"So what do you think, curly or straight?" A girl, petite and chipper with the voice of a little angel seemed to squeak. Her fingers, idly playing with the curls in her hair as she eagerly awaited the answers of her schoolmates. The kids were ravenously eating their food; as opposed to the girls daintily touching it during lunch time inside the cool cafeteria. For some reason, the girls always glared at her whenever she spoke. She never understood why. Henry, the boy she liked most, speaking up first: "What does it matter? You can change it to either one with the snap of your fingers Larlene."
Not, the answer she was hoping for.
"Oh..." She whispered, looking down at her fresh olives and differently packed cheeses. Jeez, Mom, really? Even her food looked mocking with how 'high class' it looked. "I was just trying to make conversation..." She now poked an olive, watching it roll around the cheeses. Her small fingers trying to make a face with her food, rather than eat it. "What do you care anyways?" Another kid from the far end of the table spoke. "Yeah." An added in retort from Mary, who was sitting beside her as she played with her food. "I bet I could just knock your food off and your butlers would dash in to replace it." She giggled mischievously; gaining a sour look from Larlene.
"What...?" Mary defended herself, trying to look scared. Though she soon nudged her from the side, giggling and trying to make her laugh. "I'm just playing!" Larlene gave a weak smile and nodded, trying to force out a small laugh in return. Only to jump as soon as the bell rang for the next class. She then quickly scarfed down the food into her mouth, which caused more kids to laugh at her. Why did she worry so much? Actually, why did she pretend to be a normal kid like everyone else? It never worked.
Pauper Elementary school was always the same, you went in to do your school work and then you went home. Larlene Deniele didn't know why she tried to fit in, or why she even attended a poor, average school in the first place. She just wanted a friend like everyone else. Did it really matter, where she attended to, just to do that? She even stooped so low, to being peer pressured or laughed at, just so she was noticed or even looked at. Hey, anything to get some attention. When you're the daughter of Mr. Deniele's famous 'towel' company. Yes, a towel, company. You're bound to get some giggles or laughter here and there from something so silly. Not to mention their fight of beating Turkish towels. No matter how luxurious and soft the material, in the end you were still selling expensive towels to the higher-ups. Her father had deep pride in his work however and even her mother supported it. But it wasn't difficult to see, why they fought so hard and it was just for the money.
But there had to be more, right? It couldn't have been just the basic desire for money. She had a family, a mother and a father. They loved her! They gave her everything she ever wanted! If she pointed at something, she was given it with no questions asked. In fact, sometimes to see if they'd pay attention, she'd pretend she didn't want something when she did. So they'd get her something next to or close to it instead. If she wanted a bike, but looked towards a coffee pot. She'd get the coffee pot. 'Totally what she was going for.' Or so she'd pretend.
Well, she was a good girl. She always did well in school, despite the bullying. She was quite proud of her grades, actually, even if her parents just 'expected' it from her. Which was exactly why she wanted to visit the store again. She earned her rewards, instead of just gaining them when she wanted like everyone else thought she did. Yet what made her more excited about shopping, was just being with her parents. Although, that had been getting harder and harder lately. What with Mom always going out and having rich parties or if it was Dad, doing his job of maintaining the Deniele brand and keeping the towels in style and in stock.
As cliché as it sounded, being rich was hard. At least, when you just wanted some company.
But today, wasn't going to be like that at all. She'd make sure of it!
Asking the teacher repeatedly for the phone. She was eventually returned with a sigh and a mumble from the woman: "Why can't you just buy your own 'portable phone'." Before finally being given a stool to reach the corded phone on the wall. As rich as she was, even Larlene knew portable phones weren't possible! Silly woman, this wasn't the future. It was only the ninteen-hundreds. Not that she'd ever see portable phones being around during her life time! Or so she thought.
Her fingers curled around the phone's cord, waiting and praying with all her heart that she'd get to hear her Dad's voice. Sure enough, a strong, gruff voice pierced the phone. "Hello?" Larlene's eyes widened with joy, rocking her heels in place excitedly. She almost fell off the stool keeping her there. The teacher, having to stay behind her and lasso her arms around the child, so that she'd stay in place and not have an accident in the classroom. "Daddy! Did you miss me? How's work going? Can we go shopping?" Poor Mrs. Susan, she looked miffed.
