Stone x Reader

Chapter 1: Not What You Expected

   "Now Y/N, your father and I have a reputation to uphold, and that depends not only on us, but on you as well. I expect you to keep that in mind."

"Yes mother." You responded like it was an answer to a test. Hearing those lectures about upholding your family's reputation, how you should sit, behave, think, etc., has taught you to answer quickly and correctly. Heaven forbid you don't respond immediately. That would just start the other lectures of you "Wasting your precious time of not thinking of the future!" As if you had a future.

    To cut to the chase, you're a rich kid. Well, more like "upper-middle class". At least that's what your father's critics liked to say. But anyone who could afford to ride in a decent carriage was considered rich these days.

   You looked out the window to see tall buildings pressed together like sardines. They all looked the same to you. Not that you were really paying attention. You just wanted to get out of that dang carriage and be alone in your new room. With the cramped suitcases and your suffocating parents, you were actually looking forward to get into your new house.
It's all because of that arrangement your dad made with some other nameless rich person. It was something along the lines of " I scam you out of your old house, but you still kind of benefit from it I guess."

And now you were here in the city of Ramshackle, with the carriage finally coming to a stop.

  The driver opened the door for all three of you struggling to get out. Once you break free, you look up to the place you'd be calling home. The neighborhood was decent enough in your eyes. Sure there were a few rats, and some unidentifiable substances in the streets; but your house was nice looking. As all "upper-middle class" houses should look like. The only thing that really concerned you was the poor driver hauling all of your belongings by himself.

As you turned to help him out, what you saw concerned you even more.

Social Gatherings.

A small herd of rich families were marching towards you three. Having no idea what to do, you quickly got your dad's attention. "Uh... father?" "Yes? What's the matt- Oh! Well, hello there!" He quickly dropped his bag onto the driver's huge pile of suitcases, and ran up to meet the strange welcoming committee. "Honey! Y/N! Come meet our new friends!" Cringing at his word choice, you made your way towards the group.

Looking at the faces in the small crowd, you saw snobby looking adults, with a few snobby looking kids your age. You prayed to whoever was listening that your parents wouldn't notice them. It wasn't a big secret that you were a nervous person. But that didn't stop your parents from making arranged hangouts to make "beneficial connections" with people who were incredibly fake.

A woman who looked like a Karen with a baby spoke first. "So nice to see new faces around here. My baby says it's nice to meet you." You used all of your willpower to not make a face at her. There would definitely be a lecture in store if you did. "And it's so nice to have such welcoming neighbors." your mother greeted. You zoned out immediately. You could already feel the dread of listening to a dragged out conversation. And when you thought it couldn't get worse, your worst fear came true.

  "Y/N, why don't you get to know the young people better? I'm sure you'll have much more exciting things to talk about." As the adults politely laughed, your head snapped up, and your stomach dropped to the floor. Of course she would do this. There was no avoiding it. "Uh- don't you need help with unpacking?!" You scrambled looking for any excuse to stay. But your mother prevailed. "Of course not! That driver can do it. Can't you driver?" "Uh, actually I could really use some help-"
"Thank you for understanding, we couldn't possibly unpack with visiting guests."

You gave a sympathetic look to the driver hoping it would help somehow. "Now run along! Don't have too much fun while you're out." She started to push you to the unwelcoming looks of the kids. You tried once again to think of any valid reason to get the heck out of here . "No mother- please I have to make sure my things are safe, and I don't even know the streets and-" "All the more reason to go out with your new friends!" Suddenly she whispered harshly in your ear, "Don't embarrass us. I am doing this for my- I mean for your own good. Remember, beneficial connections."

And with that, she left you in front of everyone's stabbing eyes. You felt like the whole world was watching your every move, waiting for you to mess up.

"So," a girl with blonde hair broke the silence. "You're the new rich kid on the block."
"Yeah... I guess so." Another pause. "Which one of you thought it was a good idea to move to this hellhole?" Hellhole?! This would be worse than you thought.
You were racing to think of something, "Oh, um my dad thought it'd be a good idea to reach out to old friends in this city. He said there's some good memories here." Obviously you didn't want them to know that your dad was dumb enough to be scammed out of his own house.

"Yeah, I guess the parties can get pretty wild here. So what's your name again?" She bought it! "It's Y/N. What's yours?" "Hilda, welcome to our little club." Your ears perked up on that. You were welcome? In a little club?! "Oh! Um, thank you!" Being pleasantly surprised, you didn't know what to do with yourself. Should you shake hands? No, that's too weird. Fist bump is WAY too forward. How about-
"You okay there?" Another rich kid interrupted your thoughts. "Huh? Oh. Yeah, sorry. I... I was just thinking." The group started whispering among themselves. ...Wait they were whispering??! Just as you started overthinking (again), Hilda grabbed everyone's attention. "Uh, that's alright. We should get going already." "Where are we going?" "You've never been here, right? We thought we'd give you a little tour. Show you all the best places in town!"

The group seemed to have a silent agreement with the plan. "Oh. Okay... sounds fun!" Despite your anxiety, you decided to give this a try. It's not like you had a choice anyway. With that answer, they all started to move towards the heart of the city, with you tagging along behind them.

You were having fun!... you think. You didn't get out much. All of those arranged hangouts were almost always at your house. But it was nice getting a layout of the city. And after a lot of twists and turns, the rich kids made a stop in a small market place. You looked around and noticed that it wasn't too busy. In fact it wasn't really busy at all. And you realized it was getting dark. How long did you stay out for?

Before you could finish that thought, the Queen Bee herself spoke. "Alright then! We've made it to one of the best stops in Ramshackle. I'm sure you feel pretty lucky to have such wonderful tour guides like us." Come to think of it, it wasn't really a tour. They were just walking, and you followed. And while you did have some small talk with a few of them, you were too busy worrying about first impressions to pay attention.

"Uh, yeah. Thanks. Hey um, quick question. Why is it kinda empty here? Isn't this one of the "best stops"?" "Oh you really don't know anything do you? Hon, it's empty because it's only reserved for the rich." "Oh... sorry. I guess that makes sense." To give her the benefit of the doubt, you didn't know anything about this city. Maybe it really was reserved for the rich. "Why don't we take a look around?" one of them suggested. "Great idea. Y/N come look at this jewelry!"

Hilda pushed you to a far off stall. But it looked empty. But you didn't want to look stupid, so you pretended you knew what she was talking about. After a minute of scanning the area for nonexistent jewelry, you turned back around.

"Hey, there's nothing-"

There was nothing. No one was around. Panic started to build up in your chest. You felt like crying for being so stupid and naïve. You really didn't know anything. "Oh no."