BONUS: THE DAY SHE RAN AWAY

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It all started when I turned seven.

Being British is hard. And studying at a British school is more hard, especially when it's one of those school for 'gifted' where they give you extra three hundred sums, twenty essays and one research topic for homework everyday.

And what's more hard is having a professor your dad. And especially when he's a professor at Oxford, known popularly for being extremely young and handsome... and not to mention, a genius in math. In fact, he once held the record for solving an extremely large sum in twenty seconds.

And even worse than that, is having a sister. A sister who's nothing like you. In fact, I doubted that Cecilia ever was my sister. She was popular, had thirteen boyfriends by the time she had become twelve, and, oh, not to mention, she was beautiful. Literally eighteen year olds gawked at her when she passed by when she was thirteen. And my sickly sweet sister knew exactly well how to- I don't want to say 'manipulate' them- but you get the idea. Every once a few nights, Cecilia would turn up with a wad of notes and go on a shopping spree. She didn't have my blonde hair, or my gray eyes. If there was one thing we did share in common, it was our father. That's all.

And then there was poor me. Dyslexic, uncool, ADHD kid. I'm not saying I didn't look good as a kid, but people just avoided me. Like I was some sort of garbage and I just seemed to get stinkier everyday. I couldn't read whatever our teacher taught me. I couldn't sit straight and listen to my teacher for five minutes. But every time I went out, there was a book in my hand. I cursed myself for not getting the difficult words. I was always out of our house in London, roaming the streets, running away from strange people. When I did stay home, I was usually drawing. I know what you're thinking. 'Oh my god, she must be an architect today!' I drew houses, yes. But I also drew cannons. The inside of a smartphone without even looking at one. Machinery that even my dad was astonished to see.

And by the time I had turned seven, dad thought I was mad. It's not normal for kids to strategize about war. And it's not normal for kids to tell their parents about the monster they happened to encounter on the road to school every weekday. It wasn't normal for any kid to score full marks in math and science without even being able understand what was written in their textbooks. And it certainly was not normal for any kid to be able to theorize about gravity, atoms, neutrons and find out the quantum theory without any help.

And so I was stuck at 'Daisy High Junior School' with above mentioned homework and no social life.

By the end of year one, I had passed all subjects except Literature, Latin and every other theory subject you could think of, except science.

I can still remember Dad scolding me. "You can't do English but somehow you can understand Retroactive Precognition?"

Tears filled my eyes. I hung my head low, staring at my dad's feet.

"Talk to me!" he roared.

Ever since my mom had left, Dad had never actually been- kind. At least, that's what Cecilia told me. She was a kid when Dad met my mom. Cecilia told me that I was a spitting image of my mom. We never got along. Cecilia always called me an 'illegitimate child', because my parents had never been married. Yeah, she was a nasty sister.

I could feel Cecilia's presence on the other side of the door. I could hear her giggling. I couldn't cry. Not when she was around. That would mean I was weak. Defeated.

"I-I'm sorry-" I began, stuttering.

"Yeah, right! Don't give me that bull!" Dad yelled. "I spend all my money on taking care of you- and this how you pay me back? An F- on no less than three subjects! If only you took time-"

"I try!" I exclaimed. "But I can't read! I do try, Dad, please-"

"Well you should try harder!" Dad roared back, clearly under the influence of all the alcohol he had just had.

"Should've left her back on the street," he muttered to no one in particular.

I stared at my father in disbelief. His cold green eyes were looking at my report card in anger. His cheeks were covered with red blotches. He ran a hand through his dark hair, as though trying to take all the embarrassment in.

This was my father. And he had just muttered those final words that cut our bonds to each other.

"I'll try better next time, Dad," I said, straightening up. I didn't hear him answer back, because I'd already left.

"Like I said," Cecilia told as I walked up the stairs, ignoring her, "that's just how all illegitimate children are."

I walked to my room, and slammed the door shut on her face.

"Illegitimate children," I mocked her shrill voice.

I plopped down on my bed, taking a deep breath in. I stared at the QUEEN posters on my wall.

They'll be asleep by midnight, I thought.

I got up from my bed angrily, flipped the lights off and brought down the trunk I'd used to pack my clothes for the school I went to before Daisy's. It took me some time, but I was able to bring it down without making any noise. It was small, handy, and I could carry it easily.

I stuffed my favorite sweatpants, shirt, hoodie into the trunk along with a few hair ties and my favorite books. I looked at the clock. 12.00.

I sneaked downstairs to the kitchen. Our pantry was always stocked with stupid things that Cecilia  bought, including a wad of cash she saved for 'emergency purposes'. I stole the money, which was like, three hundred pounds or so (I don't know where or how she got it), a few packets of gummy worms, a packet of crisps, a couple of granola bars, energy drinks, and a packet of biscuits.

Once I was done with that, I stole Cecilia's illegal pepper spray from her school bag, which always lay on the corridor.

I walked back to my room, carrying a box of hair pins and a single steel hammer, and packed it all into the trunk.

The clock showed 3 o'clock.

I snatched a pencil and a sheet of paper and wrote a proper sentence that had always been on mind.

Maybe you should've left me on the streets.

And then I opened the window and escaped, holding onto the plumbing line carefully as I slid down.

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All bonus chapters will be from Ariana's POV.

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