10 Steps to Being a Lady

A Lady Must Leave the House Looking Proper

Noah handed me a red solo cup filled with a mixture of blue Gatorade and some kind of vodka. I accepted it graciously, wincing slightly as the liquid burned my throat. Noah watched me and once I was done swallowing, raised his cup in a toast. I tapped mine against his and took another sip at the same time as he did.

“So, Charlotte, tell me about yourself.”

We were walking away from the fire to get to a place on the beach where we could talk. Once I thought we were far away enough, I plopped down on the sand and Noah sank down next to me. We could still hear the music and see the fire, but at least we didn’t have to talk obnoxiously loud to be heard.

“What do you want to know?”

“Whatever you’re willing to tell me. What’s the deal with your mom?”

I picked at a string that was coming from the bottom of my white dress. The topic of my mom was slightly uncomfortable. Usually I didn’t have a problem complaining about her to my friends, but I had known them since grade school. Noah was new and although he’d already had the misfortune of meeting the woman, I didn’t want to scare him away with new information.

“She’s always been like that. She likes the idea of everything being perfect; the house, her appearance, me. It got worse after my dad… left.”

I hadn’t meant to let the part about my dad slip out, but it was out there and I couldn’t take it back. Noah seemed to understand and I appreciated that he didn’t try to sympathize with me. His parents were together and seemed completely normal, if he was to say he understood what I went through it would be a lie.

“I think underneath it all she means well, but it’s hard not to feel suffocated in that house.”

“We go to college in a year,” he reminded me, nudging me with his shoulder gently, “At least you have that to look forward to.”

“She’s got college completely planned out for me as well,” I rolled my eyes. Noah raised his eyebrows and I nodded, “Yeah, she’s that controlling.”

“What’s her plan?”

“She wants me to go to Yale and major in political science.”

Noah let out a low whistle. “Damn. Yale? What happens if you don’t get in?”

I chuckled at the idea of not getting into Yale. It wasn’t even an option to get my acceptance declined. “I’ve been being groomed to attend Yale since I was born. I don’t have a plan B. I’ll probably apply to other ivy league schools though, just to keep my options open.”

“Do you want to go to Yale?”

I stared at him with furrowed eyebrows. No one had ever asked me if I actually wanted to go to Yale. It was just sort of assumed that I would. No questions asked. It was refreshing and brand new that Noah actually cared what I wanted.

“I don’t know.”

I glanced behind Noah to see Marissa stumbling towards us with Chase hot on her heels. He shot me a distressed look and I stood up. “Char!” Marissa screeched, flinging herself at me. I had to react fact and hold her up so she didn’t collapse onto the ground. “Where were you?”