"hello, gorgeous"
OR
a story in which Margot Gilbert becomes the black sheep of the family the day she turns seventeen and starts hearing the voice of an enslaved vampire in her head...and decides to investigate the supernatural world that her fam...
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[before episode 1.1]
December 31, 2008
PRETTY DRESSES and fake champagne were not enough to distract me from the chaos of Enzo's revelation that night.
I had no idea whether or not I even believed him, or even thought he was real, but the possibility of it was throwing me for a loop.
And yet I couldn't help but think about how all of the girls in my romance stories had their shocking revelations too that incited them into their world of magic and mystery. Maybe this too was my inciting incident—it did happen first on the day I turned seventeen, hadn't it?
Still, I knew I couldn't mention Enzo or our bizarre conversations to anyone else yet. Not until I was certain I wasn't losing my mind.
Would I ever really know though?
"Oh, Margot, you look so grown up!"
I smiled politely at Carol Lockwood, the Mayor's wife and another member of the Founder's Council with my parents.
"Thank you, Mrs. Lockwood," I said and dipped my head at her in greeting in the foyer of her house. "I'm so honored Elena and I were asked to help plan this event. Did the dessert trays turn out okay?"
Carol grinned at me the way one might stare at a cute puppy or a baby learning to walk. Even if it felt possibly a little demeaning, I reveled in her positive attention.
"You both did such a good job with the food," she gushed. "You and Elena will be wonderful additions to the Founder's Council one day."
"Ask her to be on it now."
I blinked hard at Enzo's voice suddenly in my ear and tried to brush it off by feigning something falling in my eye. "Oh, I'm sorry, please excuse me. I think I have an eyelash in my eye. Is your bathroom in the hall available for our use?"
"Oh, of course, Margot," she said. I smiled at her and then beelined around the other guests to the bathroom. As I walked away, I heard her say to my parents, "She's such a lovely girl."
Once I locked myself in the bathroom, I stared in the mirror with as much of a reprimanding look as I could muster and gripped the edge of the counter angrily.
"Look, we need to lay down some ground rules," I told him. "You can't just do things like that out of the blue."
"But if you join the council, you'll have access to more information."
I crossed my arms and stared down at the strange, rock-looking bar soap on the counter. I should probably wash my hands to keep up the ruse of using the bathroom, I realized.
"Like vampire information?" I picked up the bar of soap and tentatively smelled it. I caught hints of rose and lavender and something else that reminded me of cologne.
