784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa10vl2ckgb
I spent the first two days in L'autre Ville, cooped up in my room with Verity coming to visit occasionally. I was still confused about what my dad meant and the jetlag had me sleeping all of yesterday.
My room at this house was smaller than my room at the castle but I still preferred it. The walls were a dull cream color and all in all it was a bore. But it was modern and looked like it could be anybody's room.
I sighed and looked around the room and had a minor 'what are you doing with your life' moment.
I didn't want to get out of bed just yet so I grabbed my phone and went through it. I didn't post on social media because 1) my life was a bore and 2) because tabloids could turn any picture into a scandal.
No really i'm forbidden to have it.
I surfed the internet since I wasn't allowed to have social media and ended up on a photo of myself walking out of the airport. My hair was curled in a sloppy bun and the caption said 'mood.'
I was confused to say the least. No social media meant I picked up slang and trends way later than the average person.
I scrolled further and saw more comments on me and my sisters' fashion sense. I turned off the phone after seeing nothing interesting and made my way out of the room and into the shower. My hair was matted and dry and all my curls that were left were hugging each other, so I spent half an hour washing, conditioning, and moisturising. I walked out of my bathroom with my hair smelling like a fruit orgy.
I knew we were probably going to go out and do something with the prime minister today so I wore a maxi skirt that my step-mother might've approved of and a white top.
I was spritzing on some perfume when I heard a small thud coming from my window. I looked around but there was nothing there. I just assumed it was a directionally challenged bird. It came again and I went to the window to see what was making the sound.
There standing with a hand full of rocks in his hand was Atlas. I used to be certain that it wasn't his real name. But he had two names and he chose Atlas for himself. I still wondered what his other name was.
I opened the window just as he through another small rock. It was aimed at my face so I ducked.
"Shit did I hit you," I heard him say.
"Why are you trying to shatter my window so early in the morning?"
I was trying to look mad but the smile on my face ruined the whole thing.
He backed up from the house and sized it up. He attempted to climb on to the ledge but his hands slipped and he failed tragically.
"You're losing your touch," I teased.
"you're losing your touch, says the one who was climbing up castles like three days ago" he mocked with a terrible representation of my voice.
He had got the hang of it now and was sitting on the window sill with one leg hanging off while I sat at my vanity table. He ran his hand through his mahogany brown hair and looked at me with his hazel almost green eyes waiting for an explanation.
"I was bored," I said.
"You know what I do when i'm bored," he smiled cheekily.
"Fuck everything?,"
His face contorted into a look of disgust and he pulled his other leg over and sat cross legged on the window sill. Just by sitting down he made me look mediocre.
"Gross Elle. I don't fuck everything. I have a very distinctive type you know,"
"Learned some big words while I was away,huh?"
He made a face at the comment and grabbed the candle on my night stand and sniffed it.
I was glad to see that he hadn't changed much. He still barely pronounced his r's and t's which left all his sentences sounding soft and with no rough edges. It used to sound ridiculous the last 3 years when his voice was breaking but It seemed to have balanced out now. He was tanner and his lanky body replaced with lean muscle
"Shameless donkey, what are you checking me out for," He said.
"I have shame so i'm gonna lie and say there was an ant crawling on you,"
I watched through the mirror when he thought I looked away and started searching for the ant.
"You're actually dumb, Atlas,"
"Why are you attacking me? I'm leaving for real."
"Don't, i'll stop attacking you, promise." I laughed and went back to getting ready.
"So you and Dorian..." Atlas started.
I stopped straightening my hair and avoided his gaze. I didn't want to tell him about what my father had planned yet. It would ruin all the fun we usually had on these holidays.
"We're not friends, and we're not dating." Technically I wasn't lying.
He nodded supposedly nonchalantly, got off the window sill and fell back on my bed.
"Were you really in your pyjamas on your way here?" He asked clearly amused.
"You know what let's stop talking about me for a second ok,"
I turned around and sat in the corner of the bed.
"What about you?" I asked.
He smiled the wide grin I had missed so much and leaned against the head board and closed his eyes.
"I'm thriving."
I rolled my eyes and crossed my legs on the bed. I knew he had about a million stories he wanted to tell me so I grabbed a pillow and got comfortable. His storytelling skills were half the reason he was a good troublemaker.
