Charlie
I wasn’t sure if Parker was mad at me or not, but we didn’t part on good terms after the party. He’d gotten really mad that I’d told Sean my real name, and I didn’t understand why.
“I told you to stay away from him, didn’t I?” Parker hissed at me, holding me so tight against him that it almost hurt.
“I didn’t know it was Sean until he took the mask off. Besides, there’s nothing wrong with getting to know him, right?” I said.
“You seem to have changed your tune after only one dance with him,” he grumbled.
“It’s not just the dance,” I immediately snapped, and we stopped dancing. We just stood there staring at each other until he dropped his hands from my waist and I stepped back.
“Do you still like him?” he asked, and I looked away. It was all the answer he needed, and he sighed. “You have other things to think about than that asshole. Just concentrate on that.”
We didn’t talk about anything else after that, though I didn’t leave his side for the rest of the party.
I stopped looking for my father after a while, and I only managed to spot Ariana talking to some guy in the corner. The guy was cute and smiling a lot, and he looked like he was really interested in her. I felt happy that she was getting along well with someone. I was starting to think that maybe there was hope for us to have a better relationship when, suddenly, her face changed and she ditched the guy in the middle of their conversation. The poor guy looked so confused and hurt. I felt so sorry for him and angry that Ariana could treat someone like that.
My resentment toward Ariana only intensified after the party, because she made it a point to join in on my training sessions and then brag about it during dinner time. Her mother would get this proud little smirk on her face and then ask me in that overly sweet voice of hers, “What about you, Charlotte? Did you learn anything today?” The bitch.
I did notice something, though. Although Ariana excelled in nearly every class I had, she never came to show herself off during my business classes or anything even remotely academic. At first, I figured she just thought she didn’t need to bother showing off in that aspect, but then I realized that whenever Father would pose a question that was related to the business, Ariana would mysteriously clam up, and Wilhelmina would answer.
Tonight’s dinner was no different, and Father posed another question. “Do you have any suggestions on increasing the PR for the new brand?”
I immediately turned toward Ariana, who kept her head down and played with her food. An evil idea popped into my head, and I decided to turn the tables on her for a change.
“Yeah, Ariana. I mean, you’ve been at this longer than I have, so I bet you have something good,” I said innocently.
She glared at me before looking at Father nervously. “Oh, um, yes, well,” she stuttered, and I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing.
Father kept looking at her expectantly, while she looked toward her mother a few times, begging for help.
Wilhelmina immediately took the hint, rushing to answer my father’s question. “I think hosting another party would be a splendid idea, considering the amount of success we had from the masquerade. Don’t you think so, dear?”
“Hosting another party costs money. It would only serve to double our expenses, and no profit would come out of it,” I said, surprising everybody with my outburst. I was surprised by what I just said, too, to be honest.
My father got over his initial shock fast and turned toward me. “All right. What do you have in mind, then?” he asked, and I could feel Ariana start to glare a hole in my head.
I kept silent for a moment as I considered my answer. “We had famous celebrities at the last party wearing the designs, so why don’t we hold a semi-fashion show wearing those pieces, and then auction them off to the highest bidder? We wouldn’t be wasting any money reproducing clothes this way, and we can use the fact that their favorite celebrities wore the clothes to generate public interest. We could also tell them that those are limited edition pieces and hold off reproducing the designs until after a couple of months when the line officially hits the stores.”
The three people in the room all had varying reactions. Wilhelmina looked like something unsavory got stuck in her throat, Ariana was crushing the napkin with her hand as she leered at me, and my father had his hand tucked under his chin, contemplative. My hands felt clammy and sweaty as I waited for my father to say something, afraid that maybe I put my foot in my mouth in this one.
Finally, he raised his head. “I think your idea has merit. I shall have my secretary submit the plan to the accounting office and see if we can have it approved at the next meeting.”
I was surprised. Did he really just say he approved of my idea?
“Daddy, you’re kidding, right? Surely, you’re not seriously considering her idea?” Ariana asked.
My father looked calmly at her. “Why not? It’s not like you had any other suggestions,” he said softly, and Ariana looked like she had just been slapped.
We finished the dinner in absolute silence. I hastily made my exit from the room as soon as I could, but I felt someone grab my arm and pull me to the side. I turned to see Ariana, red-faced and breathing heavily in anger.
“What was that stunt you pulled back there? Are you trying to mess with me, huh? Do you think you’re so much better than me?” she snarled.
I scoffed in disbelief and wrenched my arm away from her grasp. “Excuse me, Ariana, but between us, you’re the one who’s competing with me, not the other way around. Besides, why are you so infuriated? Is it because you realized that I’m actually better than you at something?”
Her jaw clenched as I spoke, and I knew I’d finally hit a nerve.
“Listen, Ariana. I’m not competing with you, so if you don’t mind, can you stop trying to prove that you’re better? You’re only showing me just how pathetic you are,” I said.
I turned and walked away from her, feeling both exhausted yet grimly satisfied that I’d finally told her off. Despite that, I still felt slightly disappointed because what I had done would surely drive another wedge between us, but what was done was done.
I just had to wait and see what would happen.