Plaything Ch. 01

Chapter One: Prologue

Note: All characters are over 18

You awake to the sound of your scroll's alarm waking you from your slumber like a hammer crashing down on your skull. It sends a splitting sound through your ear that could scare a corpse from its eternal slumber. You can definitely feel your heart rate rising as you look at the infernal device. If you could destroy it, you would, but father would be unhappy at you destroying something so expensive, even if it was pocket change to someone of your... ilk. Of course, he'd be unhappy because it took him ten hours to figure out how to install tracking software on the phone to know where you are at all times.

His incessant nagging you to learn business is grating on you. There's only so much that you could do with ignoring him and listening to music. You glance to the closet, wondering if you should do something with the contents inside, but you happen to remember that it's a class day. Even if you were three weeks ahead, on top of being in advanced courses to graduate early, because you were an overachiever just to get 'daddy dearest' off your back, you still had to go. It was absolutely stupid, but your hands are tied in the sense.

At that notion, you spare one last glance at the closet, willing yourself not to open it and attempt to hide yourself away within its contents or simply run altogether. Your sister sure wouldn't let you. She may not exactly be a tattletale, but she certainly wouldn't let you skip classes when you were in your senior year... at least not until the end.

You sigh. Senior year; a year that meant you could finally decide your own future. The thought made you nervous, so you shelve it normally. You were, and still are, by all means an overachiever and it was something you could never quite go beyond mixed feelings. On the one hand, studying gave you a slight sense of accomplishment, even if it was mostly enforced by father; on the other hand, you hate doing it because you really have no social life.

You decide to entertain this notion later. For right now, you need to shower and get ready. You walk into your room's bathroom, thanking whatever god may exist in the world that you had a family that could afford personal bathrooms. You knew it was a luxury and the privacy it afforded was tremendous. You strip yourself of your nightgown, running your fingers through your hair.

Most people didn't have white hair. You wonder if it was because you were blessed by an angel like mother said. Of course father had white hair... though, he wasn't a young man, certainly not far from his sixties. You turn the shower on hot, your stiff shoulders encouraging this action. You hadn't slept in the most comfortable of ways and your shoulders were screaming at you for it. You would try to massage them to comfort them and see if they relaxed their pinching feeling.

The water soon became hot, steam flowing up from the faucet. You step inside, sighing in relief as you just let it run down onto your back, moving your hair so it can hit your shoulders. The millions of tiny hot needles feel like the hand of god on your shoulders as you work them a little to remove the stiffness trapped inside. It feels glorious, like it's melting away. You wish you could stay in here for hours. It's not like you couldn't afford the water bill. But, class was starting sooner than it would be for you to feel satisfied. You ran your fingers through your hair applying your shampoo and later the conditioner.

Once that pleasantry was completed, you towel off and dress yourself. You decide the white dress was best. It also went with those stockings you had bought and told no one about. They were very nice and you want to try them on. You took one of the pairs, sliding them up your now dried legs, enjoying the feel of the fabric that gently, yet tightly hug your skin. You grab your underwear, making sure to avoid the pair of lacy fabric that you'd always wanted to try, but never felt quite bold enough to do it. That, you could save for later. It was only classes after all.

You made sure to grab your padded bra this time. You aren't ashamed of your chest size, but it wouldn't hurt to look a little more... well rounded than you usually do. After that decision was made, the dress follows suit. You like how it was a little shorter, but not enough so some pervert could get a view you weren't interested in giving to them.

Your shoes for today were the platform ones, the boots with platform heels to be specific. You quite like this pair because it makes you feel both taller and slightly sexier.

You tie your hair in a ponytail, offsetting it as usual; it used to be you did it to piss off father, but you also realized that offsetting it made it great to drape over your shoulder when you felt in the mood. It wasn't much, but it did have its advantages.

With your attire all prepared, you head out the door, sparing one last look at the closet, sighing and deciding you'd be back after class anyway.

