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3 | J U L I E T

It had been weeks after I ran away. I had been wandering aimlessly around all this time. I had been staying at different hotels every few days.

A few days after I ran away, I cut my own hair into a pixie cut and dyed my hair platinum blonde. I missed my previous long brunette wavy hair but this had to be done.

There was an uproar back home. I was all over the news. Everyone was rebuking me for running away from a seemingly perfect home and I didn't argue. I did have a perfect home with the perfect parents and siblings. It was just that I didn't want to be me anymore. I didn't want to be under the constant media attention. I didn't want to be criticized for every decision I took.

I had yet to buy a new phone. Unfortunately, the money I took from home was soon going to run out and it was my fault although I wasn't going to admit it. If only I hadn't splurged money on clothes and heels and more makeup than I already had and if only I hadn't ordered takeout from the fanciest restaurants, I could've still had some money left.

I refused to look for a job because it would risk me getting noticed and I also didn't want to work. I'd be bad at it anyways because I'd never actually worked so I'd have no idea what to do.

Still, before all the money dwindled away, I decided I needed to call my friends.

I found a telephone booth and dialed in Heather's number which I knew by heart. It rang once before she picked up.

"Hello?" Came her voice and it felt nice to hear her again after so many days.

"Hey." I said casually.

"Juliet?!" She screeched loudly and I had to pull the phone away to protect my eardrums.

"Yes, it's me."

"Where are you?!" She had intention of lowering her volume.

"Why are you being so goddamn loud? Someone will hear you." I looked around to see if anyone was within hearing range before lowering my own voice. "How are mom and dad?"

"How are they?! They're not okay. You've got to come home. It's been weeks and they're still not able to find you. Where are you?" At least she was whispering like I was now.

"Listen, I don't know. I don't feel like going home. I don't want to go home. And I don't know what I should do now. The money, it's not enough." I said, playing with the telephone wire.

"What the hell do you mean by that? You have to come back. It's not safe for you to be out there. Why am I even listening to your bullshit? I'm going to go tell your dad about this phone call."

"You're not going to do that!" I didn't want them to have the slightest inkling about where I was. "Heather, I'm perfectly fine. I'll figure something out, okay? I just need time away from all of it. Surely you do understand, right? You're not going to tell them and if you do, it's at the cost of our friendship."

"I-God Juliet, why'd you put me in this position?" She grumbled. "Can I at least tell Amelia?"

I smiled because I knew I had her wrapped around my finger and she'd do exactly what I'd tell her. "Of course, she's my best friend too. But only if she doesn't tell anybody."

"Yeah, I'm sure she won't. But where are you exactly? Are you really okay?" I knew she was worried for me but she didn't need to be. I had been perfectly fine all this time so what could possibly go wrong?

"I don't really know where I am. I'm constantly moving everyday so there's no fixed place I'm at but once I do find a place, I'll call you. It's fun though."

"Oh God." I could imagine her shaking her head at me. "Only you'd find this thing fun. Everybody is scared shitless for you here."

"I'm happy to hear that."

"What? You're happy that you're elevating everyone's blood pressure here?"

"Of course," I said without hesitation. "It means they care."

"Well of course they do care about you, Juliet. Everybody cares about you. Just because they didn't buy you a boy doesn't mean they don't."

My anger flared up but the embarrassment was so much bigger. I wanted nothing more than to hang up and never call anyone I knew. "I'll call when I'll call. I'm hanging up now. Don't you dare say anything about this to anyone. Remember the price you'll pay for that."

And then I hung up before she could say anything.

I turned back to exit the booth but was startled for a second when I saw a guy who looked around my age grinning at me from outside the booth. It would've freaked me out but he was handsome so I stepped out and stared up at him questioningly.

"Found you." He murmured before grabbing my arm.

"What?" Instantly, I thought he had recognized me and was going to hand me over to the police so I ripped my hand out of his grip and was about to take off but he was quick and he grabbed our my shoulders.

The passersby gave us odd looks and he seemed a lot aware of them. "Julia, cut it out. It's time to go home. Dad and mom are waiting."

"That's exactly why I don't want to go." I gritted out as I struggled under his grip. He was very strong and I debated whether I should use my fighting skills on him. Plus, the doofus had got my name wrong.

Someone stepped towards us and narrowed their eyes on his hands over me. "What's going on here? Where are you taking her?"

The guy chuckled. "Oh, it's nothing. She's my sister, Julia and she took off from home a while back because she was upset with our parents. She throws tantrums every now and then."

The man shook his head at us and continued on his way.

I turned back to look at the guy. "Who are you?"

"Ouch," he hissed as if in pain as he put a hand on his heart. "Are you really disowning your brother like that?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. I wasn't sure if he was lying to lure me to the cops or there was really something strange about this. As far as I knew, nobody in this town had recognized me. They weren't really concerned with the business world and I was just a businessman's daughter. "Julia, you said my name was?"

"Yes, Julia. Unless you've hit your head and lost your memory." He rolled his eyes and hit my shoulder playfully. "Now come on, Harper and dad and mom are waiting for you. You've had everyone worried sick over you. Let's go home."

"Can you...show me a family photo? You might have it in your phone." This was the only way I could catch him lying to me. This guy must've thought that he could fool me but he had another thing coming when I'd punch him in the face if it turned out he was lying which I knew he was.

He sighed and took out his phone. "Why're you being like this?"

He flipped through some images and settled on one and turned his phone my way to show me a photo.

My jaw dropped to the ground when I saw a couple who looked in their early forties, a girl about my age and the guy with another girl in the photo who looked exactly like me. There was no way someone could've photoshopped me this good.

"Oh my God."

"What? What is it?" He asked, looking at the picture himself to see what was wrong.

There was a girl who looked like me. Well, not really. She didn't have any makeup on and without makeup she looked like an uglier version of me. It was definitely not photoshopped because I'd never looked like that. But it was true. There was someone out there who looked exactly like me. And her name was Julia.

"Take me home." I demanded.

He gave me an odd look but agreed.

We walked in silence and I was thinking why I was bothering to go with him. I didn't know what I was going to do when I reached there. I knew that he thought that I was that girl, Julia. God, even our names had the same first four letters.

I was just so intrigued to know that she looked like me and it wasn't a small similarity. If this Julia girl were to put on makeup, there'd be no telling us apart.

"Where had you been all this time?" He asked as he stopped near a bike. It wasn't much because I'd seen way better bikes.

I shrugged. "Just here and there."

He didn't answer as he started the bike and I hopped on behind him.

He took off and soon I could feel the wind whip through my short hair wildly. He was going incredibly fast and that was how I liked it. I liked speed.

He came to a stop about half an hour later and I climbed off the bike and regarded the house in front of me appraisingly. It wasn't as grand as mine was but it was okay, not everyone was as rich as my dad was. It had a beautiful garden in the front yard though, with flowers of various types in full bloom. It had some other plants too which were pretty to look at. Somebody was really into gardening here.

The guy, whose name I still didn't know, put a hand on the small of my back and smiled at me. "We're home."

He led me through the doors and I looked around while he closed the front door behind him.

I nodded in approval. "Yeah, this is a decent home. I mean it's not anything special but-"

Suddenly I felt tremendous force centered on my back and then there was excruciating pain as I lurched forward knocking my breath out of my lungs. I fell in front of a set of stairs, my head hitting on the marble.

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