More Than This

two

Abegail never liked social parties. Well she wouldn't say never, she used to be fond of it when she was little seeing that a lot of attention was given to her. She used to loved the spotlight, the eyes of adoration and smiles that let her know that she was doing something right. She used to revel at the thought that these many people actually cared about her.

That was before though. Times when she lived obliviously in a lie that was her life. Times when she thought she was in a fairytale land and she's on cloud nine.

Time she couldn't even remember now.

Today is her birthday and she just turned 15 and to be honest, that's still a little too young for her to be opened up to the reality of her existence.

She was a pawn.

A pawn of society where she's expected to move the way the higher people want her to move. Her life is directed towards the unknown because she doesn't even have any control over what future she'll have. And that honestly scares her.

See, her parents loved her. She was their dime that not a billion dollars can ever replace. She grew up blissfully and loved but living in innocence has its cons: She wasn't aware of anything that's happening beyond her little bubble of happiness. She was too young for christ's sake. One day she was a child, running around on her field of rainbows, then all of a sudden she was 10 and she started getting a peek of what she's been missing.

The truth.

She started noticing that there were only a handful of people that were genuinely smiling and adoring her when she's in a room full of people. Those people were the maids and waiters and waitresses who's seen her grow since she was born and sometimes it was even her parents, but rarely were they in the same room as her anymore. She also started to be opened up to the cruelty that is 'gossiping'. How people around her whisper and seemingly judge the little flaws that she didn't even notice about herself before.

She then grew insecure and saw how people look at her with frowns marring their faces, talking about how her hair doesn't seem to be properly done, how her dress wasn't the most expensive they've seen and even how her favorite mismatched sneakers seem to rub off the wrong way on them.

At the age of 10 she realized that she was branded by her name and that she had to look and act the part to be sold. No longer was she living up the clouds, she had to change in order to hold up the name of her family, to not make a fool of everything that her parents worked so hard for. To be honest nobody asked her to, not even her own parents. But there are times when you just have to force yourself to be someone else for the purpose of becoming someone worthy of your title.

The daughter of Anthony Fitzgerald, the richest man in America.

She was brought out of her thoughts by a tap on her shoulder. She looked back and saw a boy, around her age carrying a medium-sized box with a royal blue ribbon on top.

"Happy 15th birthday Abegail." He greeted her with a boyish grin. He was tall but thin, green eyes shining with joy like he had no problem with the world for it was perfect in his eyes. His midnight hair was combed back neatly and it was shining from the amount of gel used to tame his curly hair.

She didn't know him, she hasn't even seen him before but she appreciated it because he was actually the only guest in the room full of people she didn't know that talked to her. That noticed her. That realized that this was supposed to be her day, a birthday at that and not a stupid business gathering.