If I Had You

I wasn't sure what ticked me off more: the fact that my father, who was the only family I had, sent me off to a boarding school, or that it was on the other side of the freaking country: the West Coast. I didn't want to live there, as I grew up an South Beach girl.

My father and I live in a beach house in Florida, just the two of us, and we were the closest father and daughter you would ever see. Unfortunately, things were getting kind of rough. Even though my father is the famous John Wells, the author who had written more bestselling fiction books than any other, money was becoming an issue. Don't get me wrong. We weren't poor. Not by a long shot. But with my father's most recent series finished and, truthfully, somewhat unpopular amongst his fans, we didn't have much of an income. Royalties weren't coming in, and my dad was going through a writer's block stage, as he did sometimes.

We, as a pair, usually would go out on a trip somewhere, to get my dad out of his funk, but this time, Dad said he didn't want me to come. He would be going to Spain without me. If that wasn't enough, he went and enrolled me in the prestigious Cunningham Academy in California. The school I attended in Florida was good enough; there was no need to ship me off.

I walked around the vast airport, trying to find my gate to the plane that would be flying straight to LA. The only thing good about this whole ordeal was that I'd be sitting First-Class. I dragged my small suitcase behind me as Rex, the man my father hired to escort me, carried my three other bags. I had the fifth, the biggest one, in the plane's luggage.

I probably wouldn't have been so hard on Rex if I wasn't so furious with my father. I think Rex understood, though. He had done escorting for me before, so he was kind of family. He was even willing to get a pay cut when my father couldn't pay him as much as he usually did.

"Come on," I growled at him, turning back to look at him just for a second.

"Miss Cierra," he said, trying not to anger me anymore than I was already, "this is our gate right here..."

I looked up and saw the big B15 sign. I frowned, suddenly feeling guilty. "Oh..."

Thanks to me being a Wells and the fact that I had a First-Class ticket, I got on the plane right away, Rex and my bags in tow. Of course, Rex didn't stay too long. He made sure that all my stuff was in order and then smiled sincerely.

"You going to be okay, Miss Cierra?" he asked kindheartedly.

"I'm not sure yet," I said bluntly, but I smiled back with the same sincerity. "But I'll make do."

And with that Rex left.

I sat down in my seat, the front row in the aisle seat, and closed my eyes to think and relax. I was beginning to feel more nervous than angry now. Starting at a new school was always nerve-wracking. However, the difference with this school was that I wouldn't be the only famous one. All of the student body came from fairly known, fairly prestigious, names. Big businessmen. CEOs. Millionaires. Authors. Actors. Musicians.

I brushed the hair out of my face and took a deep breath.

"Excuse me?" said a rather unpleasant voice.

I open my eyes to see a boy my age scowling. I blinked. I didn't think I did anything to give him reason to give me such a nasty face. "Yes?" I answered politely.

He cocked an eyebrow. "Is this your seat?"

"Um, yeah."

His eyes narrowed, and I wondered if he thought this was his seat.

I dug into my pocket and pulled out my ticket. I held it out for him to see. "See?" He took it from me and examined it, glared at me, and handed it back. Then, grumbling, he sat down in the window seat next to me.

I watched him, frowning, but he never looked my way. He was too busy watching the people out his window who were packing all the luggage into the plane. Eventually, I stood, figuring that I should use the bathroom before we took off. Plus, I wasn’t about to spend more time than need be with the sour-puss next to me.

***

William Phoenix Jr. turned his head as the girl left-- the girl who was taking the seat that was supposed to be empty. He took his phone from his pocket and made sure the girl had turned into the bathroom before he dialed the number.

The phone rang several times before anyone picked up.

"Hello?" the person on the other line answered, along with a bunch of roaring noise in the background.

"Dad?" William said.

William Phoenix Sr., the renowned rock star, laughed at something someone in the background said. "Son! How are you doing?" he said.

"Okay, I guess," Will answered. "Can I ask you something?"

"Shoot."

"When you ordered my plane ticket, did you order the one next to mine as well?"

His father laughed, this time at his son. "Now, why would I do that?"

"Uh, maybe because you wouldn't let me take the private jet, and I could end up sitting next to a crazed fan!" he snarled.

"Well, are you sitting next to a crazed fan?"

"... No," Will answered. He wasn't even sure the girl recognized him... "But--"

"Well then, see? It worked itself out!" His father laughed again.

"Yes, but Dad!"

He heard a few girls' giggles in the background and his father say something to them in a low tone. Will snarled again. "You're not out with some girls, are you?"

"Don't be ridiculous!" his father answered, but Will heard him say in a sickening sweat voice, "Ladies, give me a sec, okay?" and there were more giggles.

"Dad!"

"Listen, Willie-boy, I gotta... go do somethin', so I'll catch ya later, okay?"

"Fine, but you're a horrible liar."

"Yes, yes. Love you, too." In the background, Will heard his father say, "Oh, of course, I love you two as well..... Who do I love more? Well... Uh--" the line was cut.

Will sunk in his seat and pinched the bridge of his nose. What a dad, he thought. Sure, a rock star parent sounded cool, but really, it was just a pain in the ass. It was more Will watching after his father than his father watching after him. It was pretty messed up.

***

When I returned, it didn’t look my seat-partner moved any, except now he had his head leaned up against the window. His eyes shifted toward me, and I smiled politely. Just because he seemed like a jerk—or at least towards me—didn’t mean I had to stoop to his level.

I grabbed my purse from the compartment above where Rex had put it, and sat down. The regular passengers began to pile on, murmuring as they passed. I frowned, not knowing that so many people knew John Wells’ daughter. Little did I know then, it wasn’t me they were looking at.

My seat-partner was listening to his iPod, not even paying attention to those who passed. After a while, he took his gaze off the window and placed his iPod in his lap. He took a small notebook out of the bag that lay on the floor and began scrawling something on it. Every so often, he would stop writing, gnaw on his pencil, then cross something out.

When I tried to look at what he was doing, he shut the notebook and gave me glare. It didn’t bother me too much. After all, I was pretty nosy, and it got on people’s nerves all the time. At least his glare was justified this time. Still though, I felt really awkward sitting next to him.

It may have been more awkward if I knew at the time he was famous…

I rubbed my eyes and sighed. I was tired. Between being angry at my father and packing all my stuff to go to California, I only got three hours of sleep. I planned to sleep on the plane, but I couldn’t now, as the awkwardness of sitting next to a sour-puss was keeping me awake.

“Good morning, passengers,” a voice said over the speakers. They went through the whole ‘in case of emergency’ speech, which I dosed off through, and before long, we were in the air. I looked over Sour-Puss out the window at the clear blue sky and the ground, slowly getting farther away.

And thus began my new life.