I trudged up to the Davenport Estate. I got up to the gate and it scanned me, then beeped, not allowing me to enter. I grabbed my phone and dialed Chase. It rang a few times before he picked up.

"Hello?" I heard Chase groan, his voice deeper than usual.

"Hey Chase, it's Clara, could you open your gate, it won't let me in,"

"Is it 6 already?!"

"Yep."

"I'll just get Eddy to let you in, just sit on the couch in the main area, I'll be up in 5,"

"Eddy?"

"Our home security system,"

"Thanks, see you soon"

I hung up and cursed under my breath "Damn these rich people,"

The gate opened and I walked up to the door. I tried the handle, to my surprise, it didn't scan me, just let me in. I walked in and just stood there for a moment, in awe. So this is what it's like to be apart of the top 1%. Damn rich bastards.

I sat on the gray couch and started to get out my laptop when I heard air brakes. I looked over and saw Chase walking out from the direction of the noise. He even has a fucking elevator to his room! Damn these rich kids! But I plastered on a smile and bid him good morning.

"Hey, can I have the WiFi password?!" I asked.

"Yeah, sure." He typed in the password and I was connected.

"So how do you want to do this?! Should we figure out what we want to research and divide up the topics?!"

"Yeah, that should work. How many topics should I do?!"

I felt slight rage growing; "What exactly is that supposed to mean?!"

"Well you don't do anything, so I figured that I would just do most of the project, and you would do like a quarter. "

"I'm sorry you feel that way, but we will be splitting up the work evenly. Now, what topics would you like to research." I spat at him in an annoyed voice. How dare he! He has no idea the amount of work I do just to stay here in Mission Creek! The guilt, sorrow, and loneliness I feel now. And he has the gall to call me a slacking, ungrateful, mooch!

So we came up with a list and divided up the topics. We started a document on Google docs so that we would both always have access to the research.

About an hour later, I heard two pairs of footsteps coming down the stairs. I saw Leo come in first, and start pouring himself a bowl of cereal. The man who followed chilled me to my very core.

He had skin as pale as snow, with hair as black as night. A few wrinkles here and there, with deep black eyes, revealing that this man was without a soul. He went straight for the coffee.

"Who's that, " I asked Chase, unintentionally lacing my voice with malice. Chase looked at me funny, "that is Mr. Davenport, the-

But I didn't hear any further. I was in a building, all windows, walls, and doors made of pure glass. All of it held strangely colored smoke. I was coughing, whilst trying to ignore the pungent smell in the air, caused by the chemicals. I rounded a corner, and there lay, my mother, dead. Her long gray hair, with streaks of blond, still left in it was oddly disheveled. She was pale and lifeless. I went to hold her hand, to beg her to come back to me, but as soon as my fingers grazed her palm, I flinched away. I never thought that someone could be so cold. It was as if ice had taken over her veins, her skin, like the snow when it first starts to harden, and her color, polluted with frost's blue touch.

With hot tears, running down my face, I moved my hand to her wrist. I felt for a pulse. There was no releasing pressure to reassure me. I started chanting her name, as if just trying to I wake her from a nap.

'MOM!' I wailed.

I was brought back into reality by a hand being held in front of my face. I looked up to see the money addict waiting for the greeting gesture.

"Hi sir," I spoke softly, not meeting him in the eye. He, satisfied with the handshake and greeting, went to go get some breakfast.

I couldn't really focus after that. If Davenport hadn't of wanted that dumb experiment completed that night and had given my mother the chance to view the project again, her body wouldn't be currently decaying. I don't even know what was so fucking important that it had to cost the lives of some of his employees.

"Are you okay?" Came Chase's voice.

"Of course, and you?! I mean you've been analyzing all of my notes like crazy..." I plastered on a smile.

"Well in my defense, you don't exactly have the best track record..."

"I'm not incapable of doing the work, I just choose not to,"

"Well, that's pretty stupid of you. You can't expect to succeed without hard work. No one's that good..."

"Says Mr. Perfect, the smartest guy on the planet,"

Chase grinned. "Thanks, it isn't often I am recognized for the truly amazing person I am..." No hint of sarcasm could be found in his voice.

"I see Mr. Perfect has a bit of an ego about him,"

"Well considering that I am perfect at everything, there's nothing that can deflate it."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night Chase,"

"Yeah, yeah... I'm just going to grab a bite, then we should get to school," Chase said, resigning from our battle of wits.

