Cheshia Ellenbow, a pretty rich girl, is suddenly cast out of her life under her horrid grandmother when the old woman leaves for a business trip and sends her grand daughter to a friend down in California. Little does Cheshia know, her life is abou...
"To Cali?" Maria asked, jaw dropping. Next to the blue-eyed blonde, Katelyn was just as shocked. "How did you manage to do that?"
"And it's so far!" Katelyn whined. "What the hell are we gonna do without you??"
Cheshia rolled her eyes. "No clue, but as long as I get out of here I literally don't give a shit." She was leaning back in her chair, legs kicked up on the empty seat in front of her. Up near the front of her blue-walled physics room, Mrs. Harris was writing out an equation for something Cheshia wasn't paying attention to. School was her free time, she would relearn and do the work at home, so she actually had something to do that her grandmother wouldn't kill her over.
"Well" Maria said, sitting up a bit straighter with furrowed brows. She furrowed her brows and turned around to face Mrs. Harris, "I suppose it doesn't matter very much.
"Guess not." She sneered, something like a growl building in her throat. Cheshia knew they talked about her behind her back, not how often, just that they did. They had probably a million other friends a lot cooler than Cheshia, but those friends weren't rich, couldn't buy them whatever they wanted. Being friends with Cheshia gave off the illusion of wealth, what with all the new clothes the girls always had.
"Girls!" Mrs. Harris called to them, "Make sure you're paying attention to this, it's on tomorrow's test." She snapped, pinning a variable under the cap of her marker, the sharp clack of the sound making a few kids shrink.
***
When school was out, Cheshia headed out to the parking lot, where Susan was waiting in her little red Honda. "Hey Cheshia," she said, turning to watch the girl throw her backpack in, and her violin after that. "Did you have a good day? Better than yesterday I hope." She was referring to a fight Cheshia had been in the day prior. Not her fault, people had a tendency to rule her as a liar, so no one cared enough to check her side of the story for confirmation. Thus a reputation was built.
"Sure." She replied, resting her head on the window. It smashed her tight knit bun into her head, and pulled on her scalp a bit too hard. She hated the bun, the braids her grandmother insisted she have. The old woman said anything else would draw bad attention, the slutty kind. But it hardly mattered when she said everything was slutty. Religion took over the woman's mind so entirely, that it made Cheshia ill to think about.
Susan hummed in a gentle recognition, setting her focus on the road. "We packed your things-" she started, and Cheshia's eyes went wide.
The trip.
The dark girl jumped at the chance, jolting forward and shoving her face next to Susan's between the car seats, gripping the gray headrest so tight her hands turned pale.
"Can I leave early?"
"I'm sorry?" Susan asked.
"Like, can I take the next fight out, not wait for a week." She said, more insistent. "Grandmother said I was leaving next week, but I want to go soon, and if my bags are already packed can't I just get on the next flight?"
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Susan's face was awash with shock, she had hardly ever seen Cheshia excited for anything, and she was practically begging to leave, and bouncing on her heels at the thought. "I'm, I'm sure we could see if, uhm, well, uhm" she staggered in her words, clearly unable to really process what the girl was asking for. "I'll... see what I can do." She finished after a minute.
Cheshia grinned and swung back to her seat, snapping her seatbelt into the lock. She was nearly bursting with elation.
"Just remember your Grandmother, if you manage to convince her, everything has to go well." She looked up into the rear-view mirror for emphasis on her next comment. "And that means you need to pull your act together, be what she wants for you."
Cheshia rolled her eyes, pulling up her phone, and said "Yeah yeah, I know, I'm planning on it." even though she hadn't thought about that part yet. But all she would really have to do is keep out of fights and mention God once or twice.
That was the nice part of her behavior, she didn't have to really try to get her grandmother to soften up a bit. It wouldn't work long term though, she had to be careful with it or she'd get caught and then she'd never get out of that house ever again.
"I'm just a bit worried, it took her a long time to think this through for you, I don't want it to go up in flames because she thought you'd be excited to get away from her." Susan turned back to the road, the light ahead of them turning green once again, and Cheshia opened instagram, huffing as she scrolled though it.
They drove the rest of the way in silence, Cheshia taking over the Bluetooth and playing her spunky euphoric music until they got to the mansion. At the gate to the drive Susan turned down the radio and slowed the car, saying, "Lindy isn't feeling very well by the way, so she couldn't make it to work today, would you mind helping me with the laundry for a bit?"
"Oh. Yeah, sure." Cheshia decided. She loved Susan, the woman had been working at the house for longer than Cheshia had been with her grandmother, and she was always first to watch over the girl when she was a child. Now she would take time off her day to have tea parties with Cheshia -something Cheshia would arrange for the staff on Thursdays and Sundays- and to talk and gossip in general. Lindy loved gossip the most of anyone Cheshia knew. God, she was a powerhouse of information.
On the way to the garage Cheshia caught sight of Abaeze out in the gardens, working on the wilting something or other before the snow came. He had been gone for two weeks, for his sister's wedding over in Nigeria, where their grandparents were. The photos had been remarkably beautiful, but now he was back to fretting over his precious flora, and probably snipping at Daisy too, the last house keeper, who was supposed to care for them while Abaeze was away.
He tossed a big soft hand up when he saw the car go by, and Cheshia waved back, her lips tugging up slightly. Abaeze had to be her second favorite, when she was smaller he used to play with her by picking her up and tossing her around, but he'd lost some of his muscle since then. He'd also been the person to teach her about body training when she'd asked.
He disappeared behind a pack of weeping rose bushes, and the car pulled into the guest garage. The dark walls were strung up with tools and boxes of random storage. Susan turned off the soft ignition and Cheshia pulled the strap of her black backpack over her shoulder, pushing out of the little red car before diving back in for her instrument. The case clacked against the hard plastic of the passenger seat, and Cheshia grimaced at the sound of it, hoping Susan hadn't winced at the noise.
"I'll be down in the laundry room, dear," Susan called from the door to the mudroom. "Toss down the things you want cleaned from your room and head down to the laundry room before five or so."
"Sure." Cheshia replied, walking past the woman into the small orange room lined with dark shelves and cabinets. Susan waved a goodbye and went out to the laundry room as Cheshia sat on the wooden bench that lined one wall to unlace her boots.
The main rug was a rainbow of purples and blues and yellows to match the orange of the walls, and other rugs and trinkets decorated the thin room. There was a painting of a lake surrounded by forested mountains and sunset hung up on the wall, but other than that the room felt empty and too large for what it was.
A ping from her phone sent Cheshia's attention from her dark leather boots to the device. An unknown number not labeled as spam was front and center, after a moment of confusion, she leaned over to get the camera to find her face and unlock the message.
'Hey Chesh, this is Amber. It's been a while, hasn't it?
