Chapter 2
Chapter 2
She nodded, grabbing my arm to pull me up. "Yes, and we have very little time to prepare, so let's go!"
Without any more talking, I waved goodbye to Kira, who clearly knew about this. Of course, my mom told her not to say anything since my reaction was...well this. I only had the rest of today to get prepared and packed to go. My mom didn't waste any time getting me to the hair salon. It always took so long for them to do it. My hair was super long, down to my ass, and very thick. It was healthy and vibrant, so that's all that mattered. Sitting for four hours in a chair was mind numbing. All I had to do was scroll through my beat-up phone while they washed, blow dried, and curled my hair up. Of course, it came out gorgeous but was it worth all this?
After the salon, my mom stopped at the nail shop for my sister and I to get our nails done. It was a wonder where my mom was getting this money from. Usually, we can't afford to do any of this. Now magically that I'm going to meet some jackass she could afford all of it.
Our last stop was at my aunt Pauline's. She looked like my now deceased grandfather. Her hair was shorter and darker than my moms with the same chocolate-colored eyes. She had two kids, Jace and Taytum, and just now became divorced. Pauline was my mom's only sibling, and they were close. They both led the same life though Pauline was a little more financially stable than my mom. She was a cool aunt and tried to do as much as she could for us. Plus, I enjoyed my cousin's company. Jace and I were close in age, he being twenty now. While Taytum and Summer were a year apart. The best part of coming over here was seeing my Grammy.
My Grammy was the best human on the planet. This lady really taught me a lot of things I know. A lot of things my mom couldn't teach me. So, when I say we were close, we were fucking close. It made sense why my mom was able to afford all this today. All thanks to my Grammy.
Walking into her room, she turned her head to see me a smile forming upon her face. Maryann was her name, and she was not the woman to play with back in her day. Physically, she was impaired, but she still had all her marbles.
"My little Autumn, come here!" Her voice screamed with excitement as I walked over to hug her.
"Grammy, I missed you." Truly, I did. It's been a few weeks since I've seen her. Trying to work took all my time.
She brushed it off with that smile, never leaving her face. "Not to worry dear we have more important matters." She insisted. "Please, get my purse."
Doing as she said, I grabbed her purse pulling a chair up next to her bed. Her fragile hands digging through it looking for something important. Before taking it out, her eyes shot back at me hinting at something I wasn't getting.
"Dear, I know when you found out you were upset. After all, this sort of thing isn't for you." My Grammy knew me so well.
I nodded laughing slightly. "Tell me about it. This isn't my cup of tea." Being honest with her was always easy.
She smiled, pulling out an envelope. "In any case, it's happening, and I want you to take this."
Taking the envelope out of her hands, I started to open it, but she stopped me. Her cold, delicate hand resting on top of mine. Whatever it was, she didn't want me to see it just yet.
"Wait until you get where you're going to open it. It's my gift to you for being my sweet, endearing girl all these years." She said lovingly. "Any who, I had some specially made dresses for you packed and ready to go. Please, try to enjoy yourself, Autumn. I know it's the last thing you want to do, but you need a break. Even if you don't want anything to do with this man at least think of it as a vacation."
It warmed my heart to hear her say that to me. Her opinion of me means a lot. She was the woman I spent a lot of my time with growing up. We've built a bond like no other. This present and the dresses were more than enough. It was too much honestly, but that's my Grammy for you. Always going above and beyond. There was no one else like her and there never will be.
Hugging her, I almost teared up a little bit replaying her words in my head. Even if I don't get picked for this stupid contest thing, at least I have a well needed vacation. Things weren't going to be smooth sailing. I'll miss my home, my family, and my job, surprisingly. However, I was going to make the best of this.
Somehow.
Sunbury, the town full of rich folk and lots of sun.
This was the town I'll be stationed in for the next eight weeks. It was about four hours north of Greendale. The town is so close that I wonder why I've never at least driven through it. All I ever heard were stories like if you weren't making six figures, you couldn't live there. Everything was pricey, from the houses to the things you buy at their little shops. It would be a miracle if I stayed a day here without going broke. Having as little as one hundred dollars to my name, that sure was going to go a long way.
It was Friday morning, and my bags were packed, sitting by the front door. I haven't seen the dresses my Grammy packed for me, but I was sure they were lovely. It made me nervous thinking about it because dresses weren't much of my thing either. At least not elegant dresses. This was going to be a big leap out of my comfort zone. Something I've worked extremely hard to maintain. You just couldn't be fully prepared for what I was about to endure.
My mom, on the other hand, seemed thrilled as she came trotting down the stairs dressed in her best clothes again. She was acting like she was the one going away on this damn thing and not me. The way she was dressing these past couple of days was off-putting. Mainly because it was just for show. Normally, she'd wear, I don't know, something normal without all the jewellery. Being that this was important to her, she had to dress the part. Which is why when she saw me, she frowned.
