"Now you've seen what I meant, haven't you?" he says.
"Yes. But that doesn't mean I can't keep an eye on them."
"of course, you can mom, just do it in a felicitous way," he said to her.
.........
At the same time, Annabel and her friends were having serious amusement and pleasure.
They partied all through. laughing, dancing, drinking, eating, and bantering to their heart's content.
Annabel was elated, it was really cool and so much fun to hang out with her friends.
She was so happy that she walked towards her best friend and gave her a tight hug and whispered into her ear. "Thank you for everything. I had so much fun, buddy."
Victoria was taken aback by the sudden outburst. She thought she doesn't like things like this but she was wrong.
It appears to be that she doesn't like them before even experiencing them. All thanks to that cruel family of hers.
They are depriving her of her youth. Right now she was more determined to make her experience more of these in the future.
After her parents, Annabel was the next person close to her heart. She has been betrayed several times in friendship. And she has never experienced a good friendship until she met her current best friend. It was rocky from the start because of the experiences she never believes in anyone and acts so cold towards people. But as soon as she met Annabel, everything changed. She modified her every point of view about friendship and loves her for who she was and didn't have to pretend to curry favor with her because she's rich.
She detests it whenever she offers her money or anything materialistic. She doesn't accept favors that's why she gives her gifts when there's a reason for it.
Most times she uses their friendship as a backbone that always makes Annabel helpless and she ends up accepting her gifts.
"Annie, you don't have to. We're friends, aren't we? and one of the rules is 'no thank you.' And I'm very pleased that you had fun."
Annabel gradually released her from her tight hug and says "Sorry!" while holding her ears.
"Alright. That's okay." She says as she raises a toast.
However, she noticed her best friend's uneasiness and asked "Annie, what's wrong? why are you restless all of a sudden?"
"I don't know if my family are back from the banquet. Maybe they might be looking for me right now."
"Banquet!!!" Victoria yelled. "Don't tell me they went to a banquet and left you behind like before."
"No. I was the one that told them to go ahead without me," she says.
Victoria snorts "Hmm as if I don't know you well enough. Don't even try to cover up for them. And for once be true to yourself Annie. Try to accept reality and stop telling yourself otherwise." she took in a deep breath and continued.
"I am not your enemy, I want the best for you. I am your best friend Annie, I won't lie to you nor hurt you. The people you call family are the ones that don't want to see you succeed in life."
"Vicky, please let's not talk about this right now. I don't want my mood to be soiled." Annabel says.
"Fine. keep running away from the bitter truth."
Victoria has to concur, she doesn't want to spoil her mood either. She stood up and dragged her back to the dance floor, where the rest of her friends were.
Abruptly, Annabel's phone chimed. Due to her restlessness, she has to take her phone along with her wherever she goes, she doesn't want to miss her mom's calls, in case she calls to know where she was.
She looked at Victoria apologetically and says, "It's my mom, I have to take the call please."
Victoria grunts and says, "Just stop calling her 'mom' already, It irritates me so much when you do so. She's just a parasite, always disturbing at the wrong time." she grits her teeth and took her to a less noisy place to take the call.
Five minutes after, they both came back to the lounge. Annabel wore a worried expression on her face. she went to the music room and turned it off.
This act caused a commotion in the room and she earned herself questionable gazes.
One of the three other friends says, "Hey! what's up with you? You can't just turn the music off." but was cut off by Annabel,
"I'm sorry everyone, I had to do what I did to have your attention. I would have gone out without perturbing you all and told Victoria to convey the message to you but I know you wouldn't want that.
So, I came personally to tell y'all that I will be leaving right now, my mom had called me and they are on their way home, I need to be there before they get home." Annabel said.
"For goodness sake, could you please stop calling her that!" says Victoria who was freaking out. She despises it when her friend addresses her stepmother as "mom."
The rest of her friends giggled at her expense,
it was a sight of amusement to them.
"Alright then, it was still fun hanging out with you, I hope we can do this some other time?" one of the three said.
"Of course, we can," she said with a smile.
Everyone bid her farewell and she left for home. Victoria offered to give her a lift in her car but she turned down the offer.
She was afraid that she might not be able to control her friend when she sees her stepmother, she's already acting like a psychopath at the mention of her name let alone when she sees her in person.
That would be an awkward scene to watch and it would be terrible.
She just hopes that one day her friend would accept her mother for who she is. Besides, no one is perfect.