Hello!
This is a short sequel to my previous story "Intro to Interracial Relations" and stars the same cast of characters. Reading the two parts of that story may be necessary to get everything you can out of this one.
I hope you enjoy!
...
Juno Evans slowly crept up the trellis on the side of her house, carefully dodging the creaky board about two-thirds of the way up.
It could be stressful sneaking around like this, but it was necessary. Her father was a hard man in many ways, and if she hadn't learned to sneak out and in again, Juno wouldn't have any time with her friends at all.
She slid open the window she had left cracked and slipped inside, breathing a sigh of relief. Another successful trip outside her father's cold, controlling grasp. She was getting pretty good at this...
Her bedside lamp snapped on, revealing the long, gloomy face of her father, sitting on the edge of her bed with cold rage simmering in his eyes.
Oh shoot.
"I should have known," said her father quietly.
"Father, it isn't that big of a deal," said Juno desperately. "Father" was what she always called him since before she could remember. He insisted on it in fact. He said that names like "Dad" were too "Informal". "I wasn't even doing anything bad. Just going to see a movie with my friends!"
Her father ignored her as usual, rising to his impressive height and turning away with his hands behind his back. "I've tried my best to raise you to be a good girl, Juno. The kind of girl I can be proud of." He looked over her shoulder at her, disgust written all over his face. "But you're determined to become just like your mother. A temptress. A naughty girl who thinks about nothing but sinful pleasures."
Robert Evans wasn't the kind of man to beat his only child. His "mercy" was a point of pride for him in fact. But he didn't hesitate to hurt his daughter in ways that stung even worse than a belt would.
"That's not fair," said Juno in a small voice. "I'm... I am a good girl." It came out a lot less confident than she would have liked. By this point in her life, Juno knew that her father was a cruel man. He probably wasn't even capable of the love and approval that she craved. But she still wanted it badly. She wanted to prove to him that she could meet his impossible standards and be the "good girl" he demanded. "Good girl"...The words had been drilled into her before she could even talk. A shining example that her father always held just outside her reach, condemning her as a "naughty girl" unworthy of praise.
Her father simply snorted. Moving toward the door. "Your mother had everyone else fooled as well. But she was the same as you. Sneaking out at night. Meeting with boys to do unspeakable things. And where did that land her? A baby in her belly before she was married and the ridicule of society. And that's what you'll get too, you naughty girl."
Juno's face crumpled. Her father was trying to wound her in revenge for her defiance, and he knew just how to cut her to the quick. She had never known her mother, only the nasty things her father said about her. The fact that one of the boys she snuck out to meet must have been her father himself never seemed to matter in his eyes.
Juno's mother had gotten pregnant as a teen, faced the scathing ridicule of upper-class society, and then died in childbirth, shamed and disgraced. Pregnancy out of wedlock had become a sort of obsession for her father, and he had passed it along to her. Her boyfriend had convinced Juno to start having sex with him a few months ago, but she still made him wear condoms even after going on the pill. That was how much pregnancy loomed in her mind as the ultimate proof of "naughtiness".
"The trellis will be removed tomorrow," said Roger in his infuriatingly calm voice. "I will have a camera installed in your room to prove that you are asleep when you claim to be. I won't have any daughter of mine following in her whore mother's footsteps and getting pregnant."
Juno opened her mouth to try to defend herself, but her father had no intention of listening. He slammed the door firmly shut behind him.
Juno collapsed on her bed, her mind a raging torrent of anger and defiance and sadness and guilt. Even though she knew her father's view of her was warped, she still wanted his approval more than anything. In a way, he was even right. She had snuck out to watch a movie with her friends, but she also had sex with her boyfriend afterward. Sex with Noah was fun, but also terrifying and guilt-inducing. Even if she was being strictly careful about birth control, she knew what her father would say about it, and his cold voice seemed to ring in her head afterward every time.
But he was wrong. Good girls could cut loose and chase their desires every once in a while. As long as they went back to being good afterward, it was fine. In fact, having fun was a useful safety valve. Being a little naughty in a controlled way helped her to be even more of a "good girl" afterward. There wasn't any harm in taking a break from being a "good girl" for a little while, as long as she didn't do anything with permanent consequences. At least, that's what Juno told herself.
And soon, the ultimate safety valve was coming up... Juno would be off to Mulbrooke University with her friends and boyfriend. For four years she would be out of her father's controlling grasp. She could explore herself a little... Be a naughty girl consequence-free, at least for a while.
She couldn't wait... couldn't wait to see who she was once she didn't need to prove she was a good girl to her father 24/7...
...
Juno Evans sauntered into Roderick Caine's office with a sultry smile on her face andher hips swinging. "Hi, Daddy!" She chirped cheerfully, her eyes sparkling with mischievous affection.
Roderick set aside the file he had been working on and smiled, appraising the girl who was his finest work. Juno couldn't have looked more different than the aloof little prude he had met the first day of her freshman year. Instead of dark shoulder-length hair, she now had long, wavy, platinum-blonde locks. Instead of little to no makeup, she now wore shiny pink lipgloss and dramatic eyeliner. Instead of timid and reserved, she was now brash, forward, and bubbly.