The gloss wand glided over Cynthia's lips as it added a coat of shiny pink. As she put the wand back into the tube, she stared back at her reflection. Her dad always said that for someone who constantly complained that she was unhappy with her looks, she spent a lot of time looking at herself in the mirror.
Her dad just didn't get it. Her lack of looks was the reason she spent so much time looking in the mirror.
Every day, when she looked at her reflection, she would see every flaw and imperfection glaring back at her. It was impossible not to notice them. Her lips were too thin. Her skin looked dry and cracked. Her chin was way too big and square at the end, her ears stuck out on the sides, and her eyes and nose were much too small. The list went on and on.
Cynthia picked up her hairbrush to comb her hair, which was another thing she hated about herself. It was frizzy and dull, no matter how many products she used to add smoothness and shine. It was also a blondish color, which should have been nice, but it was ashy blonde with streaks of brown and black, like someone had sprinkled ashes and dirt into it, not like the gorgeous buttery gold like all the pretty girls in fairytales.
Cynthia tried to compensate for her lack of physical beauty by wearing designer clothes and jewelry. Everything in her closet came from a high-end store. Luckily, her dad made a lot of money, so she could afford to always stay on top of the latest trends. It was hard enough to find cute outfits that she felt properly hid the little bulge in her belly and didn't draw attention to her flat chest, but she always managed to snag some good finds at the stores.
She also always wore a lot of makeup. Cynthia never left her house without covering her face with all sorts of products, coating her skin from simple base to the colorful shades she put on her cheeks, lips and eyelids. She even wore face masks at night and dabbed her face with expensive pimple creams and lotions. While she avoided breakouts, it didn't do much to enhance what she had. Even though she tried to hide her flaws with cosmetics and always wore the hottest styles to make up for what she sorely missed, there were all too often times when Cynthia felt like it just wasn't enough.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
A loud banging came from outside the bathroom, where Cynthia was preparing for the first day of the school's second semester, interrupting her train of thoughts, which were basically one big pity party.
"Cynthia! Come on, I need the bathroom!"
Cynthia sighed at the new voice. Well, it wasn't exactly new, but it was new enough.
A year-and-a-half ago, Cynthia's dad met a woman named Mary. Mary was a widow who lived in the next town, where she worked as a cleaning lady to a rich family. Cynthia's father, a rich businessman, had been enchanted by Mary. They started dating, and after a year, he proposed.
Cynthia had met Mary a few months after the start of their relationship. She seemed nice enough, showing interest in Cynthia, asking about her interests, her passions, her friends (She had been quite embarrassed when Cynthia had to inform her that she didn't really have any friends). It was only after her dad popped the question that Cynthia found out that Mary had a daughter of her own from her late husband.
Anastasia Perrault, or Stacie for short, as she preferred to be called.
She was the same age as Cynthia, both of them having just turned fourteen. They met for the first time at their parents' engagement party. They had treated each other politely, talking and getting to know one another. Soon after, about three months ago in fact, the wedding happened, with both daughters serving as junior bridesmaids, and once the honeymoon was over, Mary and Stacie moved into town with Cynthia and her dad, much to Cynthia's dismay. She was actually hoping that maybe she could move to Mary's town, transfer schools and get a fresh new start, one where no one knew her as Cynthia the Love Bug, from when she had decided it would be a good idea to confess to a boy she liked by reading a love poem to him for fourth-grade English class.
Needless to say, the boy didn't reciprocate her feelings.
But since Cynthia's dad, Robert Glass, made ten times as much money as Mary did, being the CEO of a quite successful glass-blowing business, and because their fancy house was much bigger for their growing family than her tiny apartment, it made more sense for Mary to quit her job with the rich family in her town, since they certainly weren't moving to accommodate her commute, and bring Stacie to come live here than for Mr. Glass to put up with the traffic of driving into the city instead of taking the subway that was a few blocks away from their townhouse manor, which was far easier, faster, and more convenient.
Sometime before the wedding, Cynthia overheard Mary talking to her dad, saying how thrilled she was that her daughter would be getting not only a new father, but a sister in the deal as well. Cynthia's dad had replied that he was happy that his daughter would get a sister, too. The parents did love each other, and would have married regardless of what children they did or did not have, but being able to give their respective beloved child a sister was a definite bonus.
