Chapter 2

The first quarter of their senior year kept the sisters and their cousin so busy, they barely got to spend any time together. Katrina and Charlene had volleyball practice and games, and Meri felt left out, stuck at home taking virtual classes. The worst part was she had been relegated to the role of being her little brother's after-school babysitter since she couldn't drive or even walk anywhere. She even lost her room to the brat because her wheelchair wouldn't go up the stairs. She hated the closet-sized guestroom next to the kitchen with its tiny, three-quarter bathroom. There wasn't a closet for her hanging clothes and only a small dresser to allow for her electric wheelchair, so Char had to bring her clothes down to her in the morning before she left for school.

Meri hated the isolation as much as she hated the post-concussion migraines. Sometimes Trina would sneak over to visit, or Char would take her to Aunt Layne's house, but after the first week of school, she never spoke to any of her old friends. She hadn't been a social butterfly during her school career but seeing no one except her family for an hour in the evenings over dinner made her depressed and lonelier. It was like she died. It was another thing her mother used to disparage her when Miranda discovered Meri was using the counseling services the online school offered because she felt suicidal sometimes.

The only joy Meri had was the culinary class she took as an elective. No one suspected she would stand on her good leg in the kitchen to do her assignments when she was home alone. Her teacher encouraged her and even did private lessons via the internet. Meri progressed quickly, because she managed to do a semester's worth of culinary course work per quarter. She earned a year's worth of credits. By Christmas Break, she dreaded the weeks off school and her knee reconstruction surgery, but she hoped to be able to return to Veil Valley High School on crutches and graduate with Char and Trina. Her mother vetoed that with the snide remark that using her continued recovery from the accident to get sympathy from her fellow students and shame her classmate Heather was inappropriate.

~~~~

Mid-February

Meredith was daydreaming about her and Char's eighteenth birthday only a month away when a marshmallow hit her face.

"Meredith!" Trina laughed at her. They were making heart-shaped marshmallow, rice cereal treats for the dance in her mom's bakery kitchen. The dance committee wanted the cookies on Thursday so Trina picked a type of cookie that would last and not get stale quickly.

"Sorry. What?" Meri looked up from decorating.

"I asked how are you going to wear your hair for the Valentine's Day dance? You know you're my date, but you'll have to find your own way home?" Trina teased with a wink.

Meri blew a raspberry at her, then snarkily answered, "Who cares? I am going to still be on crutches." She was extra-grumpy about her knee surgery being delayed for three months.

"What about you, Char?" Trina tipped her head.

"Nobody cares what I look like." Charlene shook her head.

"Hank cares," Trina taunted. "He always looks at you, Char. Then me, then Meri, like he wants to talk to one of us. I'll take sloppy seconds if you don't want him afterward." She winked at her cousins. "I think he has a twin kink."

"Ewww!" Char and Meri cringed at the same time. As fraternal twins, they looked similar, but Charlene carried their mother's Hispanic complexion and darker hair, while Meredith looked more like her father's family and her cousin Katrina, with the DuBois honey brown hair and paler skin with freckles.

"I think he's cute," Trina said. At their identical disgusted looks, the cousin pouted, "What? He is; all the girls think so and he still doesn't have a girlfriend since the Princess is his sister and she won't let anyone near him. That means he's single and he's fair game even if he is a junior. If you don't want him, I call dibs."

"I'd rather die a hundred-year-old virgin than screw anyone from Veil Falls," Char reminded her in exasperation as Meri nodded rapidly, agreeing, "Same."

Trina blinked at them, smugly insisting, "You can still date the guys from Valleyview... You don't know what you're missing. Sociologists actually encourage 'dating' before marriage and..." She was taking college-level classes in preparation for becoming a social worker or nurse.

"Oh, Trina honey. I've told you, boys don't want to date; they only want sex and more sex and even more sex without a commitment... Just be sure you use a condom. I believe the phrase is--wrap it before you tap it. You don't want to end up a cream-filled cannoli." Layne winked.

"Mom!" Trina cringed with her shoulders slumping.

Chuckling, Aunt Layne sat down to help decorate. She may have what Miranda called a scandalous past, but Meri thought Aunt Layne was the best person in the world, as she piped royal icing lace on the heart cookies. Char chortled and hugged a blushing red Trina to her side then they all worked to finish the cookies while talking about how much more snow the ski resort would get.

