Smile and the World Smiles With You

[Ruggahissy]

Amaranta Montalvo rolled over and hit the alarm function of her ihome. She sat up in her luxurious bed. Her soft blue covers spilled onto the floor surrounded by curling iron rods springing up from the frame, forming metal branches and leaves. She grimaced and pulled back the white veil that hid her from view.

Today was going to be bad. She had gotten up in the middle of the night to get some water. As she was filling her glass she turned around and saw her father with a suitcase in hand. They both looked at each other for a moment and she knew he wouldn't be there in the morning. Without a word she drank her water, looking up at him over the glass as he walked out the door.

Mara got dressed in her best outfit and went downstairs. It was unusual that there weren't any lights on. The downstairs was empty. There was no breakfast waiting for her and no one to greet her. Mara marched back up the stairs to her sister's room.

"Beca, what the hell are you doing in bed? Get up. We have school."

Beyond the sheer veil she saw a slim figure wrapped in sheets move a bit.

"I'm not going."

"We're both going," she responded, digging her heels in.

"No Mara. Please lets stay home just this once. I don't want to. I can't face everyone. I'm going to start crying in class. Please," she said, still bundled up.

Mara stomped up to the bed, grabbed the bed sheet and pulled with all her might. Rebeca clawed at the mattress but was taken by surprise and ended up in a heap on the floor near Mara's feet.

"Get up," she whispered harshly.

Rebeca struggled to disentangle herself and stand, still bleary eyed from sleep. Something soft hit the side of her head. Mara had gone to her drawer and thrown an outfit at her.

Rebeca finally got free and stood. Her eyes were watery already. Mara sighed and put a hand to her sister's cheek.

"Don't cry, Rebeca. You know what dad says: if you're crying then you're sad. If you aren't crying, you aren't sad. And it makes you puffy and ugly. That's just my personal opinion, though."

"D-dad..." Rebeca said shakily.

"Listen, Beca. We have to go to school and hold our heads up high. We have to look better than we've ever looked and be the best that I know we are. That's how you persevere. You take unpleasantness in stride and you keep going because falling apart won't do anyone any good. We can't avoid going to school forever so we may as well do it now and show everyone that we're not gonna roll over and die because something bad happened. Now get dressed. I'm gonna see if we can get some breakfast."


Mara exited hastily and ran down the hall to a large set of doors.

"Mom!" she shouted.

No response.

"MOM!" she said knocking. She tried the knob and it didn't budge

Still nothing. Mara started knocking frantically. "Mom are you in there? Where is everyone? Where's the driver's car? Where is the chef? MOM!"

Mara huffed and went back to see Rebeca looking pretty in a blue mini dress and white stockings, standing in the hallway.

"We'll buy food at school. You can hold out until lunch," she said, poking her in the stomach. Rebeca recoiled from the poke and started walking after Mara, trying to sling her backpack on.

"How are we getting to school? I checked and there's no one here. I think mom told all of the house staff not to work today. What are we going to eat for dinner? Where's dad? Where's mom?" she said, panic creeping into her voice.

"I'll figure it out. I'll figure it all out. I don't know where dad is. I think mom is still home, but she's locked in her room. Just get outside. I'll call a cab and we'll use a credit card to pay the way to school."

And indeed she did. She spent her lunch calling all of the house staff and making sure that there would be someone to pick them up. She sent someone to check on her mother. She asked every person she called if anyone had heard from her father. They hadn't. Mara felt like people were looking at her as she moved and went about her school day, but she did just as she said she would. She held her head up high.

The girls had dinner alone that night with the chef as their only company. The sound of their silverware scraping against their plates echoed through the silence. Rebeca had done her best, performed admirably and Mara was relieved. Every day after this one would be easier.

"You done your homework?" she asked abruptly.

"Of course I did," Rebeca answered, slightly offended.

She stood up, kissed Rebeca on the forehead and went to her room.

She opened her computer and the first thing she saw was her gossip site home page with her parents on it. Her father, one of Seattle's elite, had been caught having an affair with some trashy slut. Mara sighed and crawled into her unmade bed, fully clothed. She was sleepy and comfortable when her cellphone buzzed. She looked at the screen.

"You did well. – Dad"


Mara threw the phone across the room and hugged her pillow.