Like Cinderella

My To-Do List - Number 1: Make Breakfast and Smell a Devouring Player

My To-Do List – Number One: Make Breakfast and Smell a Devouring Player

“Lexi, wake the fuck up and make breakfast, Dustin has to go to school early today,” Darcy’s bitter voice sounded as she slammed the door to my room shut. I jumped up from my bed and looked around wiping the drool from my face with the back of my hand. Darcy’s voice was veiled with sleep yet sounded like those annoying cheerleader’s from cliché chick-flicks or teen movies.

“I’m up,” I cried, my voice thick with sleep. I looked around trying to recognize my room, it was pretty messy. I couldn’t even see my bed with the books and papers from homework like a thick blanket covering it. I read the blue neon numbers on my alarm clock, and groaned. Why did I have to wake up so early? I hated Darcy! Why did I have to make breakfast for my two-faced brother? I got up and outta bed as fast as I could, not wanting to be doused in freezing cold water. It has happened before, and it is the worst way to wake someone up, not to mention the getting sick part of the whole situation.

I scrambled down the stairs as I pulled on a hoodie over my tank top, trying to balance my day planner as well. It was so cold in the mornings.

Dustin pushed past me, almost making me fall down the stairs. I grabbed the railing, gritting my teeth. “You don’t have to act like a prick when she’s asleep you know,” Dustin turned around to look at me. His facial expressions immediately softened. Dustin had dirty blonde hair that was always unruly, he had perfect blue eyes and he was all in all, beautiful as many girls at school would say. But, he was my brother, not biologically, but still. I’d seen him go through puberty, I’d seen him embarrass himself, and I knew his weaknesses and strengths. So no I didn’t like him like that and no, this wasn’t a story about me falling for my brother. Those stories are incredibly disturbing. He was my brother. He was nice to me when needed, but never in front of his mother.

“Sorry, Lex, I’m running late,” he frowned. His blue eyes held sincerity, making me feel bad for calling him out. I hated that he had that power over me.

I scurried off to the kitchen, not meeting his eyes. I hated him. Fine, so, I didn’t hate Dustin, in fact, I hated his attitude. More like, his act of being a brat or bully in front of his evil mom, and when she’s not looking he’s the most loving brother in the world. I can’t stand it! Worst of all, he won’t help me with the notorious ‘to-do’ lists Darcy assigns me. I don’t know if he even actually cares about me, or he pretends to care about me. Usually, he says that “Mom told you to do it, so you do it,” but he does help me in cleaning his room, only ‘cause he has things in there even I don’t wanna know about. He’s lucky Noah sleeps with Darcy.

I was fortunate to have a few friends, who cared about me: Wren my next door neighbour, Laila the owner of a music-slash-book-slash-movie store, where I worked, and my only best friend, Anika. Wren was a cool guy, he was in his mid-thirties, bachelor, and almost like a second dad after Cal passed away. He was usually busy, but he tried to make time for me. He always told me to shoot farther rather than settling for less. Cal and Wren were best buds and they were lucky to be next door neighbours, coincidentally. Wren worked for Andrew Lawrence. Andrew Lawrence was huge, in our town, he was actually the man who pretty much owned everything, which means that Wren makes a good amount of money, but he doesn’t want to move and I kind of think it’s ‘cause of me.

Laila was the first friend I made when Cal adopted me. And Anika, was my first friend in high school and she was the one person I told everything to. She knew everything about me. Laila did too.

I started pulling out food from the fridge onto the counter. My main goal was to leave this place and work towards my dream of becoming a painter instead of sweeping the floor spotless or taking out the garbage. I’m grateful that Cal, didn’t get a chance to buy a huge ass house, so we were stuck in a tiny house, even if the neighbourhood was crappy. It was less work for me to do.