what I did to him that made him so… well, mad. It might even be something I don't remember.
Or maybe because I'm not as perfect as my big sister.
My sister's name is Maxinne. She's 2 years older than me (more or less). While I have pale skin and raven black hair, she has tanned skin and platinum blonde hair. We were like polar opposites.
The only thing we had in common (physically) were our eyes. We both have green eyes. Mine were vibrant, shining like jewels, while Maxinne's were a dark forest green.
By the way things sounded, you must think that my sister's pure evil hiding in an angelic disguise, huh? Well, there's nothing more farther from the truth. Or in simpler terms…you're wrong.
Everyone likes Maxy, and that's because she's rich, smart, pretty and nice. And most of all, she's genuine. Not one of those are fake.
She's practically perfect.
Not like me.
I'm considered a freak—maybe because I entered Highschool clad in pure black(since I still haven't bought the uniform then)—and probably a bitch too—since I pretty much bit off anyone who came within 3 feet of me. But don't get me wrong, I'm not bitter about my sister being practically perfect, actually, I'm quite proud of her, I just really don't feel like following her footsteps and being friends with everybody.
I'm pretty sure none of them would hate me so much if I didn't snap at them when they had first come near me. But what can I do? My first day in highschool had started out a disaster—pretty much because I stepped on dog poop and had to go home to change my shoes when I was already a few blocks away from school. Lame, I know.
The cheerleaders, who approached me in my first day to try to get me to join the team, now hated me with passion. They're probably kicking themselves for even thinking for a moment that I was cheerleading material.
And the jocks, which got one of their friends kicked in the groin for hitting on me, decided I was dangerous, and won't come near me unless I come for them or needed. They also wonder how Ashton can come as close to me as he wants without suffering any injuries.
That's why it's unusual for two popular kids to hang out willingly—or better yet, eagerly—with me. Because I'm a bitch, violent and anti-social. Oh yeah, and I get in trouble a lot.
I seriously don't know how Ashton and Jenny managed to stand me, because I'm normally mean to new people and to every person I deem annoying.
Speaking of new people, Dad got remarried to a banshee names Victoria Hannigan. I already hated her before I even heard her voice…so imagine how much I hate her now that she lives with us.
Anyway, if Dad doesn't love me (an understatement), then you should know I don't give a damn about him.
Did I mention how he was suppose to stop letting me go to school and just hire me as a maid? A maid without any salary, since, I quote, 'Letting you live here and letting you eat is payment enough.'. If Maxy hadn't begged for me (for I would never get down on my knees, especially for him) with her whiny voice, that could've happened.
And then I would've packed my bags and ran away.
Better than working for that sick excuse of a man.
I didn't care what he did anymore—that man who I must call a father—ever since Mom died. That was the time I started wearing dark colors (since light colors reminded me of Mom, and, hey, I was mourning) and that's also when I realized that dad was never going to like me.
So I stopped caring about him and what he thinks, and started letting my grades drop, since I only tried hard in studying because of him.
The only people I care about now are Maxy, Jen and Ashton.
So, my story starts when I was 15 years old, in my sister's debut party. She just turned 18 and she just graduated 2 days ago. So this is like a graduation party-slash-birthday debut party.
The joys of events.
Maxy had on a long forest green silk dress that tightened in the right places. Thankfully, it didn't show any major skin, and only a centimeter of cleavage. She had on the ring mom gave her and Grandma's gold necklace.
She looked perfect again.
I could practically feel the drool coming out of every guy's mouth.
Unfortunately, she strongly believes in marriage before sex, so the guys are pretty disappointed. I'm happy about this though.
Everyone in her grade (12th grade) went to this debut party to congratulate her, because she got accepted to Harvard.
We're not as rich as you might think, but we're rich enough to throw a party for the whole 12th grade, 100 extras (relatives or Dad's friends), and 3 10th graders.
Maxinne told me I could bring whoever I want. So who else would I bring?
"Roxy! Finally, you're here!" Ashton Devon went over to me, happily, a soda can in hand. I just stared at him, wondering where he got the soda. "Nice dress." He added, when he got a good look at me. I gave him an icy glare, while he just gave me his original cheeky smirk.
It was extremely rare seeing me in a dress. Even if it was just a simple black dress that reached to my knees.
I wasn't even going to the party in the first place, but she asked me, and it seemed so important to her, so I said 'okay'.
And this is the closest thing to 'formal' that I had. But I was a bit uncomfortable that my arms were showing. I mean, what would people think seeing a 'King Cobra' tattoo on my arm?
