One HAPPY NEW YEAR
"Juliette honey. Why don't you wear your hair back like I told you. It makes you look so much prettier." Juliette's stepmother said toJuliette as she sat in front of the large oval mirror in her bedroom.
"I like it this way Marilyn. That's why." she said, tenseness in her voice and body language.
Her stepmother then proceeded to pull her hair back as she wanted it, ignoring Juliette's oppinions. "Well it looks better this way and you're going to wear it this way."
"Leave my hair alone. Dad's calling you. Now go downstairs." Juliette said through clenched teeth.
"Alright then. If you're so set against it. I'm just trying to make you look nicer. There will be plenty of nice young men downstairs soon who will surely want to meet you, and I just wanted you to look presentable." she said in an "You'll see" tone. She then walked out and closed the door behind her.
Juliette checked herself in the mirror one last time, making sure her now curly/wavy blonde hair was in place, and walked out the door of her bedroom.
She was wearing a "scandalous" (in those days) mid-thigh length powder blue dress that was a tube top with a princess cut on the front. It hugged her from her hips down and flowed at the top looking like a blowse and skirt more than a dress.
She could already hear the murmer of her dad's business friends and her stepmother's society gals chatting up the latest stocks and gossips. She proceeded down the stairs, getting her first glimpse of the crowd that'd shown up. She saw her stepmother notice her and give a look of discontentment that she hadn't done her hair the way she'd wanted it to be done. She saw her father, a thick chocolate brown cigar hanging from his lips, and he smiled and waved at his princess. She smiled back and then spotted her best friend lingering by the stairs. She squealed and ran to her, giving her a big hug. "How've you been? I've missed you so much. Marilyn's been a living terror. I had no idea you were going to be here!" she yelled, giving her friend another hug.
"Yea. I just got back from Paris this morning actually and your stepmom called my mom and here I am. I wanted to surprise you. Are you surprised?" she squealed in reply.
"Completely! Oh my God! I'm so glad you're here Sophie." she said slinging her arm around her friend's shoulders.
"I missed ya too girl. So have you checked out the hunks here tonight? Man." Sophie said, eyeing the boys who'd shown up for the gala. "This is going to be the best New Year's celebration ever!"
"Let's go find us some boys to make out with when the time rolls around for the countdown. Our parents'll be furious!" Juliette said.
"Yea!" Sophie yelled and they both began to paruse the crowd of boys, looking for the two lucky boys.
"Oh my God. Look Soph. There's Arthur Cunningham's son. He's sure grown up this year. He's..."
"Hot! Rich and Mine." Sophie replied and separated from her friend to try and whoo Mr. Cunningham Jr.
Juliette began to look around the room, searching for a boy worthy of her time. She then felt a hand on the small of her back and someone standing next to her. She turned her head to see Francis Sullivan. They'd been extremely good friends since they were young children. She squealed, "Francis! Oh my God!" and jumped up, throwing her arms around his neck and being swung around. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be skiing in the alps. I didn't see your father. Where is he?" she said with a big smile, beginning to look for Mr. Sullivan Sr., but was stopped by Francis's voice.
"He's not here. I left the alps early. We got into an argument and I came back here and word was that your stepmother was having a New Year's party and her parties are alway... unforgettable. So... here I am." he said, kissing her cheek, lingering momentarily before he was interrupted.
"Hey Jules! Did you find your midnight make out buddy yet? ...Oh it's you." Sophie siad as she came to Juliette's side with Cunningham Jr. at her side. She never liked Francis. He had rank over her and she didn't like that factor in hers and Juliette's relationship.
"Hello Sohpia." he siad in a very formal tone, his thick australian accent vanished as he became more tense and aware of his tone.
Sophia rolled her eyes and said, "I'll be outside with Jr. Come find me when you've been detached from the imbosil."
"She's a nice one isn't she?" he siad sarcastically and smiling as Juliette laughed.
"Yeah she's a spitfire. But she is one of my very best friends reguardless." she said, smiling as her eyes followed Sophie and Jr. out the door.
"So what's this talk about a midnight make out buddy?" he asked, a smirk on his face.
"You know what she's talking about. I always kiss someone at the end of the countdown to ring in the new year. Man Sulli. You've been gone a while but not that long." she said, laughing.
"I have been gone a long time haven't I?" he said, looking off. "Not that you'd notice with that snobby aristocrat wannabe around you all the time."
"Who?" Juliette asked confusedly. "Edward? Are you crazy? We were just friends. He wanted to be more. But...there's no way. Have you ever gone to a stable with him? He drones for hours about his new horses. He's new money. Mother wouldn't have let mebe withhim anyways. Daddy sure liked him for some reason though. I think he ended up buying his father out of his business. I haven't seen him lately now that I think about it."