Cynthia always had wanted a sister, actually. But any hope of getting one the usual way had died when she was five. That was when her own mom had decided that she somehow deserved better than the life she had with Cynthia and her dad and left for Europe with some weird guy who was supposedly worth millions. Whether he really was, or it was just a cover story to lure in his prey, Cynthia never found out, because she never saw or heard from her mom after that, save for the birthday card she got every three or four years.
Anyways, since it looked like she was destined to remain an only child, Cynthia had to settle for pretending to have a sister. She played tea party and dress up with her invisible sister, and sometimes stayed up late into the night talking about their dream fairytale weddings. Well, her dream fairytale wedding. As she got older and outgrew the desire for imaginary friends, she settled for daydreaming about having a sister to give her fashion tips, gush about boys with, and stand up to the mean girls who made fun of Cynthia for her plain looks and klutziness.
Of course, now that she finally had a sister, it wasn't as great as she had imagined when she was younger. But not because Stacie was mean to her or anything. In fact, the two got along well enough. They weren't exactly friends, not yet at least, but they weren't enemies. Cynthia's problem with her stepsister lay with their differences in physical appearances.
Namely, the fact that Stacie's was better than hers.
All of the sudden, the door flew open.
"Cynthia! I'm serious! Quit hogging the bathroom! School starts in an hour!"
Cynthia looked in the direction to see Stacie standing in the doorway. She stepped backwards, allowing her new stepsister easy access to the sink and all it's contents. "I just finished. All yours."
"Thank you." Stacie came up to the sink and began getting ready.
Leaning to the side, Cynthia couldn't help but look at Stacie's reflection in the mirror.
Stacie's skin was pale and smooth, soft-looking, with just even moisture locked in so that it didn't look too dry or too oily. Her body was thin, without any belly bulges or over-sized body parts that looked out of place. Her chin was small and curved smoothly, and her nose was pointed just right, with just enough of a perk at the tip. Her hair was straight and shiny, not a strand out of place. Not only that, it was a dramatic and brilliant scarlet color, just the right shade of fiery red, making her stand out in a crowd, but in a good way, like all those dynamic, vivacious female spitfires in the movies.
Then, of course, Cynthia's eyes shifted back to her own reflection, peeking out from behind Stacie in the corner of the mirror. As if she wasn't already unhappy with her looks, her insecurities always doubled when she was in Stacie's company. Cynthia was plain enough by herself, but next to her stepsister, she felt like a troll.
"Done!"
Cynthia was snapped out of her trance by Stacie's voice. The redhead stepped away from the mirror, and her blonde stepsister checked the time on her phone.
"It's only been ten minutes!", cried Cynthia, astonished that it had taken Stacie such a short time to finish. Cynthia herself usually took almost an hour primping herself before she was satisfied with how she looked. Well, as satisfied as she would be.
Stacie turned back, and Cynthia could see she had only put on lip gloss, eyeliner and mascara, while Ellie had caked on the primer, foundation, concealer, highlighter, bronzer, blush, eyeshadow, liner, mascara and liquid lipstick.
Yet, even with ten different kinds of product on her face, Cynthia still paled in comparison to her stepsister, whose complexion glowed, eyes sparkled, cheeks flushed, and lips bloomed without any cosmetic assistance.
"Yeah, I know, took me a little longer than usual. Come on, we're gonna be late!"
And with that, she was out of the door, her vivacious red locks moving and swaying behind her like they were dancing to a song.
Taking one last look at herself in the mirror, Cynthia sighed, wondering why of all the girls in the world that could have become her stepsister, it had to be Stacie.
——————————————-
"Good morning family of mine!", came Mary's sing-song voice as she strutted into the dining room from the kitchen, carrying a huge tray holding three plates of food. She gave her husband a loving peck on the lips before going to serve him and their daughters.
"Ham and eggs for my big strong man,", she said, listing off the meals as she served them to their assigned eaters. "Toasted bagel with cream cheese spreading and iced tea for my little princess." She came to Cynthia. "And for my new little princess...plain oatmeal." She sounded a little less than enthusiastic as she set the bowl in front of Cynthia. "Just like every morning."
Tucking the tray under her arm, Mary gave her a concerned look. "Cynthy, are you sure I can't whip you up something more...filling? I worry about you. You're always eating these light foods. I'm scared of you passing out from hunger."
