My mother fumbled about in her clothes drawer. ‘Where is it?’ she mumbled to herself. She was practically in her own world, didn’t even realize I was there. ‘I put it somewhere….. maybe’ I rolled my eyes, clearing my throat a little. To no avail, she continued to search each drawer, like a mouse squiring about for food. I cleared my throat louder. She still seemed to be deaf.

‘MOM!’ I shouted. She stopped and looked up at me through the dresser mirror. ‘oh! Honey! How are you? Do you need something? I have 100 dollars in my purse, if you need more, ask your father.’ She again went to digging. Did I have to need something to say hi to my mother? Yes.

So I suppose you could call me a spoiled Christen brat. We went to church every Sunday, my father gave two solid 500 dollar bills every Sunday, plus his tithe and I got anything I wanted. I was sixteen years old with a debt free marcadies, blood red, with a pure silver 3 carrot diamond cross hanging from my mirror. If I wanted something, I barely had to bat an eye, and in a snap I got it. Right then, I wanted to barrow my mother’s new all diamond necklace. I needed it…well…wanted it, to pick up my best friend. We were going to a party. It’s not like I didn’t have one of my own, It was just, I wanted to ware one that I had never worn before.

‘No mom, no money.’ I said, watching her search her drawers more franticly, what did she lose? A freaking baby? She acted like she misplaced Anna, My little sister. ‘Oh? Well honey, what else do you need?’ She said as she looked up into the mirror, reminding me of a frantic rabbit. ‘Your new necklace, the one Daddy bought you.’ She seemed to nibble on the thought, biting her bottom lip, a habit I seemed to adopt from her. Finally she went into her massive closet, going directly to what I called her jewelry wall. She had head manikins that held all her jewelry. The middle one had the necklace I wanted. She lifted it off the head and came back, almost throwing it at me; as if it were worth only a penny.

‘Here.’ She stated bluntly. I was tempted to leave her searching like a mad man, for God only knows what, but being how amazingly awesome I am, I decided to ask. ‘What are you looking for?’ She again paused with an annoyed sigh. ‘My new pink blouse, The one with the ruby centered flower on the shoulder.’ Oh no, I had just seen Anna With that Blouse, and my Mom’s bag of make-up. ‘Um, you might want to check Anna.’ I said, quickly leaving.

When I reached my room I heard what seemed to be an angry shrilling taradactel shout ‘Anna!’. Boy was she going to get it now. Of all things, you didn’t mess with my mother’s Clothes. It was weird though. My sister and I could take apart all her jewelry, and she wouldn’t even blink about it. Not to mention her jewelry was much more than her clothes, not to say her clothes didn’t cost a pretty penny, or more. But touch her clothes and you got the lecture of a life. She should have been a professor. She could have talked all the kids to death about one lecture. I was glad it wasn’t me hearing her screech.

My father was walking past my room when he stopped and looked at me. He stood in my door way and smiled. His salt and pepper hair reminded me of Mr. cheffield from the Nanny show. ‘Your still a virgin, right?’ He asked. God that question again, I thought with a roll of my eyes. When I turned thirteen he bought me a promise ring. It was pure gold and real rubies. Probably worth more than any wedding ring a man will ever buy me. To be honest, I think he was more worried about wasting money on the ring, then me losing my virginity. My mother convinced him it would inspire me to stay pure. So far it has.

‘Yes Daddy, I am.’ I watched him nod, staring out my window. There was something he wasn’t telling me. ‘Daddy?’ He still seemed dazed, wow did both my parents have the ability to get lost in their own world? ‘DAD!’ I shouted, if there was one person who I would insure listened to me, it’s him. He was my money source. Plus I was a daddy’s girl. Always was and always will be.

‘Yes princess?’ He asked with a shake of his head. I crossed my arms and starred at him. ‘Spill it.’ He seemed to dance his words around in his head. I didn’t expect the answer to be so blunt, but out came ‘We’re moving.’ I practically launched at him like a creature of the night. I shook him by the shoulders, ‘What!? To where?!’ He sighed removing my arms, by grabbing my elbows and said ‘To New York’. I dramatically walked over to my kiss glass doors that led to my balcony and threw them open. Out stretching my arms I declared like Ceaser Agustest to his people ‘This is my home! I’m a cali girl. Not some east coast, brooklin chick!’ He sighed, brushing his hand through his hair. ‘Elizabeth, it’s final. We’re moving by next week.’ I glared at him, hard and cold. My stubborn rebellious side (which I got from the king of the house himself.) came out.

