Clarissa sat on the edge of her bed, "dear! Are you ready?" her mother shouted, Clarissa never answered as she looked up from her phone, her eyes raising to the vanity mirror in front of her as she glanced at the pale pink dress that hung off her shoulders, platinum hair curled at the ends and her bangs on the right side, pinned back with a diamond jeweled barrette. She was ready. But she hated it. Inhaling, Clarissa bounced to her white heels, as she shoved her phone into her leather jacket and walked down the stairs. The only time she really saw her parents was when they had to make an appearance for gala's, charity events, and the country club, and boy did she hate all of it.
Her parents never paid attention to her, why did she have to go to these stupid events?
The question always pulled at the back of her mind, but she never talked about it, "Dear!" her mother shouted again.
"Don't yell, the whole world can hear you," Clarissa snapped back as she walked past her parent and to the car before jumping into the back seat, her father sitting at the wheel, while her mother with a disgusted look on her face got into the passengers.
The drive was long, almost an hour away and across town, but they made it to the charity event, "come on let's get going," her dad said as the parked the car and handed the keys to the valet, inhaling Clarissa looked up at the massive building, her stomach dropped as she swallowed hard, she hated these events, too many people, way out of her comfort zone, no place to hide. With a shaky hand, Clarissa got out of the vehicle, and shut the door, today was about donations, but also an auction for somebody with Cancer or something, she didn't really know, these weren't her friends.
Walking in with her family, Clarissa stuck to the back, walking behind them, her hands shoved into the leather pockets, as the breeze kicked up, "I'll take your jacket Miss Coldshore," a man said as he held out his hands, her parents jackets already draped around his arms, Clarissa shot the back of their heads with a look of disgust.
"I'm okay, thank you," she added as she walked up the steps, the music from the live band already playing, all while chatter bounced around the massive room, co-partners, CEO's of companies, all talked to one another, and just like that, Clarissa was out of the loop. She stood frozen as she looked around, snobby, stuck up, good for nothing children to these air heads, talked amongst themselves, three separate groups, it reminded her of school, but instead of her being the popular kid; here, well, here she was the outsider, she felt like she didn't fit in.
Inhaling, Clarissa looked around, looking for anywhere she could disappear too, bathrooms were gross, held too many germs, and if she were to step outside she'd be asked to return to the party, but also strangers would be looking at her, and she didn't want that.
"You lost?" a voice from behind her spoke, and Clarissa turned around, stepping back a good foot before she looked at the young man with a mop of ginger/brown hair.
"Are you lost?" she asked she copied, "your party is further in, why are you out of the ring of socialization?" she jabbed.
"Just got 're, I've not seen ya much around these events, are ya new?" he asked yet another question.
"No. Just hate these events, held at different locations every year, special invitations sent out to each family, trust me, I'm not new 'er" she folded her arms.
"And I could care two shits who you are,"
"Oh come now, don't be like that, I'm trying to be friendly, change the conversation," Preston stepped a foot closer, to which Clarissa took a step back, "I'm not some kind a freak y'know, you can talk to me," he added and Clarissa frowned.
'I just want out of here,' she thought before she inhaled, looked at Preston and exhaled, this sucked, but at least it was something to keep her kind off of this ridiculous parade of 'who can stand out the most with money' shit. "Clarissa Coldshore," the girl spoke before pulling her hands from her pockets and dropped them to her side, "can we move off to the side my feet are starting to hurt standing around waiting for something interesting to happen."
Preston nodded his head and gestured to the side, "after you" he said and the pair walked off to the side. "So what's your family do?" he asked.
"Don't know, don't care, they ditched me for this shit as soon as we got in," Clarissa looked around, she wished she was old enough to enjoy these events, drinking. But here, she had to be on her best behavior for her families image, "what about you?" she asked pulling at the skirt of her dress.
"my parents own an athletic company, half the girls here I've been on dates with..." Preston sighed, "for my parents..." he added as he looked around the room, the chattering seemed to have picked up more as people joined.
"Yuck, and you had to come here?" she asked, "I'm sorry dude, that's sounds lame," Clarissa rolled her eyes, "my parents are just rich, I don't know what they do, I don't know anybody here, not by name nor by what company they own, they keep me out of the loop," she looked at him, "so you chose to talk to me because I'm not one of the few you've dated?"
"That, and well, y'know, you seem really cool," Preston added as he leaned up against the wall and Clarissa laughed softly.
"You're really dorky," she said with a small smile as the music started to change, and young adults began to flood the dance floor.
"Let us, the dork and the cool kid, dance then," Preston held out his hand as he looked toward the stage and then toward her, "one dance wouldn't kill us, and we'll we are both bored of the people around us, for different reasons," he chuckled and Clarissa took his hand.
"After this, it'll be on me, but can we get ice cream around the corner?" Clarissa asked and Preston nodded his head as they tightened their hold and headed off to the stage.