~~~~~

March...

Meri sat in the living room snapping at her brother to do his spring break homework when their mother called to her from her home office.

"Meredith, honeysuckle, come to my office." As a real estate agent, Miranda sold and rented properties for higher end clients in the community. She worked from home at least once a week now to justify the spacious downstairs bedroom she used for an office.

Meri scowled as she picked up her crutches from the floor, thinking, If she is being this polite, we have a guest. Angrily, she left one across the chair.

Chuck smirked at Meri, "Bet you're in trouble again."

"Better than being a brown-nose suck-up like you. Do your book report, it's due Monday," Meri hissed back as she hobbled down the hall, thinking, He's fourteen, annoying, and good at it.

"Yes, Mom?" Meri said as she turned into the door then she noticed who was sitting in one of the big wingback chairs. "Hello, Mrs. Richmond."

"Hello, Meredith dear, your mother was just telling me how well you are doing in online school since your accident." Her voice dripped like honey, velvety and smooth. It wasn't a real accident and they both knew it, but Meri made herself smile because The Richmonds own a dozen properties her mom handled. Mrs. Richmond appraised her face then added, "I see my cosmetic surgeon was able to reduce that terrible scarring on your face."

Meri stopped herself from reaching up to touch her cheek. "Yes, ma'am, he did. I am doing better, but I won't get to letter in athletics or try out for the Olympics Team since my accident," Meri reminded in a low voice. She could feel her mother watching her and when she glanced over, her mother tapped the cross stamped on her blotter. Swallowing, Meri repeat what the church pastor's wife said to her every single Sunday since Heather ran her down. "But His plans are not our plans, and I pray every day for a new gift or talent."

"You have excellent potential in our community and church, Meredith." She praised, and Meri wondered what she wanted, the Richmonds never did anything without wanting something in return. "Again, I am sorry about the suffering my daughter's lack of restraint caused you. I came because we are hosting the senior class banquet as the community does every year. This year the theme will be a cotillion."

"A what?" Meri had no idea what was happening. She knew the elite of the community hosted a party every spring for the upper-class seniors, but she had no idea what it had to do with her and her sister.

"The Richmonds are originally from the deep south. A cotillion is a coming out dance. Your mother has all the details. I will see you and Charlene Saturday morning to be fitted for proper cotillion dresses." Mrs. Richmond rose gracefully from the wingback chair, nodded to Miranda and turned to leave.

Meri realized that her cousin may not be invited, and it was the last weekend of spring break. "Mrs. Richmond?"

Her dark eyes regarded Meri as she stammered nervously, "I w-want t-to..."

The woman's perfectly sculpted eyebrow rose.

Meri cleared her throat, looking down, and meekly asked, "I mean, may... May Char and I invite a few of our friends from school?" She didn't have to look to know her mother was shooting daggers at her through her eyes.

"And who would you invite, Meredith? Your online school friends are not a part of your community. I have invited all the appropriate families. This is an opportunity to come out socially among suitable peers, not a raunchy party." Her voice had this very cold edge to it.

"Uh, only one, please ma'am. Charlene and I would like to invite our cousin Trina," Meri begged. "We do everything together."

Her hostile eyes showed everything she thought about Meri's suggested addition. "I don't believe Katrina and her mother would fit in with the virtuous men and women who would be attending. All ladies must have a proper escort and, well, your father's sister doesn't have the best reputation," Mrs. Richmond pronounced judgment on Trina's mother.