You hate having to be driven to school, and now college, but father insisted on it and you certainly weren't going to argue with it. You were twenty years old and could drive yourself. It wasn't the hardest thing, or the end of the world to do so. Of course, the 'image' of the family was what was most important.

Once the driver had pulled up to the building and you thanked him, you exited. There were some students who stared, but most were used to you by now. You ignore all of them and head to your class, sitting down at the lecture for Professor Port. You could pass the class easily, but you always found him so boring. It was hard to pay attention when the man would go off on a tangent every other sentence. But, you suppose since you were so far ahead, it was irrelevant anyway.

He began to call roll, which you ignore for the most part. You were always near the end and you need to only be able to pick out the names around yours.

"Ruby Rose!" The portly professor calls out. You glance at her seat, not seeing her there. Your thoughts turn to her, the dolt who insisted on constantly munching on cookies or talking about some weapon she had discovered or drew. Of course, her sister was a much worse deal, the blonde incessantly made herself known, hovered around her sister like the moon, and was quite a few other things that made you grimace uncontrollably.

"Ruby Rose!" The professor calls out again. You know it's pointless; she wasn't going to answer, not being there. You calmly wait for your turn. You're not that far down the list from Ruby after all.

"Ruby's usually not a class skipper," You hear the oaf of a blonde remark to her neighbor, the tall redhead you couldn't deny having had a crush on in younger years; not that you'd tell her of course. "I didn't even see her in the house today."

"Maybe she got lost again," The redhead replies. You had to roll your eyes at that remark. Ruby was--is--a dolt, but she certainly didn't get lost going to a place more than once. She had an interesting way of remembering directions, but in the time you've known her, she never got lost more than once. Besides, it's not like this was a place she didn't go often. Of course, your opinion would never be asked for; they always figured you for the snooty type to not deal with peasants, something you didn't care if someone like Sarah figured you for. Grace on the other hand...

"Doubt it," The blonde mutters.

"She could have gone to a friend's house," The redhead audibly shrugs.

"She's pretty good about telling me though," Sarah sighs. "I hope she's okay. She wasn't at home last night either."

You had to roll your eyes again. The only reason Ruby bothered to tell her anything was because she would tear the town up looking for her; the truth was, Ruby, if given the chance, would take off and not say a word to her overprotective oaf of a sister. Of course, Sarah never did understand the meaning of boundaries, something she crossed with Ruby almost daily. Ruby was eighteen now, two years your junior, and could make her own damn decisions. Normally you didn't get involved, but for Ruby, you had always considered butting in.

"You wanna go over to Blake's later?" You hear the blonde ask after a moment. At this, your ears perk up; Blake was quite an interesting person. The two of you share similar interests, but didn't often speak to each other. Why she would hang out with the blonde oaf, you had no clue; unless...

"What?" Grace asks. "Why Blake's? Isn't she a bit of a loner?"

"Yeah, but I think you'd enjoy it. She's got some fun ideas. Plus, it's not like you're doing anything else."

At this, you could feel for the attractive redhead. You didn't know much about her, but her life before this certainly wouldn't make you envious; attracted, yes, but not envious. You can relate. In fact, it's probably the reason that you and her get along so well.

"Are you sure?" You hear Grace ask.

"Of course," Sarah was most likely giving her trademark grin behind your back. You also know that Blake probably wouldn't feel inclined to humor the redhead. Sure, Blake had a thing for shy girls, but Grace wasn't exactly her type. Of course, Blake was also unpredictable, so you could just assume that anything was possible.

"Miss Xiao Long and Miss Nikos!" The professor calls out, snapping you to attention. You had forgotten that roll call was still going on, so invested in your eavesdropping you were. "If you're finished with your little conversation, perhaps you'd like to tell us what the subject of today's lesson is."

"Depends on if you started telling us of some war story," It was at this moment that you notice Sarah's feet are on her desk. Her biker's boots were slicked and shiny, something she seemed to do every day. It was almost as if her entire outfit for the day screamed that she rode a motorcycle. Her normal attitude was obnoxious enough, but that engine of hers just screamed attention whore.

