She woke up just as the alarm rang, it's shrill sound pierced through her ear painfully. Groaning, Raine raised her arm to turn it off then she sat up. She rubbed at her eyes to clear her blurry vision, she first sighted a bulk of clothes hanging over an armchair.
Raine frowned, lifted herself from the bed and walked toward the clothes. They were all sweatshirts and dark blue jeans; all extra-large and dull grey. She wondered what they were doing there, they were obviously meant for her but all she ever wore were baggy and lengthy gowns, not like she needed other clothes. She couldn't leave the mansion anyway, she hadn't left in seven years, not even past the front door.
Raine fingered the hem of the sweatshirts, it was cotton and felt incredibly comfortable. Surprisingly, she felt an urge to put them on, with one of each clothing in hand she made her way to the bathroom but was stopped by a knock on the door, a young maid walked in.
"You have an hour to get ready for school." Raine paled, she had forgotten. "The Madam made arrangements for a driver to take you there, he'll be here in an hour and five minutes. Please put on these clothes, there are new shoes in the closet." She gestured to the clothes on the chair. "Please hurry." The maid left after that, and Raine was left disoriented.
How could she have forgotten? It was today, she was going to school. She was finally going to leave the mansion but to school?
Her breath began to come out in pants and sweat poured down her face. Anxiety coursed through her veins as her mind tried to process itself. Suddenly, a shrill ringing pierced through what would have become a panic attack. It was the alarm clock again, its screen blinked 7:15.
She had forty five minutes to get ready though she wasn't sure if Catherine would care if she was late, she had to hurry. With that thought she continued her way to the bathroom.
Twenty minutes later, she sat wrapped up in a fluffy towel that barely reached it's other end. Staring into a mirror was a live nightmare for Raine, it revealed her insecurities. As a child she had always been told that she took her father's looks. Wayne Sallow was handsome and even more so when he smiled, but she was ugly.
Even with full rosy lips and long dark eyelashes that fanned her dove-like eyes. Those features just didn't fit in well together. Her eyes were too far apart and ears were a little too big. Raine picked up a hair brush and ran it through her black hair, it extended down to her lower back but she always packed it up in a bun. It always gave her extra heat not to mention the tangles but she would never cut it.
In a few minutes she was dressed up, she checked the clock and saw that it was 7:45, just enough time for breakfast. A maid would bring her breakfast in a few minutes and so she waited. One minute, two minutes, three minutes…
But when she began to feel pangs of hunger in her stomach, she stood from the marshmallow seat she was on and walked to the door. She felt like her intestines were fighting a war in her stomach. She couldn't wait any longer, she would go find out the cause of delay. It was risky but she needed to eat, it was her only comfort source.
Raine took a deep breath, twisted the knob and stepped out. The hallway stretched long, lining each room on the floor. It looked like the ones from fancy hotels, Raine turned left and walked quickly through the hallway then down the stairs. A few maids were in the sitting area, dusting, mopping, and vacuuming.
They made her hesitate at the bottom of the stairs because if they saw her, awkward silence was sure to follow.
To her surprise, a redhead approached her with a straight face. Raine gulped, she looked frightening. "You are supposed to be at the dining table." She scolded and gestured for Raine to follow her. When they reached the dining room, Raine was surprised to see the 9-person table that was hardly ever used occupied by assorted dishes.
She uncomfortably took a seat and was relieved to see that Catherine was absent. As much as it annoyed her to do so, Raine tried to finish up as fast as she could leaving only meagre quantities on each plate. Twenty minutes later, she was satisfied and slouched unattractively on the seat, her stomach bulged visibly through her clothes.
Then Raine realized with a start that she would be late if she didn't move and she did so with a grunt. She briefly noticed that the redhead maid was gone.
Raine walked as fast as her weight would allow her, which wasn't fast at all. She could already see the entrance of the mansion, the door was ajar and the sun shone brightly into the mansion. She walked slowly towards it then hesitated right in front of it, she didn't want to leave the mansion for fear of what was outside of it.
