Chapter Three
Plans

I would love to say that my life got inexplicitly better after that little chat with Papa.  That he somehow convinced Penny and Phoebe to stop filming in our house thanks to the fact that no one in the house actually gave permission to be film.  Mom was rather grateful when Papa actually emerged from his office to ask her opinion on the matter, and while he didn’t quite fight as hard as he did for my privacy, he did promise her that she had nothing to worry about in terms of showing up on camera.  I think because she grew up as a socialite as well, he just expected her to have the same mentality of their daughters, and actually welcome the publicity.

But Mom wasn’t the type of socialite that wanted to be in the spotlight.  She gave that all up when she set out to prove that she, and she alone, was worthy of Papa.  She enjoyed the social aspect – the gatherings and the parties and the gossiping about world events – but she also didn’t mind hanging out in the back of the room, observing everything.  It made me wonder what sort of person she would have become if she didn’t have the social pressures on her.  I’d imagine she’d be a lot like me – everyone knew who she was, but she was mostly invisible, and she preferred it that way.

I knew she never regretted her decision to give in to social pressure.  She would have never met Papa if she remained a bookworm, she told me constantly.  It was because her friends decided on a European tour after gradating high school that she came to Greece and met a young undergrad in the area named Nikodemus Karalis, fell madly in love with him, and decided to become the sort of girl that he’d actually notice.

Of course the funny thing was that Papa fell for her at their first meeting as well.  It wasn’t hard to see why, considering Mom was, and still is, extremely beautiful.  She was the definition of classic beauty – blond wavy hair, blue eyes, and an open friendly face that made it difficult for her to lie.  From what I understand, most guys who weren’t gay fell for her upon first glance, but it took someone like Papa for her to actually consider settling down.

They liked to tell me their story, about how they gravitated towards each other because of their looks – Papa being the tall exotic Greek, and Mom being the classic beauty that she was.  But then they got to talking with each other, and it was pretty much all over from there.  Mom claimed it was hard not to fall for this giant geek of a guy, and Papa admitted that he was surprised that there was a brain behind her looks.

At the time, though, Mom was actually being herself, so Papa didn’t really get to see her true nature until he started seeing her with her friends.  He figured out that she was pretty much exactly the same as every other socialite girl he had seen and met, and he wanted no part in that.  After all, he had plans on making it big, and having a dumb wife was just going to weigh him down.  So while Mom was making plans for a long distance relationship until one of they could manage to get into the other’s country, Papa actually called it off, being rather blunt and explaining to her exactly why they couldn’t be together.

So Mom went home hurt and confused, and started analyzing her life.  She had thought she was happy, of course, not knowing anything but the world she lived in.  But when her friends refused to comfort her over the matter, instead telling her that she could totally find a guy way hotter and more exotic than Papa – and who would actually care about ‘important’ things rather than just little gadgets – she realized that she was, in fact, rather miserable with her life, and that she needed a change.

So she dropped her superficial friends, and through the help of the handful of friends she had that actually cared, she managed to book a flight back  to Greece, determined to get Papa back anyway she could.  Her father even cut her off because he believed that this was a foolish desire.

We always liked to call it fate that Papa managed to find her on her second day working as a waitress, where she was struggling because she didn’t know any Greek.  They sat for hours after her shift just talking, and I think the mere fact that she was willing to give up everything just so she could be with him completely changed his opinion of her.

They hadn’t known each other long, but they both knew that they wanted to spend forever with each other, so Papa basically proposed that night.  Of course, the condition being that they had to wait until Papa graduated from school, but Mom didn’t mind in the least.  She spent the time with Papa’s family, getting to know them.  They refused to allow her to work to pay for rent since she was going to be family soon, and she learned to true meaning of a loving family.  She was just surprised that they welcomed her with open arms since she and Papa were basically entering into a hasty wedding.

She liked to warn me off getting married at eighteen, despite doing it herself.  “You’re smart, Psyche,” she’d tell me.  “You have so much more to give the world that I did.  My soul purpose in this life is to be a trophy wife to Nik Karalis, and I’ve come to terms with it.  But if you love someone, and are ready to make that sort of commitment like I was, then I wish you the best.”

