Chapter 1

It was a fine Thursday morning and the alarm started to ring, but it didn't matter as E was already awake. She got out of bed and went directly to the calendar above her study table. 'Three days to go' she gasped. She had been waiting for this day desperately for more than 2 years. After all, it was her 16th birthday, her sweet sixteen. But it was not the main reason why she was so excited about this day. She couldn't care less about her birthday. Though she was going to kiss her boyfriend for the first time on her 16th birthday, it hardly made a difference. Eppie Abbott was not a typical teenager you would come across very often. She was different in many ways from her classmates and friends. Despite the fact that she was one of the prettiest girls in school, the acts like the first kiss mattered only so much to her. No, the thing that she was excited about her 16th birthday was that her father was going to tell her about the history between him and her mother's past.

'Come down, breakfast is ready.' A male voice came from downstairs. 'Coming' replied E. She got changed from her night robes, put on jeans and a sweatshirt before she went down.

As she entered the hall, she saw her father, fully dressed for work, cooking scrambled eggs and bread with peanut butter and jam. Eppie lived in a house where the word "organized" most probably will not cross your mind if you happened to enter it if you belonged to a normal household with a normal family. Of course, we can't blame her father for this, he being a single parent to a young teenage daughter in the 21st century. The amount of cutlery in the basin had reached to such an extent that he had to wash a few plates to make room for the recent ones. They had a housekeeper but she had gone to visit her father who was on the verge of death. 'Brush your teeth thoroughly if you don't want to visit the dentist again' said he. 'I am not a child anymore, I am almost 16. You don't have to remind me to brush properly' she smirked and said. 'To me, you will always be my little girl' he replied, 'There are cornflakes in the bowl and milk in the can, I have made you eggs and bread for lunch. Now get ready or you will be late.'

Eppie was a sophomore at Kenwood Yard High School. She was pretty famous there. This was due to two reasons, for one she was extremely pretty and two, she was the daughter of Sarah Fleming, a very famous and talented actress. Although David worked hard to keep E out of the spotlight, being the daughter of the top trending and rich actress had its effects. As far as E was concerned, she neither liked nor hated celebrity fame. It wouldn't be wrong to say that being the daughter of such a celebrity had almost little to no effects on her mental state and personal life.

'Fasten your seatbelt' said David as she entered the car. As they were about to reach their destination the thought came back to E's head. 'You remember what's on Monday, right?'. 'I couldn't forget even if I had amnesia' he replied. E paused and then said 'You remember what you said 3 years previous. What you promised. What you promised to tell me.'. There was a little silence and then her father finally spoke 'I am almost 38, I don't remember many things. But don't worry I never forget a promise. Now get out of the car and run if you don't want to be late' he smiled and said convincingly.

This was the conversation, E had been waiting for weeks, to have with her dad. Even though she knew that her father was a man of his word, but when it came to the topic of Sarah's and his past, her dad was particularly quiet. This was a huge relief for her as it was confirmed by this conversation that her father remembered his promise. The rest of the day was as casual and regular as any other day. In the recess she went to meet Joe, her young love, accompanied by her BFFs Reg and Zee. Joe was a well-mannered, nice, talented and good-looking boy. He was two years older than E and was a Senior. Even though he was quite handsome, E was way out his league. We can say that in this case, Joe was the reacher and E was the settler and somewhere deep-down Joe knew this. E never felt this way. For all, she cared Joe was the only person she loved as she knew that unlike the other high school boys who flirted with her non-stop Joe was the only one who actually loved her and not just her body or the fact that she was going to be extremely rich in the coming future. And this was true Joe too loved her deeply, but he always felt a little threatened by the other guys, as not only the high school guys but also the pass out batch had their eyes on the pretty daughter of the rich.

Regan Hester and Zandra Jones were E's childhood friends. Although E was not so much into it as the other two, nevertheless they did all sorts of girly stuff as expected from high school teenagers. Zee used to be Eppie's next-door neighbor. Three years earlier David moved to a house a little closer to the school, even though her father told her that they moved due to some problem with the landlord owing to the plumbing, E knew that it had something to do with her mother. The repercussions of this shifting were negligible on the friendship of the trio. Reg, on the other hand, had a little more common with E. Both their parents were divorced before they were born. But it was where the similarity, of their parent's relationship, ended. Unlike E, Reg lived with her mother. Also, her mother has married again and had a boy. His name was Russel. He was 10 and loved the company of her stepsister and her friends very much.

