A/N: I’ve
had this story idea for a while now but I never did anything with it.
Feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Rating: PG
Genre: Romance
Created: January
29/05
Great Pretenders
“Kalina, I don’t want to
hear another word. You’re going and that’s final. We’ve catered to your wishes
in the past, the least you can do is do the same for us.” The tall woman
speaking took a deep breath, as if bracing herself to say something that she knew
would be argued against. “You’re eighteen years old and it’s about time that
you introduced yourself to the society you were born into. All I ask is for you
to try this once and I won’t bother you about it again. It’s only one weekend
out of your life.”
She watched the girl
across from her and by the soft sigh and slight droop of the girl’s shoulders,
the woman knew she had won. She didn’t make her delight at this fact obvious
knowing her daughter would rebel at any sign of it and feeling indulgent now that
she had won offered Kalina a peace offering. “I know it will be strange for
you, considering you won’t know anyone, although again that is your doing, and
you won’t have your father or I there to introduce you, so I will call the
Attwater house and ask if it will be allowable for you to bring a friend.
Perhaps Elle would like to accompany you?”
Kalina glanced at her
mother and was annoyed to see how pleased she was with herself. Kalina could
have continued her rebellion but knew that in the end she still would have
lost. Her parents had been very lenient with her, she knew that. Her family was
one of the most affluent ones in the city, having the biggest bookstore chain
in the city, Byron Books.
Kalina’s father Patrick
Byron was one of those success stories, where the kid from humble beginnings,
works hard through school, lands himself a scholarship to one of the top
universities and right out of school becomes one of the biggest successes in
the community.
Because of her father’s
background, Kalina had grown up very grounded. They lived in a good
neighbourhood but not where most of the other crème de la societe resided.
She’d never gone to a private school, instead had been to schools where she
rubbed shoulders with children of different backgrounds and races. This had led
her to have a very different view of high society.
Even though her parents,
who were obligated to, went out to society events she chose not to partake, not
wanting anything to do with the people. She preferred to hang out with her decidedly
middle class friends, who never treated her as if she was better than they were
or different in someway. To them she was just Kalina Byron, whose parents just happened
to be incredibly wealthy.
“I’ll call Elle and ask
her,” Kalina finally answered, when she realized that her mother was still
watching her.
Her mother nodded and
gave her a little smile. “I’ll give Jessica Attwater a ring and make sure she’s
added to the list.” With that said she walked out of Kalina’s room and closed
the door behind her.
As soon as she heard the
click of the door, Kalina dived for the phone and called her best friend.
“Hel—Mark stop it, you
little piss!”
Kalina grinned she
listened to what sounded like her best friend scuffling with her little
brother.
“Okay, sorry. Kali?” Elle
asked, sounding out of breath.
Kalina laughed. “Yeah,
I’m here. What did Mark do this time?”
Elle made a noise that
sounded suspiciously like a growl. “I found him flipping through my old diary
and I had that thing boxed away too.”
“Being an only child does
have its upsides, I guess.”
“The kid’s all right when
he’s not being annoying, unfortunately he’s almost always annoying. So what’s
up?”
Kalina remembered why she
had called and blurted out the whole story.
“So, basically you have
to go to this high society house party, smooze a little with a couple rich kids
and laze around beside a pool for three days. You have a hard life, Kali,” Elle
said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
“Oh come on, Elle. You
know that stuff isn’t me. It doesn’t matter anyway, I’m going if only to get my
parents off my back forever about stuff like this.”
“I know I was just trying
to give you the possibility that it could be fun. Maybe it won’t be as bad as
you think it will be.”
“Yeah right. I’ve been
avoiding society parties like this all my life. These people are nothing like
me and to top it all off, they’re complete strangers, they don’t know me and I
really don’t want them to know me. If only I could avoid meeting them. If only
I could…” Kalina’s voice drifted off as a sudden idea sparked in her mind. She
mulled it over in her head until it became the sweet taste of hope. Could it be
done?
“Kalina?” Elle sounded
worried at the silence on the other end of the phone.