"Manners," her mother hissed as Meri opened her mouth to retort.

"Thank you, ma'am," Meri murmured, "For inviting us to your cotillion party." But Meri thought, 'The witch doesn't know that her son and my cousin are secretly a couple now.'

Mrs. Richmond smiled. "She has excellent manners, Miranda. Perhaps poor taste in whom to associate with, but we were all young once. She has much to learn. Meredith, you could do a lot within social and church circles, you could accomplish more through a proper introduction to society." She patted Meri's head like she was a good dog, "You can see your cousin after and maybe become a positive influence to counteract the wanton ways she undoubtedly learned from her mother." As Katherine Richmond turned to leave, Miranda rushed to show her out.

"Stay," she hissed at Meri as she passed, and pinched the back of her arm hard.

'This so sucks! I wanted to spend my birthday with my sister, and cousin, and now we won't even get to go to dinner because the queen of the town is throwing a cote-whatever bash with all the snobby families.' Meri wondered if she knew why they were having an old fashioned coming out party in these times.

"You're so screwed," Chuck taunted behind Meri. He held out his phone showing a dress that looked like something from the Civil War movie she watched for history class. "You have to wear this."

"I don't think..." Meri glared at him, but their mom walked back in and slapped Meri before she could finish the retort. Meri stumbled and cried out as she put weight on her weak knee then she tried to get her crutch back under her arm.

"How dare you insult Katherine like that, embarrass me, this family... Don't you know what an honor she is giving us?!" she screeched. "You and your sister are just so difficult!"

Meri stared at her speechless; suddenly it felt like her sister's spirit took over her body then her temper exploded. "You didn't even ask us what we wanted. It's our eighteenth birthday!" Meri shouted back.

Miranda grabbed her face, as she demanded, "You are to stop associating with Trina and Layne, they are beneath us."

"No, you selling us off on our birthday to improve your standing with Katherine Richmond makes you beneath us," Meri snapped in a perfect imitation of her twin, "Just like you sold off Charlene to that guy on our tenth birthday."

Chuck gasped behind Miranda who released Meri's jaw with a shocked look. "What did you just say?" Her mother sounded hurt, but Meri didn't care. Her mother hadn't given a rat's arse about her feelings for months or maybe years. Meri didn't know how long it had been since her mother stopped loving her or if she ever had and she was done trying to pretend that they were a happy family.

"You heard me, senora! I said, you... are... beneath... us... Margaretta," Meri hesitated slightly between each word before she continued and used her mother's birth name. Meri thought angrily,' Two can play the prejudice game... Time to twist the knife.' "What's next? Selling me off because my Virtue Vow is still intact, or did you not get enough from the diamond necklace Winston gave you for Charlene? Maybe you can call your father and find out how much is a daughter worth in Bolivia?"

A look of guilty pain flashed across her mother's face only to be replaced by rage. Miranda started to slap Meri again, but Meri caught her hand like Char would have. Her mother yanked unsuccessfully to free herself. Chuck pulled their mom away from his sister's grasp, as both stared at Meri like she'd grown two heads.

"Sis, go to your room," he whispered.

"I would, but I can't because they gave it to you after the queen's stoner princess ran me over when I was training for the State Track Triathlon and almost killed me!" Meri screamed at them, "And now I have to sit in the smallest bedroom in our house, in my wheelchair, doing online classes while that biyatch prances around in her cheerleader outfits all over social media. And just so you know, Mom.... Heather screws around and does drugs with half the guys in the valley, and Trina didn't even start dating until last month and she is dating Hank Richmond!"

Meri turned on her crutch to hobble past them. As much as she wanted to slam the door to her room, she didn't. All the energy and fight drained out of her as she sat on the bed and rubbed the outside of her knee brace. She sent a text to her sister. Meri knew Char was going to lose her mind when she got home from her jujitsu class, and Meri told her what their mom had done.