Her Last Piece

Piece Four

“Everyone, this is Travis. He's a transfer student. He will be with you till you graduate.”

The whole class stopped their noise as soon as Principal Miller stepped in. They were quiet for a second, then they started laughing.

Principal Miller wondered what was funny. He then looked around and noticed he was pointing to the air. Travis was not even by his side.

“Sorry”. Travis entered quickly.

“Okay, so he's one of you now. Treat him well. Settle down Travis.”

Clara was engrossed in the book she was reading. Suddenly, her eyes followed a fly hovering over her. She was too shy to chase it with her hands, and then it entered her nose. She paused, trying so hard to hold her sneeze she didn't want to stand up to leave the classroom, not when Principal Miller was introducing a new student,

“Achooooo!!” she sneezed loudly

“Bless you” a thick voice said. She looked up, dazed at his presence. He was tall, she imagined him carrying just one finger, his hair was in curls, jet -black color, and he had blue eyes that reminded Clara of the ocean.

“Tha- thanks”

There was an empty seat beside her. Travis took the seat, before she knew what was happening, she was on the floor, she'd been pushed off her seat, the whole class was laughing at her.

Travis held out his hand to help her up, but she ignored it, picked up her glasses, which had now been broken, grabbed her bag and left the classroom.

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“Why are we here Ruby?” Clara's jaw dropped as she observed they stood outside the gigantic mansion.

“If I had told you, you wouldn't have come. This is The Randolph's mansion.”

“No I can't go in” she stubbornly leaned on Ruby's boyfriend’s car, hands folded right in front of her. She could not believe she had tricked her. She should have known when Ruby was dressed too much for the movies.

“You probably hate me right now, but I'm babysitting you, Clara. I'm responsible for you. Now come on.”

“I'm seventeen years old Ruby, you're not babysitting me. I could stay home alone, my parents did not have to involve you in this.”

“Stop sulking baby, come in”. Ruby giggled.

“You didn't even let me dress. I look like a thief right now” she looked down at her oversize joggers and hoodie. She had really thought they weren't going to see a movie, not this

“You don't even care about fashion. Besides, if I had told you we were coming to Rowan's birthday party you wouldn't have complied” she shrugged.

Clara felt like punching anyone she would come across in the face. That night, she was so pissed at Ruby, she managed to go in after much persuasion. She hoped she would not cross paths with anyone.

She lagged behind as Ruby and her boyfriend went on to enter.

“Stop!” The huge kid at the entrance who was supposed to be a bouncer and was in charge of the passes stopped Clara.

“She's with me, back off” Ruby came back and then dragged Clara in.

“Whatever,” he scoffed.

Once they were inside, Ruby let go of her hand.

“Now do not get lost, have fun, bye” she went on with her boyfriend.

“Oh no you can't be serious” Clara looked around her, and she could swear she'd never seen a mansion like this before, not even in the movies. Everything looked like it was made out of gold. She looked around. Thank goodness no one was paying attention to her, they were all busy swaying and grooving to the loud music.

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Rowan smiled sheepishly, as he wore his t-shirt. He was glad everything was set up for his birthday party. He could hear the loud music downstairs.

He smiled at himself in the mirror, he was turning eighteen, but his parents didn't even care, they wished him a ‘happy birthday' a few days earlier. They were wrong, they'd always been wrong.

At least anytime it came to him.

He shrugged, at least they weren't aware of his birthday party, their family were out of the country for the weekend, and then after much persuasion, he was able to get the workers to keep quiet about his party.

He walked down the stairs and every one screamed “Happy Birthday Rowan”. He was pleased at how many people showed up. He could swear he didn't even know. He didn't know most of them, but he didn't care.

He walked past the crowd to go into the kitchen, he felt a sudden pain in his forehead and he noticed his clothes had become wet. He looked up

“I'm so sorry, I didn't see you coming.”

“You didn't see me coming? The same way you wouldn't see this coming”, he took the remaining drink from her hand and poured it on her right from her head, he kept pouring till the liquid was exhausted. They all gathered round the scene and took pictures. They were all laughing.

Clara knew she shouldn't have been there in the first place. She ran to the door immediately without looking back.

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“Why are you late for dinner, Rowan?” Mr Randolph asked his son.

“Nothing” he mumbled.

“Don't let this repeat itself, why can't you be like your brother”, he pointed to his older brother. The young man was about twenty years of age.

“Dad, this really isn't a big deal”. He hated everyone and the way they treated him.

“Do not talk back at your father”, his mother added.

“I only said..”

“Sit down and eat, Rowan”, Randy, his brother, said to him, interrupting his speech.

“While you eat, listen carefully, we have something important to tell you.”

‘What do these people want from me? Is making my life a living hell not enough?’

“Rowan, are you listening?” His father snapped his finger across the table to call his attention. He seemed lost in thought, he hoped they'd not found out about his birthday part.

“I'm here” he replied dryly.

“Good, I have some assignment for you, you have to do something for me, and it's also for your own good.”

When had his father ever done something that was out of his own interest? He knew his father was too good to believe whatever he was going to tell him would be for his own good.

Rowan sighed and waited for his father to speak. He didn't care, but he was curious to know what the man wanted this time around.