The May Ball

When growing up, I was told that my sister was going to marry well, and I would be lucky if I was smart enough to find an average job and even luckier if I married at all. Family is so complicated. Living in our neighborhood, I knew from a young age I was treated differently. I have always been the bigger girl. The second thought to my parents, who didn't invest a lot of time in me because they didn't see my worth as any more than a simple girl who would always be uglier than the rest of the family - an embarrassment. I, however, am smart enough to know that I am worth a lot more than they have ever given me credit for. Defined as a middle-class family, my dad was respected in the community in management of a large construction company in the city. My mother owned a boutique dress store catering to her thin ideals. My sister Nicole, at 25, is older than me. She is thin, tall, tanned and dyed blonde, a mirror image of my mother. Both women were self-absorbed, and they had no interest in anything other than looking 'good' and finding Nicole the perfect husband in the upper-class of society. Since mom has a dress boutique, she often had upper-class clientele and my sister, working as her assistant, rubbed shoulders with them. My name is Amie. I am about to turn 21. My parents made it clear that once I was finished with university, I was to get a job and start to contribute to the household. While I don't mind chipping in as I am now an adult, it doesn't seem all that fair as Nicole doesn't have to do anything other than go to work with our mother 3 days a week for a few hours. She gets everything she wants. It disappoints me that all my hard work would be directly towards supporting her in the marriage market. Dad was a softer soul than mother. While he sided with her on everything, he paraded my sister around like a prized pig (mean description I know), I was still shown some love. He ensured I learned business, that I understood numbers and paid for university for me. My Mother lost interest almost as soon as I was born. It was clear that I was different from my sister, not a carbon copy of my mother. While she raised me - if you can call it that-she always made it her mission to make me feel bad about myself. She would sign me up to all the diets, all the new gym fads, and restrict my food intake. Ironically, even with all her bulls**t she still couldn't mold me into the perfect replica as her, as I was simply built differently. Nicole and my mother may be a size 6, but I was destined to be bigger at a size 18 on a good day and 24 on others. I swear these clothing companies really loose the plot at sizing of anything more than a 10. Nicole, my sister and I have a weird relationship. When we were younger, we had a closer connection, but now she is just as jaded as our mother when we are in public. However, there are times when it is just her and me, and we can enjoy each other's company. She genually seems interested in my studies. She never did anything other than work with our mother after she finished school, a bit of an airhead to be honest. She is educated in seduction, in looking good, keeping house and entertaining. While I was smart enough to go to university to further my education, I also worked as a consultant online, helping others with their business and tax needs, making a small income. However, I have never shared that with my family as anything that I earn goes into my bank account. Thank god they don't have access to it as I fear one day I will be out on my own with no support. I don't ask for anything but the minimum and that is only to keep up the appearance that I still need my parents. In our city, girls are introduced to society no matter your social class as the annual ball on the first weekend in May after you turn 21. This will be my first year attending. I got out of it last year thankfully. I was born in late April, but thankfully my birthday was on Sunday, which meant that the ball was the following week. The ball from what I have been told is just a room full of girls dressed like debutantes all vying for the richest of bachelors. It is expected if you hit it off with one of these men, you will be married by the next season. If Mr Right was not at the ball, and you hadn't met him during the year after your 21st birthday, you had to return and go through the ritual of being presented attempting to find him again. It's all a bit of a joke because this was not compulsory for men to attend until after their 26th birthday. While they could have attended sooner, most of them ended up using it as a chance to flirt and get lucky with looser ladies like my sister. She was only interested in marriage to rich men as drilled into her since infancy, but it has never stopped her having a good time with anyone that shows her interest. The ball feels a little archaic to me as honestly, in this modern era, why are women forced into these mating rituals to appease society? I do like that all classes are mixed. However, it is not all that common that happens. School, the annual dating ball, and then there is the tree lighting at Christmas are the three big things that everyone comes to and no class is treated better than the other (or at least it appears that way). Anyway, this is my life, going to university, working at night when everyone else is asleep and trying not to disappoint my parents more than they seem to be most of the time. I am not looking forward to the dress hunt that is coming for the upcoming May Ball. Can I just stay 20 forever so I don't have to be dragged to it like a lamb to the s*******r.