Chapter 3 Her Bracelet’s Gone
A phone call woke Sephora up from her sleep.
“Graham?”
“Sephie, Mr. Levine said you ran away from home. Did something make you upset there?”
Sephora was a bit stunned, then she thought for a moment.
“Yeah!”
Her voice was still a bit sleepy and soft, with a bit of a cooing edge to it. “Graham, I wanna go home.
“You poor thing. Come back if you’re not happy. I’ll get the ticket tomorrow!”
Sephora felt kinda happy. She rubbed her eyes and was about to head. out of the cinema.
But then a sharp, cold voice came over the phone. “Stop making a fuss! Put Sephora on the line.”
Sephora pursed her lips, feeling a bit guilty. “Seymour.”
“What happened?”
Only her second brother, Graham Ruiz, would take her word for it without asking questions. If she said she felt wronged, he’d believe her. But at the Levine’s place, she didn’t feel that wronged. Now, with her level–headed big brother, Seymour Garcia, asking, she had to spill the
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Chapter 3 Her Bracelets Gane
beans.
“Today, Bridgette jumped into the pool by herself and said I pushed her. Ge… Mom and Dad believed her.”
There was a quiet pause on the other end, then Graham exploded, “Damn it! She’s trying to set Sephora up!”
Seymour’s calm voice got even colder. “Did you explain yourself?”
“Yes.”
“I’m coming to Frostford to pick you up tomorrow and bring your registration back home.”
Hearing what Seymour had said, Sephora was thrilled. “You’re the best! Graham is awesome too!”
“Go home now. It’s not safe for you to be out there alone.” Seymour said. “Don’t hang up the phone.”
“Okay.”
Sephora left the cinema and went back to the Levine’s place.
It was almost midnight. It was dark outside, and all the guests had left.
When she turned on the light, she saw two people sitting on the sofa. Christine, noticing the light, looked up with red eyes and said in a tearful voice, “You naughty girl, where have you been?”
As she spoke, more tears fell. “You ran away just because I scolded you a bit. Do you still think of me as your mom? Your dad has been looking for you for seven hours!”
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Sephora was stunned. Bridgette chimed in, “Sephora, even if you’re mad at me, you shouldn’t run away. You could have let me go. You know, this is your home.”
Christine, still sobbing, said, “Call your dad right now and tell him you’re back.”
Then she ignored Sephora and kept crying, saying how Sephora was so disobedient.
Half an hour later, Gerald came back, all covered in snow. When he got in, he saw Sephora standing there, looking a bit lost.
He let out a weary sigh and gave her a long, deep look. “Did you have dinner? If not, I’ll have Christine warm something up for you.”
Sephora felt a lot less happy. Hearing Gerald’s words, she suddenly felt kinda bad
She hesitated for a bit. “Yeah.”
“Go upstairs and get some rest,” Gerald said. Then he took Christine upstairs.
Bridgette gave Sephora a dirty look before going back to her own
room.
Sephora dragged her feet back to her room, clutching her phone. She stared at it for a long time, then finally called Seymour.
“Seymour.”
“What’s up?”
“You don’t need to come get me tomorrow. I’m not heading back just
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Chapter 3 Her Bracelet’s Gone
yet.”
“Did you sort things out?”
“Not yet, but…it’ll happen soon.”
“If you feel upset, call me. Nobody gets to mess with you.”
“Mm–hmm!”
“I told you before, your motorcycle is at Austin Plaza. Ride safe.”
“Mm–hmm!”
After the call, Sephora took a hot shower and got into her cozy bed.
She was about to drift off to sleep when she suddenly opened her eyes and reached for her wrist.
Her bracelet was gone!
She quickly sat up and started looking everywhere. She checked the clothes she took off, but it wasn’t there.
She thought about all the places she had been today and called Austin. Plaza, but they said they hadn’t seen a bracelet with a ring on it.
It was like it had disappeared.
Sephora thought she’d have to let it go.
But her eyes got a little red.
The ring on the bracelet was a gift from Seymour when she turned ten. He teased her about liking fairy tales with princesses and princes, so he gave her the ring to wear. He said if she ever met a “prince” she liked,
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Chapter 3 Her Bracelel’s Gone
she could give it to him.
She grew up, stopped believing in fairy tales, and didn’t take Seymour’s words seriously. But she had worn it for six years, and now it was gone. It felt a little unfair.
Now she really felt upset.
i
She shed a few tears, but no one in the Levine family knew about it.
Early the next morning, when Sephora stepped out of her room, she heard piano music–Canon.
Christine said, “Bridie, you’re getting even better.
Bridgette smiled proudly, and then she caught sight of Sephora coming down the stairs.
“Can you play the piano, Sephora?”
Before Sephora could say a word, Christine cut in, all snippy, “No way. She just got home. She hasn’t even started learning yet.”
The way she said it, it was like she wasn’t the one who was worried. sick and cried her eyes out last night because Sephora didn’t come home.
Seeing her eyes were still puffy, Sephora felt a pang of guilt. She walked up to her.
“Mom.”
To be honest, Christine was pretty much a stranger to her. They had only known each other for less than a week.
Chapter 3 Her Bracelets Gone
“Sorry for making you guys worry yesterday,” Sephora blurted out. Christine was taken aback for a moment.
“So you do know your dad and I were worried!” Seeing Sephora’s awkward look, she snapped, “Go have breakfast. It’s waiting for you. over there. After you eat, I’ll take you to handle your enrollment.”
“Enrollment?”
“Yeah. As a girl, you gotta learn some skills. Pick any two from music, Go, calligraphy, and painting. You can choose two musical
instruments if you want. Bridie chose the harp and piano. What do you think you’d like to learn?”
Seeing Sephora hesitate, Christine left no room for discussion. “You have to pick two! It might be a bit harder to learn at your age, but it’s better than knowing nothing. We’ll start this semester and send you to school next year.
“Don’t worry, Sephora. You’ll pick it up. It’s pretty easy,” Bridgette added, walking over to the harp on the other side and gracefully plucking a few strings, producing a pleasant and melodious sound.
ra thought for a second. “I just wanna learn one thing.”
istine frowned but still said, “Alright, what is it?”
“Chess.”
“What?!
“Who ever heard of a girl learning chess? All the other girls like Go. Why would you pick chess?”
“I like it.”
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Christine was about to get annoyed again. She thought chess was kind. of lame, something only old guys played, but seeing how determined Sephora was, she gave in. “Forget it, do what you want.”
She then glanced at the well–behaved Bridgette, looking satisfied.
At least there was one talented girl in the family.
After eating, Sephora went to the art center with Christine and Bridgette.
When she got out of the car, she looked around and her eyes lit up.
The art center wasn’t far from Austin Plaza—just a ten–minute walk away!
Christine noticed Sephora’s excitement and felt a little bit bad. Her own daughter had never seen much of the world, and she was acting like this place was the most amazing thing she had ever seen.
Bridgette snickered to herself, thinking Sephora was such a hick.
She moved closer to Sephora and whispered, “You’ve never been to at place like this before, right? Austin Plaza is over there. It has got all kinds of fun stuff. It’s famous in Frostford for being a place where people spend a lot of money. You have to get a membership card to get in, and it starts at 16,000 dollars.”
Sephora glanced at her sideways, ignored her, and walked fast to stay next to Christine.
Bridgette snorted contemptuously and followed along.
