Tiffany's POV
The next day, Tiffany decided that it was best if she put all Shawn Gold business to the side. As she lay awake last night, she had come to the decision that she would tell her father she couldn't marry that man. The company was important to her, yes, but if the price was demeaning herself and condemning herself to a life full of misery to do it, she didn't know if it would be worth it at all. There were more things important to her than money in life, such as dignity, love, and family, and when there was a will, she believed there would always be a way.
She could take a break from school, and join her father in the office. They could merge with a lesser company, and put in the work to bridge the gap. Or they could ask Mr. Gold for help that didn't involve a marriage. Even if they didn't fully merge the two companies, they could still become partners. Mr. Gold hadn't seemed like an unkind person, and afterall he was a friend of her father's. She was sure he would understand. However, she hoped that he wouldn't take it as an insult that she didn't want to marry his son.
Anyway, that was an issue for later. Right now, she had to focus on getting ready for school.
The maid had washed and ironed her uniform in preparation for the first day, and it laid neatly over the back of her study desk chair. She ran a hand over it and put it on piece by piece, then stood to admire her uniform in the full-length mirror that hung on her bedroom wall.
She had always liked their uniform. It consisted of a short plaid skirt with black, red, and green colours that ended somewhere along mid-thigh. It was already getting chilly even though it was still early September, so she paired it with light black leggings that hugged her long, straight legs smugly, accompanied by black boots. Her top was a white short-sleeved collared shirt paired with a dark grey vest and a plaid ribbon tie that matched her skirt. She only had on light makeup, partly because of the school dress code and partly because she knew she always looked better natural. She only ever wore makeup to official events, where a lot of photos would be taken and it might be considered rude to not wear any makeup.
She twirled a bit, admiring her reflection, then picked up her phone to text her friends. There wwere a few messages from friends and acquaintances alike, but she only opened the messages from her group chat.
F.R.I.E.N.D.S.
Queen Freya:
Guyssss, where are you? T-T
Lord Timothy III <3:
Freya, it's not even eight yet. Chill.
Who even gets to school this early?
Queen Freya:
I do.
And you all should too!!!
Especially you @Lady Tiff,
you're literally in the student body committee!!!l
Lateness isn't tolerated!
Lord Timothy III:
Tiffany doesn't go late. Everyone else
is just early.
Queen Freya:
Shut up Tim. You're not supposed to have
favourites.
And seriously y'all I'm so aloneeeee
I need my pals
Lord Timothy III:
I am a lord, and I decree that I shall
doeth whatsoever I pleaseth
And why don't you ever make some
new friends
Queen Freya:
I'm a queen, you bozo. What I say goes
over whatever rubbish you can spew
@Lady Tiff
@Lady Tiff
@Lady Tiff
I'm being bullied!! Help
Tiffany read the messages while chuckling to herself. She hadn't realized how much she had actually missed her friends before today. Reading their texts and witnessing the usual playful banter brought a sense of normalcy she hadn't noticed she had been missing. Her life the last few days had been like something out of a fairytale or worse, W*****d, and the feeling almost brought tears to her eyes, but she quickly blinked them back.
The hell? What was wrong with her? She had felt very fragile since waking up. Had the dinner taken a greater toll on her than she had originally imagined?
Lady Tiff:
Timothy, can you leave Freya alone?
@Queen Freya hi
I'm almost at school dw. OTW!!!
Lord Timothy III:
By 'almost at school', I'm sure she
means she's just getting dressed.
Tiffany laughed. It was true, she was still in her room. Timothy knew her so well.
Lady Tiff:
Shut up :( w/e
ok now I'm really omw. See y'all
in ten. byeeeeeee
Queen Freya:
Waitingggg xoxo
@Lord Timothy III come
or don't come if you want, no
one cares
Downstairs, the driver was already waiting for her. Her dad had of course left for work, so besides the staff it was just her at home. She waved at him as she approached.
"Good morning, Miss Dion," he smiled at her. He was an old man in his sixties, with greying hair that had once been light brown. He was always happy to see her.
"Morning Rafael," she greeted, getting into the car. "And I told you to just call me Tiffany. Please," she begged. It made her very uncomfortable to be deferred to by people who were much older than her. Rafael's youngest daughter was older than her.
"Okay, Miss," he said, and Tiffany sighed, giving up for now.
The drive to school took about ten to fifteen minutes, depending on traffic, and today traffic was relatively light, even though it was Monday. They made it to Tiffany's school in under ten minutes, and she got out of the car, breathing in in excitement.
The school building was huge and elaborately designed, as befitting of a school as prestigious as Shine High School. Students walked around with their neat uniforms, excitedly reuniting with friends and sharing news of each other's summer holidays. Tiffany smiled to herself, knowing that in a few weeks, the uniforms would all be less neat, and the students would get tired of school again, and be less happy.