Normally, I wouldn't think about that and just say 'to hell with what they think!', but Maxy wanted me inside the party. And there's no doubt that Dad would kick me out for that tattoo.
So imagine me wearing a black leather jacket. Yep, I'm wearing one.
Dad can't kick me out for wearing a jacket.
I rolled my eyes at his immaturity and scowled. "Maxy made me wear it." I grumbled, crossing my arms in front of my chest.
Ashton grinned. "Which is fair, since I have to wear this itchy suit." He said, and then peered at me closely, bending down from his 6"1 frame to reach my 5"7 one. "Are you wearing lip gloss?"
My upper lip curled up in annoyance and disgust, remembering that I had indeed glossed my lips due to Maxy's begging. "That too." I grumbled again, after snatching an unused table napkin from one of the tables and wiping the offending object off.
He laughed. "Finally, something fun. I've been dodging people for half an hour already, where have you been?" he asked, but wasn't really waiting for an answer to the question, so I ignored it.
I was actually in the bathroom contemplating if I should just run away now, because Maxy had already seen me anyway, but then I remembered my lovely friends who offered to come with me so that it wouldn't be as dreadful as I thought it would be.
I just grinned, knowing that he disliked parties but came for my sake anyway. Don't get me wrong, Ashton is a fairly sociable person, but because of his dad bringing him to boring grown-up parties and going around introducing him to equally boring people he grew to just dislike parties in general. "Where did you get the non-alcoholic beverage?" I asked him as he took a giant swig from his soda.
Every drink here has alcohol in it. Sure, there's coke and sprite, but it's mixed with beer or something else that can equally make you tipsy.
And I don't like having alcohol in my system. Maxy likes to drink though, her friend, Alexa, would just help her if she gets drunk.
…Well, Maxy's not that perfect.
"Went out and bought one from a vending machine nearby." He shrugged, giving me a cheeky grin. His reddish brown hair looked red under the yellow-lighted chandelier up above.
"Ugh, I hate it here." I sneered, trying to stop my hand from getting inside my pocket to hold the cigarette pack I brought along. "Where's Jen?"
This is not a smoking zone, Roxy…
Ashton shrugged, and then looked over his shoulder. His head stopped mid-turn, and then quickly turned back to me, two hazel orbs glinting playfully at me. "Talking to Andrew Martin near the buffet table." He said, grinning from ear to ear.
Well, why wouldn't he be grinning? Jenny has liked that guy for a really long while now.
I peeked over his shoulder and saw Jenny's sandy brown hair. She was talking to one of the members of the Science Club, who was named Joseph Chan.
I scoffed audibly. "That's not Andrew Martin." I scolded Ashton, who just continued to grin. "Honestly, don't you listen to Jenny when she babbles?"
It was his turn to scoff. "Like you listen."
"I, at least, know what he looks like even though we haven't seen him before! That guys she's talking to is Asian and has black hair, Andrew Martin is blonde. Don't you remember her describing it 'like the shining sun'?" I raised my eyebrows at him.
He just stuck out his tongue, making me chuckle and shake my head. His freckles made him resemble a child.
"Do you think we should get her?" I asked, peeking over his shoulder again. Ashton glanced at them, then shook his head.
"I don't think that's a good idea, Rox. Her eyes are shining. She's probably having a highly intellectual conversation, and you know how much she loves those things—"
"—since she can't have one with us." I finished, nodding.
He nodded along with me. "She'd kill us if we take that away from her. So we probably won't be taking her along with us in our journey to the vending machine." He said, imitating Gandalf's voice. Then his eyes went to my hand that was inside my jacket pocket. "You brought that along again? I thought you were trying to stop?"
Huh. Oh yeah. I promised him that last week.
I frowned. "Yeah, I know, but old habits die hard! I need carrot sticks." I said, and handed over the pack of cigarettes to his waiting hand.
"Come on." Ashton told me, smirking, as he pocketed the pack to discard later.
I put on my mask and followed him. My cold, hard mask. I usually wear it in school and at home, whenever I'm not with Ashton, Jen or Maxy. My stoic, emotionless mask…
I started becoming like this after Mom's funeral. Everyday I showed less and less emotions and reactions. Even when Dad beats me up, all I do is stare blankly or coldly at him (even though the slaps hurt like a bitch) and let him hit me, even though I can dodge it if I want to.
If I react, that will only make him want to hit me more. If I show pain, it will only bring him joy.
We went outside the Stanton hotel, where Maxy's debut was being held, and ran over to the nearby vending machine. It was dark already, but I could still see well even in the dark distance.
