Prologue~ The Power of Love~An arranged marriage to... wait, don't I know you?

I shot out of bed, sitting straight up, and screamed, “Oh my GOD!”

I heard running footsteps down the hallway right before my fifteen year old brother burst into the room, slammed the door against the wall, and shouted, “What the fu-”

“I’m eighteen!” I yelled, grinning from ear to ear.

“Bravo. You’re such a genius,” he said, shaking his head of bright red hair. “Brilliant.”

“Oh, shut up and get out,” I said happily, jumping out of my king-size canopy bed and dancing crazily over to my full-body mirror, big enough that five people, all six foot tall, could see themselves easily. I looked at my face.

Underneath my bright green eyes I had the famous “raccoon look” from my makeup yesterday that I was too lazy to take off, and my straight, long blonde hair was a complete and utter disaster. My straight, white, even teeth showed as I smiled at myself. Eighteen.

“When you’re done ogling at yourself in the mirror,” someone said, and I jumped and saw that Jesse was still standing in the doorway, “Mother has a surprise breakfast downstairs and she wants you down there ASAP.”

I ran a brush quickly through my hair, pulled on a pair of blue and white sweatpants and a white t-shirt, and hurried down the big, winding staircase to the large kitchen/informal dining room. My mother was sitting there with pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage, and toast mounded in front of her. I grinned like an idiot and, as I sat down, piled my plate high.

“Happy birthday, dear,” my mother said formally.

I smiled, Barbie-like, back. “Thank you, Mother.”

She watched me take a monstrous bite of chocolate chip pancakes before saying, “Have you looked outside yet, darling?”

“No, Mother, I just got up,” I said slowly so she would understand. “Why?”

She tossed a pair of keys to me. I stared down at them for a second before screaming and running to the window. Before me sat a gorgeous light blue Porsche in the driveway with a huge red bow on top. Why I needed another car, I didn’t know… I already had a silver Mercedes that she got me for my sixteenth. Not complaining though.

I ran outside, unlocked the doors, and slipped into the drivers seat, running my hand over the soft interior black leather. It had that new car smell that I hated. Febreeze time.

I walked back inside the house to where my mom hadn’t moved from the table. She also handed me a small envelope, which I opened up to see my new credit card. I grinned as she said, unsmilingly, “Go check out your room.”

Something was wrong with my mother, I thought as I headed up the stairs and opened the door to my room. It looks just the same as it always does… lilac-colored walls, yellow and purple bedspread, dark wood furnishings… then I checked my walk in closet, which is about the same size as my bedroom. All my old clothes that I had been complaining about for months were gone, and in their place were designer jeans, shirts, hoodies, shoes, sunglasses… everything you could think of was there. I sifted through them quickly before going back downstairs and giving my mother a big hug, which she returned half-heartedly.

“Okay, now that we’ve got that over with,” I said, grabbing an apple from the fruit basket. “What’s up?”

My mother gave a fake look of surprise. “Nothing is ‘up,’ dear.”

I rolled my eyes. “Obviously… now tell me please.”

My mother gave a huge sigh and looked me square in the eye. “You’re eighteen now – ”

“Well, duh,” I muttered under my breath. My mother ignored me.

“That means that soon, you will have to find your place in the world,” she continued. “Your father and I have already found your place.”

I was confused. “Wait, you mean that you’re paying for college?”