Tiffany turned around to say goodbye to Rafael, but before she could get more than three words out, a heavy weight suddenly barrelled into her, and she stumbled in shocked surprise before catching herself on the car.
"Tiffany!" The person hugging her from behind shrieked, and Tiffany recognized the voice as one of her two best friends, Freya Meyer.
"Freya!" Tiffany said excitedly, and the two girls squealed, hugging each other, "You scared me, oh my gosh."
Freya grinned brightly, showcasing her cute canines. "That was the aim," she said proudly, causing Tiffany to laugh.
Freya Meyer was one of Tiffany's best friends. She was a very short girl with short blonde hair that she usually let roam freely in curls around her face. Her strong spirit and determination allowed her to become the student body president when she ran for it last year, and Tiffany had ended up as her assistant. Freya was also transgender, and so it hadn't been easy. Even now some people sent disgusted looks at her as they passsed, some going so far as to call her 'Fred', which was the name she used to go by. Freya was already accomplished at ignoring these types of people and pretended as if she couldn't see or hear them, but Tiffany still sent death glares at each and every one of those people as they passed.
But something was strange, this time. It seemed that some of the whispers were directed at her, too. But of course. Throughout the break, news had been circulating about the imminent fall of Dionysus Enterprises, and it seemed everyone in school knew about her father's failing company. Many of their parents were deep in the business circle, afterall.
Tiffany suddenly felt very nervous, and the feeling of fragility was back, but Freya noticed and held her hand, squeezing softly.
"Don't mind them," she whispered fiercely, "They're insufferable cowards who don't know how to mind their own business."
Tiffany nodded, grateful, and soon Freya brought up another topic to distract her.
The two girls headed into the building, chattering away about their break. Freya had gone on an overseas trip to the Bahamas with her two dads and was talking about a cute guy she had met there while Tiffany listened eagerly, interjecting with excited sounds from time to time. She hadn't told her friends about her supposed betrothal to The Shawn Dion yet. She had thought that she was giving herself time, and that she would tell them once she saw them in person, but now especially with what had happened last night, she found that she wanted to even less. She felt a little guilty about keeping such a secret, but she wasn't ready to tell them yet, and she hoped they would understand.
The bell rang for first period, and Freya checked her watch, frowning. "Um, Timothy is late, again. I swear, we have to stop talking to that boy. His trashy reputation is going to rub off on us!"
Tiffany laughed at the joke, and was about to reply when the voice of the school Principal's secretary sounded out from the intercom, interrupting her.
"Will Miss T. Dion please report to the Principal's office," she said, "Miss Dion, T. Please report to the Principal's office."
Everyone still in the hallway turned to look at Tiffany, and the whispers seemed to grow harsher. They was no doubt that they were about her now.
She exchanged a worried look with Freya, who looked back at her in confusion. No one ever got called to the Principal's for any good reason.
Was Tiffany in trouble?
Tiffany's POVTiffany left Freya to go for her classes alone, and made for the Principal's office. It had to be important if they'd called her right before classes began.When she got there, she greeted the secretary, a young woman in her thirties who told her to knock. Tiffany did, and a voice from inside answered her, telling her to come in.The principal, Mrs. Campbell was relatively young herself, in her forties or fifties. She always wore her dark brown hair in a low bun tied tightly behind her head, with a pair of emerald green glasses perched low on her nose. Tiffany had always liked her, and she'd liked Tiffany in turn, as a star student who was talented in other areas as well. She'd always had a smile for her in the past, but today she wasn't smiling."G-good morning ma'am," Tiffany greeted, the cold demeanour making her nervous. "You asked to see me?"The principal didn't even look up from the documents she was going through. "Yes," she said, have a seat."Tiffany sat down e
Shawn's POV Shawn couldn't believe his life.He was supposed to apologize to his so-called future wife, but here he was waiting for her to get off from fucking highschool. If it were any other person, he could have just invited them out to a business lunch to ensure that there wouldn't be any irrational behavior on their part. Social climbers were always so conscious of maintaining a good reputation, she wouldn't want to cause any problems for herself by making a scene. He could also use his lunch hour, and therefore make sure he didn't waste any of the time he needed to be productive on less important matters than soothing the pride of a spoiled brat.But no, she had to be a fucking highschooler, and now he was going to have to take out of his personal time to travel to her home in the evening."Fuck," he said out loud, into the silence of his office. He'd already had plans.Well, guess Rachel would have to do without him today.As if she had heard him think her name, his personal p