I crossed my arms walking about ten feet in front of him and said ‘I will not leave’. My dad smiled, I hate that specific smile. It said I always win, when I want to. He grabbed my Marcadies keys from the side dresser and played with them. In my eyes he was grinning like satin himself. ‘Well…’ he said tossing the keys from hand to hand. ‘Good luck paying for your insurance, Clothes, phone bill, exedra. Oh And good luck finding a home to sleep in.’ He tossed me the keys with a smile. Dang; He won. My shoulders slumped in defeat. I was moving to New York. Just wonderful.

I glared out the window. Watching the fluffy clouds pass me by. We were flying in Daddy’s jet, to New York. At first I thought it won’t be so bad; until I found out we were moving to the city. My father assured me the apartment like building was all ours. Like on the Nanny show. But who cares when your neighbors are less than 16 feet away? We could be moving to a castle, but if I can even walk to my neighbor’s house in less than 10 minutes, it was no place for me. In California, at my old home, the closest neighbor was at least four football fields away. I found myself clenching my fist over the thought. Why did he have to go and ruin my life because of a stupid job?

‘Tell me again why we’re moving.’ I blurted out, mean mugging my father. He sighed, as he stopped typing on his computer. ‘Because…’ he started slowly, ‘My Job wants me over there, most of my businesses are in New York, plus my new publishing agency’. Oh that’s right cause of a job; we don’t need more money Sherlock, if you hadn’t noticed. You go and ruin my life so you can have an extra 200 g’s. What a great father. I rolled my eye’s slamming my head against the window. It hurt more than I expected, I avoided the urge to cry ‘ouch!’.

I had to leave my friends, my school, my room. Luckily Cherry, my marcadies (yes I named my marcadies, got a problem? sue me.) was being shipped to New York, along with all of the rest of my families stuff. Why did we have to go? This was so stupid. I unbuckled my seat belt, and walked to the refreshment stand. I started to pour a glass of red wine, But my father cleared his throat. I turned my head to see him with one eye brow up, as if saying ‘excuse me?’. I rolled my eyes and grabbed the sparkling cider instead. I sat back down, sipping my drink. I looked to Anna who slept in the seat in front of me. Lucky her she was young enough to make best friends in New York. Oh sure, I was going to make friends. No doubt, after all; my father was rich. But I wouldn’t make best friends. Not like Lucy, we had been friends’ sense pre-school. And now she was just a memory.

‘Dam it!’ I shouted. Throwing down my cup. It shattered on the floor, leaving the carpet damp. ‘Elizabeth!’ My father shouted. Anna had been startled awake by my outburst. ‘What in God’s name is wrong with you?’ He questioned. Wow how stupid, what did he think was wrong? ‘I don’t want to go! I don’t want to leave Lucy, or anyone else back in California!’ Now I do understand, any other normal kid would have gotten slapped silly for that. But like I said, I was spoiled. ‘Well you’re going to! And if you have another outburst like that, I won’t let you drive your marcadies to school! You’ll take the bus!’ Oh no, not the bus. That may sound sarcastic, but of all things, I didn’t want to take the bus. How humiliating. I smiled at my father, sinister almost. I fiddled with my promise ring. ‘Well…’ I said, ‘sense I have to go, there’s one thing you can count on.’ I slid the ring off my finger, and tossed it on top of his key board.

He glared at me. He got the point. With a shake of his head he pocketed the ring. ‘Charles! You aren’t really going to let her, are you?’ my mother questioned. I laughed and looked at my mother who sat in front of my father, ‘You can bet I’ll be the biggest w.h.o.r.e around town. I’ll sure make a name for our family.’ I spelt it out, for PG proposes, after all Anna was only seven. By this time my father had almost thrown the computer at the other seat, he stood and slapped my face with a loud ‘slap!’ sound. It was the first time he ever laid hands on me in that manner. I held my face shaking in anger. How dare he!

