Quicksand

The next day I experienced just how ridiculous a lifestyle I was entering into.
Sitting in a car more expensive than my entire house and life savings combined, beside my brother who was wearing clothing designed by someone whose name even I had heard of, with a bottle of ice water in the cup holder. Within the spacious car, coming included with its own driver, was a plush furnishing as well as a small television and, according to the driver, its own protected wi-fi.
According to Theo, who had bounded into my bedroom at the bright and early time of nine twenty-one, we were going shopping due to my “less than abysmal wardrobe”. Demitri was still fast asleep and not going to change, according to the strangled yell he made which clearly expressed that he did not want to move from his warm and cosy bed.
“So you’ll need a few dresses-,”
Theo had been talking for quite a while.
“-we go to a fair few social gatherings so you’ll need to look y’know, formal. Then you’ll need some casual things and maybe some sunglasses for the media and paparazzi-,”
I nodded and decided to remain quiet as Theo rattled off a mental list of all the ‘necessities’ I needed to officially become a decent member of the Trent family.
“So, where are we going to buy all this? Is there like, a mall or something?” I asked.
Theo gave me a look that questioned insanity.
“A mall? Please, Beth,” he scoffed.
Ten minutes later and I was walking with Theo down a strip of designer boutiques and stores that charged half a fortune for a pair of panties. Although the price tags I saw screamed at me, I barely did any shopping, instead I gave Theo my sizes and he pulled multiple garments off racks and hooks, shoving them at the sales assistants who followed us around, trying to get us to spend more than the thousands of dollars we already were.
Once we had bought almost everything from the fifth store we hit, Theo and I casually strolled up and down the strip of expensive stores, rather than frantically purchasing necessities. It wasn’t until that I passed a newsstand that I stopped dead in my tracks.
“Holy shit, that’s me!” I squealed, pointing to the front page of a newspaper.
Theo slowed and nodded. “Although I’m surprised it’s on the front page…”
“Theo, you don’t understand. It was a big deal to be published in the school newsletter for me, let alone a flipping newspaper!”
“Calm down, it’s only a local paper,” Theo joked.
“That’s beside the point!” I shrieked, handing over money to purchase the newspaper.
“Beth you need to chill. Us young, wealthy and stupid socialites make the paper fortnightly. The people living in this area could care less about real world problems, but if someone has been caught smoking weed then that’s news,”
“The estranged daughter of Nicholas Trent arrived late Tuesday afternoon- this is the stuff of gossip magazines,” I mumbled, flicking through the newspaper.
“I’ve been in the paper about three or four times,” Theo said absentmindedly, glancing in one of the other boutiques.
“I daresay that they would print anything nice about you,” I mused with a smirk. “What did you do that was worthy of publication?”
“Drunken disorder, maybe indecent exposure,” Theo said with a smirk. “Basically my junk was all over page four,”
“Ah, the prestigious Trent name,” I said with a giggle as Theo dragged me into another store. “How did Nichol- father react to that?”
“Not well,” Theo said with a grimace. “Although his punishments are limited,”
“How so?”
“Well he can’t exactly ground me, banish me from using the Internet or restrict my television hours,” Theo held up a dress to observe against my skin.
“So what does he do?”
“The one thing that would actually affect me, he phoned Demitri’s mother and put us both on lockdown, banishing us from seeing one another,”
I gave a small chuckle, Theo shot me a look that could kill. “I’m sorry, he just sounds like your boyfriend,”
Theo pushed my head. “Shut up, he’s not my boyfriend,”
“Yeah, you wish he was,” I muttered under my breath. “Theo, I don’t want all these things,” I whined.
“You may not want them, but you’ll need them,” he said holding up a pair of heels that looked lethal to walk in.
“Why will I need them?”
Theo turned to face me. “As the offspring of a public figure we must look respectable at all times, we are not only representing ourselves, but we are representing the company and in doing so, we must make sure we look and act respectable,”
A stunned silence followed his words.
“You sound like you’ve had that rehearsed,” I breathed.
“I could not tell you how many times father has given me that speech,” Theo smirked. “Although he does have a point, the gist of what he says wears off after the fifth time,”

We arrived home a few hours later, laden with store brand plastic bags in which were hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of clothes. Theo had instructed to a member of staff to take all the garments of clothing and put them in my room. My room. I guess I lived here now.
“Hello children,” Demitri emerged from the kitchens on the left, bearing a mug of something steaming. “How was shopping?”
“Hectic,” I moaned.