There was light by the vending machine, there was nobody in sight, and the crickets were noisy. All you could hear (besides the crickets) was the creepy rustling of the trees, an owl hooting from a distance, and the soft howling of the wind…
All in all, the area was pretty eerie.
My eyes suddenly locked on a figure standing in front of the hotel.
What the hell? When did he get there?
It was a guy. His back was turned to me, so I couldn't see his face. He was looking up at the hotel, and because of the light coming from the hotel, I could see that his hair was a light brown that had blonde highlights.
Who…who was he? Why was he there? Why didn't I see him standing there just a few seconds ago?
"What are you having?" I heard Ashton suddenly break the silence along with my thoughts. I whirled around to face him, my eyes wide. I don't know why I felt so tense and alert. He stared at me. "Your eyes are glowing."
My eyes widened some more. My eyes? Glowing? I rubbed my eyes, and looked at him. "Well?" I asked, tentatively.
He was staring at my eyes. "Wow, Rox, you really remind me of a cat sometimes, you know." He said, giving me a slightly weirded out smile.
I laughed, weakly. "Sorry." I mumbled, and then turned my head to look at the guy I saw earlier, but saw that he wasn't there anymore. Not even a trace of him…
Maybe I was just seeing things?
"So, what are you having?" I heard Ashton ask again.
I turned to him and shrugged. "I don't know," I decided to forget about the weird happening just now. It was probably my mind playing tricks on me. "What are you having?" I took out a dollar from one of my pockets.
He showed me his soda can. "I still have my root beer." He said, his eyes glinting as if taunting me. I glared at him, suspiciously, then snatched the unknown drink from him, and sipped it.
"Bleagh!" I exclaimed my face scrunching up as I stuck my tongue out in disgust. "It is root beer!" I hate root beer. No offense, of course, to those who do like them.
"See? You didn't believe me." He said, shaking his head, disapprovingly, while wagging a finger at me.
I gave him an icy glare, and put in a dollar in the machine. I pushed the button for 'Coke'. It tumbled down, and I swiftly picked it up. "I hate this party." I grumbled, then took a swig of the drink.
Ahh. Coke certainly hits the spot.
"That's quite obvious, Rox," he replied, dryly, then he suddenly snickered. "Your parents think it's a blast though. Look." Ashton jerked his head over at somewhere behind me.
Right where I saw the mysterious boy.
I turned around and saw my 'parents' making out quite sloppily in the street. They were both obviously drunk.
My nose wrinkled. "Those aren't my 'parents'. That's just an ugly woman named Victoria and a guy who I share the same surname with." I said, not reacting to the scene like anyone would when they see their father making out with an ugly hag. I've caught them in worse positions, why react to something like that?
Ashton totally did the villain laugh.
I glared, playfully at him. "You did that on purpose, didn't you? Now you've done it." I snarled at him, pretending to be preparing to pounce.
Ashton suddenly made a noise that suspiciously sounded like 'Eep!', then began running for his life. So I quickly ran after him.
My initial pursuit of the evil demon who showed me something revolting turned into a full fledged race to his house.
And, HAH! I won!
Ashton was breathing pretty hard. "Not…fair…" he managed to get out, between exhausted breaths. He was even sweating. I mean, I was too, but I wasn't panting as hard.
I slapped him on the back. "Get a grip, Ash. And it is fair." I said, smirking like there's no tomorrow. I just outran a basketball player—and I'm not even that athletic!
How cool am I?!
He was finally able to get out complete sentences. "You're not a girl. Or human." He said, coughing a bit. "How can you run like that?"
I shrugged, giving out an exasperated laugh. "It's pure talent, Ash."
He straightened up and took out his handkerchief to wipe his forehead. "I wasn't doing my best." He explained, not prepared to admit that he lost to me in a running match, seeing that I'm a lazy bum. "As you can see, I'm wearing my formal shoes…" his gaze traveled down to my feet and his gaze grew indignant. "…and you're wearing sneakers!" he gaped at me, scandalized. "Why would you wear sneakers to a formal party?"
I rolled my eyes. "When people look at other people, they don't look straight at their feet, right? Besides, I hate heels." I said, remembering how much it hurts to wear them. They made me look too tall too.
Ashton smirked. "Then that settles it. I lost because you were wearing better shoes." He said, triumphantly, putting his hands in his hips, and puffing out his chest.
I just laughed at his rare show of male pride, finding it quite adorable. "Whatever helps you sleep at night, Ashton." I drawled, lazily, deciding to let him win the argument.
