End Game

Chapter 1

*THIS NOVEL IS A WORK IN PROGRESS - ANY COMMENTS OR FEEDBACK IS GREATLY APPRECIATED BY THE READER. THANK YOU IN ADVANCE FOR READING MY WORK*

Chapter 1
Aurora

I burst through the doors of the Anderson building at the University of California, Los Angeles, hoping to start the best day of my life. Business School: An extraordinary new beginning, and with the added bonus of living on my own for the first time ever. Free from my pretentious upbringing in Greenwich, Connecticut, where appearances mean everything and problems are swept under the rug and conveniently solved with money that flows freely from my father's wallet. In my world, expectations are high. Fake is normal. Designer is everything. And to say my parents micromanage my life for their own personal gain would be an understatement. I've been brought up attending fancy parties, showered with beautiful things and getting fed from a silver spoon.

And quite honestly, I'm sick of it.

When you've grown up the daughter of Duncan Westbrook, a lot is expected of you. He was recently elected Governor of Connecticut and owns Westbrook Corporation, also known as Connecticut's most prominent real estate empire. Everything is based on how you look, what you have, and who your friends are. Because of my father's high-profile life, my life has been one big over-the-top production. One of my greatest talents is pretending. My fake smile is off the charts. I've been dragged through his flashy and elaborate lifestyle my entire existence. No stops. No excuses. It's exhausting.

I wish my life were typical American mediocrity. I envy anonymity, and my introverted self would love to fly under the radar of life. Hence, I hope for this chapter of my life to be the best yet. I am nothing like my family and their pretentious lifestyle. In fact, I am the exact opposite. So much so, that sometimes I wonder if I was adopted - which of course, I'm not.

It's embarrassing to admit my mother, Farrah, is a cliché housewife. Skinny, gorgeous, fake blonde hair and does nothing but lunch with other housewives and then complains that she's always too busy for anything else. Her face is Botox and her lips are infused with filler. Her nails are acrylic and her favorite pastime is gossip. I love her, of course I do. She is my mother, after all. Just because I don't agree with her choices doesn't mean we don't get along per se. It's just that we don't always understand each other. She expects me to care about image, designer clothes and country clubs, but I don't. I'd rather spend my time reading a good book or exploring a third-world country with nothing but a backpack.

My older brother, Daniel, is your typical rich-kid disaster. After he dropped out from Harvard last Spring he started working for our father's company as Head of Communications and Business Relations. Really, it's a made-up position, and he shows up whenever he feels like it and still collects a pay cheque. My father neglects to accept that my brother is a complete mess or that he smokes weed all day, parties all night and refuses to move out of the pool house. I'm pretty much the only hope in hell my father has left to take over the company, which puts a lot of pressure on me. Mainly because I don't want to work for his company. I really want to focus on a Journalistic career and absorb the everyday hustle and bustle of Los Angeles. I desperately want to spend time on Venice Beach learning to surf and support myself with my earnings and personal merits. But I could only get my father on board with me moving to California if I agreed to study Business and attend the prestigious Anderson School of Management. What he doesn't know is how I plan on switching my degree to Journalism at some point. I appeased his demands only because I needed to get out and spread my wings.

My mother would be absolutely appalled that I wanted my own career. My brother Daniel would try to pass me a joint (which I'd refuse) and ask me why I wanted to do anything other than live off my trust fund. And my father would blow his top if he found out I had other aspirations than taking over his company one day. Hence, getting away from everything, even if it's only for a few short years of college, is just so fantastically freeing.