Beauty and the Beast

I groaned as I felt myself being drawn into consciousness. I hadn’t yet opened my eyes and already my head was pounding and my eyes were hurting. I lay still for a few more moments before I realised my pillow was moving, I let out a scream before realising I was lying on Justin and there wasn’t some weird animal in the tent…well. I sat up gently, careful not to make any harsh movements in fear of my stomach contents being emptied over, the still peacefully sleeping, Justin.

I looked over the tent to realise that Maria, Ellie and their respective dates were already gone. For a moment I was confused, I was always the first one to wake up. I looked down at my watch to realise it was already midday. I gasped. I never slept past eight when I had been drinking the night before. I quickly nudged Justin in attempts to wake him from his sleep. He groaned, before rolling over and going straight back to sleep. I rolled my eyes, realising he wasn’t going to wake up I decided to kick him.

“Fuck!” he shouted as he sat bolt upright. He turned to glare at me; I simply gave him a smile in return.

I took note of his messy hair, it was cute. He looked like a petulant child though with the frown he was wearing. “Get up; we’re the last ones here.” I stood, carefully as not to jolt my stomach, and made my way to the entrance of the tent. As I had predicted we really were the last ones here. The campfire was still smoking, though all the flames had died, and there was rubbish everywhere. I sighed and headed back into the tent to change. As much as I wanted to go home and sleep, I realised that was not a possibility, I had to clear up all the rubbish.

I noted that Justin had gone back to sleep and decided it was safe to get changed in front of him. I pulled out a pair of shorts, a vest top and a hoodie before pulling my shoes back on. I turned around to wake Justin again to see that he was awake and staring at me. I felt the blush creep up my cheeks.

“Justin! You pervert.” I mumbled I was trying desperately to avoid his gaze.

He smirked at me making my blush grow deeper, “Nice underwear, though I must admit it would look better on my bedroom floor.” Normally I’d have a sarcastic come back, but my mind was still fuzzy and I was too embarrassed that he had seen me in my underwear to say anything.

Still avoiding his gaze I began to tidy up the tent, collecting all the plastic cups and cans, along with any other miscellaneous items. “We need to tidy up.” I didn’t bother looking at him, but I knew he had heard me because he groaned before shuffling around in the sleeping bag. He eventually appeared next to me, looking dishevelled and tired. I wanted badly to tell him to go back to sleep, that I’d wake him when I was done, but I knew that would be stupid and would take twice as long to get anything done.

“So what do you want me to do?” he asked groggily.

I thought for a moment before giving him an answer. “Can you go check the campfire is completely out? Then can you take the tent down, I don’t think I have the confidence to climb that tree again.” I admitted timidly. I didn’t like admitting that I was weak, but after yesterday I was spooked, and it meant I was more likely to fall again.

He nodded and grabbed some bottled water to make sure the fire was out. I continued to collect the rubbish from inside the tent. I’d nearly finished when I decided I needed a fag. I pulled the packed of Marlborough’s from my pocket and lighting it. I offered one to Justin as he walked past but he declined.

“I don’t smoke.” he said as he began to climb the tree.

“Nor do I, well only when I’m drinking, or when I have a hangover.” I looked around to realise the place looked a lot worse than I had first thought. I cringed at the sight; this was going to take a lot longer than I had anticipated. I realised that I hadn’t checked my phone yet. I ran back into the tent and pulled it out of my bag.

10 missed calls.
23 texts.

My eyes grew wide, what the hell? Why would someone need to call and text me that much? I opened my phone to see 7 of the calls were from my father, 2 from Maria and 1 from Adam. I quickly checked the texts to see most of them were from Maria, Ellie and Adam. I quickly hit one on speed dial.

“Lyric!” My father exclaimed, seeming relieved.

“I’m so sorry! I only just woke up, I don’t know what happened.”

“It’s okay, I’m just glad you are safe. Is Justin there?” Of course he’d be worried about Justin. Silly I thinking my dad was worried about me. Of course he’d be worried about his investment.