"That smart remark just earned you a detention." You bite your bottom lip to hide the laugh that was trying to emerge. You didn't hate the blonde idiot, but you certainly enjoy her ego being checked and knocked down a peg.

The class goes on without much other fanfare, between you trying to keep yourself awake so as to not join Sarah in detention and Port not actually going over any actual lesson material. Of course, you suppose this was a good thing. It was that much longer you could afford to slack a bit. Your next period was lunch, as you only have three classes today and one is a free period. You certainly don't mind having a period where you can just go home. You could use a break anyway. You feel as if you deserve it after all.

You head to the lunchroom to begin your lunch. You're curious as to what the cafeteria has, though you've always just preferred to go find some restaurant and eat there. It's much easier to find what you want that way. You decide today, though, that you want to see what they have. Perhaps it's pizza today. College food can't be worse than school food, can it?

You look up to see that it actually is pizza. You're curious as to how the cafeteria can handle one of your favorite dishes, your hopes not high. However, upon arriving at the place where you can retrieve the food, you see they went the easy way out and just ordered a bunch of pizzas. On the bright side, they're from your favorite pizza place, which is definitely a plus in your book. You take three pieces, deciding to be a bit selfish this time, and find yourself a seat.

There were no empty seats where you would have privacy, not really wanting to engage with the people you call classmates, but there was a seat near Jon, Ren, and Nora, three people you've known for a bit. Ren was nice enough and was usually pretty quiet, and Jon was kind of an idiot, but usually meant well... of course, he was a bigger klutz than Ruby was, sometimes managing to trip over his own feet. You could, with confidence, say you'd never seen Ruby do that unless she was wearing heels or doing something that required moving the feet in odd ways like the stupid dancing assignment the art teacher had managed to convince an entire school board was necessary when you were both back in high school.

Nora, on the other hand, was easily the wildest person you'd ever met, someone with no boundaries who treasured sloths and didn't know the meaning of the phrase 'inside voice'. You were sure she would have been locked in a sort of asylum had it not been for Ren reining her in. Of course, the three of them combined were nowhere near as annoying as the blonde oaf known as Sarah, but you'd make due.

"Anyone seen Ruby?" Jon asks the group, looking around. "She was supposed to help me with my assignment. Professor Oobleck is real strict and she knows how to do the assignment.

"I haven't." Ren shakes his head, Nora blurting out the same with her mouth full. You instinctively covered your food to prevent chunks of her food from interacting with it.

"Haven't you seen her Lauren?" Jon asks you, getting your attention. "You had the last class with her."

"She wasn't in class." You reply with a shrug.

"It's not like her to ditch," Ren says, with that quiet, thoughtful look that you did think makes him look more attractive; not that you have any attraction to him, but you can see what Nora does. "She may be sick. But, Sarah mentioned that she didn't know where she was either."

Again, you shrug, simply stating that all you knew was that she wasn't in class. Everyone continues eating, with Nora being told multiple times by Ren to slow down and stop talking with her mouth full.

"Perhaps you should tape it closed." Jon gives a laugh. You'd always thought his laugh was annoying, but you really didn't want to hurt his feelings. He couldn't help that after all. Besides, you had to feel sorry for him, having as many sisters as he did, and not desiring to insult him further. You could barely handle one, the nosy brat sometimes sticking her nose in your business more than enough times for you wish that you could get even... there was always the future.

"Nah, Sarah needs it more." Nora chirps, a fact you could most certainly agree with. You had often fantasized about Sarah coming to class with her mouth so tightly taped that she couldn't make more sound than a muffled whimper. Of course, that was usually when you were so fed up with her puns you'd just as soon punch her lights out. Hell, even Grace, who had the patience of a saint got fed up with the blonde sometimes. Of course, you also suspected the blonde oaf was offering her something that made her a little more patient. Considering how she acted when she wasn't telling jokes, perhaps it was something more in the physical department...

