Wealthy Secrets

Passion Fruit

After the whole episode yesterday I was thankful to have the day off from school. No, I didn't have to lie and say I'm sick neither do I have enough money to bribe my lecturers into giving me a day off (psh.. of course I do), it's because I'm a part-time student. Even though my parents and I had a discussion about hiring other people to conduct my business for me I just couldn't allow that to happen. For my entire life I've had people pampering me and going the extra mile to make sure that I'm not stressing about anything. This was one time I actually wanted to work on something myself and be able to proudly call it my own.

I always had a love for fashion and makeup from the time I was 14. I wasn't just in love with dressing up or looking pretty but I was in love with the art behind it all. I think my love for the art of fashion began when I attended my first fashion show in Paris. Fashion shows always opened my eyes to the other side of fashion, the side that isn't about impressing others but expressing yourself and your talent. Not everyone has the ability to express themselves through the use of fabric and still make it look beautiful. As soon as I became inspired by various designers all over the world, I began to sketch my own designs. I knew that I wanted to be aligned with the stars of fashion. Although my parents didn't necessarily see designing as the ideal "business path", they saw that I had a plan that was driven by passion. One piece of advice from my parents that I always kept close was that you can't succeed without passion. Your passion inspires you, motivates you and makes you happy all at once. Most people around me never understood why I was so obsessed with the idea of "passion", that's why a lot of people found my Arabic tattoo of the word "passion" irrelevant or stupid. I came to realize that it's because the people that surround me are not passionate about their life goal, they're just doing it to become rich or to satisfy their parents. Cameron and Madison are the prime examples of this.

Cameron wants to be a surgeon after he finishes college. I can see the look on your face right now; even I had that look on my face. Cameron? A surgeon? He barely even cares about helping an old lady cross the road, why would he think he has the capacity to care about saving someone's life? I'm not trash talking him; it's the cold hard truth. The only reason why Cameron even had the thought of wanting to be a surgeon was because both of his parents have careers in the medical field. His father is a plastic surgeon and his mother is a dermatologist. His father is one of the most popular plastic surgeons, working with a ton of A-List celebs. Cameron even offered to buy me a new pair of boobs as a gift a while ago; I wasn't sure if I should've been offended or be excited that my boyfriend can afford to buy me a $5,000 gift. Anyway, his mother also has close ties with some celebrities and wealthy people because of her job. It wasn't until Cameron told me how much money she makes that I knew how much rich people invested in their skin.

Madison on the other hand wants to be a lawyer. Anyone who is a close to her like I am would know how much she actually hates law and the amount of time she spends sleeping in most of the classes. But why would she want to be a lawyer? Because of her parents. And no, she isn't wasting any of her parent's money because they can afford the fees for 10 other teenagers to attend law school. Full time. Both of her parents are lawyers who own law firms in different countries, have their own law school and spend lots of their money in granting scholarships for aspiring lawyers. Madison has the privilege to take advantage of these things but she just doesn't care enough to work for it, she's comfortable knowing that she'll get the job just because of her parents.

My point here is that these people don't actual have the passion to work for what they want - or what their parents want. I'm the only one who actually tried to step away from the shadow of parents by not becoming a realtor. That stuff seems boring as hell anyways. I rather have a job that I genuinely enjoy and have fun than being miserable just to become rich. Cameron has a passion for cars, he's only 19 and has owned 8 cars from the time he was 16. He loves watching car racing, mechanics fixing cars and learning the specifics of the car that he's looking to buy. Only if his parents allowed him to develop his own passion he could probably take that path instead. Madison has always had a passion for helping animals and volunteer work, but her parents never saw veterinary work as a legitimate job. My point here is that teenagers are often trapped in this box and are not allowed to explore their passions because of the aspirations of their parents. Parents must realize that their dreams aren't their children's dreams. Even though teenagers or other people with "normal lives" are often envious of the lives my friends and I have, thinking that we shouldn't have anything to complain about, this is one struggle that we constantly face.

The scary thing about it is that some of us "rich kids" don't even realize that we're trapped. We just get caught up in the lavish life and constantly proving that we're better than everyone else. The materialistic environment that we are constantly engulfed in acts as a blind fold to the reality of it all. Our parent's have all worked hard and wants the best for us, and they see the "best" as the exact path that they took to get to where they are at in fear that we'll fail if we take another route. I'm sure that I've successfully demolished this idea by starting my own brand and having a net worth of 1.2 million at 18 years old without copying the career choice of my parents.

The most annoying part of all of this is that no one will ever hear my story. No one will ever hear my actual thoughts because I have to pretend to be this rich air head girl who cares about herself and the expensive clothes that she wears. No one will hear my point of view because no one wants to hear it. What does a rich girl have to complain about anyway? Her imaginary eating disorder? The fact that her wardrobe needs updating because Louis Vuitton has a new line? The hot pink on her nails that isn't exactly hot pink? Exactly.

As these thoughts continue to flow in my mind I look down at my sketch pad and realize that I've been tentatively sketching another piece of work for my upcoming collection. I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to name this collection until now, "Empty Riches". Seems quite simplistic at face-value but I know my fellow designer friends will come with their bizarre interpretations of it to show the true message of my work.

My phone rings and I accept the call without even looking at the ID.

"Hello, London speaking." I said in an upbeat tone.

"Hey Lon.. It's Cam, are we still heading out for dinner tonight?" A quite familiar voice asked in a raspy tone.

I look at the time on my Michael Kors watch and realized I only have an hour to get ready.

"Yea, sure, I was just finishing up some of my pieces. I'll see you in an hour" I replied in a more natural voice.

Call ended.

I breathe in and look down at the name of my collection. Empty riches. I'm sure feeling quite empty right now. It felt like I was only going to the dinner with Cameron because I had to go, but I also wanted to make sure that he knows my mood swings aren't entirely based on him. I begin to write a little quote for the tag of the clothes of my collection which said:

"No matter what the world says, stay true to you. We often forget this and continue to live in the shadows of others."

I dropped the pen down on the sheet and look around my room trying to decide what outfit I'm going to wear tonight. I guess I was making some sort of noise being that it led to Marina coming up to my room to check up on me.

"Hey Chica, going somewhere?" She asked in with her exotic accent.

"Yea, just going to dinner with Cameron." I said with a forced smile.

"Oooooo, have fun!" She returned a smile before leaving my room.

"Have fun". How can I have fun when I'm not even sure if I'm living the life I want to anymore?

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