I decided to stick to my guns, dressed in my comfortable grey sweatpants, a loose-fitting long-sleeved shirt, and my plain white sneakers. My hair was in a messy bun, and I didn't bother to put any make-up on. It looked like I just got out of bed and said fuck it. Because that's exactly what I did. To me, this meant nothing. I was taking my Grammy's advice and using this as an opportunity to take a vacation. Whoever this bachelor guy was, he was going to get a taste of the real Autumn. No theatrics, plain ole me.
Huffing, she looked at me not impressed with my outfit. "Are you kidding me right now, A?" She questioned disappointed in my choices. "This is a big day and you're dressed like this?"
I shrugged. "This is a big day for who exactly?" I squinted my eyes at her.
"For you, for us, for the family." She listed off coming behind me, taking my hair out of the bun.
I rolled my eyes as she fluffed my hair, the curls still noticeable from yesterday. "You know, I feel as though it's more for you." I hypothesize.
When you think about it, it really was for her. She went behind my back and signed me up. Without even asking for my consent. It was all thrusted upon me by my whole family and unfair. If she expected me to be over the moon about being forced to try and fall in love with some stranger, then she was sadly mistaken. Love is supposed to be natural not forced. Even if I did get chosen, I bet it wouldn't last more than a week. Then we're right back to square one. Struggling.
However, I refrained from starting an argument with her as Summer came downstairs. We had an agreement that we wouldn't cause drama in front of her. Everything has been hard enough. We don't need her to think our family was falling apart due to our bickering. Although, my mother and I will have words at some point. She was still my mom.
\Summer caught me by surprise as she wrapped her arms around me, squeezing me in the tightest of hugs. This told me she was going to miss me as I would miss her. This was my sister. A piece of my heart that only she could fill. The greatest gift I've ever received. We were two peas in a pod, and nothing would ever come between us.
She looked up at me with a smile on her face but sadness in her eyes. "I'll miss you A. Also, thanks for leaving me stuck with the crazy woman for 8 weeks." She frowned, referring to our mom. Our mom's jaw dropped as we laughed.
"Don't worry, if she gets out of hand, just give her a bowl of mint chocolate chip. That'll shut her up." I joked.
Summer laughed, having a more cheerful spirit. "Hopefully, this guy is cute. Oh, maybe you'll get chosen and then married and I could be in the wedding! I have so many plans already!" She was a little too excited for my liking. That's my mother's personality coming out in her.
I looked at her like she was crazy. "I don't think so but nice thoughts kid." I brushed her off having already made up my mind about this.
"You're such a dud sometimes, A." She rolled her eyes before laughing.
It hurt being called a dud by my kid sister. The phase where I was obsessed with boys was long gone. Especially after learning that they were all pieces of shit and not worth the time. Greendale also didn't hold the most attractive men, and even the okay ones had very dull personalities. The only way to find someone worthwhile is you'd have to travel out of here. Though “rich man” wasn't exactly on my list of guys I'd shoot for. I come from nothing, and he has everything. My mind couldn't even see this being plausible. Would he even go for a girl like me?
Having little time to think about it, my ride to drift me off to my new home for the time being arrived. It was a nice sized, black van. Some guy in a tailored black suit came and grabbed my bags, putting them neatly in the trunk of the van. My nerves started to skyrocket as I realized that this was the end of my life. Saying goodbye to my mom and my sister was hard, but I kept my emotions in check. Remembering that this was going to be fun for me. Experiencing a life that was out of reach to me beforehand. This was it.
As I said before, Sunbury was about four hours away from Greendale. Without wasting a minute, I plopped my headphones in, blasting my music as loud as I can. It was still early, ten a.m. to be exact, so there was no way I was staying awake for this ride. Slowly but surely, my eyes started to close as the man drove smoothly down the road. My thoughts were wondering what these people were going to be like once I got there. I should have dressed a little more presentable now that I think about it.
Who knows how many hours had passed as I began to wake up from my deep slumber. Yawning, I took my headphones out and rolled down the window. As I peered my head out, my eyes almost fell out of socket as I looked at the houses zooming past me. They were huge! You couldn't find anything like this in Greendale. There were huge yards with even larger houses. Some contained three car garages or more. Some had pools and amazing decks behind them. Others just had great scenery to be used at their disposable. I couldn't contain the joy that was releasing inside me the more we drove past them. That wasn't even the best part.