“Yep.” I said, popping the P. “He’s fine. Don’t worry daddy I didn’t let anything happen to your precious little Justin.” I snapped before ending the phone call. I sighed, feeling the tears begin to pool in my eyes. I don’t know why I expected him to be calling about me, I’d done this plenty before and he’d never cared. Never called. Never asked if I was okay.

“Who was that?” Justin’s voice snapped me from my trance. I turned my head to see Justin stood at the entrance, his head cocked like a puppies.

“My dad.” I mumbled, barely audible. He began to take a step closer but I shot him a glare, warning him not to take another step. He seemed to get the message, because the next time I looked up he was gone. I decided to pull myself out of my pity party so that I could get home and go to bed. I scrambled up from my sitting position and grabbed the nearest bin bag. I walked out to find Justin had cleared a substantial amount of the rubbish. Maybe I’d get to go home sooner than I thought. I lit another cigarette before I began to pick up the remaining rubbish.

Justin and I worked in silence. Every so often I could feel his gaze on me, but I ignored it and continued picking up the rubbish. I could tell he wanted to ask me what was wrong, but had sense enough not to ask. I really wasn’t in the mood. Eventually after another half an hour’s solid work the clearing was clean, well clean enough for me to go home anyway. Still in silence, I grabbed the stuff and loaded the car, Justin helping. He opened his mouth to say something, but decided against it at the last second.

A few moments later though as I shut the boot he spoke, “Do you want me to drive?” he offered. Without a word I shook my head, climbing into the driver’s seat and started the engine. Quickly he climbed into the passenger’s side, slamming the door behind him, causing my head to throb. “Okay Lyric, what’s up?” he seemed determined to find out, instead I just ignored him. Pretending not to hear him I turned on the radio, they were playing ‘No one does it better’ by You Me At Six. I turned up the volume slightly, not loud enough to hurt my head though.

When we arrived home, I jumped out the car without a word and went straight to my room. I kicked off my shorts before collapsing on the bed, my head had barely hit the pillow and I was out like a light.

Less than three hours later there was a loud knocking at my door. I groaned shouting at whoever it was to get lost. I rolled over to go back to sleep but the door banged open and in walked the last person I expected to see.

“Get your lazy arse up.” I rolled my eyes.

Kayleigh stood in front of me, hands on her hips, waiting for me to get up. Kayleigh stood at a height of about 5’10. She was one of the most beautiful girls I had ever met; she was tall, curvy and just beautiful. It took me a moment to realise there was something very different about her. “Your hair is pink.” When had she done that?

“Well done captain obvious!” She scoffed, pulling the covers from my bed, leaving my bare skin exposed. “Seriously though, get up. It’s movie time.” I stared at her for a moment longer before grabbing my shorts from the floor next to my bed and pulling them back on.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” I growled.

“Aww sorry missy, did I disturb your beauty sleep?” Ugh, I wanted to hit her across her pouty little face.

“Actually, yes. You didn’t answer my question though, what ARE you doing here?” She rolled her eyes.

“Can’t I just come see you?”

I gave her a look that told her I wasn’t buying it. “What did she do this time?”

Instead of answering she walked out of the room and in the direction of the home cinema.

“WE NEED SWEETS!” I called after her causing her to stop mid step.

“Yes that we do.” She walked back down the corridor, towards the giant spiralling staircase that lead down into the sweet shop. I followed after her slowly, dragging my feet as I went. When I arrived down in the sweet shop she had already half-filled a giant tub with an assortment of sweets.

I grabbed my own tub, slowly filling it with all my favourite sweets. I was going to get fat if I wasn’t careful. “Want me to call Maria and Ellie?” I asked as I grabbed a giant bottle of coke from behind the counter.

“Maria.” It really was one of those days then. I sighed before pulling out my phone and texting Maria to meet us in the cinema. She replied less than a minute later telling me to remember all her favourite sweets. How could I forget? I swear to god she was half the reason my dad got the freaking sweet shop. I filled both our boxes and we made our way up to the home cinema.

