Chapter 1- Love Love Love, More Love
Dear Baby Sister,
I'm having a wonderful time here with my new lovely dovey sweetie cake husband/Prince here in the Bahamas. Thank you so much for the gift you gave us just before we left. You're right- the green in the painting goes right along with the stain on the couch. You're always so bright about these things. Anyway, seeing it hang on my wall made me think of you and all your wonderful skills as an artist. I know that mummy and daddy-kins don't always see that but I'm sure they try. Later, as I was looking out with my darling hubby-kins over the shimmering sea at dusk, surrounded by fireflies and exotic flowers, I thought of how I would love love love to see you just as happy as I am. So, I am sending you a little extra money so that you can get yourself a new outfit for your big party next week that you wrote me about. But you have to promise me you'll use it on something you want this time. This will just be a special gift from me to you, my darling baby sister.
Love love love,
More love,
Olga XOXOXOXOXO
She had enclosed a hundred bucks. Helga's first thought was to throw out the rest of the letter and buy herself a new bookshelf- her old one was coming apart. And she needed it for when she went to college in six months. Olga would never find out what it had been used for and Helga didn't often get clumps of money from out of nowhere often. It would happen when Bob or Merriam would throw some cash at her when they felt guilty but Helga would do the same with that money that she did with the rest of her profit- into a savings account she had been keeping up since she was a freshman.
Ever since she entered high school Helga knew it was time to start preparing to fly the coop. She couldn't get a real job until she was 16 but until then she did after-school projects and got paid under the table. The week after she turned 16 she took the job she had been waiting for over at Dolly's Restaurant. Sure, the skates hurt at first but it was the only place she could make a lot of dough, make her own hours, and keep her attitude. It also didn't hurt they let her feed herself. The less she had to cook for herself or eat anything her so-called mother made, the better. Best of all, she had the opportunity to see her friends, at least one of whom would come by almost every night.
Next weekend however, she had gotten a Friday off to go to Rhonda's Birthday Sware. Apparently it was going to be a big deal. Who knew turning 18 would make the world go round? It was their last year together as well so it felt as though every party would be their last. It didn't hurt that Rhonda- the wealthiest girl in school, really knew how to throw one.
Helga didn't quite remember telling Olga about this party (or that it was at all important to her,) but she was glad she had. A hundred bucks in twenties sat on her dresser next to the pink frilly letter her sister had written.
Helga grinned at the thought of a nice big cherry wood bookshelf sitting happily in her future apartment. But then those words popped up from the rest of the cursive handwriting, "promise me you'll use it on something you want".
She rolled her eyes. Helga really didn't want that much. Her desire to get out of the Pataki home had been her ironclad goal for so long anything else seemed like a waste of time. Unfortunately, at that moment, the image of Arnold rolled around in her brain. The picture of herself wandering into Rhonda's huge living room in a brand new outfit- cute enough to make him fall madly in love with her at first sight- displayed itself deliciously in her head.
She sighed as she rolled one of the bills around her fingers. Olga did make her promise. And she was trying to be nice. Why not let her do something right for a change? Helga deserved a bit of fun at someone else's expense at last. And really, it would be a pain to have to lug that huge bookshelf from here all the way to NYU…