No, the best part was the house that I was staying at. First off, we had to drive up this huge ass hill just to get to it. Then when we got close to the place, it was concealed by a gate. Of course, being as rich as they were, I'm sure they had to make sure they were gated in. Even still, it took about an extra five minutes to get to the actual house. When we arrived there, the house appears in front of us immediately took my breath away.! It was a nicely stoned structure with beautiful grass to match. There were flowers in a little garden right next to the main entrance. Sprinklers go off everywhere to evenly water their lovely, bright green grass. The house itself looked to be more than just two floors. It was amazing. My mom would have loved to see it.
The van came to a stop as the man came around, opening the door for me. I thanked him while gradually starting to feel extremely uncomfortable standing in the presence of this house. It officially hit me that this was more than just some silly game. It was all foreign to me. The space, the town itself, the very air that I'm breathing. All of it was brand new and so intriguing. My legs were shaking so badly when I step foot inside the house. My kind was not worthy of such honor. However, there was no choice in the matter. It was now or well now.
The man with my bags told me to follow him and I did ever so cautiously. As we walked our way up the three steps to the door, my heart began to race. Trailing behind him, the cool air from the inside hit my skin like a tidal wave. The inside was even more beautiful than the outside. A double-sided staircase greeted me as we walked in. It was about three flights up as I looked to see the stairs spiraling above me. The floor made of marble titles was glistening as if they had just been waxed. I felt bad for walking all over the floors, but it wasn't like I had that option. There were hallways and doors at every corner that seemed to lead to more doors and corners. There was a possibility that I was going to end up getting lost in this jungle of a place for sure. It was a lot to take in.
Finally, after walking forever, we came to a stop at a sliding glass door, which lead me to the outside again. The man opened it for me did not knowing what to expect through this door. I was nervous, biting my bottom lip as I walked through to the outside. It was a nice little patio with a couple of tables and chairs spread about. There was also a swinging bench that I couldn't wait to sit in. Though that wasn't what caught my attention first.
What caught my attention were the eyes that were laid upon me by the four other girls that were there. Some looked friendly, while others not so much. I underdressed for the occasion, looking at the others dressed in beautiful sun dresses with heels to match. Clearly, they took it more seriously than I did, but that's all circumstantial.
"Please, get comfy, we're still waiting for one more person." The man said before closing the glass door, carrying my things elsewhere.
Getting comfortable was going to be hard for me. I didn't know any of these girls and I stuck out like a sore thumb. Growing up in Greendale, my only friend ever was Kira. I had no idea how am I supposed to socialize. Ugh, this already is a disaster, and nothing has even happened yet.
Since I was standing up like an idiot, I decided to sit on the swinging bench where no one else was sitting. That was short-lived, however, when a girl walked towards me. This girl was gorgeous, with dark chocolate skin and exceptionally long legs. She was thin with the lightest brown eyes I've ever seen. Her hair was curly, stopping just past her shoulder blades. If this man chose anybody, he was choosing her. Shit, I would choose her based on her looks alone. That's how breathtaking she was.
Sitting down, she smiled, swinging the bench coordinated with me. "Can I just say your hair is amaze-balls." She complimented me, causing me to laugh. Amaze-balls, really?
I shrugged. "Thank you. I suppose I should really thank my mother for that." I didn't quite get the hype around my hair. Sure, it was awfully long and very thick, but I wasn't a fan of it personally. It just took too much time.
"Oh, is it the same as yours?" She queried, delight gleaming in her eyes.
I nodded. "Yeah, it pretty much runs in the family." I bragged a little bit. It was true though. All the girls in the family had beautiful, thick hair. It varied in length but still the same.
That intrigued her as she nodded along with me still swinging the bench. It was a random conversation starter, but a starter, nonetheless. Judging by that conversation alone, this girl seemed nice. Not what I expected out of her, honestly. It's usually the pretty ones that are bitches, but her demeanor and the way she carried herself said otherwise. Not only that, but she was the only one to greet me as well. That's saying a lot.
Face palming herself, she looked at me a little frantic. "I'm sorry where are my manners, my name is Twila, and you?" she asked, sticking her hand out to me.
This confirmed to me that she was one of the nice ones. I knew we were going to be great friends by the way she naturally accepted me. "Autumn, or A." I said, shaking her hand.
We both smiled at each other, happy to made a friend here. The moment was short lived when the glass door opened again. All our attention turned towards the door and my mood instantly changed.
With her straight black hair and piercing green eyes, this chick came in like she owned the place. She was a little taller than myself, but the difference was she had a little bit more of a body to her than I did. Her breasts were the perfect size and don't even get me started on her ass.The smug look she had on her face told me that she wasn't here to mess around. She was in it to win it. Nothing more, nothing less.
She scanned the room, her eyes specifically landed on me. An evil smile spreading across her face as she looked me in the eyes.
"Competition? Where?"