This caused Francis to laugh slightly. Juliette placed her hands on both sides of Sulli's face and proceeded to say, "You're the only boy in my life that matters. You know that don't you Sulli? You're my one and only."
Francis began to say, "You wanta..." before Juliette's stepmother showed up.
"Juliette dear, Come with me please." she said firmly, grabbing her arm and attempting to pull her away from Francis.
"What the Hell Marilyn? Get off me." Juliette said, yanking her arm away and grabbing Francis'shand, pulling him out the door.
"Hello Mrs. Williams." Francis said politely before being yanked out the door behind Juliette. "Jules. What are you doing? What was your stepmother so upset about?" He then stopped himself when he noticed that Juliette hadn't ranted yet as she usually did when Marilyn behaved the way she always did. He stopped as she stood in the darkest corner of her front porch with her back to him. "Jules? Are you ok?" he said in a low tone, putting his hands on the sides of her arms, attempting to comfort her.
She turned around to face him. The moonlight reflected off of her tears gleaming on her now rosy cheeks.
"Don't cry Jules. It's ok." he said, wiping the tears away and pulling her into a caring embrace, her head on his chest.
"I can't do it anymore Sulli. I can't pretend that that whore hasn't done anything. I can't believe my father even married her in the first place. She's such a bitch. How can he not see that she doesn't love him. She's only here because she wants his money.Why cant he see that?" she said, clenching the sides of his coat in anger.
"You know you can always come live with me Jules. I've always left that option for you. We even have an extra bedroom especially for you that's been made up. I decorated it myself." he said in a proud and comforting tone, kissing the top of her head.
"Sulli...I can't leave my dad with that witch. You know that. There's no telling what that witch'd do if I wasn't around."
Francis's face of comfort was replaced with a face of sadness.
"Hey. You know I would. And one day I'll come and visit for a bit. K? Promise." she said, once again placing her hands on the sides of his face.
"Jules. You know how much I care about you. I just want you to be happy."
"I know Sulli. Really, I do. Honest. I'll take you up on that offer soon. I promise." she said reassuringly.
Francis didn't responded. He just looked down into Juliette's deep blue moonlit pools instead of eyes. He put a hand to Juliette's cheek and caressed it gently. "Juliette, there's something I wanted to tell..." he began.
Juliette put her finger to his lips. "Don't. You'll ruin it." she siad.
Francis then bent down and hovered momentarily in front of her lips.
She could tell he wasn't sure, so she finished the movement, and their lips met in a loving embrace. When they parted, Francis began, "Do you want to take me up on that offer? My parents won't be home for another couple of weeks and the help's been dismissed for the weekend."
Juliette simply nodded and smiled as they walked off to the stables, hand in hand, to get their horses ready to ride to his house.
When they got to his house, Jack took Juliette upstairs, leading her to her bedroom. Jack placed his hands over her eyes and opened the door. "Ok Look." he said, removing his hands and allowing her to see her room.
"Oh. Sulli. It's beautiful. You shouldn't have done all this." she siad as she looked around. She touched the deep mahogany funiture and the painting of her and Francis when they were younger and the one next to it of when they were older. "You were so cute when you were little. What happened?" she asked turning around and immitating his smirk.
"Pretty good." he siad laughingand closing the gap between the two of them. He began to kiss her once more. This time it was more passionate. "Alright Mr. Playboy. You've gotten me here. What's the next part of your plan?" she siad laughing as she teased him resisting his kiss.
He picked her up bridal style and threw her onto the bed, him following close behind. "This." he said, pinning her arms down to the bed with his and kissing her again. This time his tongue entered her mouth. They explored each other's mouths before parting momentarily.
"Francis wait." Juliette said. "I don't know if this is the right thing to do right now. I mean you and me... together? I don't want our friendship to suffer because we got romantic. You're my dearest friend and I don't want to ruin that." she said, pushing him off of her and sitting up.
"You know if anything ever happened to us, I'd still be here for you whenever you needed me. I swear to you."
"I know Sulli. It's not that I don't trust you or anything either. It's just... I'm only 15 years old. and you're 16. I'm not sure if I'm ready for the kind of thing I can tell you're thinking of at this particular moment in time."
"I'm not gonna push you to do anything you don't want to. You know I'd never do that. But can we just take it slow. I don't care what we do romantically. But I do want to be your boyfriend. If you'll let me." he said, wrapping his arms around her waist.
"When did this interest appear? This seems sudden for you." she asked, turning to face him.
