1.Prologue
** This story contains mature content that includes s****l scenes, punishment/discipline.**
STELLA POV
My name is Stella Beltran and I'm eighteen years old. I'm in a town car for the first time in my life. To say I feel out of place is a huge understatement. When people see my best friend Cici Landry, they automatically think model. She is about five feet seven and slender with modest curves. Long auburn hair, green eyes and porcelain skin. She has perfect high cheekbones, hooded eyes, bottom-heavy lips and a narrow nose. When people look at me, they see the complete opposite. I'm five foot two on a good day and curvy like my mother was. My hair is chocolate brown, honey brown eyes and light brown skin. Cici is also extremely outgoing, social and loves to be the center of attention. I'm not anti-social or anything, but I prefer my own company and I prefer the sidelines. We are the epitome of the odd couple. The only thing we have in common is we both attend David University and love hanging out with each other.
Looks aren't the only thing that differentiates us from each other. Cici comes from a well off family, not filthy rich but well off enough to live in a very desirable community. You can't live there if you can't afford a three million or more home. Her father is a partial owner of a handful of hotels located in San Francisco and Sacramento along with his two brothers. Their father started off with one and after they graduated college they helped him expand. Quite admirable. Her mother went to school to be a fashion designer but ended up staying home and raising Cici and her brothers. Three brothers to be exact, two older and one younger than her.
My parents died in a car crash when I was four. They lived in Pasadena before that and were a modest working-class family. Not poor by any means, but not anywhere near as wealthy as Cici. My mother was born in California and her family moved back to Mexico when she was sixteen and she didn't go back with them. My father was born in Chicago an only child and his mother raised him by herself. When he was old enough, he moved to California. That's where he met my mother. After they died, her best friend (my godmother) applied for guardianship and took care of me until I turned sixteen and went to college. She had no children of her own, and I always felt I was the reason for that. She worked a lot and hardly had time for herself, having to take care of me as well. That was a big motivation for me to leave early for college and become independent. She never made me feel like she resented me, but I always felt like she deserved to have her own family.
Why do I find myself in a town car, you ask? Because I was unable to attend summer classes this year, ruining my plans to graduate early next year. I have a full scholarship and it pays for my housing during the school year. In order to go to school during the summer, I worked at a small bookshop in town. I needed to cover my housing and school expenses for the summer months. The past year, I worked all year leading up to summer to save up enough. I wasn't able to do that since the bookshop was closed down and I wasn't able to find a new job. Davis is a small college town and most of the students compete aggressively for the jobs that are available. With nowhere to stay, I had no choice but to accept Cici's invitation to come home with her. I could have gone to visit my godmother, but she was living with her boyfriend now and I didn't want to be a burden.
The nearly two-hour drive to Mountain View was very comfortable. With the exception of my anxiety, which is off the charts right now. I've always kept to myself. I don't remember the last time I fit in anywhere. Maybe in elementary school? After that, I was always two years younger than my peers. When I started college, the girls treated me like an outcast and the boys quickly spread the word that I was jail-bait. My body looked like that of a grown woman, but after my first encounter with a male specimen, my real age spread like wildfire. They looked all they wanted but steered clear until I turned eighteen before Christmas break. Now I'm the one that steers clear of them. My goal is to finish college, do my internship and find a good job as a Business Analyst. I had no time for people, let alone men. Cici is adamant that my focus this summer should be having fun and men. She claims they go hand in hand.