‘I am sick of you!’ He blew. Wow good to know daddy loves me right? ‘I gave you everything you ever wanted, and one change happens in life, and you act like this!’ His face turned red, the only time I saw him this angry was when he caught mother having sex with the butler. It happened when I was 5. I remember seeing it. My mother claimed he spent too much time at work. She was lonely. HA! Play the sympathy card, and it worked! He made his work all home based. And there weren’t any more problems….that I knew of.

‘It’s time you learned what life would be like without all this! You are so spoiled!’ he waved his arms around, probably meaning the jet and everything else. ‘You think I’m kidding, you always do! Because I never actually carried out punishments! I’m sick of you Elizabeth! I’m done!’ His nostrils flared, he breathed heavily, his fist clenched. He sat heavily back down on his chair. Good his stupid rant was over, just another scolding, or so I thought.

The flight after that was…..awkward. Anna continued to ask what just happened, while Mother tried to shush her. Father ignored me, even when I tried to apologize. And mother glanced back and forth between me and my father. She looked again like a frantic rabbit. A very pretty one though.

When the jet landed, I was the first off. New York wasn’t warm like Cali it wasn’t sunny like cali and it didn’t have beach trees like cali. I hated it, but I knew to hold my tongue. I waited for my Family, and followed my father silently, to the limo. Normally limos where low class….at least in the rich society. But this limo was made by the same people who make mazeradies. So I suppose we had one expensive ride, especially because it wasn’t sold. My father literally had a designer make it just for him. It had a hot tub at the back. I was glad for that. ‘Father, I’m going in the hot tub.’ I called ready to get my suit case that I brought on the jet. To my Horror, he replied ‘No, get in the car Elizabeth.’ Maybe I really did go too far. Plus he hadn’t called me Liz all day; Which frightened me, that’s what he always called me.

I obeyed and slid into the limo, walking to the back. After our suit cases where put up on the storage units, my Family came in the limo to. My father played With Anna, talked to Mother, but completely ignored me! I even tried to sweet talk him. ‘Daddy?’ I said. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it. In fact, I even want the ring.’ He just ignored me. The Whole ride, he didn’t even say one thing, not one word.

When the limo pulled up in front of our…..apartment, mansion, whatever you want to call it, my father got all the suit cases…..except mine. He opened the door to the building let my mother and sister go in. Just as I was about to walk in, he literally slammed the door on my face! My hand when instantly to my nose; I moaned in pain. I saw a woman next door, who had just gotten out of her Lamborghini. She stared at me. She was decently rich, a fur coat with diamond jewelry. I rubbed my nose, she just kept staring. ‘What are you looking at?’ I snapped at her like a untamed dog, throwing my arms in the air, annoyed. She quickly ran in her house, like I was some sort of heathen.

It occurred to me; I could simply open the door and go in. Walking up the steps I tried the door knob. He locked it. Of all things he locked the door! I knocked on the door ‘daddy, please, it’s cold!’ I yelled with my mouth near the door. The top window opened, and out came an ugly coat. Where the heck did this come from? I mean I know daddy threw it out the window, but it sure wasn’t mine; Way to cheap.

I really did upset him. I would have to wait until he wasn’t boiling any more. I sat on the door step shivering. There was no way I was going to wear that ugly coat. I got my suit case from the limo and starred at the driver. He looked at me and smiled. Not a nice smile, but one that screamed HA HA! He knew something! I dug in my suit case and got my sweater. At least it was pretty, but not very warm. I searched deeper. Finally I pulled out my long sleeve dress. It was short, but it was wool. I then got my leggings, crawling into the limo, the driver had the window that separated the back to front, open. I started undressing. He raised an eyebrow, ‘Ain’t you going to ask me to roll it up?’ I smiled up at him. By perfect breast sat in my laced bra. ‘I don’t really care honestly. My father made me mad enough to flash the world.’ He shook his head and modestly turned it as I dressed. ‘Ya know, that’s probably why he’s actin like that. Cause ya just a brat. Children have no room to rebel against their parents’.

