June, 2004.The girl stood in a corner, leaning lazily against the wall. She had her hands shoved idly into the pocket of her jeans. Her eyes were wild, careless when she glanced at the old man and the woman fuming in front of her.
That was the thing about them. They were always complaining.
To her. About her.
Almost as if it were a ritual.
Today, she must have hurt the prestige of the family in some other unthinkable way.
Rebecca couldn"t stand her mother and father Mr. and Mrs. Freeman.
And every time they entered her room, she was ready to leave the f***ing house.
The young girl was bored, and she chucked a finger into her ear when it itched. That too, annoyed Jonathan Freeman and he blasted off in his loudest voice.
"You have no respect at all! I do not remember to have raised you like this!"
Becky rolled her eyes.
That again, was disrespectful. So this time, Meera Freeman tried to coax her.
"Rebecca, listen to your father. You don"t have to make everything this hard for us, do you? It"s just a party and the Hunter family will be coming over. It would be extremely discourteous of us if the eldest daughter of the Freeman family wasn"t present. This party is very important, Rebecca. Please just tell us you"ll come, and we"ll leave you alone."
Rebecca didn"t make a response.
That was the thing about her mother. She was so sweet and well-mannered, ever so prepared to leave her alone.
Nevertheless, the girl shrugged dismissively at her.
Rebecca was about to turn nineteen, but she was taller than most girls her age. Even though she was the oldest daughter of the respectable Freeman family, she had a bad reputation among the socialites. There were a lot of points laid out against her there.
She was too tall, too manly, too violent, and too much herself.
She had short hair cut military style, she hung out with thug-like boys, and she was too foul mouthed too.
There were even times when she dressed like a man, just to stir up trouble in the neighbourhood, and conveniently pick up fights. And she flirted with girls.
When Rebecca didn"t speak, the tall and proud Jonathan Freeman towered over the girl threateningly. It was hardly any use though. She herself was six feet. The old man"s eyes though were ice when he gave the girl a glare.
"I do not know why I bear with you. If you did not have the Freeman blood flowing through your veins –"
Rebecca sighed again.
The blood theory once more. She didn"t get these elders.
Why were they so obsessed with blood? It wasn"t like they were vampires who needed to suck it off of someone to exist. Why did they care so much?
Were they gonna drink it, or something?
Her thought made her chuckle, but of course, Jonathan didn"t notice that the girl was lost in her own world. He thought she was laughing at him.
So he insulted her some more, ridiculed her for not even wearing proper clothes – that, she admitted was her fault – for she stood before her parents wearing only a black bra and a pair of blue jeans. She would have apologized for it, but then father had p.i.s.sed her off.
Of course, by now and within no time at all, he had jumped to his favourite obsession these days: the young prodigy Jimmy Hunter.
"The boy is a year younger to you!" Jonathan Freeman was yelling, "And he has achieved so much more! He won the Young Achiever"s award when he was only sixteen! He has recently stepped in to work with the financial department of the Hunter Corporation. And you? What have you done? Except run around the whole neighbourhood, b.l.o.o.d.y naked like some sort of –"
He controlled himself, and Rebecca"s eyes turned ice too. She matched her father"s scowl, daring him to complete the statement.
Jonathan swore.
"Get to the party, Rebecca. I"m warning you. And dress appropriately. Meet that amazing boy and learn something. He is so dedicated, he graduated with top grades, he has even finished business school when he is only –"
Yes, yes.
Jimmy Hunter.
He was her parents" ideal boy.
One another pain in her a.s.s.
When the Freemans had left her room, Rebecca plopped lazily onto the bed and then lay down. She took in a deep breath and closed her eyes.
She recognized the soft footsteps that approached her.
A small, frail looking girl came near her as she vacated the bathroom. She was drying her mud-brown hair using a towel, and had a concerned expression on her face.
"Becky," the girl said worriedly, "Why didn"t you just say yes the first time? Then you wouldn"t have to get scolded."
Rebecca chuckled at the words. Then immediately turning around so that she was propped on an elbow, she looked at the excessively small child.
"Because that way it"s fun," she said with a wicked smile, "And you wouldn"t understand, Miya. You"re only fourteen."
Miya pushed the strands of hair from her face and frowned.
"Maybe, Becky. But I do know that you could have avoided trouble. You"re going to have to go anyway. Why not say yes at first only?"
"Alright. Sorry."
Becky was quick to apologize to Miya. This little brat was scrawny, but Rebecca liked her. She had her strengths.
"What do you have to do at the party?"
"Nothing much. Meet a few socialites. Have them b*tch about me behind my back… And of course, this time father"s boyfriend is also coming along."
"Uncle Jonathan"s b-boy –"
"Argh. It"s a boy that father would kill for. His name is Jimmy Hunter. The heir of a very rich and powerful family. Apparently, I need to learn manners from him. I hate him already."
Miya chuckled.
"Why?"
"Its because of people like him that I can"t breathe in peace in my own house."
"But sis Becky, that"s not true."
"Whose side are you on, you little punk?"
Miya giggled, and the girl smirked at her.
Evening time finally came, and the party had begun. Becky had still not dressed, even though Miya had tried to convince her to. Meera Freeman had left her daughter a beautiful dress along with a gorgeous mask.
Tonight was a masquerade party. And even if it was for appearance"s sake, she had wanted her daughter to look pretty.
She had also announced to the girls that the Hunters had arrived and that Becky should come down soon too.
It was right then, that an idea had struck Becky.
She had smiled devilishly at Miya and then hugged the smaller girl.
"Showdown," was all she had said, and rather mischievously too.