I knew Mom never regretted the decision of marrying Papa so quickly and so young, or even having Penny at nineteen.  It meant she was there as he rose in fortune, and she got to tell everyone that she fell in love with Papa long before he was a household name.  I knew she regretted allowing her life to be publicized, though, with all the reports of her and Papa splitting or getting a divorce every few months of so.  Because, clearly, as a celebrity couple, their love can’t last.

One thing I’ve never seen Mom and Papa do was fight.  Sure, they had their disagreements from time to time, but that was just a result of living with each other for nearly twenty-five years.  Mom got up in arms at people thinking they were having problems, but Papa ignored it all, since he and Mom knew the truth, and that’s all that mattered to him.

Still, sometimes I wasn’t sure if it was for the benefit of the camera, or if he just didn’t realize it was doing it, when he’d give Mom such a loving look whenever they were out in public.  Mostly, I figured it was the latter, since nothing Papa did was really for the benefit of the cameras, unlike Penny and Phoebe.

I did find it funny that Mom seemed to think I had boys lining up to ask me out, like they had for her.  Sure, I wasn’t ugly or plain or anything, and I’ve had guys stare at me before.  The problem was that I was looking for the sort of romance Mom and Papa had, the kind you’d only find in fairy tales.  I had yet to find anyone – guy or girl – who captured my attention long enough for me to develop feelings for them.  Mom had nothing to worry about with me getting married now.  She’d be lucky if I got married by thirty-eight at this point.

Still, despite his love for Mom, and subsequently me, life in the mansion didn’t improve as much as I hoped it would.  I had hoped that, because they weren’t allowed to film the man occupants of the house, that Penny and Phoebe would grow bored of the idea, and just go film at one of their houses.  I probably should have known better, unfortunately.  The cameras still rolled, and I tried my best to keep out of the shots, but I had a feeling that I still ended up in them.  But Papa’s deal was merely that they couldn’t show me saying anything, because he knew they had no control if I was just sitting around the area, or something.

Basically I was just supposed to be a prop – there, but serving no real purpose.

Of course, that pretty much meant that Penny, and by association Phoebe, made it a point to find whenever I was hiding and set herself up there just so I’d be in the shot.  I think most of the series was going to involve me attempting to sneak out of the room while Penny and Phoebe had one of their catfights, and it usually succeeded.

At least until Penny realized I was gone, and would search me out again.

Since they were doing this reality show, there were a hell of a lot more people in our house now, most of whom we were told to ignore.  Which normally I would be able to, since I knew they were all there for my sisters, and not for any good reason.  I had been in front of a camera before – Papa somehow managed to convince me to be in a few of his commercials just for the hell of it – so I had learned to ignore the background behind the camera.

No, what was annoying was that Penny and Phoebe were so determined to film at our mansion that they brought their dumbass friends here to hang out.  These were the sort of people Papa wouldn’t normally allow into the house, but he was either at work or hiding in his office at home most of the time, so he couldn’t say anything about it.  There were catfights and sexual tension all over the place.  Penny made a point of flirting – and sometimes making out – with just about all of her male friends, and a few of her female ones as well.

Phoebe was much better in that regard.  Her fiancé, Nathan Greene, wasn’t around all that much – he either had a game or practice – but when he was around, he was at our house trying to figure out what the hell was going on.  Phoebe made it a point to show the world that she was in a loving relationship with him, insisting that he be a part of her antics just so she could pretty much sit in his lap the entire time.

But when she forgot about him so she could enjoy the train wreck in front of us, Nate would seek sanctuary with either Mom or me.  I rather liked Nate, actually, aside from his interest in my sister.  He had a good head on his shoulders, and it was clear why he was an up and coming rookie.  I’d like him even more if he would go against social norms and not be about to marry Phoebe because it was expected of him.

But then again, I think the two of them, unlike Penny and her husband, actually loved each other, which I could respect, to a point.

As for me, I was spending as much time as I could at school.  It was my escape, of course, and I was extremely glad Maddie was around to rescue me.  “I can’t say I have much problem with this,” she’d tell me.  “I mean, sure, it sucks for you to be home, but it gives me more time to spend with you.  How can I hate that?”