You quickly push that thought away; you really didn't want to think of Sarah having sex. While in terms of physicality, she was certainly not ugly, you really didn't want to imagine her saying some stupid puns while having sex with Grace. Not that you hadn't imagined Grace having sex before... with you. But, that was when you were younger and you've moved past her. You're certainly not jealous of Sarah, at least not for the fact that Grace seems close with her. You could admit that you were a bit jealous of her body, but Ruby would always say she didn't care, that she would still be friends.

You continue to eat your food, the bell sounding for the end of lunch well before you were ready to say you wanted to go to class. You sigh slightly sadly, finishing your pizza and placing your plate in the trash. You would certainly consider leaving, if not for the fact that Oobleck, your next professor, was one of the strictest teachers in the college. While Port had his moments, you could begrudgingly admit his attitude was because he enjoyed teaching and wanted his students to learn. Even his longwinded stories were learning experiences about strategies he had used in the war he fought in so long ago.

You make your way to his class, Jon following you. He shared the class with you, after all. Of course, you never offered to help him. You honestly thought he just needed to actually work at it. Ruby, on the other hand, would always jump in, almost to the point of doing the work for him. If you didn't know Jon, you'd say he was taking advantage of her, but he honestly just didn't understand Oobleck's teaching... if it weren't for the fact that you studied for as long as you did on some nights, you probably wouldn't either if you were being honest.

The professor enters the classroom, drinking from a thermos you were sure was filled with coffee. Half of you hoped it wasn't, but the other half hoped it was so that you could imagine him as a normal teacher.

Oobleck starts his lesson, a newer student calling him professor and launching him into another tirade about being called 'doctor'. Frankly, you don't care if he had one. You are well aware of how he wrote up students who called him that, but the disciplinarian always ignored it. After all, it wasn't disrespect if he was such a jerk about it.

His class goes rather smoothly, somehow. You're surprised it did go smoothly. But, you were finished and you were going to head home.

Your last period was a free period and you have better things to do than waste your time sitting in a classroom for two hours with nothing worthwhile to do. You had already told the driver of your plan earlier this morning. Right on schedule, the car pulls up and you get in. Klein always did like his punctuality. You sit down in the car, sighing out of boredom.

"Seems your day was rather dull." He remarks. You roll your eyes; it clearly was or else you wouldn't have sighed. But, you could never stay mad at Klein; he was probably the only person you could truly trust that lived within the walls of your home. You would tell him secrets you wouldn't even trust yourself with and he would take them to his grave. His personality seemed to flip on a dime sometimes, which used to scare you as a child, but you were used to it now. But, he had learned to keep that part of himself under control; scaring your brother enough times had caused your father to 'insist' on it.

"Well, perhaps you'd love to know that while you were gone I took the liberty of cleaning out your room and organizing it." Klein changes the subject. Your eyes widened as you looked over to him, causing him to chuckle.

"I didn't touch anything personal." He remarks, relief settling over you in a way you hope isn't visible. "And, I left your closet alone as well. I know you've got things in there that are private. But, you keep leaving your clothes on the floor and your bed unmade. A clean house is a happy house."

You know there is some truth to that statement; though, it makes you wonder how dirty your house actually was, all things considering.

The ride isn't long, but it might as well have been. You leave the car as soon as it parked in the garage, waving goodbye to Klein as you head upstairs to your room. You were lucky; neither your mother nor father was home at the moment, so you had your privacy.

You shut your door, locking it as you walk over to your closet. Your hands tremble slightly as you grab the knob and open it. You're happy to see the sight you expected to see there.

Inside, just as you had left her yesterday, is Ruby Rose, her bonds still holding her in the same position she'd been left in.

And, this is the prologue/first chapter of a new, experimental story I'm trying. I've never written in second person, so this will be a fun ride. Let me know how I'm doing or how I can improve, as well as what you think of the story. I'm sorry to those of you who were expecting me to update My Sister's Keeper, but that story is on a bit of a hiatus so that I can come up with new ideas. I don't want it to feel forced.