“What do you want to watch?” Kayleigh asked as she browsed through the selection of films. I thought for a moment before I answered.

“Either Stand by Me or Chat room.” Chat room was a recent favourite of mine, I thought it was the most brilliant film. They really don’t make films like they used to but this was definitely an exception. Stand by Me on the other hand was just a classic. The perfect childhood film. Gordie and Chris’ relationship was just perfect to me. Chris taught me that just because someone comes from a bad background or seem like they are a ‘bad’ person, it doesn’t mean they are. That you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover…the way I did with Justin…oh. I suddenly felt incredibly guilty for the way I had been acting. I had been wrong about Justin, and my dad had been right, I was no better than the others. I made a mental note to apologise to my dad later.

The door slammed open, “What’s up bitches!” I groaned. Why did she have to do that? The next thing I heard was a large amount of squealing from both Maria and Kayleigh as they ran and hugged each other.

You’d think they hadn’t seen each other in months by the way they are reacting, you’d never have guess Kayleigh was here last Saturday with her. I rolled my eyes, which seemed to be happening a lot lately.

“Okay so what is up?” Kayleigh asked after they had calmed down and taken their seats. I looked at her in confusion.

“What do you mean?” she gave me that ‘don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about look’ I contemplated whether or not to tell them, but I knew Kayleigh wouldn’t drop it till I told her. She worried a lot, that was kind of her deal, and she wouldn’t drop it until she had piece of mind. “Fine. It’s just, dad phoned me nearly 10 times this morning and I just thought to myself ‘hey, he’s finally showing an interest, showing he cares’ and then he goes and asks about Justin. I mean I’m his daughter, he just cares more about his stupid investment.” I sulked.

Kayleigh and Maria gave each other a knowing look before both shouting at the same time, “Get over yourself!” I looked at them both in shock.

“Listen, Lyric, Hun. You really need to stop with this pity party.” Kayleigh was being condescending again and the temptation to hit her was high.

“Listen Lyric, your dad phoned me this morning. He was worried sick about YOU. He never even asked about Justin. He cares about you Lyric. He probably only asked about Justin when he realised you were safe.” Maria explained. “You really need to stop this Lyric. I love you and all, but not everything is about you. The attention doesn’t have to be on you at all times.” I looked at her shocked, is that really what she thought of me.

“It’s true Lyric, you’ve become kind of a Mary Sue.” Kayleigh agreed. I stared at them blankly. When did this happen?

“I don’t think everything is about me, I-“ Maria cut me off.

“No Lyric. Recently you’ve been getting worse. The whole thing with Justin coming to live with you…ever since you’ve found out you’ve been getting worse. I love you Lyric, I always have and always will. This though? This has to stop. Your dad loves you, more than anything. Justin is here to stay, so stop acting like a spoiled brat.” I couldn’t believe that my best friend thought this of me. If this is what my best friends thought of me, what did everyone else think?

“Lyric hunny, please don’t cry. Maria and I love you, you know that. You also know that we are only saying this for your own good. You can’t admit you didn’t see it.” Kayleigh was right, I had known. I’d known, but I didn’t do anything to stop it. The truth was I was jealous of Justin. He was going to have my father’s attention, not me. Everyone else was so excited for his arrival that I just felt myself being forgotten about. So cliché. Maria and Kayleigh sat in silence, just staring at me, for a few more minutes.

“Let’s put the movie on!” I suggested.

They looked nervously between each other before Kayleigh finally said, “You haven’t chose then movie yet?”

“Oh…well…” I didn’t get to finish because just as I was about to finish Justin’s voice interrupted from the doorway.

“Hey, who is this?” he asked, gesturing towards Kayleigh.

Kayleigh looked at him, scrutinizing his every feature and every move he made. “This is Kayleigh.” I chuckled as he squirmed uncomfortably under her watchful gaze. “Want to join us for a movie?”

