Page 26 of Bittersweet Legacy

I blushed at the light flirting. It was nice to have someone who actually liked me and not look at me as if I was Typhoid Mary.

“If you give me a ride home then yes.”Sure Esme, ask a complete stranger to give you a ride home. You would have been Ted Bundy’s ideal target!

His eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Uh yeah, sure, okay. I’ll have to take him back to the centre soon, anyway. Where do you live?”

“Mount Hill.”

This answer made his eyebrow shoot even higher. “Mount Hill?” he repeated, detailing my clothes more closely. He’d probably missed the Brentwood Crest on my red shirt with the jacket I was wearing. “You’re a Brentwood brat?” he asked, and the genuine surprise in his voice sounded more like a compliment than anything else. It was clear he didn’t hold Mount Hill residents and Brentwood Academy attendees in high esteem. Not that I could blame him really, I couldn’t say I was a fan either.

“Surprised?”

“Extremely,” he confirmed. “You don’t look or act like them.”

“Ah,” I nodded. “I’ll take it as a compliment.”

“As you should,” he confirmed. “You’re funny, down to earth, kind…”

“Again, thank you.”

“You’re welcome” he looked at his watch. “Come on buddy, we need to pack up – you’ve got to be back by five and we need to drive Esme home.”

Theo grinned, putting his stuff away. “I like Me-me.”

Mike chuckled. “Always knew he had good taste.”

I blushed again at the compliment and thanked life for the little break it just gave me. A break from my own dark thoughts, the journal my mom wrote and the impending doom.

The drive back to the house was not tense, with Theo in the back seat going over the list of superheroes and giving them grades based on their strengths and weaknesses.

When Mike stopped in front of the house of doom, I turned to look at Theo. “I’ll come next Wednesday, would you like that?”

He nodded. “Yes Me-me, Wednesday.”

“Thanks, see you,” I told Mike as I got out of the car.

“Hi Steve,” I greeted the security guard who still looked shocked that I acknowledged him in such a friendly manner when the rest of my family mostly treated him like a commodity.

“Miss Esmeralda,” he replied, opening the side gate for me. “I believe you’re late, some of the guests are already in attendance.”

I sighed with a shrug. “Thank you, Steve, it’s alright.” I replied with a smile I wanted to look real but I knew didn’t.

As I walked down the path to the house, my good humor faded, but at least I still had the journal to read and look forward to and that could not be taken away from me.

Chapter 7

As soon as I walked in, Sophia rushed toward me with a look of pure relief on her face. She was dressed impeccably in a floor-length silk red dress, with sky-high heels, I couldn't understand how she managed to walk so fast and competently in those – she seriously defied gravity.

“Oh God, Esmeralda, where were you?” she whispered with urgency grabbing my hand and pulling me up the stairs. “You were expected home almost two hours ago, your father is livid. There-” She glanced back at me. “There’ll be consequences.”

I sighed. “Everything I do has consequences in this house.” I muttered as Sophia pulled me into my bedroom. “Damned if I do, damned if I don't, so excuse me if I do.”

She sighed, removing my clothes with precision as if I was an inanimate mannequin and I was just too emotionally exhausted to fight her.

“This is not the way to go, Esmeralda, I'm here to help you, to watch your back and this is not the way to do things.”

I rolled my eyes as she ordered me to lift my leg as she helped me into a dress. As she turned me around to button the back, I had a good look at the dress in the mirror. It was a lace-detail cream chiffon, halter neck maxi dress with lavender beads and lace embellishments on the neck and waist. It looked beautiful, innocent, pure – everything my father wanted me to represent, and it looked particularly nice with my heavy golden-brown hair and golden skin which was still present from my second summer job working at the local pool.

Sophia met my eyes in the mirror and gave me a sad smile. “You look stunning Esmeralda, we won’t even need to put much make-up on you.” She pulled my hair up, still assessing me in the mirror. “We're going to put your hair up in a messy bun okay? You’ve got such a graceful neck; we need to show it.”

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