"My name is Ariana, daughter of Annabelle and Joseph Grande. Tonight I'd like to-"
"Are you ashamed of your last name?" My mother interrupts.
"No why do you think that?" I ask putting down my note cards and looking at her as she sits behind her desk looking at me through her thin, silver rimmed glasses.
"You left it out. Ariana sweetie, do you realize how important this banquet is to your father and I. Your brother never had the chance to do this, and here you are with the opportunity." She explains while not breaking eye contact the whole time.
"Right. Have you talked to him since he-"
"Everything I just said, and that's what you got from it." She sighs, "No my dear, I haven't spoken to your brother since he left. We'll get back to this later, how are you getting to school today?"
"Adam is coming to get me." I mumble, and I see a smile grow on her face. My mom loves Adam, more than I do to be completely honest.
"Oh, tell him I hope he has a great first day. Senior year!" She cheers and I give her a small smile as quickly leave her office. I slowly close the door behind me and take a deep breath.
Before I can even begin to think I hear my phone going on in my room down the hall. Probably Adam, wondering when to leave his house even though he only lives a few blocks away from me. I slowly walk to my room so I can have an excuse in why I didn't answer.
Adam and I met when I first moved here to Holmes Chapel from a small town in Florida. He was my fathers business partner's son and they were both happy to find out that their kids were around the same age. Little did his father know, my family likes to auction off their children to get in good with other rich people. They tried to do something similar with my brother, but that's a different story. Don't get me wrong, Adam is a great guy and I do like him I just have an itch for a different type of lifestyle.
The phone stopped ringing once I got in my room and I mentally thanked god and proceeded to get into my closet. I scan over all the clothes hanging up decide to go with a little distressed Jean skirt and an off the shoulder black top with some black strapped sandals. I grab my outfit and change out of what I wore to sleep, a big t-shirt and some shorts. I grab my phone a FaceTime my best-friend, Jaelyn, to see what she thinks of the outfit. The phone rings for a few seconds and I see her face pop up on my screen.
"GoodMorning." I laugh looking at the unblended makeup on her face, "You know what you look like?"
"GoodMorning to you too, and no I don't and I don't want to know." She laughs setting her phone down so she can finish.
"Your no fun. But anyway, what do you think?" I ask doing a slow spin for the camera while she watches.
"Cute, who are you trying to look cute for?" She asks hopefully while I plug up my flat iron.
"Well.." I drag out avoiding looking at the phone screen.
"Ariana," she groans, "You still didn't do it did you?"
"In my defense, I didn't expect all of this to happen. My parents party, him not going straight to college and working for his dad, none of that was in my plan." I explain quietly so no one in my house can hear me.
"I still don't see why you won't just let me do it for you. It's our Senior year, this is like the golden year. House parties, prom, football games, boys." She goes on and I just laugh, thinking about all of those things and how I'll have to bring Adam to every single one of those things.He hated high school, he couldn't wait to be free and be a sophisticated adult like his father wants. Now me on the other hand, I wish I didn't have to be this girl, or pretend to be at least. I like music, art, getting drunk and not remembering anything I did, making those memories. I need to get out of this if I want ti enjoy this last year, I just can't bring myself to do it.
