Bitch When?

“Aradia Megido, I am here to discuss your behavior at the event the other night. I don’t think I need to remind you that Crocker Institute is an elite establishment with an impeccable reputation. Events such as that are not acceptable and if word got out, the school could lose a lot of support from very. very important people. Do you understand?” Full on faculty mode activated, as though talking to a small child and not her own fully grown daughter. “I also don’t have to remind you that you do not come from money like the other students. You are in a very precarious position as this school. You could be expelled and I, fired.” Her eyes flicked to Aradia’s hand over her abdomen and remembered the days she spent bent over the hospital bed praying she wouldn’t lose someone else. She remember staying by her side as long as she could, but the bill wasn’t going to pay itself. Her children really were so ungrateful. “Are you okay?” she choked out.

Narrowing her eyes as her mother continued talking, she shot back. “And might I remind you that you have absolutely no say in my education. I am here on a full academic scholarship, I keep my grades well above the grade point requirement to maintain my scholarship and work even more than the requried hours at my on campus job. You have not had to lift a finger for me here and I would prefer to keep it that way. Besides our tie through last name, my actions have no reflection on yours. I am legally an adult. If you wanted to mother me, well you had eighteen, nearly nineteen years to give that a go.” Her voice was deadpan, staring cooly into the elder Megido’s eyes. “I am fine, you do not have to worry about any unfortunate accidents, you will not be getting any grandchildren, at least out of me.” 

“Your grades may be good enough to attend but I can see you’re still naive about how this world works.” Valais decided to ignore her offsprings cold tone and reached up with her and to gently touch Aradia’s cheek. She stroked her cheek with her thumb. This child knew nothing of the sacrifices she had to make on her behalf. “You stupid girl...There are other consequences that result from sex than just pregnancy. Sexually transmitted diseases perhaps? And before you tell me he’s clean, I can’t know that for sure.” She ignored the comment about grandchildren as well. She didn’t care about them one way or another. A cruel part of her wanted to dump the rest of her debt on Aradia, what with her being a legal adult and all.

“Well you cannot really be surprised there, she did more or less raise me.” Aradia replied, matching the eldest Megido’s tone. Sometimes you needed to fight fire with fire or, in this case, ice with ice. Almost instinctively her hand went to the scaring that covered her abdomen. “It was not a one time deal.” She paused, then added, “In fact, it actually has been a pretty regular deal. I mean, generally, you do not keep a toothbrush somewhere other than your own bathroom unless you are there often enough to need it.” Aradia chuckled, refusing to even acknowledge her mother’s question about protection. Shw wondered when or even if she’d remember that the damage her daughter had sustained in the accident all but made it impossible for her to conceive. Unless, of course, she found the money to have the organ cloned or found some crazy, experimental doctor. 

“Aradia Megido, I am here to discuss your behavior at the event the other night. I don’t think I need to remind you that Crocker Institute is an elite establishment with an impeccable reputation. Events such as that are not acceptable and if word got out, the school could lose a lot of support from very. very important people. Do you understand?” Full on faculty mode activated, as though talking to a small child and not her own fully grown daughter. “I also don’t have to remind you that you do not come from money like the other students. You are in a very precarious position as this school. You could be expelled and I, fired.” Her eyes flicked to Aradia’s hand over her abdomen and remembered the days she spent bent over the hospital bed praying she wouldn’t lose someone else. She remember staying by her side as long as she could, but the bill wasn’t going to pay itself. Her children really were so ungrateful. “Are you okay?” she choked out.

Listening closely, Aradia did not hear any door open, which meant that neither of her roommates had dealt with the mystery knocking figure at the door, which meant she would have to even though she wasn’t in her own room.  Furrowing her brow, she tossed the door open, ready to give whoever was rapping on her door a piece of her mind for showing up so early.  Her face instantly paled when she recognized the person from behind.  She gulped, swallowing some of the tooth paste in her mouth.  Aradia stood in the hallway, barefoot and clad in only a button down shirt, which clearly was not her own as it hung largely on her frame, with obvious bed head and a tooth brush hanging from her mouth. Well, this certainly was not how she wanted to talk with her mother for the first time. She wondered if she would be able to sneak back into the room before the older Megido could turn around.            

“I trust you used protection. Tell me, was this a one time deal or...?” Her lip curled cruelly as she trailed off, hinting at some internal anger.

Thin fingers easing the unlocked entryway open with ease, the Peixes duplicate slipped herself in agilely, feet meeting the silent softness of carpet while her eyes adjusted to the darkness. Moving along the edge of the wall slowly, she made her way carefully to the drawers of the room, opening the top drawer with ease and reaching a hand into the ominous space as her fingers tightened around a small box. Holding her breath and listening for any sounds from the lone person sleeping in the room, Meenah let her eyes drift to her hands as she pulled out the rectangular box, opening it slowly and letting her eyes go wide as she gazed down at a gold locket, the etching on the outside looking extraordinary as small diamonds littered the face of the oval locket. Reaching a single finger out to carefully trace the edge of the jewellery, the Peixes was cut short as she heard a click, just as light flooded the room and blinded her, causing her to stumble into the dresser. Falling on her ass and clutching the small box close, the teen heiress tried to blink away the pain as her eyes readjusted to her surroundings, taking in the blurry figure looming over her as she mentally screamed, “Oh shit!”

That how the oldest Megido found herself in this position. She stomped over to the younger girl and snatched the box away. Despite the roughness of the action, her fingers were delicate around the box. There was a gentle hint to her firm grip as though she were protecting it. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” She spat. Valais opened the box to assure herself that the locket was still within her possession, that she had lost what little she had left. From her position above the girl, she moved to stand between the dresser and the intruder. She didn’t take her eyes off the girl once.