"Thanks, Maria, but I'm fine really.", Cynthia lied, all while averting her eyes away from the other tastier but more fattening breakfasts of her father and stepsister, trying not to drool at the tempting scents. "A girl's gotta watch her figure."
"Cynthy, you're fourteen! You're much too young to worrying about your weight!"
Easy for you to say., Cynthia thought bitterly, giving Mary's body a look over. She had kept a little weight around her hips, sure, but for a woman her age, Mary was considerably thinner than a lot of the other moms in the neighborhood.
It was clear where Stacie got her good looks from. Mary looked different enough from her daughter, but both were beautiful. With her dark black hair, her sweet round face, and stunning baby blue eyes that she shared with Stacie, Cynthia could understand how someone like Mary would catch her dad's eye.
Since Mary had been a cleaning lady when she met Cynthia's dad, and because she had quit her job to marry him, a lot of people suspected her of being a gold digger. But that wasn't true. Sure, Mary was always happy when her new husband presented her with an expensive birthday gift, or surprised her by the news that he would pay for Stacie to go to Cynthia's private school, but in all fairness, who wouldn't be?
Besides, Mary was always super nice to Cynthia. She always asked Cynthia how she was doing, offering to take her shopping, or out to lunch, just the two of them, to bond. Sure, sometimes, she seemed closer to her own child than to Cynthia, but that was to be expected, especially since they had only recently become family, and still had a lot to learn about each other. They had a long way to go before they were mother and daughter, but Mary was no wicked stepmother.
"It's just, you're a growing girl, sweetie.", said Maria, setting her tray aside. "You should be eating more. Look at your sister! She eats a balanced meal."
"Sure she does.", snapped Ellie. "She has a better metabolism than me. She can eat whatever she wants and none of it ever goes on her body!"
Mary and Stacie blinked sadly, while Cynthia's dad shot her a disapproving look. Her shoulders slumped as she realized the tone in her voice had not been very sisterly at all.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be rude.", she apologized. "But what I said is still true. My metabolism's different. I need a different diet than Stacie."
"You're too young to be dieting!", exclaimed Mary, sitting next to her husband.
"Lots of girls at my school are. It's not really a big deal, least not anymore."
Mary's lips thinned, but she said, "Alright, if you insist. I still think you should have more variety."
"Speaking of school, you better hurry up and chow down.", said Cynthia's father, pointing at his daughter's bowl. "You girls don't wanna be late. Especially since this is Stacie's first day."
"Ugh, don't remind me!", Stacie groaned. "I mean, I'm glad you married Robert, Mom. I'm just still bummed I had to leave my old school."
"I know you are, dear.", cooed Mary. "But it's going to be fine. You're a bright, wonderful girl! You'll make new friends in no time. Besides, you already got one friend at that school already! Your sister!"
Robert locked eyes with his daughter. "You will introduce your sister around school, won't you, Cynthia?"
"I would...if I had anyone to introduce her to.", she remarked a little sadly. At Golden Tiger Academy, Cynthia wasn't exactly a candidate for homecoming queen.
"I'm sure you'll work something out.", said Robert, smiling. "Now finish your food and let's get going!"
"I'm done!", cried Stacie, mouth still half full.
Cynthia was amazed that even with her cheeks stuffed, her lips stained with seeds and bits of cream cheese, her stepsister was still pretty as pie.
She got up as she wiped her mouth on her napkin. "I'll meet you in the car, sis! Fingers crossed for the first day!"
Cynthia caught a quick glance at Stacie's outfit as she stood. She wore a plain T-shirt with the neck and sleeves lined in hot pink fabric and a hot pink stripe horizontally across the middle, jeans that she always wore and were getting a little worn, sneakers that looked a bit dirty, and her only piece of jewelry were a pair of stud pearl earrings.
Cynthia, in contrast, was wearing a fancy ruffled pale pink top, a pearly white designer skirt, and brand new black ballet flats with pink ribbon bows on the toes. She had put on a cerulean-blue beaded necklace, matching bracelet, dangly silver hoop earrings, and a pink bow barrette fastened on one side of her head.
Yet, as stated before, even though Cynthia had put more effort into her appearance, Stacie still somehow looked better.
Watching her leave the room, her red ponytail bouncing in a perfect rhythm tied up in a hot pink scrunchie, Cynthia couldn't help but think about how jealous she was of Stacie, and how nice it must be to be as effortlessly beautiful as her.