“So you are actually in a better mood now?” I had to bite my tongue as not to snap at him, so I simply nodded instead, trying hard to keep a smiled on my face. “Sure then. What are we watching?”

“Either Chat room or Stand by Me.” I offered.

He looked puzzled for a moment before answering, “Well I’ve seen Stand by Me nearly a thousand times, but I’ve never heard of chat room. What’s it about?” I suddenly felt very giddy. He’d never seen it before and I loved introducing my favourite films to people.

I snatched the DVD from Kayleigh’s hand before slipping it into the DVD player. “You are going to love it. It’s one of the best films ever made!” I squealed as I took my seat between Kayleigh and Justin. I put my sweets between Justin and I when I realised he didn’t have any sweets. ‘Thanks’ he mouthed as the movie started.

Nearly half an hour in and Kayleigh had begun to complain and Maria was nearly asleep. Only Justin and I remained engrossed in the film.
“His character…is so fascinating.” Justin breathed. I nodded my head violently in agreement.

“My dad refuses to watch this film with me anymore.” I whispered, my eyes never leaving the screen.

Kayleigh mumbled a response, “I don’t blame him.” I shot a sharp glare her way.

“Why?” he asked, his eyes flickering to me for only a moment.

“Apparently my love for William is alarming. My dad doesn’t like the fact I seem to admire him, I don’t, but I don’t think he’s evil either. Just sick.” he hummed in agreement.

“I can’t be dealing with this. You two having the exact same film taste is going to ruin me living here.” Kayleigh muttered, I almost didn’t catch it.

“WHAT?” I shouted.

She looked at me sheepishly, “Did I not tell you I was moving in?” she smiled at me apologetically.

“No!” Justin paused the film, and Maria had woken up.

She groaned, “What’s going on?” she wasn’t happy we had woken her up.

“Kayleigh’s moving in.” I grumbled. “Were you even going to tell me?”

“Of course I was! I could hardly move in without you noticing could I?” Honestly? It wouldn’t shock me if she did.

“Do your friends often just move in without telling you?” Justin seemed bemused by the whole situation. Kayleigh began to reply but I cut her off. I hadn’t explained the truth to Justin yet and I wasn’t quite ready to tell him.

So instead I ignored him, “Dude! It should have been the first thing you said!” I was about to continue on my rant when I heard a voice from the door way.

“Hey, is Kayleigh here…I saw her car in the driveway?”

Kayleigh screeched and ran past me, “Daddy!” she ran at him, throwing her arms round his neck. Great. How am I going to explain that?

Justin looked at me curiously, “Daddy?” I sighed. I couldn’t really avoid telling him the truth now.

“How are you sweetie?” Dad asked Kayleigh fondly.

Kayleigh hesitated for a moment, “Can I move in?” so she tells him straight away, but not me?

“Of course, what did your mother say, does she even know?” Justin was still looking at me, waiting for an answer. Maria had somehow nodded back off to sleep. I envied that about her, she had the ability to fall asleep whenever and wherever.

“She wasn’t happy, but she knows.”

“Okay, I’m not being funny, but does someone want to explain?” Justin was growing impatient and I didn’t really blame him.

I motioned for him to follow me, “Come on, I’ll explain.” Justin followed me from the room where my father and Kayleigh were chatting animatedly. “Let’s go to the tree house, we’ll get some privacy there. You have to promise me you won’t tell anyone about this though.”

“Okay?” It wasn’t really the answer I wanted but I figured I couldn’t really expect him to keep a secret that he has no idea about. For all he knew I could be asking him to keep a murder secret or something along those lines.

I climbed the ladder to the tree house, Justin following close on my heel, “Okay, basically Kayleigh is my younger sister.” I said as I sat down on one of the bean bags. Justin flopped down on the one opposite me.

“How does that work? I thought your mom walked out on you when you were just a baby.” I couldn’t remember telling him that, obviously my dad or Maria had.