“Shouldn’t you love having a credit card with no limit?” Demitri teased.
“I’m just not used to it yet,”
“You’ll get used to it soon enough,” Theo said walking me up to my room, Demitri following.
“But, until then, I have some bad news,” Demitri piped up. “Nicholas wants to enrol her tomorrow,”
“Tomorrow?” I shrieked. “I am hardly ready for school!”
Theo turned around to face Demitri. “Seriously? Does he want everybody in this house to be stressed out and relentless?”
“Apparently so,” Demitri sighed. “There might be a way you can convince him to lay off for a few days?”
“I’ll go talk to him, take Beth up to her room,”
“Please,” I scoffed. “I don’t need an escort,”
Demitri rolled his eyes and slung an arm around my shoulder. “Yes, you do, Bethy,”
“I do not,” I said, playfully pushing his arm off me.
“Beth, you’ll get lost,” Demitri laughed, grabbing my shoulders as I started to head down the wrong corridor.
I sighed, admitting defeat and allowed Demitri to walk me to my room.
“So, tell me about school. Do you guys take normal classes and stuff?”
“Yep. Because Theo is such a nerd, he’s taking all the advanced classes and everything. I tend more towards the creative side, music, art, drama, those kinds of subjects,” Demitri explained.
“Right, and what subjects will I be taking?”
“Whatever ones you want. What do you like?”
I inhaled. At my old school we didn’t get much of a choice concerning what subjects to take, we had a few extra science subjects, such as chemistry and biology, but aside from them, our subjects were quite standard.
“I guess I like to cook, and sew and stuff,” I shrugged. “My old school didn’t exactly encourage individual expression,”
Demitri looked puzzled but decided not to question. Once we got to my bedroom he stopped and looked at me.
“Do you want to come in?” I asked, not sure what the correct etiquette for these situations were.
“Sure,” Demitri grinned messily and followed me into my bedroom. I noticed almost immediately that my walk-in wardrobe was fully stocked with the clothes Theo and I had bought earlier today. I inhaled deeply and fell backwards on my bed.
“This is so surreal,” I said softly.
“Hasn’t kicked in yet, has it?” Demitri asked, sitting beside me on my bed.
“I don’t think it will,” I said, pressing my palms on my eyes. “It’s too radical of a change, I was a pauper and now I’m a-,”
“Princess?” Demitri said, I could hear the smile in his voice.
“Pretty much,” I laughed.
“You’ll get used to it,” I felt the bed sink down beside me, meaning Demitri was lying down.
“Can I ask you something?” I asked suddenly, rolling over so I was face to face with Demitri.
“Sure,” he said with a smile.
“Why is it that, upon my arrival, you and Theo instantly warmed up to me?”
Demitri furrowed his brow, as if the question seemed stupid. “Beth, why does it matter?”
“I don’t know, it just does,” I said shrugging. “You two are so close, like brothers, and now I’m intruding on that friendship. If I were in your position, I wouldn’t have been nice to me,”
“Beth-,”
“No, listen!” I insisted. “I need to know this. I need to know that you guys actually like me, not that Nicholas told you to be nice to me or you’re just humouring me or whatever, I just-,”
“Beth!” Demitri said loudly, grabbing my face between his hands. “Now you listen to me. There is something about you, I don’t know what it is, but it feels like I’ve known you as long as I’ve known Theo. There’s something about you that’s special,”
I was speechless for a short while, in which time Demitri took the opportunity to kiss my forehead.
“You’re an idiot,” he said with a smile, still holding my head in his hands.
A small cough came from the doorway, we both looked up to see Theo leaning against the doorframe with his arms folded. Demitri immediately let go of my face.
“Father said he would give you another day before school,” he said with a smile, entering my bedroom.
“Thank God,” I flopped back on my bed.
“No, thank my awesome persuading skills,” Theo slapped my leg playfully.
“Well thank you,” I said, hugging my brother around the neck.
“You owe me,” Theo stuck his tongue out. “Sorry, was I interrupting something?”
Demitri and I exchanged a glance awkwardly.
“No,”
“Actually-,”
“Demitri!” Theo and I both yelled at which he held his hands up and laughed.
“Kidding! God, you Trent’s need to learn how to take a joke,”
“Not funny,” Theo said through gritted teeth.
“Hilarious,” Demitri said with a wink in my direction.
However, my face had flushed a deep red at the sudden attention and protectiveness of my brother and his best friend. I believed what Demitri had said to be true.