He suddenly stopped and looked at me. "Do you think Jenny will get mad at us because we ditched her?" he asked me, making me remember our brown-haired friend who we had forgotten about for quite a while.
"Mad? No. God no." I replied, grinning. "She'll be pissed. Wear body armor tomorrow. Or better yet, avoid her."
So we passed the night in his house, watching movies, and forgetting about our brown-haired friend again.
"Hey Roxy?"
I blinked.
"RooOoOoooxy…"
I blinked again.
"ROXY!" Maxinne finally shouted from the other end of our den's dark red couch. I sighed, and finally looked at her, taking my eyes off the book I was reading.
I really hate it when people interrupt my reading time, especially if it was getting real good, but, hell, this was Maxy, I'll let it slide.
"I've been asking you for a while now, what do you think? Is x really equal to 7.5 degrees?" she asked, showing me her paper.
Jesus, even though she's already graduated she's still studying. She is so not normal.
My eyes scanned the paper, momentarily, and came up with a different answer for the problem, but how the hell would I know if I'm right? She's the smart one. I'm just a 10th grader.
"I don't care." I shrugged, rather annoyed, and turned back to my book. It was quite intriguing. It was 'The Visitor' by Lee Child.
"Ah, so you know, but you just don't care." She bounced.
Wow, she's so chirpy.
I bit out a, "Shut up."
Of course, her being my sister and all who was forced to live with me for 16 years, left her unfazed by my rudeness. It was practically part of her life to stand my rudeness and sometimes blunt remarks, that it didn't even bother her anymore.
She rolled her eyes. "You know, Roxy, you're very smart. I can totally see that you have the potential. You can be one of the smartest students without even trying, but you're so lazy that you're okay with having an average grade." She said, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. She only wears it in the house, but she still looks gorgeous.
I shrugged again, scowling this time, glancing at her, impatiently. "Do me a favor and stop talking about school." I said, and then turned back to my book.
She stared at me, not saying anything.
Very good. She got the message.
Ahh, blissful silence.
I began to read, He raced up, with Harper at his back. He ducked into a bedroom. A made bed, dimpled pillows, a telephone and a water glass on the nightstand. A connecting door, ajar. He stepped across the room and shoved it open. Ooh, this is getting good. He saw a bathroom…
A tub full of hideous green water. EW.
Scimeca in the water. Holy shit, so the killer…is…
And—
"It's getting kind of hot in here. Mind if I turn on the air conditioner? Oh yeah, by any chance, have you seen that awesome—"
"Maxy, scratch what I said earlier. Just stop talking."
"Oh Roxaaaaanne!"
Mary mother of Christ, does she ever shut up?! I've been dreaming about penguins, dammit!
I felt a part of my bed sink, indicating that someone sat on it. And that someone is obviously Victoria Hannigan. The annoying woman my dad married 3 months ago.
Ew, remind me to change the covers later.
I'd have preferred to just burn these covers, but I don't have enough money to buy new ones…
So yeah, I'm stuck with Victoria cooties.
"Dammit, Victoria, leave me alone…" I growled, angrily, still snuggled in my covers. I don't care at the moment if she's partly on the bed; I prefer sleep than getting out of bed to avoid her cooties.
I mean, I can always take 5 more showers than I usually do.
Victoria Hannigan—well, Adams now, but I don't want to call her that because I'm stubborn and she's a bitch—is a wannabe. She's 47 years old but she still feels like she's 20(with the Botox and all).
And she wants me to call her 'Vicky' since 'Victoria' makes her sound, I quote, 'old'.
Victoria tugged my arm 'gently' (I could feel her claws digging into my skin) with her bony hands. Do you know Yzma from 'the Emperor's New Groove'? I have a suspicion that that character was secretly based off of her.
"Roxanne, sweetie, get up. You'll be late for school." She sang, 'sweetly', through obviously gritted teeth, that I wondered sometimes why she even bothers hiding how much she actually hates me.
I f I could barf on my own accord; the right time would be now. But, unfortunately, I can't. So instead, I threw a pillow at her.
A shriek of surprise—and hopefully, pain (my pillow is kind of hard and old)—told me I didn't miss my target.
"J-Jason! S-she threw a pi-pillow at me!" I heard her cry out, then came her sobs. Those fake insufferable sobs that always got me in trouble.
I felt my Dad's glare.
Woo-frickin-hoo. Dad's here.
"Young lady, get up right this second and apologize to Vicky, or you'll be grounded for the rest of the month without allowance." Jason Adams' voice was gruff and manly as he reprimanded me for the bitch's sake.