All the four sat on the table of the cafeteria and started talking about the upcoming event, i.e. E's 16th birthday. Her two friends along with her boyfriend and other class friends had planned about the party way beforehand. The three of them have been planning it for nearly six months and kept it a secret from E, when eight days prior Zee accidentally blabbed about it in front of E. E on the other hand, was a clever girl, and had suspected and knew about it even before that. See the thing is they (Joe, Reg, and Zee) weren't as careful as they thought they were, and many times mentioned the party in front of E, but E always pretended that she didn't hear as she did not want to spoil the surprise for her friends. But there is only so much one can ignore.

So, with the secret out all of them decided to plan the events according to the time so that they didn't end up partying too late in the night.

Moreover, E wanted to reach home as she also wanted to share time on her special day with her father. The fact that he was going to tell her about his love life was obviously a big factor influencing her to end the party soon.

The break ended, Joe kissed E on her forehead and said goodbye. All of them left for their classes.

The bell rang, the school was over for the day and our trio started to return on foot.

Reg said 'So four days to go. You must be pretty excited' 'Yep' E replied. Zee said 'After all, it is your first kiss. I imagine how it feels' 'Believe me, it is magical. It is supposed to be one of the most memorable days of your life' said Zee. Watching at E, Reg asked 'You don't look as psyched as you should be. Is something wrong?'. Zee on realizing this added 'Is there something else bothering you? Tell us. You know you can tell us anything right?' to which E replied 'No, no I am psyched as hell, it's just that dad is finally going to tell me about his relationship with mom.'

Zess asked E approvingly 'Did you ask him? He remembered, didn't he? I told you he would'. Reg cutting across Zee said 'E, are you sure you want to hear about it. I mean it's just that when you asked your mom about it, she said to you that if she told you the truth you would start hating her'. 'I know but I want to know, I need to know, I deserve to know. It's not like I know nothing' said E. 'I know that the love between them was deep and intense. And that dad and mom loved each other more than anything and that somehow one of them messed up, and whoever it was, they messed up really bad. And at last, dad ended up with me. I just want to know who messed up and how'.

Joe -: 'Why don't you look it up on the net. Your mom is a celebrity, her entire history is on Wikipedia.'

Zee -: 'Don't sneak up like that. You almost gave me a heart attack.'

E -: 'It happened way before she was famous, and everybody in the family kept it super quiet.'

Reg -: 'As far as I have seen your parents, it's not your mom who ignores your dad but is the other way around.'

Zee -: 'I know that right. Sarah is always trying to talk to him but he avoids her and limits their conversation to the least.'

E -: 'Yeah. You know when dad sees mom there is so much hatred in his eyes, it is like how can someone hate someone so much?'

Nobody spoke another word for the rest of the journey. Everyone was deep in their thoughts about what might have happened. At last, they reached E's front yard and she bade them goodbye.

The moment she closed the door behind her the shouting voice of her dad reached her ears.

David -: 'Where the hell have you been? I have been worried sick. I called your school and they said that you left two hours ago. The school is ten minutes on foot from here. Where were you? If you were going to be late then just inform me on the phone. How many times will I have to tell you this...….'

Eppie -: 'And I have told you as many times that I am not a kid anymore. I can take care of myself. I am 16. I am a woman now. I don't need your protection anymore. For fuck's sake dad grow up.'

David -: 'Wha… E…. Whaaat… you said … whaat? Did you just swear in front of me?'

E -: 'I didn't mean to. I am sooo sorry dad. It just…it just came out … it just…slipped from my mouth'

There were a few seconds of silence, but to E it seemed like an eternity. She had never disrespected her father so much. She felt terrible inside. Her insides hurt.

David -: 'I have left some orange juice in the freezer. I am leaving for the office. I will be late.'

And before E could say another word he left. There was an unusual coldness in his voice. She followed him outside but he took off in his car.

She knew that she had crossed a line that should not have been crossed. She went up to her bedroom. The room was dim as was the rest of the world. She cried for an hour under the pillow, then finally called her friends and told them what had just happened.

They comforted her in return and said that what was done was done and can't be undone. Least she could do is make him a nice dinner and apologize for what she had done and promise that it would never happen again. As she hung up, she received a message from her father saying that he would not be able to make a home for dinner and asked her to order something from the place down the ally. At first, on reading this, she became sad, then a strange kind of mixed feeling took over. She was sad but also very angry at the same time. She was pissed off on her dad. He didn't give her time or opportunity to apologize or explain herself. After all, it was just a mistake. He just ran off and started ignoring her. This silent treatment was even worse than scolding. The more she thought about it the angrier she became. Slowly she became so angry that her head started to hurt. At last, she fell asleep with an empty stomach.