The Lifestyle of the Rich and Infamous

Le Meridien Atlanta Perimeter was beautiful. There was a huge office-like room that served as a lobby. There were comfy chairs and people everywhere. I plopped down in a soft brown chair and rested my feet on an end table. The view from the window was stunning There was a beautiful pool outside with tennis courts adjacent to them. The place smelled like pomegranates, my favorite fruit. Violet beckoned for me with a long pointer finger. "Behave until there's no one around," she reminded me. This was one of the few times I loved Vi.

The lady at the check-in counter smiled at us. "Do you have a reservation?"

"Yes. We are with the Revis party. They have booked two extra rooms," Amber said confidently. She was an expert at lying. She had gotten free meals, rooms, and other awesome stuff with her lying ability "I think this will cover it. Daddy wants us to take as much as we need."

The woman looked at Amber with a smile. I guess it wasn't weird to see kids drift into the lobby of the hotel because she handed over the keys with no effort. "I hope you five have an excellent stay. Enjoy the suites. I hope they are suitable for you."

We nodded. I picked up Matt and we all headed for the elevators, which were even more amazing. We went to the top floor and I took Matt to our room. Violet, Junie, and Amber had the room across the hall. Violet kissed my head. "Be awful. Very very awful. I want period blood all over the sheets, broken TVs, and beds so dirty you wouldn't know they were white, and a huge hole in Daddy's wallet. He's going to pay."

I nodded dutifully and I unlocked the door. I couldn't even walk in at first because I was so mesmerized by the beauty. The room was gorgeous. The beds were huge and elegantly made with huge, poofy, white sheets. There was a flat screen and even a fruit basket. I set Matt down on the floor so he could run around all the little crazy munchkin he was and jumped on one of the bed, not bothering to take off my shoes. I landed on a cloud of fluffiness. This was what I was talking about. Just fucking amazing.

Matt ran over to me, frantically trying to tell me about his survey of the room. His eyes were wide and his mouth was moving faster than I could think. "They have pretty soap! It's white! And TVs, Sammy! They gots big big TVs! Clouds for beds, Sammy!!! I gots a cloud for my bed! Sammy! Sammy! It's awesome!" Matt plopped on the bed with a huge grin on his face. "Can I watch TV?"

"We're on vacation, Matty. Do whatever you want. You can jump on the bed, order room service, watch anything you want. There's no one here to tell you no."

Matt grabbed the remote in his grubby hands and plopped on his bed. He didn't even bother to take off his shoes. I heard the TV click on then the automated laughter of a stupid sitcom. Matt wasn't hesitant to turn on SpongeBob, Mom's worst fear. Since most of the characters are greedy or idolize the Krabby Patty and King Neptune, I've only seen SpongeBob once and Mom took me straight to church as soon as the episode was over. I have never been so vigorously bathed in holy water in my entire life.

I tilted my head up slowly to see the picture. Spongebob and the cute pink thing were frolicking around Jellyfish Fields. They were't really doing much so I laid back on the bed, kicking my shoes off and not even bothering to see if they'd made it to the floor. My thoughts were racing. What was Taylor doing right now? Was he still mad because of me laughing at his boner? Would be be angry for me not telling him that I was leaving? I hoped he stayed inside for the next week. There were a lot of awful things Kevin and Mandy could say about me that could make him not like me as much.

I sighed and fought desperately to block these thoughts but they only became stronger. I couldn't get Kevin out of my mind either. He and his stupid sisters had been slandering my name all over town, calling me a slut and a bunch of other hurtful, awful things. Taylor said he didn't like them but I knew he'd fascinated everyone so much that they would end up together anyway. What if I came back and they were best friends and they'd told each other everything? That's how best friends are. Speaking of, Chloe and I hadn't spoke for a while. I was going to call last night but all of the packing had stopped me.

I looked around for the telephone and punched in Chloe's phone number. It rang only once until the loud voice of Holly overpowered the soft ringing "Hello? Who is this?"

"Hey Holly. Is Chloe there?"

"She's bonding with her family."

Just put her on the goddamn phone. We both know she doesn't want to be there. "Can't she come chat for a second?"

"Alright fine."

I heard the phone transition and Chloe patching in on the phone in her rented room. "WHY HAVEN'T YOU CALLED? I'VE BEEN IN HELL!"

"Touche. Guess where I am?"

"In Monroe with the cutie next door's lips on your neck."

"I wish. But no. I'm in Le Meridien Atlanta Perimeter." I drew the words out elegantly but my French was never good.

"WHAT! I'm in The Wicked Witch of the West's old bedroom and you are in some fancy hotel! How did you manage that?"

"I'm staying with Daddy Dearest. He's buying."

"How did you really get there?"

"My daddy's credit card. How else? You know he wouldn't authorize this at all."

"I thought you had a room there."

