I was woken a few hours later by possibly the most ugliest looking dog I'd ever seen.
Ew its licking my face.
"Gross, get off of me" I grumped throwing the covers back and trying to shift the "dog" off of me.
"Nice to see you're finally awake" my mother hissed startling me so much that I almost fell off of the bed.
"Huh? Oh well it was a long flight" I replied subtly reminding her of the little fact that she was not the one who was woken in the middle of the night to come and pick me up.
"Hmm yes well its time you got dressed dear, we have company arriving soon" her mother announced.
I tried my hardest not to roll my eyes. I kept reminding myself that if I wanted to attend Eden Hall with Fulton then I had to be nice to her.
"Mother?" I ask
She turned around "Yes dear"
"Um what is that?" I point to the thing on my bed. I'm assuming it's a dog but to be honest I'm not entirely sure.
"Oh that is Edward. He's one of those purebred dogs that don't grow fur. They are all the rage in Paris you know" my mother scooped up the hairless mini-beast from my bed and cuddled it.
Holy shit, my mother actually knows how to cuddle something!
"Right" I put on my best fake smile as I grab my robe ready to take a shower in my ensuite.
"Don't take too long Juliette" my mother used my full name.
God I hate it when she does that!
Okay, Eden Hall, Fulton, Eden Hall, Fulton, Eden Hall, Fulton.
That will become my mantra for the rest of the summer.
My mother left the room taking the rat with her.
I head straight for my bathroom feeling somewhat relieved that I could finally take a shower.
I let the hot water run over my tired, aching body as I realised that I still had muscle aches and pains from the 90 seconds I actually played during the entire tournament. Well I guess the only warm up I had was warming my butt on the bench.
I closed my eyes as I thought back to Fulton massaging my tensions away. Why couldn't he be here now?
I was interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Come on Juliette we don't have time for daydreaming" my mother was going all out on this one today.
I snapped out of it and replied that I would be out in a minute.
Eden Hall, Fulton, Eden Hall, Fulton.
I stuck my head under the stream of water and snatched up the bottle of shampoo not at the least bit surprised that my mother had replaced my old shampoo with one of the more expensive brands. Well if it smells good and does what its supposed to then I'm not really arguing.
I lather the rose smelling lotion into my hair laughing out loud when the white foam reminds me of Goldberg, Luis and Ken's stunt on Dwayne with the shaving cream and the feather.
"Juliette are you alright in there?" my mother asks me through the door. Oh well at least she's grown out of the habit of barging right in these days.
"Yeah I'm fine, just testing out the new shampoo" I replied knowing this would make her happy.
"Oh yes and do you like it? I got it specially formulated exclusive to the Gaffney family" my mother gushed not waiting for my response as to whether I liked it or not.
"Its great" I replied anyway rinsing the foam out of my hair.
I wasn't surprised to find the matching conditioner bottle sitting on the shelf.
Taking a giant handful of the smooth cream I dump it by the bucketful on my head.
I absolutely love conditioner; I love how it makes you hair feel all soft and smooth. Not that mine ever looks all soft and smooth but hey whatever gets you through the day right.
"Come on Juliette we don't want to be late" my mother banged on the door again cutting me off in yet another daydream about Fulton and his dark, gorgeous hair.
Damn her!
Okay, here we go again, Eden Hall, Fulton, Eden Hall, Fulton.
I rinsed the conditioner out and turned the taps off.
Grabbing a huge fluffy pink towel that had been left next to the shower door I covered myself up whilst grabbing a second pink towel for my hair. Why people actually thought that I like the colour pink was severely mistaken. I looked at myself in the half steamed mirror and decided I looked just like a giant stick of fairy floss.
Hmmm, how attractive!
I grabbed my robe and put it on using the towel to dry off any stray droplets of water.
Boy do I feel much better now.
I opened the door that leads back into my bedroom not at all surprised to find my mother had picked out the clothes that I was expected to wear to whatever this brunch thing was all about.
Okay, just do what she wants and you may have a shot at going to Eden Hall.
I cringed when I saw that she wanted me to wear a skirt and a blouse complete with stockings and heels.
Oh boy she's going to pay for this some day.
I retreated back into the bathroom deciding that I was going to have some say in my appearance by putting my hair back into a braid like I do for hockey games.
If there's one thing I really hate its having my hair in my face.
"Hey Julie hurry the fuck up! Mom's gonna chuck a mental" I heard my older brother John calling through the door.
"Nice to see you too. I'll be out in a minute" I replied through the door.
John was my mother's favourite child. Mostly because he plays up to her every request when she's looking. If she knew what he really does when she's not looking then she'd have a heart attack and die right on the spot.
Hmmm, maybe I should just tell her then!
No seriously as much as my mother annoys the shit out of me I guess she's still my mother and not having one would really kind of suck.
I hurriedly got dressed thankful enough that I didn't rip a hole in my stockings and cause any further grief.
Grabbing my shoes and running barefoot down the stairs to my mother's beloved 'lobby' I was greeted by the sight of both my parents (a rare sight to see them in the same room) and my brother waiting for me.
"You look lovely dear" my mother cast her approving eye over the attire she'd selected whilst I was in the shower.
I noticed Ryan behind my parents shaking his head.
I knew what he was thinking, that I was a sellout but he honestly didn't realise how much was at stake if I didn't play up to their idea of the perfect daughter.
I really, really wanted to go to Eden Hall next year.