Maddie did sort of spoil my friendship with her by wanting to be a part of the action.  She bugged me for a while to allow her to go home with me, and I decided to go for it in the second week just to shut her up.  “I’ve never seen a reality show in the works before,” she’s say.  “I think it’d be interesting to watch.”

Really, though, she wanted a perspective on what I was dealing with so she could understand it better, which I could appreciate.  She spent the entire Saturday with me sneaking around and making sure neither of us were in the shot.  “We probably are, and we just don’t realize it,” I sighed.

She laughed.  “Oh God, I hope they air it,” she smiled.  “It’ll be hilarious to see us peeking into the rooms and whatever.  People’ll be so confused!”

I laughed at that image.  “Ha, I hope you’re right,” I said.  “I got to do that more often.”

“I think we need to start pranking them.  I’ll start coming home every weekend, and we’ll make it our thing.  It’s going to be so much fun!”

There was a reason I was best friends with Maddie, although I hadn’t quite figured out what it was.  But I think it might have something to do with her mischievous side at times.

Still, after seeing that, she was sympathetic to my case, and even thought it might be a good idea for me to spend the night at her house on the weekends.  Unfortunately, she seemed to be the only one who thought this situation was ridiculous, since Mrs. Douglas thought it would be a better idea for Maddie to spend the night with me.  “You’ll be on TV, Madeline!” she’d tell her.

Papa’s clause about not including me on the camera other than background extended to Maddie as well, which she was thankful for, so we weren’t too sure what that would accomplish.

Of course, one of my favorite things to do started to quickly become marching into a room and demand to know what they were doing, since it completely ruined the shot.  Penny got annoyed at this, naturally, whereas Phoebe didn’t think anything of it. 

Sometimes, though, I wouldn’t do it on purpose.  “What it in the hell are you people do?” I demanded one afternoon when I was actually home early.  “It sounds like a herd of elephants bowling down here.”

Penny, Phoebe, and their friends turned to look at me in surprise.  Usually when I yelled at them, there wasn’t any anger in my tone.  Penny glanced at the camera before shooting me a death glare, thinking I was doing this on purpose.  “We’re spending in with our friends,” she said haughtily.  “Although I doubt you could understand what that’s like.”

“Caitlyn’s mad at Sara for stealing the guy she was crushing on,” Phoebe said delightedly, like I would actually care about their friend’s relationships. “I’m trying to tell Caitlyn that she never made any moves herself, so he was fair game, but everyone else is talking about the Boyfriend Code or something.”

“The one where you’re not supposed to date the boys you know your friends are crushing on,” Caitlyn said hotly to Sara.

“Girl, I didn’t know you were crushin’ on him,” Sara said, crossing her arms over her impressive bosom.  “You weren’t exactly subtle about it!”

“That shouldn’t matter!  I thought you were my friend; you should know these things!”

Penny was giving the camera an annoyed look, since this was reality show gold, and they couldn’t use any of it.  I felt a small sense of pride in what I was doing.

I rubbed my temples.  “Look, the solution is simple.  Caitlyn, Sara isn’t a mind reader; you can’t get mad at her over something you never told her in the first place.  Also, if the guy noticed Sara and not you, then he’s clearly not worth this drama.  Find someone who notices you before you notice them.  Also, could you maybe do me a small favor, just this once, and move this idiot convention?  I have a test to study for, and I can’t concentrate with you people squawking down here.”

Phoebe’s hand flew to her mouth in surprise, but Penny hastily beat her to the punch.  “This is our house as well, Psyche.  We have every right to be here as much as you do.  More so, in fact, because we’re older.”

“How does that logic work?” I asked, annoyed.  “You’re married, Penny.  You have your own God damned house now.  You have no right to this one anymore.”

It was actually sort of funny how Penny never corrected me about calling her by her nickname, although she hated it at this point in her life.  I suppose, as her baby sister, I did have some leeway.

“Phoebe does,” Penny said triumphantly.  “She’s only engaged.  And these are her friends as well.”

“But she’s studying, Penny,” Phoebe said, looking worried.  “I don’t think its right that we’re disturbing her.”

Penny blinked at her.  “Who the hell cares, Phebes?  College isn’t that important.  It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.”