“She did. Two months after I was born my dad found out she was having an affair, and she was already pregnant again. Although they weren’t sure if Kayleigh was my dad’s or this other guys, she was pretty sure it wasn’t my dad’s. My mum took off, leaving me with my dad. She was pretty selfish; she claimed she couldn’t take care of two babies. My dad promised her money if he could be in Kayleigh’s life, if I could be in Kayleigh’s life.”

“So you know where your mom is?” he was analysing what I was saying, taking in each word.

“I’ve always known where she was. I just never wanted anything to do with her. She treats Kayleigh like shit, and after her boyfriend walked out on her and Kayleigh she kind of demanded my dad pay maintenance for Kayleigh, even though she wasn’t his.” I shrugged.

“Why is this a secret though? So your mom had an affair and you have a younger sister, I don’t get what the big deal is?”

“Me either, it’s just a secret. My mum doesn’t want anyone to know she abandoned her daughter. My dad’s a softy; he still loves her in a sense. It would ruin her reputation in society if anyone knew, and my dad still wants to protect her.” It was something I never understood. How could you want to protect someone who abandoned you and your child? THEIR child? Who just treated you like shit?

“Your dads a bigger guy than me, I’d have out’d her right away. The bitch deserves whatever she gets. I’ll never be able to understand someone who can walk out on their kids like that, and then go on to have another family.” Justin seemed angry and it confused me slightly.

“I’m over it. I’ve not seen her since I was two months old.” I shrugged. It had stopped bothering me a long time ago.

Justin nodded, simply accepting what I had to say, “So who else knows? I don’t want to accidently say something.”

“Maria knows, Ellie knows we are related but not the whole truth.” I was ashamed that only one of my best friends knew the truth. I wanted Ellie to know, but I wasn’t allowed to tell her.

“Why doesn’t Ellie know?”

“Her mother is friends with mine. Ellie’s mum is the town gossip, if she knew the truth then it would be all over town and my mother would lose her social standing. If that happened she’d take half my dad’s money.”

Justin gawked. “Your dad didn’t get a pre-nup? You guys are like gazillion-airs and your dad didn’t get a pre-nup? Is he crazy?”

I laughed softly, it was a question I asked myself daily, “When you are young and in love you don’t think like that. He thought it was going to last forever, he really believed she was the one. Also Justin I think you over estimate our wealth, we are billionaires. If my mum takes that money though, she is literally taking mine and Kayleigh’s money.”

“What do you mean your money?”

“Well when we turn 21, or when we get married, Kayleigh and I get 90% of the money split between us for our own families. Technically Kayleigh shouldn’t really get any since she isn’t my dad’s, but he was adamant that she would get half. It doesn’t bother me, I still get more money than I could possibly know what to do with, but a lot of my dad’s family disagree. That’s why I say I have no family, because we were disowned. Only my granddad kept in touch, he died though.” I explained.

“Your dads a really good man, I would never be able to do that. Why are you mad Kayleigh is moving in though?”

“I’m not.” I chuckled. “I’m pissed she didn’t tell me. She’s my sister and my best friend, I’m ecstatic she is moving in, I just can’t believe she didn’t tell me!”

Justin and I stayed in the tree house for a while longer before Maria came to find us and tell us we were going out for a mean to celebrate.

“Does Marias family never miss her?” Justin laughed as we made our way back to the house to get ready for dinner.

“Honestly? I don’t think so. Her brothers are off at boarding school and her parents are always going away on business. She has a nanny that is supposed to look after her but she just spends her time here. She is as much my sister as Kayleigh is.” I smiled fondly; she was really like a sister to me. I could never live without her. She didn’t know but I intended to give her part of my trust fund, Kayleigh and I both. We’d have a third each.

Justin and I parted at our bedroom door ways, going to prepare for dinner. My dad was taking us to the most expensive restaurant in town that meant smart attire.

I was the last one to be ready which was unusual for me, but I had really made an effort tonight. I’d made it to the top of the stairs when I heard a loud gasp from the bottom of the stairs. I felt the blush creep up my face as I stared down at an awestruck Justin; my eyes also growing wide.

Tonight would be interesting.