Control

Prologue

She felt tears pricking at her eyes as a small child wrapped their arms around her. Loud sniffling came from the little one.

"I'll come see you Jason, I promise," she soothed.

Jason looked up at her with a red and puffy face with large tears and snot pouring down.

"Promise?"

"I promise."

She picked up little Jason and held him close as his older sister came up and gave the girl holding him a sad smile.

"You better text me as soon as you get home, okay Alice?"

Alice nodded and put Jason down to pull her friend into a tight hug. The tears she had been holding back broke through, slowly at first, until they steadily flowed down as she cried into her best friend's shoulder. She pulled back and laughed quietly as she noticed the wetness on her friends shirt.

"I kind of ruined your shirt."

"I did to."

They laughed, enjoying the last moments they had together. Today had been Alice's last day at Donté's Private School for Girls. The Seniors had invited her to a sleepover the night before, and had treated her as royalty. They took her out to get her nails, hair, eyebrows, everything done. But it wasn't real.

It never was.

Its not that Alice didn't enjoy it, she did, but she knew her mom had something to do with it, and confirmed it later. When all the Seniors had gone to sleep, she snuck through their phones, finding a group text sent to all of them by none other than Alice's mother. A promise. If the girls took Alice out for one night, she would give them all recommendations to a college of their choice. That's not something to be taken lightly, considering her mom was well known throughout Ivy League colleges.

Jessica had been a true friend, though. The two had spent all day together, Jessica ditching her classes to follow Alice through all of her's. Not that the teachers minded, both girls were straight A students.

It hurt knowing that she was leaving her best friend in just a few hours. Alice heard the nagging voice in the bag of her head, whispering it was her fault they had to move. Her fault that her mom had to find a new job, that she was leaving everything she knew behind.

It didn't matter though.

Jessica and Alice pulled each other in for one last hug before Alice backed out of her friend's house. Jason and Jessica followed her outside to where her liquid black sports car lay brooding next to the curb. Alice slid into the drivers side, twisting the key in the ignition. With a final wave, the car glided away silently, towards a new life.