Glamoured

Chapter One

Ash let the water droplets roll down her skin and into the sink below as she watched her hazel eyes staring back at her in the mirror. There was a lot on her mind, and she was having trouble focusing on her morning routine. She was getting ready for her first day at a new school, but all she could think about was everything that had happened that summer. Her mind was stuck in the past, replaying the same short clip over and over again like some viral video on YouTube.

"Ashley! Hurry up or we'll be late!" Her mother called from the bottom of the stairs, emphasizing the "ley" of her name as she always did, despite the fact that she knew her daughter preferred to be called Ash.

She didn't want to make her mom late for work, so she shook her head, towelled off and brought herself back to the present. A few coats of mascara and some lip gloss would do, Ash thought as she ran a comb through her hair. It was her last year of high school at a small private academy, and Ash wasn't planning on making friends there. She would rush out and head straight home as soon as the bell rang.

"Come on, we'll stop at Starbucks for breakfast. Just hurry up!" Her mother said as Ash walked down the stairs.

Lara Black was standing in the foyer, tapping one stilettoed foot on the black-and-white checkered marble floor. Her hair was freshly blown out, and she looked smart in a tailored power suit. A red Birkin bag was slung over her forearm, and she was looking down at her phone with a crease in her forehead.

"Mom, how do you always manage to look so put together so early in the morning?"

Lara looked up and smiled, her honey-blonde hair flouncing.

"I go to bed early, unlike you! Now come on. Dad had an early meeting so he took the Mercedes, and I've got the Range Rover today. I'll be dropping it off later, though. I've got to grab an Uber and head straight to the airport for two so I don't miss my flight to Munich," she was talking a mile a minute and still had barely looked up from her phone. Ash followed close behind her, feet dragging, as they walked to the driveway.

Lara looked back at Ash to catch a glimpse of her outfit.

"That's what you're wearing?" She said with a tight-lipped smile.

"What's wrong with it?" Ash said, looking down at her white babydoll tank, jean shorts and Converse shoes. Her long hair was a wavy tangle of blonde, still salty from her trip to the beach a day earlier. A long summer of lying out with a good book had left her with tanned skin and a few freckles along the bridge of her nose. The only accessory she carried was a battered leather knapsack her Dad, Tom, had brought back from Morocco.

"Nothing, you look great," Lara forced her smile wider, then slid into the driver's seat of the SUV. "So, honey, what do you think the other kids will be like at this school?" She asked as she backed the car out of the long driveway. The still-green September foliage cast shadows on Ash's bare legs, and she enjoyed the delicious feeling of the sun tickling her skin.

Before Ash could answer, a call came through the car's Bluetooth system.

"Sorry sweetie, I have to take this," Lara said, already pressing the big green 'answer' button on the touch screen.

She spoke on the phone with a colleague about some merger for the entirety of the short car ride, then said she would call him right back as they pulled up outside Ash's school.

"Sorry hon. Are you okay to go in by yourself?" The tight-lipped smile was back.

"Mom, I'm not five. I'll be fine. Have fun in Germany," Ash smiled as she stepped down from the passenger's side and onto the sidewalk.

"Bye sweetie, have a great day! I love you!"

Ash didn't return the words, just looked back to wave at her mother. They had forgotten to go to Starbucks, she realized as she checked the time on her cellphone. Still fifteen minutes until class. She could walk around a bit and try to find a coffee shop. It would be better than sitting in the classroom awkwardly with a bunch of kids she didn't know.