We exchanged stories about all the things we had gotten in trouble for in the last year and filled in all the gaps we had missed out on. He shared all the new excuses he had used that year and I'm telling you, I took notes. Before we knew it was like neither one of us had even left. I thought I was there with him with every recall.
"I was gonna show you something, when are you free?" he asked.
"What is it?"
"Answer first," he said.
"Atlas, you know how my dad is-"
*knock knock*
We jumped up frantically and I signalled for him to go under the bed. He was taking too long so I kicked him under.
He let out a muffled "ouch" as soon as the door to my room opened.
This time it was my stepmother.
"Who is in here?" she asked suspiciously.
"I was catching up with the monster under my bed. It's been forever,"
I had to act naturally so sarcasm was the obvious choice in this situation.
I felt a sharp sting on my ankle and stomped hard on the carpet hoping to get Atlas' fingers.
My stepmother jerked her head sharply to my direction and glared sceptically.
"There's ants everywhere," I explained.
She was dressed in her silk robe and her hair was in rollers on top of her head. The white cleanser mask on her face couldn't hide her permanent haughty expression.
I stared right back into her light brown eyes and dared her to question me.
"Do you need something, Josephine," I asked slowly.
She moved closer to Atlas' hiding spot to look at the poster above my bed. It was of an independent R'n'B artist with tattoos seeping out of his shirt's hemline.Verity must've put up.She sneered at it and turned her attention back to me.
"Didn't your father tell you to call me Mom from now on?"
"My father tells me to do a lot of things, Josephine. How the hell am i supposed to obey all of them without going insane," I said without looking at her.
"And you wonder why your father wants to ship you off," She spat.
Her left eye was twitching and her dainty hands were curved into a fist by her side.
I quickly changed the course of the conversation before Atlas heard too much.
"Why are you in here?!" I asked exasperatedly.
"Get dressed, we're going to visit an old friend of your fathers then the ceremonial greeting of the prime minister,"
"I am dressed."
She looked at me up and down and shook her head the way older people did at anybody younger than them.
"Get dressed in something nicer. I'll go collect Grace to help you"
I rolled my eyes and waited for the door to close but I heard a thud instead.
She had accidentally dropped a frame from my nightstand on her way out.
"Are you mad, you can't just violate my privacy and then vandalize my property, Josephine," I retorted and went to pick up the frame.
But she beat me to it. My pulse raced as her head got lower and closer to Atlas' hiding spot. She seemed to have her attention on something else so fortunately, she didn't see him.
"Where did you get this from," her tone had changed. She sounded almost worried.
"Get what?," I asked as I snatched the frame from her hand. Her grip on it was tight.
It was a photo of a fair-haired lady with lips that I could tell were stained red even though the picture was black and white. Her eyes looked familiar and warm and she radiated elegance. It was my birth mother.
Claudine Bellemore.
"Why? Do you want to take her from me too?"
"No-no I would n-,"
"Just go ,Josephine," I said to her.
She still managed to look victorious as she left the room with her head held high and left the door open behind her.
"Be ready in 2 hours" She ordered from the hallway.
I caressed the small crack on the glass that sliced across her perfectly stained lip and through her beautifully styled hair. I moved the photo to the top of the wardrobe so it looked like she was looking down at me.
"So I'm guessing you're not free anytime soon?"
I had forgotten Atlas was there. And he had to listen to all that.
"Oh, um it's ok if you wanna get out now,"
He was still under the bed and his voice was muffled.
"Nah its ok, me and the monster under your bed have an unquestionable bond now,"
I chuckled quietly not wanting to lure my stepmother back in.
"You good Elle?"
"Mhm"
He didn't push it, he knew that if I didn't want to speak about something I wasn't going to.
"Hey, Atlas?"
"Yeah,"
"Are you stuck?"
He took a long pause and I heard him shift over.
"Ok here me out i'm 6'2 now."
"I'm 6'2 now, Show off" I mocked him.
I leaned forward and slid under the bed with him so that my face was near his foot. I hadn't thought it through.
"Wanna tell me another story."
"I want to but the monster says I can't have an open relationship with your house slippers, we're exclusive"
I tried to laugh but ended up choking on a passing ghost bunny.
"Exclusive, yeah ok"
"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" He questioned.
"Just tell me a story, dumbass."
ns 15.158.61.54da2