She eventually stepped out, her heart raced. She was out of the house and the reality of that made her feel lightheaded. The compound felt so unfamiliar, the grass figures, the colorful pavements. She didn't remember them being there seven years ago, there was even a roundabout with a big rose bush in its middle.
Raine walked further away from the mansion, marveling at the things she saw and stopped in front of the garage. But it didn't look one, it looked like a long bungalow with multiple wide doors. She gasped, shocked to know discover there were eighteen cars parked in it. There were exotic cars with touches of colour to them; all except one, the first car from the right was plain black.
She still gaped at the cars when a boy came running towards the garage, breathing hard. He looked about eighteen and had blonde wavy hair that partially covered his face. From her view she concluded that he was cute.
Raine blushed. Why did she think that? Being outside was already messing with her head. The boy entered the garage with the ugly car. He eyed the car for a while then shrugged and got into it.
Raine stared at him with squinted eyes, she wondered if he was the driver to take her to school. She decided it would be awkward if she approached him and he wasn't the driver so she waited for him to drive past her.
The boy took an incredibly long time to start the car but he was in no hurry to move. She would be late to school, and she needed to make a good first impression. So she had to go to the boy. Her anxiety showed in the way she walked, she kept on tripping over nothing and her hands became unusually sweaty.
"E-excuse me…" The boy whose head laid on the dashboard jerked up to meet her gaze. "Uh- I, I'm supposed to hav-ve a dr-river t-take me to sc-school."
"Are you Raine?" The guy spouted and quickly sat straight with his hands on the steering wheel. She nodded.
"I'm so sorry I'm late. I forgot today's date and I was sent on an errand. It took a while 'cause a man…" Raine stood helplessly by the car while he rambled on. How can he say so much so fast? She thought.
"…that's why I got here so late and oh! My name is Ray."
She opened the backseat and tried to sit but found that she couldn't fit in. At that moment all she wanted was for the ground to open up and swallow her whole. "What's wrong? Get in." Ray said.
Her cheeks burned, "Um… I, I c-cant f-fit." Raine watched, humiliated as Ray's eyes widened to the size of saucers.
"What… Are you that fat?"
Those words felt like a stab to her gut, her eyes brimmed with tears that threatened to fall but she held them back. She would not let him see how much his words affected her.
*crank* *crank*
At the sound, her gaze shifted from the floor to Ray. "There. Try again." Hesitantly, she tried again and this time she was fully seated inside. "Just had to adjust the seats." He smiled at her but she looked away.
He started the engine and quickly drove away from the mansion. There was an awkward silence that hung in the air, mostly for Ray. Raine was too preoccupied with her thoughts to notice.
Ray managed to sneak glances at her through the rearview mirror and concluded that she was pretty enough. He was a sucker for bright blue eyes and black hair. To him, her only flaw was her size otherwise he'd have totally hit on her.
Meanwhile Raine couldn't get his words out of her head, the words kept ringing over and over in her head. If it had been Catherine that said it to her, sure It would have hurt but not as much as it did coming from a stranger.
"We're here." Raine sat up faster than a bomb could explode, and when she looked out the window, her heat skipped a beat. She hadn't noticed him pull into the school. They were parked in a parking lot filled with cars. What terrified her was that there were people littered around them. There was a large sign that said 'High School'
"Don't sweat it. Just be yourself." Ray encouraged. She was visibly terrified and she was right to be. She was the perfect bully victim, school was going to be hell for her and he was speaking from experience. Raine's gaze didn't leave the window. Veronica had said the same thing and even if she wanted to believe it, it wouldn't happen.
"I almost forgot! Miss Carstairs said to give you this note." He stretched out his hand over the seat to her but she didn't turn to take it. "Aren't you going to take it?"
Ray was surprised to see teary eyes when Raine eventually turned to him. She's so weird, he thought. "Are you alright?" What a dumb question, she was obviously not okay. Raine barely nodded, she took the note and her eyes scanned its contents slowly. It read,
You're registered in this school as Raine Smith. No one must find out the truth.