Solstice

Chapter Eleven

Sophie sat on her bed, hugging her knees to her chest tightly. She was too shocked to cry. There was no mark on her cheek but the sting was still there. She felt like a puppy that had been smacked for the first time which in a way she was. Her mother had never laid a hand on her, not even when she was at her worst in the terrible twos stage. She couldn't understand what she was doing wrong with Jamie, after all they were both consenting adults and as a rock star Jamie always had precautions about his person so it was safe. She wasn't going to make her mother's mistake. Sophie looked at the sheet music that was strewn about her bed and scowled. Why was she bothering, she thought. Ricky would probably not go for Jamie's suggestion of her song anyway. It was a stupid idea and one that she should never have entertained. In her frustration and anger towards her mother, she grabbed the papers and threw them onto the floor, screaming as she did so. She watched as the papers fluttered their way across the bed and onto their final resting place on the floor before putting her hands to her head and griping her hair. The cup of tea that she had made was now resting on her bedside table, untouched and stone cold with a slight layer of skin forming over the top. Sophie didn't care. She didn't want it now. All she wanted was to go back half an hour and not have her mother hit her.

"Sophie?" Victoria's soft and slightly broken voice came through from the other side of the door. "Darling are you in there?"

"Go away." Sophie said through gritted teeth as she pulled at her hair tighter.

"Please Sophie, I just want to talk." Victoria said again. "I'm sorry my darling."

"I told you to go away." Sophie snapped loudly. "Just listen to me for once!"

"Sophie I am not leaving until you come out here and talk to me." Victoria said almost in desperation. Sophie screamed again as she jumped off the bed and pulled the door open almost taking it off the hinges.

"What part of bugger off don't you understand mother?" she snapped as she stood almost toe to toe with her mother.

"I just want to talk." Victoria choked. "And to apologise."

"Apology not accepted." Sophie answered folding her arms. "In fact I will never forgive you for what has happened today."

"Sophie..." Victoria said, her face draining of colour and her voice cracking with each syllable. "You are my only child and I love you. I didn't mean to do what I did; I just got frustrated and upset. Never for one moment of one day have I ever regretted you being in my life."

"I don't want to hear it." Sophie interrupted. "I just want you to leave me alone. And leaving me alone begins now."

"Sophie..." Victoria began finally letting a single tear fall from her cheek.

"I said now." Sophie interrupted, her voice cold and angry and her stare unwavering. Victoria bit her lip in a bid to stop herself sobbing uncontrollably. She straightened herself up and nodded before turning and walking away. Sophie closed her eyes and leaned up against the door frame when she felt her legs almost give way underneath her. In that five minute exchange with her mother, she felt as though she had used every single ounce of energy she had left. She ran her hand through her un-brushed hair and turned to walk inside her bedroom before loud voices coming from the reception area stopped her. She recognised the first one instantly as being her mother but the second was a little harder to identify. When she finally tuned her ear into whom it was, Sophie decided to have a little word with the other person in the rather loud conversation.

"Why are you having a go at me?" Victoria screamed as Nathan stood a good four inches above her staring her down.

"Because your daughter led my guitarist astray. Err go you are responsible!" he screamed. "Keep your brazen hussy of a daughter away from my band."