"Jenny's dozen are staying there and somehow those brats supersede his own children. So, we are treating ourselves. Amber and Junie are here too but that's fine. Just means Vi's going to be so busy puking and acting cute to get some that she won't even notice Matt and me."

"Is Lachlan there?" Chloe asked happily. Lachlan was my favorite of Jenny's crack babies because he was pretty much never around and he was gorgeous. My BFF swore she would hit that if he weren't a whole five years older than us. "Because if he is, you are the luckiest little thing in the world!"

"I dunno. I just saw Lauren and Lloyd. Supposedly, Lesley and Leila are there too."

"I love Lesley! Tell her I said hi!" Chloe squealed. I loved Lesley too because she was the least melodramatic in that house. Plus, she also was forced to be there and she always seemed to have cooler things to do. But, even though I was older and she thought older people were lame, she let me tag along with her and her friends all the time.

"I will. I have to go tomorrow for a family day with Jenny and those brats." I rolled my eyes. "Pray for their survival."

"I have to go to a photo shoot with a whiny three month old baby that hates everyone. Pray for my survival."

"Oh... Did I tell you what happened yesterday?"

"Uh... no. What happened?"

"So, I went to take those pictures that I sent you. But your room is owned by a girl named Aubrey and she's Taylor's sister. She chased me and I ended up seeing Taylor. He like held my hand and we walked to the library and the park. He played with Harry, Damon, Sage, Kevin, Jerry, and Elliott. So, he was walking with me and we want back to my house and we played a game and he got a boner."

I could hear Chloe's screeching banshee laughter loudly in my ear. "Oh my God, that's funny! You gave him a boner! You turn him on!"

"Shut up," I said. My cheeks were getting hot. I hoped I didn't turn him on. When Kevin got turned on, we had long, weird conversations about sex and starting a family. "He doesn't like me."

"Who doesn't like you?" Matt asked. I had forgotten he was there.

"Never mind. Just watch TV."

"But I'm bored!"

"So buy a movie."

"But I'm broke!"

"Just pick a movie, watch it, and let me worry about the cost."

"Okay."

I tuned back in on Chloe having this long, intricate conversation with my left ear. "If he didn't like you, why would Captain Winky be trying to get to know you better?"

"I don't know! Maybe he's just friendly."

"Taylor or Captain Winky?"

"CAPTAIN WINKY!"

"Who are you talking to?" Matt asked. He sounded worried.

"Chloe. What's wrong? Are you hungry?" Matt nodded and I put he receiver back up to my mouth. "I have to order room service for Matty and me. I'll call you later."

"CALL MR. WINKY!" Chloe shouted between sobs of laughter. "YOU GUYS ARE FRIENDS!!!"

"Shut up." I said as I pressed the button to hang up. Then, I punched the number to order room service.

"Hello. What would you like to order?" the voice on the other line asked cheerfully. It reminded me of the Spanish teacher at school.

"I would like eggs Benedict with a side of maple sausage cooked and hard and a..."

"I want pancakes!"

"Order pancakes made without milk with extra syrup, a side of scrambled eggs with no cheese, and bacon. I'm in room 452B and yes, I would like you add it to the bill."

"Alright, I will have that sent to you shortly."

"Thank you." I put the phone back on the home thingie and reclined on the bed. Matt sat next to me and we watched the beaver boy and the pink-haired fairy have a conversation about responsibility.

"I like this show," Matt proclaimed.

"You've seen it before?"

"Yeah. Angie plays it all the time. She lets me change the channel when everyone else takes naps because I'm too big for naps."

I knew that was lie. Matt was the worst nap taker in the world because he refused to lay down peacefully and close his eyes and drift into sleepy land. Matt had never needed naps anyway. He was mellow the whole day and was only cranky after nine o'clock at night. "What's the show about?" I asked.

"Timmy is the godchild of Cosmo and Wanda. They give him whatever he wants but they have rules and regalations. Timmy normally does bad stuffs and has to fix it."

"And that's the moral?"

"Sure."

We watched the whole episode and half of the next one when I heard the knock on the door. I opened the door for a delicious smelling cart to be rolled in. My eggs Benedict were cooked to perfection and had a bunch of frilly garnish on it. Matt's food had also been dapped up with little stalks of parsley and ketchup encircling the plate. The man rolling the cart set the food on the table in the front of our suite and I handed him a five dollar bill. He left and we took our plates to our beds.

The eggs Benedict was so good, it practically melted in my mouth. Once I had taken a bite, I couldn't stop. I ate the whole thing in approximately eighteen seconds, sausage included. My brother at his food half as fast. As soon as we were done, I heard a knock on the door. I opened it to see Violet, Junie, and Amber standing at the door. "Come on. Dad wants us to explore the city and come over at five when he gets off."

"So?"

"So let's go trash Atlanta!" Amber exclaimed.