Ali tapped her foot under the desk, glancing toward the clock once more – time seemed to be dragging by this entire day. Her stepfather had informed her that she had some sort of meeting after school but wouldn’t tell her anything about it. All he would say is that it was very important and that they couldn’t be late, not only could they not be late, but he expected her to be on her best behavior and dress to impress. The entire conversation had the young woman on edge, she and her stepfather had never seen eye to eye since her mother's passing, to him she was merely a reminder of his late wife. Henry had never wanted children, but he was so taken with her mother that he pushed that aside long enough to marry. Henry kept the nice guy act up to his stepdaughter while her mother was alive, but soon after everything settled down when she passed – his true feelings became clear. 

The pair couldn’t stand each other, he would do the bare minimum for her and made it clear if they were ever alone that he couldn’t wait until she turned eighteen and she ‘wasn’t his problem anymore’. After all, he had gained custody of her after her mother's passing away – a part of the will he had clearly overread. Since Ali was under the age of eighteen when her mother passed, Henry was given the house and all her mother's possessions besides a few pieces of jewelry. She hid the jewelry in her room, under her bed when she wasn’t wearing it so her stepfather would never be able to find it. However, Ali always wore the small diamond ring that had been passed down through generations of women in her family – it allowed her to feel so close to her mother, almost like she was still a part of her day-to-day life. She almost felt like she wore the ring, she had her mother with her every day. 

Ali was jolted from the memories of her mother as the bell rang, echoing around the cement walls of the classroom as it suddenly roared with chatting about everyone's plans for the spring break. Spring break, something she’d always spent with her mother, last year had been her last spring break with her mother that had ended at her mother's funeral. A soft sigh escaped from her lips as she slowly packed her books into her bag, nerves building in the pit of her stomach as she moved out of the room and down the hall to her locker where she dropped her books off – they wouldn’t be needed on spring break. Her brunette curls bounced around her tanned shoulders as she moved down the tiled hallway toward the door, toward the sunlight with every other kid in the high school. 

The halls echoed with everyone's plans for spring break – parties, trips with family, trips with friends, and trips with their boyfriends or girlfriends. In her freshman year that seemed so long ago, she dreamed of her senior year spring break – the trips she would go on to celebrate graduation that was only two months away. Her mother had been so thrilled about the trips she planned to send her daughter on for her senior spring break, yet that had been three years ago. The cancer moved fast, and treatments weren’t fast enough to keep up with the aggressive disease. Ali bit her lip, pushing the thoughts away as she exited the hall and was welcomed by the warmth of the sun on her skin – a soft smile pulling at the corner of her lips as her ice blue eyes took in the life of the parking lot. However, she wasn’t able to partake in the fun – her stepfather had made sure to make this meeting as close to school letting out as possible. 

He was still at work; he’d be taking a long lunch to pick her up and accompany her to this meeting – all he told her was that it was life changing for them both. The walk home was rather short, she only lived two and a half blocks away from the school. She walked herself to and from school daily since Henry had managed to chase off her friends and any man who had any interest in her. According to Henry, especially recently – dating was completely off the table, but he would never give her an explanation as to why. As the young woman put the key into the lock, turning the handle after the lock clicked into an unlocked position – she slipped through the door. She swung it shut behind her, flipping the lock back into its locked position before she headed up the stairs toward her room and bathroom. She took a forty-fine minute shower, keeping her hair dry so she could make sure she made it to the meeting on time. 

The young woman stepped out of the shower, wrapping a towel around herself and she moved into her room and toward her closet – reaching for a black form fitting dress still covered in plastic. It had never been worn before – though it had been purchased two years ago. Ali just had no reason to wear it, not until today at least. It was the nicest thing she currently owned. She studied the dress on the hanger after removing the plastic from around it, plucking the tags off the side before slowly unzipping the side – removing it from the hanger before she slowly stepped into it. She slowly shimmied it up her body, holding it in place with one hand as she used the other to slowly pull the zipper up – feeling the fabric slowly begin to hug her body until the zipper stopped at the top. 

She let her brunette hair loose from the clip, running her finger through it as it fell to her shoulders, and she slowly stepped into a pair of four-inch heels – slowly sitting on the edge of her bed to secure the buckles. She bit her lip a moment as she stood, slowly moving toward the makeup table against the outside wall of her room. It took another ten minutes for her to complete her make up, checking a moment to make sure the black polish she’d done on her nails the night before was still presentable before she stood from the chair. She knew her stepfather would be arriving home in moments, so she quickly spritzed herself with a few pumps of perfume that smelled like jasmine and sandalwood. As soon as she set the bottle down on the desk, she heard the faint sound of a car engine pulling into the driveway. 

She was almost at the bottom of the stairs when her stepfather began blowing the horn on the car – clearly, he was impatient. Ali was quick to lock the door before stepping off the porch and moving to the passenger side of the car – she got in in silence. The entire ride was silent, she didn’t even ask where they were going – it wasn’t like her stepfather would tell her anyway. The only information she’d gotten from him this morning was that this meeting was important, lifechanging for them both, and that she needed to be on her best behavior as well as to dress in her nicest clothing. Her eyes were focused out the window, watching the landscapes as they sped by though she noticed they were heading toward the richer side of town. It only added to her confusion as they turned into a large private driveway, following the twists and turns until they arrived in front of a large what she would call mansion. 

As soon as she car stopped, the young woman was slowly opening her door and stepping out onto the pavement – taking in the well-manicured home and property in awe. It was stunning, it was much more than she ever dreamed of living in one day. “Best behavior Alison Marie, no exceptions.” Henry grumbled as he moved to stand beside her, “This is your future and my future, understand me? You cannot mess this up.” He added in a harsh tone, causing her to flinch slightly. Their fights were not always vocal, she would be the first to admit that her skills with makeup was self-taught to hide whatever marks her stepfather left during an argument – after all, her mother was no longer around to protect her. That may very well be the reason he was so against her dating as well; it limited the number of people he had to worry about defending her from his abuse. 

“I get it – best behavior, best dress, best this, best that – but you still haven’t told me what this meeting is even about.” She muttered in a soft whisper as the door in front of them slowly opened, whether her stepfather told her or not it looked like she was about to find out. The pair was silent as they were led into the home, the halls seemed to be lined with expensive art that Ali only dreamed of seeing in a museum. She loved to draw and paint, she loved art – but her stepfather wasn’t one to support her dreams. He was a man who believed that women were expected to be seen and not heard, he believed they belonged to their fathers or stepfathers until they were married off where they then became their husband's property. A soft sigh escaped from Ali’s lips once more, wandering from her stepfather’s side as they were guided into a large room Ali would guess was the den, complete with a lit fire and walls filled with books. 

She was focused on the books and the art that hung on the walls, ignoring her stepfather as he mumbled about her needing to act like a proper lady. She rolled her eyes, continuing to look over the art – doing her best to ignore her stepfather. She was doing whatever she could not to speak to him and to preoccupy herself to stop the nerves of the unknown.