(Translation of what he said: "You ungrateful little bitch, get the fuck up and apologize to Vicky before I kick your sorry little ass out of this house for the rest of your pitiful life.")
They both had no idea how much the other one hates me. So they play nice when they're with each other. I guess, that's for my benefit. I'd die if both of them bitch at me at the same time.
Even though I really didn't care if he kicks me out or not, I obliged. I got up, after stretching very much like a cat, and yawned loudly, taking my time.
Dad's fist tightened. "You need to respect Vicky, young lady! Say sorry now!" he demanded. I could tell that he wanted to just bitch slap me across the face.
(Translation: "You need to respect my whore here, you little shit, if you want to continue living in this house! Apologize, bitch!")
Victoria, by the mention of her name, faked a sob.
Bitch. It was just a pillow. Well, a hard one, but still.
I mentally rolled my eyes as I looked at Victoria and saw her smirking at me.
What the hell is she, like, 8?
"She needs to gain my respect before I give it to her." I told him defiantly, with a blank expression.
SLAP!
Dad had stepped up and given me the long awaited bitch slap on the face. The sound of the impact echoed in the room, and no one dared to move for a moment.
I slowly lifted up my head up my head and regarded my so-called father with an empty, emotionless stare. My lip was bleeding, due to a cut his wedding ring made. The cut was pretty long, from my cheek to the side of my lower lip. It hurt like hell, but I was pretty used to it.
I flashed him a cold, eerie smile. "Did that make you feel better, Jason?" I asked, imitating my Mom's voice.
Dad stopped in his tracks, his eyes widening. Mom had used to say that after she'd massaged him when he had come home from work.
Sure, that was 6 years ago (more or less) but none of us will ever forget her.
Dad looked like he'd just seen a ghost. No, scratch that, he was completely horrified as he stared at me. Victoria only looked confused.
I smirked, darkly, as he stood there transfixed. I grabbed a towel, left the room and beat Maxinne to the bathroom.
She pounded on the door angrily after I shut it in her face, so I forced out an evil cackle, to make her think that I was okay and that nothing happened. "Roxy! You evil, loathsome, horrible little woman! I was here first! You are so dead. Enjoy your shower while you can because it will be your last!" she screeched from the other side of the door.
…Valedictorians are allowed to make empty death threats once in a while, and act a little immature.
I cursed as I finally felt the sting of the cut. "Thanks, Max, I love you too!" I managed to get out with a cheeky tone, even though I wanted to hiss in pain.
I immediately started filling the bathtub with hot water.
I advise you people to never go into hot baths or showers when you have a fresh cut. Because it will hurt like hell. I didn't want Maxy seeing my injury, so when I opened the door, I immediately dashed towards my room and shut the door before Maxy could say anything.
Good thing the married couple from the Underworld wasn't in my threshold anymore. I didn't want to deal with them again; I was already late for school.
Yep, I still have a day of school left.
I quickly dressed myself into our school's uniform, and partnered it with my striped socks and worn out converse. I must've looked pretty comical, but I didn't really care. I hastily put on my skull ring and my silver stud earring.
I looked at the mirror and saw my cheek, throbbing. "Fuck," I hissed, looking at my cut. It's going to be a bitch to hide.
I opened my door and saw Maxy getting out of her room, dressed in a simple tee shirt and jeans. Aw, shit. I forgot that she drives me to school.
The master bedroom's door creaked open, just before Maxy reached me, and Jason peeked his head out. "Maxinne," he hissed, urgently. "You're not to drive that mons—y-your sister today…"
I could feel his…fear…?
What could he be afraid of?
His eyes darted nervously at me, and when he saw me looking at him with an eyebrow raised, he immediately looked at Maxy again. "We're meeting an associate of mine. I can't have you leaving now." He added, quickly, and shut the door.
I heard the lock click.
Maxy frowned in confusion, and then looked at me, apologetically. "Are you going to be okay?" she asked, looking gently at me.
I ducked my head, avoiding letting her see my face.
"Yeah, I'll be okay." I mumbled, and gripped the strap of my body bag nervously.
She nodded. "Okay. Take care, Roxy, come home early, okay?" she said, smiling, and then hugged me.
"Okay, see you, Max." I whispered, and went downstairs so I could start walking to school. I would've taken the bus but the last bus left ages ago.
While I was crossing the street, a car suddenly appeared out of nowhere, driving with a speed meant only for the highway.
Oh yeah, and it was heading straight at me.
Shit.
A/N:
Well, let me know what you think. (smile)
I'll be sure to type the second chapter as soon as possible.
-Jessi