Sakura Eyes

Chapter 2

I slept until noon on the day of the festival. Groggily, I sat up and rubbed the back of my neck. My muscles were sore from sleeping in the wrong position; I rolled my head a few times to try and get rid of the soreness.

"Sis!" May cried, running over to me. "What do you think?"

Rubbing the drowsiness out of my eyes, I turned around to see May turning around in a circle to show me her dress. My mouth feel open. But it wasn't because I was looking at her dress, but rather because of the state of the house.

"What happened to the house?" I screeched.

Clothes were scattered everywhere from the living room to the kitchen. Makeup and powder rolled onto the floor, creating colorful stains. There was a rustling from the side, and I looked over my shoulder to see Mom squirming her way out of the closet. She popped out of the messy closet and held up a puffy pink dress.

"May!" she exclaimed, waving her hand. "Come and try on this outfit—oh you're awake."

"Mom," I started. "What the hell are you doing?"

Mom glared at me. "First of all young lady, no profanity. Second of all, unlike you, we ladies know how to dress up pretty and act ladylike at parties. We wear ladylike dresses and have ladylike manners."

I rolled my eyes. "I'll stay like this thank you very much."

I spent my remaining time watching May and Mom try on dresses and putting on makeup. In the end, May chose a blue dress that was dotted with flowers on the end. She had her light brown hair pinned back with bobby pins and wore the jade necklace she had bought at the market. I noticed Mom had pinned May's hair weirdly again with two bobby pins on top of each other like a cross instead of just one bobby pin pinning down on one strand of hair.

Mom wore a knee-length red sleeveless dress with diamonds glittering across her chest. She had refused to go out until I changed into something "appropriate", but I had no dresses or skirts. Of course, Mom came prepared and handed me a blue dark dress with sleeves that poofed up like a balloon.

I rejected it immediately. She muttered something unintelligible and dug deeper into the closet. She pulled out a knee-length, sleeveless simple black dress with thin straps and held it up for me to examine. I cocked my head to a side and grinned. Mom rolled her eyes and gave it to me to wear. I went into the bathroom and put on the dress gingerly. I took a glance at the mirror.

An eighteen-year old girl stared back. I sighed as I glanced closer at my shoulder-length light brown hair and dark amber eyes. I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and glanced at my delicate nose and almond-shaped eyes. I liked staring at myself in the mirror; Mom always told me it was like staring at a girl version of Father.

The only physical trait where I didn't follow Father was the color of my skin. I was strangely fair, so fair that people would sometimes stop and stare at me. Mom told me they envied the paleness of my skin because that represented being wealthy and having class, but I hated it more than anything. I was pretty sure I was the worst person on this planet when it comes down to social skills. I had none. Just like I had no friends.

Mom was a little darker than me but still quite pale, but May was pretty tan when she stood next to us. That was the only thing that separated the two of them in terms of physical features though. Both of them had dark brown hair and moon-shaped beige eyes. Their hair lengths were the same as well; both fell to their waist and shined in the sunlight whenever they moved their heads. Although May was six years younger than me, she was only shorter than me by a head. In height, I think she followed Father. Mom was only five foot five.