A bit of a chuckle was heard on the other end, though it sounded a bit irritated. Larlene's hopes started dropping immediately. "Darling, I'm quite busy. You know that. Didn't Mr. Choto pick you up yet?" Mr. Choto was the Chinese butler she spent most of her time with at home. As much as she appreciated him, he was very quick with words and very rarely spoke his mind. She wanted more then just a quick 'yes' or 'no'. She wanted family. If she wanted Mr. Choto, she'd have called him and not her Daddy. In fact, her father forgot, that it was still just noon and lunch had ended only mere moments ago. Though she wished it was time for pick up. "Dad, school doesn't end until two pm, I told you this!" A pause. Then a small: "Oh." Came through the receiver, before the manager of Deniele Towels spoke again. "Well, then why are you calling?" As cold as the response was, Larlene expected it and just repeated herself. She had to do that a lot lately, so she was getting used to it.
"I said. Can. We. Go. Shopping." She stated more slowly, almost trying to glare at the phone. Sadly, her dainty voice didn't sound all that menacing and instead her father just sighed. "Sweetie, I really don't think I can-" Larlene gave a groan, kicking the wall. Which quickly gained a glare from the teacher: "You dent it, you buy it little lady. I'm sure your father won't have any problems paying the expenses for repair." She went small from that, which sadly Mr. Deniele heard the threat and gave a groan. "Ok, ok. Fine. Whatever you want. Three pm right?" It worked! She didn't know how it did, but it worked. "Two! Two pm. Pick me up instead of Mr. Choto Daddy. Please?" Another sigh and long pause... Until finally she heard the best news all day: "Two pm it is, Darling."
_
Her blond curls bounced in tune with her, as she happily held her Daddy's hand around the casual store. He felt ridiculed being in such a small town area yet Larlene insisted on this place in particular. He wasn't entirely sure on why. Mr. Deniele looked at his daughter with a brow raised as she began to head towards the floral area. "Darling, wouldn't a flower shop be better than a 'Wal-Mart'?" She gave a groan and pulled his hand, making him jerk down to her level. "No Dad! Where's the fun in that? There's many pretty flowers here. Just look at them all!" She held her hand out, dramatically showing off the snapdragons, the roses and even the seasonal venus flytrap. "This place is perfect." She gave a nod, almost making that final, before sweeping off towards the pretty flowers. "You should get one for Mommy!"
Well, that made him smile. Bingo! She had him right where she wanted him. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt. Your mother does love Lavender especially." He then stood up, casually walking around the tiny floral spot. Larlene gave a big, goofy grin before she walked down further; casually making conversation. "I was hoping I could start a garden." Mr. Deniele had his face against a bouquet of roses when she stated this, sniffing them with his eyes closed before his smile dropped and he turned to her, confused. "A garden?" He knew his wife and let's just say, Mrs. Deniele did not like getting her hands dirty. Larlene knew this but still. "... Darling you know your mother doesn't-"
"I'd love to see all the different kinds of fruits, vegetables and flowers we could make!" Her eyes, now darting to some poppies and cacti. This caused a small frown from the man, causing his brows to drop down. She was losing him... And from how quickly his soft expression changed, she felt herself grow anxiety ridden. "Larlene. That's enough. You know we're very busy." He began to sternly respond, raising a finger up at her. 'No. Why. Just give me this...' Her mind begged. "Why don't you and Mr. Choto make the garden together?" She stopped in her tracks, looking at her father slowly, the famous creator of Deniele Towels stopping in his own tracks in tune with hers.
"... Why can't you just give me what I want...?" The tone, almost dark. Demanding. Broody. She hated it when he did this. Pretending her feelings didn't matter. They wanted her happy, right?
Nervous and feeling guilty, the father avoided her gaze. Only to stop, when he saw the perfect distraction: Audrey II. He'd heard about the famous plant all around the world! Seymour Krelborn had found the most unique plant and there was rumors that the plant caused good luck to those who beheld it. Perhaps his daughter needed that! He quickly rushed over to the plant and picked it up, showing it to her. "Look Larlene! It's Audrey II! You remember this little guy, right?" Her eyes widened as she noticed the plant. Those were sold out last time she came into the store! They were so popular, you couldn't even hope to buy one back when they came out. People trampled over you just trying to look at the plant for crying out loud!
Still, why wasn't she surprised her father was trying to avoid the obvious? Maybe this was his only way of showing he cared. At least he noticed how much she wanted the plant when she saw it on T.V. Her little feet padded over quickly to grab the potted plant, gazing down at the small bulbous of a head the fern held. It was a fern, right? Eh, she'd look it up later in a book. "Why don't you name him or her yourself?" Mr. Deniele smiled, waiting for an answer.
Audrey II was an odd name, she had to admit. Wasn't Audrey usually a woman's name? She thought long and hard about it, staring rather intensely at the plant. And before Mr. Deniele got nervous again, Larlene spoke up with a smile. "How about... Avery?" Her father gave a sigh and nodded with a soft response. "It's perfect, Darling."