Phoebe surprised me by standing.  “I know that’s true, but it’s something Psy chooses to do, and Papa always said that the way we educate ourselves is important.  We both know that Psy’s never going to make it in the real world without getting a career and living with about twenty cats.  And I say we help her out.”

I rolled my eyes at her.  She sounded like she was trying to help me out, but I, as well as her friends, knew she was just insulting me.  Their friends sort of twittered like it was the funniest thing ever that I wanted to study and get good grades, and Penny looked delighted at the fact that Phoebe was, in fact, still on her side.

At least until she remembered none of this was going to be in the show, in which she started scowling again.

“Ah, poor Psy,” Phoebe cooned.  “Can’t get her way.  Well, maybe if you run and tell Daddy, he’ll do something about it.  Oh, wait; he already did, and we’re still here, aren’t we?”

“Yes, Psy, go run and tell Daddy,” Penny sneered.  “Then we’ll see exactly who the favorite is.”

“You think I’d stoop that low?  I was in my right to go to him about you granting permission for me for this stupid show.  I can’t exactly go to his lawyers myself, you know.”  Actually, I was pretty sure I could, but those men terrified me beyond reason.  Whenever I saw Papa talking with them in his office, I always tried to sneak away without being noticed.  I couldn’t even begin to imagine what they would do to me for interrupting their time with my father.

“Right,” Penny said, gesturing at me to her friends, which caused them to laugh even more.  Well, if they want to cast me as a tattletale, I suppose that was within their rights.  After all, I had already cast them as the moronic friends who couldn’t think for themselves, and were only there because they wanted the same sort of recognition that Penny and Phoebe enjoyed.

“Whatever; I’m just asking you to keep it down for a bit,” I said.  “I would think, as my loving and caring sisters that you’d respect me enough to at least let me study.”

They pretty much answered my question as I expected, with laughter.  I rolled my eyes again, and simply sought out my father.  I really didn’t want to stoop that low, but when they started acting like idiots, I really had no other choice.

I was just lucky Papa was there that day.  “I told you I could do anything about them being here,” he told me once I explained the problem.

“I know; I was just hoping that either today you’d make an exception, or else you’d just banish them into the basement or something.  You know, somewhere further from my room?”

He seemed a little torn, because he didn’t want to ‘ruin’ his eldests’ fun, but he also knew I needed to study.  In the end, he ‘suggested’ to the producer that they might be able to get some better footage if they moved to the basement.  I wasn’t all that surprised that the guy actually went for it as easily as he had, although I had a feeling I was going to pay for it later.

But that was the main reason I wasn’t at school that particular day, since Maddie didn’t have to study for the test, and she tended to get in my way when we didn’t have the same topic to study for.  Besides which, she had a group project she was working on, so it just worked out that I needed to come home like I normally did, much to my annoyance.  I couldn’t study in the library, for some reason.  I needed the minimal amount of people around me, or else I’d be distracted.

Family meals were rather interesting, since obviously they couldn’t be filmed thanks to Papa, Mom, and myself being in the room.  Mom always invited Penny and Phoebe to stay, but they never did.  It was a reprieve, and it was nice.  It was actually far more common as I got older than it was just the three of us for the meal, since Penny and Phoebe had their social lives, and I preferred it.

However, every now and then, Penny and Phoebe, along with their significant others, would be forced to sit down and enjoy a meal with us. It was actually Penny’s husband’s idea, since he felt like it somehow made him a part of the family.  And since Penny was there. Phoebe had to be as well, dragging poor Nate with her as well.

Papa hated the idea, since he loathed Donald more than anyone’s ever hated someone.  Never mind the fact that the guy was four years older than her own father, Papa didn’t appreciate the fact that the two of them eloped, and their first introduction had been as her husband.  But given the fact that Papa yearned for more family dinners, he couldn’t refuse, and spent pretty much the entire dinner alternating between glaring at him, and attempting to ignore him.

Unlike Nate, I had to agree with Papa’s annoyance with Donald.  For one thing, the guy was creepy.  He married a girl half his age for no apparent reason, since I happen to know that Penelope refuses to actually consummate the marriage.  But that doesn’t seem to matter to Donald.  Not when he has her pretty baby sister to hit on every time I see him.  He wasn’t that bad looking, all things considered, except for the fact that he was sporting a bad comb over and one of those pencil thin mustaches that just made him look like a predator.

