Smoke and Mirrors

Chapter Two

 

“I am so sorry to wake you but I thought, might possibly be first day of San Antonio, I check school website. And I want to check?” Pearl crept into Trent’s bedroom. Or as of recently Carmen and Trent’s bedroom. Carmen hadn’t slept at home since she got back from Cyprus over a week ago.

“Fuck.” Trent said tearing off the covers. “Thanks Pearl.”

“Um I have called the chauffeur and he will be here soon so just go down to the street when you’re ready.” Pearl chattered.

“What’s the time?” Carmen got down on her knees and searched for her phone. She was forever losing her phone.

“Fuck. It’s 8:30.” Trent groaned ripping his uniform off the hangers and scrabbling with the leg holes in the trousers.

“We’re not late yet.” Carmen didn’t stress out unnecessarily pulled her chemically relaxed mop of jet black hair back into a pony tail. “Fuck. I don’t have my uniform.” Carmen snapped her head around to Trent.

“Oh… Um… Don’t worry; we can go by your place.” Trent assured her.

“No. We don’t need to.” Carmen poked around Trent’s wardrobe. “You’ve got lots of spare bits and pieces. We can find a uniform for me.” Carmen threw on Trent’s school shirt and tie. “I don’t think I can wear the trousers.” Carmen held them to her waist and they trailed far past her feet.

“I don’t think you can wear that shirt either.” Trent laughed as Carmen flapped her hands around that had been lost in the sleeves. “Mum will have some stuff.”

Carmen raced through the apartment behind Trent to the master bedroom. “Wow. Their bed is huge.” Carmen stopped. Her own mother wasn’t married and made do with a king sized double water bed. “They’re not coming home tonight right? We should sleep in there tonight.”

“Yes! I’ve always wanted to… Never mind.” Trent stopped himself. “We’re going to be so late for school.”

“Okay. What’s she got?” Carmen said as Trent pulled open the doors to the walk in wardrobe.

“So you want a grey skirt and a white shirt?” Trent pulled out the odd item, mostly dressy Valentino gowns.

“Yes.” Carmen said strutting down the wardrobe until she got to rows of grey, white and black. Somehow Carmen doubted that a classy middle-aged woman would own a grey school-girlish miniskirt.

“Well I think I found the white shirts.” Trent said in an ironic tone because there must have been an odd thirty assorted partially white shirts in a row.

“Can you find me one?” Carmen asked her voice muffled by the row of clothes she was deep into. “I think I’ll have to use the bottom of a skirted suit.” Mrs. Del Vechio didn’t keep truck loads of suits and shirts in the apartment wardrobe like her own mother did, instead mainly clothes for socializing.

“I think I can roll the waist band of this.” Carmen held out a Channel plain grey pencil skirt with a split up the back.

“And this shirt looks the same as our school one. Or these?” Trent held up a few white shirts.

“Anything will do.” Carmen shed Trent’s shirt and he handed her one. Carmen struggled with the buttons. “It won’t do up.”

“What my mother is like twice your size” Trent cocked an eyebrow.

“My boobs are too big.” Carmen screwed up her nose and they both laughed.

“They’re fine.” Trent assured her but ended up sounding stupid.