I finished dressing and crawled to the front, leaning on the open window with my elbows, and holding my face in my hands. ‘Ya know..’ I mimicked in a man voice ‘Maybe in the poor world, children are dogs to their parents. But not in mine.’ He seemed to glare at me through the mirror. I continued, ‘You see, the rich are a higher class of society. And unlike the scum of the earth…like you; We actually have brains. And I for one won’t be treated like an animal. Rather he likes it or not, he has to treat me right.’ The driver laughed and turned his head and looked at me, ‘Girl, you have no idea how upset you made Mr. Stein. You may be in for the biggest adventure of your life. And it seems to me, we ‘scum have more of a heart than you. So I’m glad to have been raised ‘poor as you call it.’ I rolled my eyes and dug in my purse. I pulled out a fifty dollar bill and tossed it on his lap. ‘I’m sure that’s a lot to you, so keep the change…..Mutt’

With that I got out and sat on the door step. He drove off and threw the fifty in the street. ‘well..’ I thought ‘there goes your electric bill’. What an idiot he was to turn down my money. Time passed, one hour, two hours, three, four, five. Yet my father still didn’t open the door. And it was getting colder! I tucked myself into the corner, I could slightly feel the warmth seeping from underneath the front door. In some way, it only made me colder. It made me long to be warm, I wanted to be inside, drinking hot chocolate and unpacking my stuff. A large truck pulled up in front of the house. The trucker got out, an older white male with a belly. He chewed his Tabaco and spit it out. It made me cringe so slimy, so sticky, so- My thoughts were interrupted when he said ‘Are you one of the stein family?’ I jumped up, I think it kind of startled the man, he seemed to take a step back. ‘Yes sir, I’m Elizabeth Sammy Stein. Can I help you?’

The man walked to the back truck and turned again to me, ‘are you at least eighteen?’ I smiled, walking to him ‘yes sir.’ I lied, ‘My license is somewhere in here…’ I pretended to look for my license. I did have one, just it showed I was sixteen. ‘It don’t matter, just sign here.’ He pointed to a line on his clip board. I signed and he pressed a button on the truck. The metal plat form slid slowly out, Ma’s Mazeradi and then I saw my baby. Cherry slid out from the bottom, once the mazeradi was on the ground. The man had me drive both and park them. He then pushed the button again, and the metal plat forms slid back in. ‘There’s gonna be another truck with the other two cars tomorrow!’ He yelled as he drove away.

Warmth at last! I practically ran over, pushing the button on my keys. Just about to swing open the door, a large hand stopped me. Daddy’s. He took the keys from me and locked the door. Without even glancing at me, he walked back to the front door. Opening it he stopped, slightly turned his head and said ‘OH! By the way, someone will be by here soon to pick you up. Go with them. They’ll take you to your new home.’ I tried to beat him to the door, a full sprint, but I didn’t make it.

I banged on the door, ‘NO! What do you mean! You can’t just give me away! Dad Let me in! Please!!’ I slid down the door with my back to it, crying. He was doing this all over one outburst. Ok, so I did act a little….unruly, but that gave him no right to give me away! He acted like it was normal to say ‘hey daughter, I’m sending you to a new state with strangers, good luck!’ This wasn’t fair! I just wanted to be in MY bed in MY room.

I could hear a car slow as it pulled in front of the house. Lifting my head in the now dim moon light, I could see a bumy car. The window slid down, an old African American male sat in the front seat, next to him sat an oldish white lady, probably his wife. He looked like he would be a pastor at a church or something. I was literally shivering, my whole body trembled uncontrollably. The man nodded his hello and said in a deep voice ‘well little lady, are you comin or what?’ I would have screamed ‘no!’ told him off. But I was so cold I would have went in a haunted house as long as there was warmth. I opened the back seat door and sat down. I glared at the couple, the man glared back. ‘You better fix your look young girl.’ I smiled a sarcastic smile. It wasn’t so bad; I would just have to sleep at this couple’s house for the night. Plus I could just come back home tomorrow, and get daddy to let me in. Right?