Only Her

Chapter 1

Zoe Williams

"Zoe! Come out of your room at once!!" Mary yelled. Again.

She was calling me for last ten minutes. And I was ignoring her.

I was busy arranging my newly-arrived books in my shelf. The shelf already looked crowded. I needed a new shelf for my books but for that I would have to tell my dad about how I was using his credit card to order more novels almost every day, and that was something I'm not ready to talk about yet. Though it will take only few more days for him to find that out.

I was in middle of opening the packages that  had just arrived. When Mary barged into my room.

"Out! Now!" She exclaimed pointing at the door.

I was still shocked at the sudden invasion but recovered from that when I saw her. She looked like she was going to explode any minute now. I tried to get up without her noticing the packages.

"Umm... What are you doing here?" I asked cautiously,  hiding the package behind the shelf. It was easily noticeable from where I stood but it was not visible to Mary.

"I have been calling you for twenty minutes now? Why were you ignoring me?"

"I was not ignoring you. I just didn't hear you. Why were you calling me?" I lied. I knew exactly why she was calling me.

I knew she was clearly not convinced by the look on her face. It evidently said I know you are lying but I will let this go anyway. I was grateful for that.

"C'mon, It's dinner time. I told you, we are going to eat together as a family from today onwards. You are not getting your dinner unless you come down." Her voice clearly indicated, that there was no room for argument.

I just nodded. "Yes. Yes. I remember.  You go ahead , I will be down in a sec." She gave me a look but left nonetheless.

I quickly took out the packages and hid them under my bed. I will open them after dinner.

With that done, I took my phone, left my room and went downstairs. In the dining room,  Caleb, my half-brother and Cass, my step-sister were already seated. Both of them looked as annoyed as I felt. Mary was setting out the plates and the cutlery. I took my seat to the left of the head chair,  the seat infront of me was assumingly Mary's , My step-mother. The Head chair belonged to my dad. Cass set next to Mary, and Caleb next to me.

After finishing putting everything on the table, Mary sat on her chair.

"Your father would be here any minute now. We could wait for him."

No one said anything. So I just nodded , not wanting Mary to feel dejected after putting so much effort into this

She smiled back at me.

My father arrived shortly after that. He was red when he came in view, probably exhausted. He came in the dining room and smiled at us.

"Ahh! You all are already seated! I will just freshen up little. You all should start. Don't let me stop you." He flashed us an another smile and than stormed out of the room.

Before Mary could utter a word, Cass and Caleb started piling their plates , I followed them shortly,  serving myself the white sauce pasta. Mary looked like she wanted to say something but then stood up and served herself a plate too.

My dad came back after few minutes. He sat on his chair and Mary laid out a plate for him too.

Mary sat back and we all engaged ourselves in eating.