"I'll pack up then," I told him. This boy, despite his faults, he managed to make me smile when I needed it most. He nodded then walked over to the kitchen. I started packing. I felt completely dead on my feet. With no sleep, and seeing the man responsible for my mother's death, I felt ready to sleep for a thousand years. And it wasn't even eight o'clock.

We started the trek down the hill. I walked with Bree because Chase and Leo were debating over something.

"So Bree, I've never really talked to you... tell me a bit about yourself..." I started awkwardly.

The girls' eyes practically lit up and she started speaking so fast, I could've sworn she had some sort of ability that granted her super speed.

"Bree, slow down a bit, could you?! You're speaking a mile a minute."

"Sorry, I like cliche high school movies, girl things and... Ethan... He's just so perfect, like omg!"

"Bree. If you say that you also are into music, I may just have to marry you." The girl in question looked appalled.

"It's just an expression Bree, I don't really want to marry you... How long were you guys home schooled again?!"

"We only started going to public school in February..."

"Are you going to have enough credits to complete the grade?!"

"Yeah, Mr. Davenport arranged it so that we could get double the credits for the courses we are taking right now, and any credits we are short by, we'll just take the courses in the summer..."

"Cool. Have you seen HSM?! Or Clueless?! Or Mean Girls?! They are my ultimate guilty pleasure movies!"

"I've seen all of the HSM movies, but I've never heard of Clueless or Mean Girls... We should totally have a slumber party and just binge watch... like everything!"

"OMG, just yes, yes, yes! I'll text you my work schedule as soon as I get it. I have to warn you, I work pretty much every weekend... But we have to!"

"Awesome, and we can do makeovers, talk about boys and do nails an-"

"Girls, I'm sure that whatever you are talking about is important, but, I am tired of all of your girly chatter, let's talk about... anything else!" Adam exclaimed, cutting off Bree.

"Why don't you just talk to Chase and Leo?!"

"Because they are boring, talking about single-celled organisms, a how important they are to the planet."

Bree and I looked at each other, rolled our eyes, then turned to each other wide-eyed, laughed and high-fived. Pure twinning moment. We arrived at school and went off to classes.

As soon as I sat down in Mr. House's AP Calculus Class, I threw my head down on the desk and fell right asleep. The same happened in Mrs. Royson's class. Needless to say, by the time Home Economics rolled around, Chase was fuming at me.

"Clearly, you have a brain, why do you waste it?! I've seen your notes, they're impeccable, yet today all you've done is sleep! Do you care at all about your grades!"

"Well, maybe I would care more if I wasn't constantly being ridiculed for the best job I can do!"

"It's disrespectful, the teachers put a lot of hard work into their lesson plans, and you choose to sleep while they are trying to educate you to prepare you for later education!"

"Oh please, Mr. House just has us read through the lesson in the textbook, and as much as I love Mrs. Royson she just gave us a project block!"

"Which thanks by the way for completely blowing off and leaving me to do the project work all by myself! You know if you want to be treated like a good student, act like one!"

"You know what" I growled, and grabbed an egg and cracked it on Chase's head. "There now you look like the ignorant egghead that you are!"

Chase's face was priceless, he looked like a diva who had just stepped in dog shit. He then reached for the milk and splashed it on my clothes. I was so fucking done. I then grabbed the molasses and dumped it on Chase's head. He retaliated by pelting me with frozen blueberries. Next, I grabbed the flour and used it to decorate Chase. He started hitting me with clumps of brown sugar, thrown just so that they would explode upon impact. I continued my previous flour assault, exchanging the flour out for icing sugar. Chase, however, finished the fight by pouring our muffin mix over me, effectively making me a unbaked muffin.

"Enough!" Came a stern voice from behind. Ms. Winston came over to where Chase and I had our war. "What the devil were you two thinking! Go to the office, NOW!"

Uh-Oh.

Another one down!

1758 words not counting this...

UPDATING:

I will not update on a schedule. I will only update when I have finished a chapter and I feel good about the quality and the speed of the plot. Because I'm a student, I have to prioritize school first. I will try to update often... But it is nowhere near the top of my priority list. Thanks for your cooperation

❤XxxMeghanxxX❤