I mean, it could be worse – he could be a potbellied drunk or something.

I wasn’t sure how the hell someone like him could be on his way to a billionaire, much less get someone like Penny to agree to marry him, but maybe there was something beyond his pedophilic ways that made him appealing.  Hell, the only reason he married Penny was because he wanted a ‘pretty young thing’ on his arm when he needed her.

Papa made sure to keep him about as far away as he could get me whenever we had those dinners.  And Nate, picking up on my discomfort, tended to place himself near me at all times.  Phoebe, luckily, hadn’t noticed, and I liked to believe that this was what having a big brother would be like.

“Oh, dear, are you sure you have the tickets for Psyche?” Mom suddenly piped up, her mind not at all on the current conversation.

Papa paused from his conversation with Nate about current football stats, or something.  I wasn’t paying attention, either.  “Yes, of course, Helen” he reassured her.  “Everything’s taken care of, I promise.”

“Oh, okay; just making sure,” she muttered.

Mom tended to be a worrier by nature, and family trips tended to be the worst for her.  Every little detail had to be planned out to the last millisecond, or else she’d flip her lid.  Papa liked to call it ‘journey fever’ rather than ‘destination fever’, since once we were there, she was herself again.  She just got nervous about traveling, which sort of made it a miracle she even went back to Greece to be with Papa again.

Then again, that might have been one of the reasons Papa realized she was so serious about being with him.

Papa was surprisingly patient with her; she’d ask the same question a million times, and he’d give her the same answer over and over again without any bit of frustration at her.  Sometimes when she was annoying him, he’d put Post-It’s around the house with the answers on them to calm her down a bit.  Of course, Penny tended to find it amusing to take the Post-It’s down, but he still never got mad at Mom.

He instead punished Penny when that happened.

Phoebe bounced slightly.  “I’m so excited about this.  I love going to Greece.”

Penny rolled her eyes.  “Gawd, Phebes, way to be a spazz.  It’s not like you’ve never been to Greece before.”

“Well, yeah, but this the first time Nate’s going with us!  I totally get to rub my NFL fiancé in our cousins’ faces.  So looking forward to that.”

“Right, because our cousins care about the fact that you’re marrying an athlete,” I muttered.  They didn’t care that Papa was marrying an American socialite, and they certainly wouldn’t care about Nate’s fame.  They were going to adore Nate himself, I was sure, but not because he was a quarterback.

“Chryssa’s marrying a Goddammed farmer,” Penny sneered.  “They all marry beneath themselves over there.  They should be impressed with Nate here.”

“Well,” he drawled out, looking a little embarrassed.

“The Karalises marry for love, not fame and fortune.  That’s why they’re so happy,” Mom said.

“Then why did Daddy marry you, Mom?” Penny pointed out, looking delighted at the fact she could insult her own mother, for whatever reason.  “Granddaddy’s the one who financed his startup, after all.”

“You know very well that I had been planning on living a simple life until you grandfather decided to allow me back into the family again,” Mom said hotly.  “And he only financed your father because he believed he would be successful.”

“Grandpa says it’s because Papa was family, and he felt he needed to get on Papa’s dream if he wanted to see you happy,” I said.

“Well, there’s that, but your father and I would have been perfectly happy regardless of how we ended up.”

“I just feel bad for poor Psy over there,” Penny said, shifting her attention to a more enjoyable target.  “I mean, I married a future billionaire, Phebe’s marrying an athlete.  What does that leave for Psyche?”

“A troll,” Phoebe giggled.  “That’s the only sort of person who’ll marry our sister, after all!”

“Laugh it up,” I said.  “You two might care only for appearances, but I’m looking for something a little more meaningful.  Um, no offense.”

Nate held up his hand like he wasn’t offended.  Donald was currently starting at my sister’s chest.

“Well, I for one am very happy for Chryssa,” Mom decided to say.  “She might be marrying a farmer, but I’m sure she’ll be very happy with her life with him.”

“Oh yes, she’s marrying a great man,” Papa agreed.  “One thing us Karalises learned was to choose our spouses wisely, and Chryssa seems to be no exception.”

