One could say I had a perfect life. Loving parents, a big house and family, money, and so on. For being only 14 years old, I could understand that I was much better off than many of the other kids who surrounded me. Mum and Dad always did their best to ingrain it into all seven of us that we all deserved to be treated equally. Those of the lower class were just as valuable to society as we were. Even if we were from a well-known family: the Hawthornes. The richest and most respected family in all of New York. In their minds, we were all the same and everyone deserved to be treated equally.
If that’s so, then why was I treated differently?
When I was around the other kids my age, they shunned me. None of them could stand being around me for longer than a few minutes. While my siblings were able to bond with everyone, I wasn’t. I would have to sit there and watch as both my siblings and parents could talk for hours upon hours to their friends. They could enjoy doing things together. Meanwhile, I could barely make a singular friend. I could never understand why and it greatly upset me.
Maybe it was the fact I looked nothing like my family. Every single one of my siblings had my father’s straight, light brown hair and my mother’s green eyes. What did I have? Platinum blond hair that curled all over the place. The only thing I had in common was my emerald green eyes, which we all had. Only, of course, mine had to be a little more extreme and were almost reptilian looking at times. Nobody in my family even had blonde hair! If we all stood together, I stuck out like a sore thumb. People assumed I was adopted, prompting them to either turn their nose in the air or shower me with too much affection. Sometimes it really made me wonder if there was some unfaithfulness on Mum’s side, even when she insisted the blonde hair came from her grandparents. Mum knew how much this whole thing upset me and always did her best to reassure me that she loved how unique I was. Deep down I feared she felt the same as the others, though.
Maybe it was the fact I had a bit of a temper. My siblings were calm and sweet, while I? Hah. I was not. Most of the time anyway. A lot of things upset me, which would lead to temper tantrums. Ones that I didn’t even mean to have most of the time. Things just got to me. But really, was it so hard to spend a bit of time with me and learn what not to say? Or learn a better way to approach it around me? That's what friends did, right? It wasn’t like I was that difficult to understand. Once someone could get around the things that set me off, I really wasn’t that difficult! If anyone ever crossed into friend territory, I’d be the best I could be for them. Loyal, supportive, trustworthy… but who am I kidding? Nobody was going to see past my mood swings.
* * * * *
We were over at Lacy’s place, one of Mum’s many friends. Being a social butterfly, she spent a lot of time with her friends, which meant we had to come with her. My older siblings Reginald, William, and Alexander were lucky and got to go do other things while the rest of us were stuck with Mum. Not that my other siblings minded. They got along great with the six kids this woman had. The minute we got there, my older twin sisters Alma and Ada ran off with the older kids while my younger sister ran off with the younger kids. I simply stood there, looking for a way to entertain myself while still attached to my mother’s leg. Until I found something, I wasn’t letting go.
“Beatrice, dear.” Mum chuckled, patting my head. “You can’t glue yourself to my leg forever. Why don’t you go play with the other kids?”
“They don’t like me,” I mumbled, gripping onto her dress tighter.
“I’m sure that’s not true.”
“Surely you don’t want to chat with us old ladies,” Lacy said with a small laugh. “We don’t have anything interesting to talk about.”
“That’s fine.” I nodded. “I won’t talk.”
“Alright, how about this,” Mum said, kneeling down to get to knee level. “You go and talk to the others for a bit. Ten minutes minimum. If things aren’t working out or if you aren’t enjoying yourself, you can come back to us and listen to us old ladies.”
“Just ten minutes?”
“Well, preferably longer, but yes. Ten minutes.”
“...Okay.” I nodded, letting go of her dress and going down the hallway to join the group of older kids. If Alma and Ada were bonding with them fine, then surely I could, right?
“Hi,” I said quietly as I entered the room. My twin sisters smiled at me and motioned me to come in, but the other kids didn’t look happy about my presence. Quietly, I went over to them and sat down with them. In front of all of us, there was a sort of game that involved writing. Almost like one of those mind games.
“Here, you go!” Alma smiled, handing a piece of paper over so I could join. Ada gave a quick rundown of how it worked, and then we gave it a try. Even though I wasn’t much of a mind game lover, I gave it my best shot. It frustrated me a bit when I took a little longer than everyone else, but thankfully, I held down my frustration.
“What did you get?” Ada asked with a smile.
“Uh…” I was trying too hard to bite my tongue from the frustration already. Speaking would only risk me losing control, so instead, I showed them my paper with my answer written on it. Everyone leaned over with interest to read it.
“You got the same answer I did-” Alma said with a smile before getting abruptly cut off by one of the other kids.
“Can you not spell?” She asked with a lot of smugness on her face. “Really?”
“Huh?” I frowned, looking at what I wrote. The handwriting wasn’t great, but I thought I had spelled everything right!
“You spelled everything wrong!” She cackled. “How stupid are you?”
My face began burned red from both embarrassment and anger.
“Beatrice is smart.” Ada frowned. “She’s just got problems with spelling sometimes. We wouldn’t make fun of you for bad spelling, so don’t make fun of her.”
“Right.” Another girl rolled her eyes. “She’s in the wrong group then. This is for smart kids. Not dunces.”
“Yeah, well, at least I’m not a nerd!” I raised my voice and stood up angrily. My face was burning red and I was shaking. Biting my tongue only worked for so long, and I could no longer do it around these entitled brats.
“At least I’m not a hotheaded idiot.” One glared back. “We’ve seen how you are. Is it really any surprise that nobody wants to be your friend?”
“I- well-”
“Exactly.”
Not knowing what to say, I turned around and stormed right out of there. I stopped at the wall outside of the room and stood there for a moment to process things. From outside the room, I could hear Lacy’s kids scoff and make crude remarks. Ada and Alma said very little about it. Within a few minutes, they were all playing their stupid little game as if nothing had happened. As if I meant nothing to them.
Pissed off and still shaken up, I ran to my mother who was talking to Lacy in the kitchen. I attached myself to her leg and cried.
“Beatrice?” Mum asked with a concerned look. “Are you alright?”
“They all think I’m stupid just because I can’t spell!” I sobbed, soaking her dress with more of my tears.
“Aw, sweetie.” Mum sighed, picking me up and putting me on her lap where she could give me a hug. “You’re not stupid.”
“I’ll have a talk with them.” Lacy sighed. “I’ll be right back.”
She got up and headed to where my twin sisters were so she could have a talk with them. Meanwhile, Mum comforted me to try and get me to calm down. It wasn’t uncommon she had to do this. Whenever things fell apart, she was the only person I would ever go to, and the only person who was capable of calming down my moods. Sometimes Dad could calm them down, but Mum always had the better chance.
“What are we going to do with you?” She sighed with a small laugh. “You won’t always be able to come to me, you know.”
“I don’t have anyone else…” I mumbled. “Nobody likes me.”
“I wouldn’t say that. There’s always someone out there. You just haven’t found them yet!”
“And I probably never will…”
“Well… How about if we got you a pet?” Mum suggested. “Maybe that’s an easier place to start.”
“A pet?”
“Mhm! Pets are always quite lovable!”
Immediately, my mood switched. My eyes lit up and I smiled broadly. What kid didn’t want a pet?
“Tell you what,” Mum said, wiping the remaining tears off my cheeks. “If you’re good, then I’ll get you whatever pet you want for Christmas.”
“Really??”
“Yes. But you have to do all your chores and try not to have too many tantrums. Most importantly, you have to promise you’ll look after it.”
I nodded over and over. “Yes! Yes! I can do that!!”
“Alright.” She chuckled at my enthusiasm. “You better be on your best behavior then, girlie!”
“I will!”
Comments (0)
See all