In Her Shadow

prologue

"Fae, could you please turn the volume of your music down? Some people are actually doing something with their lives and trying to concentrate on important things you know..." my super annoying sister said all of a sudden. I rolled my eyes.

"Fallyn, first of all, can you knock? What if you run into things you don't want to see?" My sister smirked evilly. "Like what? You and your boyfriend doing nasty? Oh please we both know you will never get one with your lack of good looks."

Awtch. That really hurted. I know I am no natural beauty with my plain brown hair and eyes. my hair doesn't know whether to curl or to be straight. I am not curvy, nor skinny. Tall nor short. Just plain normal.

But Fallyn, now she is a beauty queen. With her perfect straight blonde hair, piercing blue eyes and curves in the right places, she was an eyecatcher... She was also very smart. Like véry smart. "A+'s only" kind of smart. She plays the piano like Beethoven and loves helping at the community center. She volunteers you know... Perfect Sister. Perfect Daughter. Except for me. She is mean as fuck.

I gave her a 'I don't fucking care'-look. If she knew she hurted me, she would use it for ever to hurt me even more. With a hair flip she left my room. I just turned the music even louder. I heard a frustrated groan. Bingo!

I finished my round of exercises and threw away my boxing gloves. Yes, in case you would like to now: I love martial arts. It's the only thing I am better at than Fallyn. She doesn't want to break a nail, you see. Her perfect polished and painted nails are holy.

After that I went downstairs. I opened the fridge. Lucky for me, my oldest brother hadn't eaten the last part of the chocolate pie. Yet. I grabbed it and poured a glass of milk. With the delicious treat in my hands, I took place at the table. Soon, my youngest brother Jackson joined me.

"Hi sis. Whatcha doin'?" He gave me a wink. Another sigh escaped my lips. "Jackie, please, you're not a gangster, nor a rapper. And, mom will not approve your use of slang." Jackson scrunched his nose. "No she won't. you're right. Sometimes, I just feel like I can't be who I want to be because of her." I understood his point. Mom could be... bossy. Really bossy.

I eyed Jackson.

His ripped jeans, black leather coat, his blonde curls and sparkling blue eyes... He was cute. My cute little brother. Only fourteen years old and our mother was already leaving her mark by making feel that he couldn't be who or what he wanted to be.

"Don't you have practice?" He shook his head. "Coach gave us time off to prepare for school. No tennis today..." O yes. No training. I snickered. At least his passion was supported by our parents. Mine wasn't. Martial arts weren't exactly elegant and suited for a young lady, as my mother would say. I was the only one in the family with unworthy hobbies. The fact that he was a star in a 'supported' sport made it far more easy for mom to forgive him for the fact that he also wasn't' perfect.

Like on cue my mother made her way into the kitchen. "Jackson, please, could you wear dresspants and a shirt? The lady's from the country club will be here in half an hour." Then she let her eyes fell on me. Her face contorted in... disgust? "Fae, wear a dress for once. Or a skirt. Just not... that. It's all sweaty and it reeks. Have you been slapping again?"

Yes, my mother calls it 'slapping', because that's the only thing girls should ever do when it comes to violence. And even that should be a rare event.

"Yes mother, I have been training again. And no I won't wear a dress or a skirt. I just don't feel like it." She pressed her lips together in a thin line, showing her disapproval of my words. Normally I would never say such things, but today I just couldn't care less. It's the last day before school. I am allowed to do whatever I want. My last day of freedom before junior year starts