I liked my cousin Chryssa.  She was the same age as Phoebe, born to Papa’s youngest brother.  Considering all the cousins closest to my age were all boys, Chryssa and I spent most of our time together when I visited.  We had a special sort of cousin bond, I guess, one that I felt threatened when she started ignoring me in favor of her boyfriend.

But Spiros was just as awesome as Chryssa, and when he learned that the cousin she spent the most time with was visiting all the way from America, he made a point to include us in their plans, at least while I was there.  I was half in love with him myself by the end of the summer, although I knew he was meant for Chryssa.

I had just been surprised he was a farmer, since he seemed more like a city boy, to be honest.  But I knew Chryssa enjoyed the simple things in life, and I looked forward to seeing their farm when I went to visit the family next time.

While I did enjoy visiting Mom’s family when we did, it was Papa’s family I loved the most.  Mom’s family came from old money, and lived pretty much the same way we did without being in the spotlight all the time. They tended to have the same sort of opinions on the world that most rich families had, although they still held family to the most important thing.  But the Karalis side of the family were completely different – wanting what they had rather than wanting more.  And it was a breath of fresh air to visit them.

It probably also helped that Papa had such a huge family.  Mom mostly just associated with her parents and her brother and sister.  Papa had his brothers and sisters, their children, his cousins, aunts, uncles, next door neighbors, guy down two houses and across the street.  There were always people around Papou and Nona’s house, and while I did prefer to be left alone most of the time, being around my Greek family was far too fascinating.  Plus, Nona wouldn’t allow me to coop myself in my room the entire time.  I’ve tried, and it didn’t work out well for me at all.

I think one of the best things about my father’s family was the fact that they didn’t really care for my sisters’ antics, either.  They were constantly referred to as ‘drama queens’ under breaths, and Nona had a way of putting them in their places.  Normally, they hated visiting that side of the family, and generally made their escape as soon as we got there to the nearest beach, where they could ogle at some ‘foreign hotties’, as they liked to call them.

Of course, this time they were going to have their camera crew with them, since part of their contract was that they had to have one no matter where they went.  I wasn’t sure how that was going to work out of them, since I doubted any of my Karalis relatives would go for being on an American reality show.  And Papa would reinforce the whole ‘no showing of people who hadn’t signed the contract’ thing with his own family.  But I’m pretty sure Penny and Phoebe could still find some fame hog in the town.

I didn’t really care one way or another, as long as they kept out of my way.  Yes, they were going to embarrass the hell out of everyone around us, but I knew the secret to keep them out of my hair: hang around Nona the entire time.  They were terrified of my diminutive grandmother.

But still, I was rather surprised that Papa would say something like that, considering his views on the man Penny married.  He liked Nate well enough, but I could tell he had a lower opinion of him than expected because he was stupid enough to be roped into marrying Phoebe.  But then again, I don’t think Papa considers his daughters true Karalises.  They had too much of their mother’s family in them apparently, and I was a little surprised Mom didn’t get offended by that.

Of course, to him, I was a true Karalis, and we all knew that the man (or woman) I would end up with would be someone who loved me for being Psyche, not Psyche Karalis.  My father’s name didn’t define me, after all, except to define me as ‘Daddy’s Girl’.  And that was something my future significant other was going to have to accept in me.

I really wasn’t as humble to marry a farmer like my cousin, but to be honest, someone in the working class would probably appeal to me a little better than one of my father’s contemporaries.  I longed for what I called a ‘normal’ life, where I had to work to get everything I wanted, and it was more satisfying when I achieved my goals.  Here, everything was handed to me, even when I insisted that it not be.  I was far more independent than my sisters, but even then, just based on the culture I was in, I couldn’t really be.

Sure, it’d take some getting used to, living in a more impoverish state, but I had little doubt I could handle it.  After all, that’s why I insisted on going to college rather than marrying right out of high school or living on my father’s coattails the rest of my life like my sisters.  I wanted to make a name for myself somehow, to be free of the shackles of wealth.  I knew millions of girls would love to be in the position I was, but I would also love to tell them that sometimes, it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.

I suppose it wouldn’t be too terrible if I grew up with loving sisters, but to them, anything that thinks different than them was considered bad, and I was considered the worst of them all.   

Chapter Two

Modern Day Cupid Chapter Three

Chapter Four