The Popular Girls

The Greatest Allie & Foe

        The DeWitt family was originally from France. Only God knows how they ended up in a place like Hillbrook County. Regardless of that, the DeWitts fit perfectly into the puzzle. With their charismatic personas and wealthy expenditures in investments such as boats and restaurants, the DeWitts took pride in their chain of accomplishments, disregarding anyone who would praise the opposite. 

       The only problem that stood between the DeWitts and "the perfect life" wasn't their detailed history, wasn't even their only daughter with the prosthetic leg - it was their eternal feud with the family - next - door. The Lovejoys. An ironic name for those that knew them personally. As caring and generous as the Lovejoys could be, that heartless and ruthless they acted to anyone who stood in their way. Safe to say, the feelings between the two families remained mutual throughout history. 

      Only six years later did Olivia finally realize how ridiculous it was that these two wealthy families just had to live next to one another. They could have any property they wished, yet they chose their respective house: Lovejoys with the modern, neo-classic, white house featuring a 25-meter pool and the DeWitts with the vintage, stone-build, brown house featuring a giant fountain with a baby angel statue on top. Lovejoy's windows were shielded with colorful, flowy curtains while the DeWitts aimed for more neutral tones and thicker materials that blocked any sunlight from intruding. The grass was freshly-cut in both houses and some type of seating arrangement decorated the front porch. Lovejoys' had a picket fence and DeWitts had a silver gate. 

       Olivia swung the silver gate open but did not walk in. Even if she did not want to admit it to herself, she was hesitant. Coward, she thought but it was more than that. What if her parents had moved? That possibility never occurred to her before. She had no way of contacting them. What if she had made it all this way for people that were never there for her? What did she aim to accomplish with this?

        As she was about to turn and flee, the front doors opened, and Greta Schulz hurried out. Stunted at seeing Olivia after all these years, and now a grown woman, the maid squeezed the girl into a giant hug, tears filling up her eyes. The words she mumbled could barely come out - was it the shock, or the happiness? Olivia felt like a little girl again and the images of Greta caring for her flashed before her - the time she grazed her knee after falling off the fountain or the time she crashed her bike on a pole or the time she cried when Abigail made everyone at school call her an Imp for having lost some inches in height since her leg was gone. 

       Olivia felt her eyes watering so she kept hugging Greta, not wanting her to see her crying after all these years. Embarrassed, she finally pulled away. Greta pinched her rosy cheeks and then admired her. 

      "Miene liebe, how you have grown", she mumbled, tears running down her face. Her accent had faded slightly through the years, her mother's doing, Olivia was sure of that. She had aged gracefully, the wrinkles only enhancing her motherly features. Her hands were soft regardless of all the work she did around the house and her eyes looked at Olivia as if she was her own. Olivia had never admitted it before, but at times, she wished that Greta was her mother. 

    "You have not aged a day, mein schutzengel", Olivia replied filled with happiness, for the first time, in a long time. Greta urged her to come inside, grabbing her suitcase before Olivia could do it. All the way up the stairs, she was babbling about how much she had missed her, whether she had eaten or not, that she was going to prepare her a bath, and so on. Olivia didn't mind all the talking. It was good to not be alone anymore.