NEX:GEN Activate Book One

Section Two

Skylar Jackson

Sitting across the table with her mother's scarecrow eyes staring at her. Skylar felt uneasy. Her mother made herself seem like a powerful woman. But she was really nothing like the image she portrayed to the rest of the world.

With her fingertips gripping onto the silver spoon before her. Skylar looked down at the soup, which her spoon was for. Skylar knew she had said enough. Her mother's eyes were disappointed in the daughter she saw. On the other side of the table, Skylar smiled. Skylar was used to the look on her mother's face. She had become numb over the years. Placing her hand up to her chin. Skylar looked down at her own reflection in her murky soap.

A soft sigh, slither down over her lips. Looking at herself, Skylar saw all of her flaws. Her cheekbones had become tight from smiling, all the time. She had the perfect bone structure some girls would die to have. Her parents had money. Even though the way they got their money was not the most pleasant thing to talk about. She was tired of all the lies. She had to tell in a single day.

"Don't you get tired?" Skylar glared at her mother.

"By what." She seemed to be puzzled by the question, her daughter had asked her. "Your attitude."

Crossing her arms over her chest, her mother puffed up her chest. Skylar could not help herself from rolling her eyes at the words her mother spoke. She knew what her mother had to say would be a shocker. Her ears would always listen. But it was like her mind had other troubles before her. For Jackson's don't speak in so many words.

"I don't even know why, I put up with you." Her mother kept her tangent going. "Suzan sent Laura away when she started acting out." She warned her daughter. "Maybe I should do that with you."

"You're so annoying." Skylar snapped at her. "All that you do is complain."

Leaning back in her chair, she looked up at the ceiling. She thought for a moment of what kind of person would put marble on the ceiling. Skylar never realized how strange the ceiling looked above her head.

"You'll like the girls who wished they were me." She told her mother. "Always nitpicking at every little thing. Trying to make themselves feel better."

Leaving her hand from her spoon. She stood up from the table. Her hands crossed over her school uniform. She knew how she most seemed to her mother. But some tough lover was what she needed in return. Her mother seemed to be used to selling her own daughter's smile for her own wealth.

"Was it all worth it?" Standing up from the table, she asked her mother.

Her mother seemed shocked to notice Skylar had stood up. "What are you talking about?"

Skylar walked away from the dining table. She stopped by her school bag on the ledge. Her eyes looked over her shoulder at her mother.

"Nothing." She grabbed her school bag. "We are just two strangers living under the roof. One that I paid for."

'Chew on that.' Skylar thought to herself.

Walking away from the dining room, she knew what was going to happen. Skylar was saddened that she had not finished her soup. For she would not be able to eat her next meal, until lunch. But she knew her mother needed to have a reality check.

Heading towards the front door to her penthouse apartment, she knew her mother. Her mother would have a mouthful prepared. She would rehearse each word she would say to her daughter. She would sing a perfect swan song, for when she got home. Skylar wondered if her mother would even realize, if she never came back home. Or if she would not notice, until the power was cut off. Skylar had scheduled the power to go out in a few days. Her way of making her mother realize who was in control.