Excelsior

Chapter 19: A poor girl's cry

Young Parker had never had a quiet day since her first day attending St. Andrew Institute. Those memories were now blurred, yet, she remembered trying too hard to show her best manners, and since then, there was no time when her mind wasn't plotting every singe movement and word she'd say, even if she didn't know the meaning.

That day, her behavior was the least of her worries. She saw her classmates whispering around her, laughing meanly.

"Are they talking about me?" She asked to herself without getting a satisfactory answer. By her own assumptions, she concluded that those around her were talking about her condition. Every word, every giggle, every look seemed to reproach her relative poverty, even if she couldn't hear them.

What was even more surprising was the fact that she felt rather more insulted when her classmates didn't say a word to her. "They must ignore me because I'm poor", she sentenced in pain. She decided to walk alone and not to speak to anyone unless she was spoken to first. That day didn't pass smoothly, her own mind haunted her with guesses until an isolated incident happened:

Coming out of the dressing room, she was texting her mom when she heard a laughter she first decided to ignore.

"Is that your pone?" she heard in an ironic tone and stopped. "How much did it cost?"

Chloe's head started to tremble.

"It is not mine!" she whispered.

"What? I cannot hear you."

She didn't answer and lowered her head.

"That toy pone is your real phone?" the same girl said. Those around her laughed, and then she showed off her own phone. "How much for that trinket?"

"It's not mine!" she insisted.

"Don't be mean," one of her friends say, "Ramela."

She ignored her and kept asking Chloe her phone's value.

"I'm just kidding," she replied before continuing with her way.

Chloe's hands were cold and didn't think about the issue until she came back home. She closed the door and put her back against it as her heart accelerated, vaguely reviewing her day. Unlike her privileged classmates, she didn't have the luck of living in Lexington, but in her ugly older sister, Ashford, a couple of miles away, which was the state capital.

Mrs. Parker cameo out of the office to greet her, and Chloe suddenly frowned.

"Is everything okay?" her mom asked.

"No! This was a horrible day, and just because I am poor." She replied.

Mrs. Parker rolled her eyes.

"Do you know what happened?" her daughter continued, "A girl mocked my phone, and people stared at me differently, they talked behind my back, laughed at me."

"Someone mocked your phone? That's the most absurd thing I've heard, do you feel offended by that?"

"No, but I'm mad because you've allowed that to happen with dreadful financial decisions, and if you listened to me and married a rich man, this would not happen."

"I have no time for this. I have to finish a legal deed. There's dinner on the stove"

"But I do have time!"

"What I see is that you're upset because a silly girl mocked your phone, and they're not even luxury items -almost anyone has a newer model, from the poor to the upper class, and it's not a symbol of wealth. This is a nonsense."

"If anyone can afford a new model, why do I have an old one?"

"I am not spending almost a thousand dollars for a gadget that will lose half of its value the next year. If you want a newer model, buy it yourself -Janet's daughter works as a babysitter and that's how she bought that silver bracelet."

"I do not have to work! I shouldn't do it. I should live like my classmates only worrying about how I'd max out your black card. It's not fair!"

"With that mindset, I doubt you'll be a millionaire someday."

Chloe was speechless. What her mother said echoed in her mind, even after she left to her office.

"At least I don't believe in the horoscope!" She yelled back.

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Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed. English is not my native language, so any feedback, suggestion or advice to change the grammar would be really appreciated.