Caramel | A Short Story Collection ✓

21. Female Success (Part One)

All Zara wants is to find someone to write an essay on. But the author of her story has other ideas... such as throwing in cameos from all her other characters. (Part One)

(A/N - hi guys! just so you know, this is the last story in this collection. so just to make things a bit more fun, i'm going to be throwing in cameos and references to characters from my twenty other stories. it's kind of long, so i'm splitting it into two parts. this part contains references to/cameos from 12 characters from other stories. if you pick up on them all, i'll be really impressed. this doesn't mean you need to read my other stories to enjoy this, as zara still has a story of her own to tell. part two is coming tomorrow, which will officially complete this book. thanks to everyone who has read this far. enjoy!)

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It had always been just me and Mom.

I didn't resent that fact. Even though Mom was a high powered businesswoman who certainly didn't let me keep her back in terms of career, I loved her deeply. She wasn't exactly the softest person, and definitely not the kind you could trick or cajole, but she was always there when I needed her. She always said that being a mother mellowed her out a bit. She admitted to having done stupid things in her life, things she was ashamed of. I had a feeling my father had a lot to do with that.

I'd never met my father, and I didn't exactly harbour a secret longing to. Mom always averted her eyes when she talked about him, a blush rising in her cheeks. I suppose she felt guilty about things, mainly because my dad had been her boss and she'd had a long-time affair with him, even whilst his wife was pregnant. But in my opinion, it was entirely his fault. He was the one with the wife and kids, and he was the one who fired my mother as soon as he discovered she was pregnant with me. Sure, Mom had sued successfully, landing us with a heap of money and child support. But just because he helped paid for my living didn't mean I wanted anything to do with him. He could easily afford it, after all. And his stupid wife had still stood by him, so it wasn't like he suffered any real consequences.

Not that Mom thought I was a consequence. I was more of a 'surprise', but not an entirely unwelcome one. Even though I was sixteen now, and undeniably sort of cranky.

So Mom had always valued her career, and now I was old enough to look out for myself, she felt better about devoting longer stretches of time to it. Such as the weekend, which she was going to be spending with a prestigious law firm who'd recently hired her to help them with some financial aspects.

"Are you sure you and Tina will be alright spending the weekend by yourselves?" Mom called into the living room, where my best friend was currently absorbed in trying to win the Grand Prix in a Mario Kart game.

I rolled my eyes. "Relax, Mom. We're sixteen, remember? What'd you think's gonna happen at this sleepover, we're gonna get sucked into hell?"

"Ha ha, very funny." Mom said dryly, reaching for her coat. "Your wit amazes me." Just as she checked her shiny gold watch, the doorbell rang, and she smiled. "Perfect timing."

I bounced across to the door just ahead of her to get it, because I was admittedly curious about the law firm. Apparently it was owned by the daughter of a legendary defence attorney. The daughter had quickly made a name for herself, despite claims that she was just a spoiled rich girl who had no brains in her pretty little head. If Mom has been called in to sort through financial matters, there must be some kind of trouble, as after leaving my dad's company she'd really made a name for herself as a problem fixer, but I couldn't help admiring the daughter. She felt like a kind of role model to young girls.