“I’m going to the
Attwater’s house party to celebrate their son’s 21st birthday. And
so are you … as me.
“I think I must be losing
my hearing, I could have sworn I heard you say that I was going to this party
too but as you.”
“E, hear me out. I can’t
do this alone so I want you to come with me whether you do this for me or not
but I’m begging you to give this a chance. If I go as Kalina Byron, heir to the
Byron Books empire, I’ll have to be sociable and you know I’m not good with
that stuff. I don’t think I’d last and I know I definitely wouldn’t have any
fun. If I go as friend to Kalina Byron I’ll be able to sink into the
background.”
“And what would make you
think that I’d want to be in the spotlight?” Elle asked.
“You’re way better at it
than I am. It could be fun, Elle. Not only would we be pulling the wool over
the eyes of these high society snobs but we’d also be having a nice little mini
vacation. And I promise that anytime you feel even a little uncomfortable, we’d
leave.”
Kalina hoped she had made
a good case of it. Elle loved intrigue and was an incredible best friend. She
might feel sorry enough for Kalina to do it. And Kalina wasn’t lying when she
said she wasn’t good at being a social butterfly. Being in the spotlight made
her nervous and uncomfortable.
“You promise that anytime
I decide that I don’t want to do it anymore, we’ll leave?” Elle finally asked.
Kalina grinned broadly,
unable to contain her glee. “Anytime you want, I swear.”
“I have one more question
before I stupidly agree to this thing. How exactly are we going to pull this
thing off? You’re friends parents are going to know that I’m not you.”
Kalina shook her head before realizing that her friend couldn’t see her. “No,
they won’t. I never go anywhere with my parents, so most of their friends
wouldn’t know me if they saw me on a street. This party is catering to my age
group and social standing, which as you know are people I don’t hang out with
so they’re definitely not going to know the difference. As for the Attwaters,
they’re just business acquaintances and not close friends to my parents but
since they do business with my father they always send an invitation out when
they have a big gala or party. I think my mom wants me to go with some kind of
cupid intention of hooking me up with the Attwaters’ son but she’s dreaming if
she thinks that’s ever gonna happen.”
“I guess it’s pretty
foolproof then,” Elle said thoughtfully. “And it would be an adventure …
Okay, I’ll give it a shot. But you so owe me.”
Kalina giggled. “You’re
awesome. I love you. And how about I start repaying that debt with a little
visit to the mall? My mother slipped me the gold card as a bribe to get me to
go to the party before she hinted that my wardrobe was sadly lacking in style.
I guess we could update my wardrobe a little so you can outshine everyone
there.”
Elle laughed. “Outshine?
Doubtful.” Elle walked to her mirror and made a face. She smiled at the image
and as she continued to look at it, taking in the blue of her eyes and her
light brown hair, a thought came to her. “There is a slight problem that you
haven’t thought of.”
“What?”
“If you hadn’t noticed
Kal, I don’t look like your parents.”
“Shit,” Kalina muttered.
She had completely overlooked the obvious. “Okay, that can be fixed. People
will see what you want them to see. We’ll just need to darken your hair and get
you some contacts. It looks like I’ll probably have to do the same, since I
have the dark colouring of my parents.”
“Whoa, whoa. I didn’t
say anything about hair dye and fake eyes.”
“It’s too late to back
out now, E. You’ve already given me your promise and I know you won’t go
against it now that you’ve made it. The hair dye will be temporary as will the
contacts besides I’ll have to do it too so I can look less like my parents, so
it’s not like you’ll be alone.” Kalina fingered the dark, wavy hair she’d never
dyed in her life and wondered if all this was even worth it.
But the thought of
smoozing with socialites and pretending to be like them was already making her
palms sweat and the thought of punking them made her giddy, and she knew that
if she had to go to this thing, she’d do it her way.
“So are you still in?”
she asked her best friend on the other end of the phone.
Elle groaned knowing that
she’d already given her word and just like Kalina said, she wouldn’t go back on
it. “I said I would, so yeah I am.” And so she was, she just hoped she wouldn’t
regret it.
…