Tiffany's POVTiffany was going through notes of the classes she had missed, when a knock sounded on her door. Freya had helfully lent them to her after hearing from Timothy about what happened in the morning. Of course, neither of them knew exactly what was going on, but the mere fact that Tiffany was crying was enough cause for concern, even if they didn't know what was causing her to cry.She got off her soft bed and padded across the room in socked feet to the door. When she opened it, Mr. Gary James, the butler, was standing outside in his usual erect posture."Miss Dion," he said, "There is a young gentleman here to see you."Tiffany sighed, about to ask him for the millionth time to just address her by her name, but then the second part of his sentence caught up with her brain and she frowned in confusion."Someone is here?" she asked, "To see me?""Yes, Miss," said Mr. James.Was it Timothy? Had he come to see her because he was still worried even though she had kept telling h
Max's POV Max perked his car outside the estate, waiting.He had been following the little rich boy his boss always liked to have him follow, but there was a pretty rigorous security checkpoint at the gates that he didn't want to risk going through, so unfortunately he had to wait outside.Max lit up a cigarette while he waited, deciding he might as well use the time for recreation. He sucked in and puffed out the smoke rhythmically, all the while keeping an eye out for the black Chevvy he had been following earlier.He didn't understand what exactly was the observation his Miss had for the rich boy. So far as Max could tell, apart from being stinking rich and (unfairly, in Max's opinion) being blessed with the features of a demigod, he had nothing else going for him. He was incredibly boring and did nothing but work. Hell, in all Max's years of following him around, he had never even seen him interact with women. Perhaps he was one of them rainbow Rguys that Max had been hearing abo
Tiffany's POVTiffany followed Shawn into an Italian restaurant she had never been to before. Apparently, it was still really new, so they didn't need a long-wait reservation like most other eateries scattered around their high-end area.Aside from being annoying to her when she wanted to roll down his car windows for some fresh air, he hadn't spoken to her since they'd left the house.Now, she followed behind him, watching the taper of his broad shoulders into his narrow waist as he walked, being led to an unoccupied table in the far corner of the room by a cheerful waiter. The atmosphere was much better than the first restaurant she visited with Shawn. In fact, it was maybe a little bit too good.Tiffany looked around warily, feeling a shiver run up her spine. From the decor to the music playing, everything screamed romance. She almost cringed at how obvious it was. Almost every table they passed was occupied by pairs of lovey-dovey couples holding hands and staring into each other'
Shawn's POVShawn was actually interested in hearing these conditions his wife-to-be was talking about. Not that he was just going to take everything lying down, of course. He was going to shut it down immediately if it was something ridiculous."First," she spoke, her lips curving around the words, "If I am to agree to marry you, you are going to show me respect."Shawn sat up, a little taken aback. He had been fully expecting her to say something like 'half of your assets should be signed over to me' or something.She continued speaking. "That means no shutting down my ideas, no raising your voice at me, no belittling, no degrading comments, and absolutely no walking out on me in a public place like that stunt you pulled yesterday." The way she said 'stunt' sounded like she would like to use more colorful and less polite words to describe his actions the previous evening. Shawn almost felt like laughing again. If nothing else, then at least this girl was a bit amusing."Next," she s
Tiffany's POV:NEW ROMANCE IN BLOOM?– Shawn Gold and Tiffany Dion Spotted Together at Intimate Restaurant; D'amor!! Love is in the air, and the rumor mill is buzzing with excitement as renowned business man and one of the top three youngest directors in Canada, Shawn Gold has been spotted recently at an exclusive restaurant sharing a romantic evening with the gorgeous Tiffany Dion, the daughter of Richard Dion, Chairman and owner of Dionysus Enterprises. The young Mr. Gold, who has been known heretofore as a man with very few smiles can be seen clearly freely offering one to miss Dion! How surprising!!! With all eyes on this unexpected pairing, tongues are wagging, and speculations about their relationship status are running rampant. What could this mean for the previously speculated Gold-Smith relationship? Could we just be witnessing the start of a new red-hot romance? Or could it have been long-hidden, only now being brought to the public eye by chance? In the business world, r
Tiffany's POVOne of the perks of being in the student body committee was the parking spot privileges. Other students had to come early or miss a chance to park near to the school, but Tiffany always had a spot waiting for her, and right now she leisurely pulled into it, very grateful for it since she was a little late.A disadvantage, however, of being in the same committee was that a huge percentage of the student body was bound to know who you were. Therefore, if, perhaps, a gossip blog posted an update involving you, a greatly sought-after billionaire, and an apparently romantic evening, almost everybody would know who exactly they were talking about, and be able to recognize you by sight.Eyes visibly trailed Tiffany's every step from the moment she alighted from her car to the second she stepped into the school's wide double front doors, trying even less to hide the states than they were yesterday. She kept her eyes low, trying not to make eye contact with anyone, but occasional