He laughed slightly and replied, "I've always loved you Jules. This isn't sudden." he said, sitting up and facing her fully.
"You love me?" she asked, her voice softening as he came closer.
"Yes Jules. I do." he said, kissing her lovingly once more.
She parted to reply, "I... I love you too Sulli. I do want to be your girlfriend. But I want to take it slow. Ok? I don't want to mess up what we've got."
Francis nodded and smiled before looking at his watch. "Happy new year." he said, kissing her softly.
She smiled and responded, "Happy new year." and kissed him as well. "We should be getting back soon. My dad'll notice I'm not there and worry. And that whore of a woman will be a total witch the rest of the week."
"Ok. I'll go get the horses ready. You stay here. I'll be right back." he said before kissing her cheek and walking out.
Juliette smiled and began looking around the room once more. She noticed another sketch drawing in a drawer. It was of her now. She was standing next to her mare Princess, and the sunrays seemed to be shining through her hair. The picture was almost dreamlike. She could swear she'd been there before; like de-jah-vou. "Where did you draw this from?" she asked, hearing him come back into the room.
He came closer and touched her back affectioinately. "What are you talking about?" he asked, taking the picture from her to observe it. "Oh... this thing's old. I did it last summer at Cape Cod. Remember that trip? I drew this when I was sitting on the fence and you were feeding Princess. You looked so beautiful standing in the sunlight like that." he siad in awe.
"I did look pretty good that day didn't I?" she said giggling.
"Yes, you did. Now let's go get you set to go home to wonderful stepmommy." he said smirking and starting to walk out the room.
Juliette grabbed his hand and stopped him, causing him to turn around to face her. "I love the picture. Thank you."
He kissed her and then replied, "You're welcome. Anything for you Jules. Now let's go before your absence is noticed." he said, holding her hand and walking her to the horses out front.
As they were nearly to her house, that was clearly still full of people, Juliette said, "I absolutely love Manhattan at night. It's such a contradiction of it during the daytime. I think it's amazing." she said.
"Yea. It's rarely peaceful like this during the day." he replied.
They arrived at her house, and entered into the main room of the house. "I wonder where Sophie is." she siad to herself. Her comment was then followed by a firm hand on her upper arm. She was jerked around to see Marilyn. "Where the Hell have you been all night young lady? Out with Mr. Sullivan I see." she said. "You little slut. Get your ass upstairs now. I know what you did with him. I watched the two of you ride off together. I know girls like you who have been privelaged their whole life and have daddy wrapped around their finger. Well let me tell you you little skank, that won't be happening much longer! You'll be sent off if I have anything to say about it. I.." she siad, yanking Juliette half-way up the staircase, Francis searching for Mr. Williams, when Juliette ripped her arm from Marilyn's grasp and stopped in the middle of the staircase.
"Get your hands off me you evil witch!" she screamed, pushing her against the wall and attempting to run down the stairs, but Marilyn got another hand on her.
"You wait right there. How dare you talk to me that way. I am..."
"NOT MY MOTHER YOU WHORE. You're nothing but a golddigger and a liar and witch who desparately needs to get out of our lives! You'll never measure up to my mother in my dad's heart and you're nowhere near as good a person as her. You're a terrible human being. You played my dad to get into his will and all you want is his money when he dies. Well hate to break it to you hoebag...but I'm getting it all and you have nothing to say about it. You can't touch me when he dies. I'll miss him but I'll be the happiest girl on earth when you get the Hell out of my life!" Juliette screamed, once more attempting to get away.
"Hush your voice dear, before people hear you. I know you don't mean those things so just go up to your room and we'll talk about it." Marilyn said in a tense and embarassed tone.
"You're not listening. I HATE YOU YOU EVIL WHORE! You have no class. You have no morals. And you'll never match up to my mother! Get the Hell away from me you witch!" she screamed before finally getting away from Marilyn and running out the front door. "I have never been so pissed in my entire life! How dare she treat me that way! Why won't dad ever take my side? What the Hell did I do to deserve such a witch in my life trying to pretend to be a mother. What a JOKE!" Juliette yelled when she got to the stables. "I hate her so much!" she yelled, slamming her fist into the emty horse stall. "I can't believe dad doesn't see. Why doesn't he see? She's not mom. She'll run him til he's broke and then leave him and break his heart all over again. Why won't he just look?" she said, sliding to the ground, tears falling from her eyes.
I know this is a pretty intense first chapter, but I think I've set up a fairly good start so far. So please R&R and tell me what you think about the story line ok? Hope ya'll enjoyed. I'll update soon.