A Not-So Cinderella

“BEEP beep beep beep! Beep beep beep bee—” Avery Wilson groaned and stuck her arm out to the side, effectively shutting off her alarm clock. She rolled out of bed, yawning, and fixed her ponytail. “ Avery walked across her room (well, the attic) to the window. The makeshift curtains he’d thrown together one day were shut across it, leaving the room in relative darkness. She pushed them open, blinking from the harsh light. Her gaze fell to the photograph on the table below the window, and she picked it up. “Good morning Mom, morning Dad, hi Zach.” Avery whispered, kissing the three people in the photo lightly. With a small smile, she set the photo back down and walked out of the room. She ran down the long flight of stairs until she reached the ground floor of the large house. She quickly made four cups of coffee (one very strong, three slightly milder), and set them, steaming hot, on the table. The table that was only set for four, though there were five people living in the mansion. She set to work, making large, fluffy pancakes, creamy scrambled eggs and sizzling bacon. She set them on the table quickly, ignoring her stomach yearning for the food, and ran back up to the second floor. She took a deep breath and stepped inside the first room. The smell of dirty socks and sweat hit her instantly, and she scrunched up her nose and tried not to breath as she scurried inside quietly and took the laundry hamper from the bathroom. She did the same in the next two rooms, finally setting down the hampers after a walk to the other side of the house (yes, it was that big). Avery opened the door to the largest room, now disgusted with the smell of perfume, and quickly got the laundry. On her way out, the person on the bed groaned, mumbling something about needing her beauty sleep. Avery rolled her eyes and continued out. She carried the hampers back down and put them for washing. Finally done with that particular work, she ran back upstairs, grabbed her clothes and went to the bathroom, sighing with relief. Her cousins weren’t up yet, which meant she could probably take a shower in peace today. She had just wrapped the towel around her when the door flew open. Avery shrieked. “Guys! What are you doing?” Her cousins smirked. Though they were twins, after three months Avery could tell them apart well enough. Jace had a mole on his neck and Jayden had none. Jamie was ten months younger than them, and the smallest of them all. Only a few inches taller than Avery, really. “Get out of the bathroom.” Jayden said. Avery huffed. She was used to this by now, given that they had done the same thing to her every single day. But it didn’t stop her momentary shock when her cousins burst in. “You could’ve knocked. What if I was in the shower?”  Jace snorted. “Then, dear Avery, we would’ve taken pictures and posted them online just as school starts.” Avery pursed her lips, knowing he full well would’ve done that. “You know, we can do that now, if she doesn’t get out...” Jayden suggested, giving her a warning look.  “Guys,” Jamie said from behind them, giving her a helpless look. “Alright, I’m leaving.” Avery grumbled before one of her cousins actually carried out with their threat. She grabbed her clothes and ran back to her room. After she’d changed into black leggings, a white tank top and a casual red-and-blue flannel jacket over it, she tied her straight blond hair in a messy bun. Get ready for cleaning the house, everybody. She grabbed the broom and dustpan and started sweeping. Her Aunt Stacy had declared it mandatory to sweep the house daily, vacuum and mop once a week, kitchen of course daily and bathrooms once a week. Avery shuddered at the thought of the bathrooms. God, the stuff she’d come across was just gross. And though there were four bathrooms in the house, her cousins picked the one she used in the morning. To annoy her, of course She was on the second floor when she heard her Aunt’s familiar screech. “Avery!” She sighed and dropped her stuff, running back down to the dining table. “ Yes, Aunt Stacy?” She said, irritation prickling through her as she saw her cousins eating greedily. Jace glanced up and smirked at the frustration written on her face, and Avery narrowed her eyes at him and looked back at Aunt Stacy. “I wanted French toast and waffles! Not this!” Her aunt yelled. Avery took a step back. Her aunt had blond curls and cat-green eyes, plus she was super tall, towering over Avery’s 5’5”. This contributed to a rather frightening appearance, especially in the morning, when her face was puffy from sleep and her eyes were squinted. Avery bit back the first thing that came to her mind—Well, you could’ve woken up and told me instead of sleeping while I make breakfast since you told me to have it ready by the time you’re up—and said. “Sorry, Aunt Stacy, I’ll make it tomorrow.” Her aunt snorted. “You better. God, I regret my decision of not sending you to foster care.” Avery pressed her lips tightly together and walked around with her head held high, though her eyes were swimming with tears. She only let them fall when she was back upstairs with her trusty broom and dustpan. Silent tears dripped off of her cheeks as she started sweeping again. She really didn’t cry often. Well, not until three months ago and she started crying herself to sleep. It was just that it had only been three months since her family had died, and it hurt when her aunt made comments like that. Hurt way more than anyone could imagine, but she was trying to stay strong. Three months ago, just at the start of summer vacation, Avery’s parents and older brother Zach had gone out to buy some soccer supplies for him, who was going to college with a full sports scholarship. Soccer. Avery missed seeing him fly around the field. An hour later, Avery had opened the door to police officers at her doorstep informing her that her family had been killed in a car crash. Since she had no other living relatives, she’d been sent to live with her mother’s widowed sister, Stacy. Stacy’s husband, her uncle Mark, had died a couple of years ago. Stacy was still rich, her mother’s whole family had been. But when her mother had married a middle-class man, Avery’s dad, the family had practically disowned her. Stacy and her three sons had never wanted to take her in. Well, except Jamie. They’d hated Avery from Day One, but they had to keep her. So, to make her anger even more obvious, Stacy had made Avery a maid around the house, and her cousins used that whenever they could, literally making Avery their slave.  Luckily, she hadn’t had to move out of California, but she had had to leave all her friends and move to the other part of the state, where her aunt lived. Now, in a day, summer vacation was ending, and Avery did not like to think of how her school life would be. It was highly unlikely she would be allowed to make any friends, and she would probably be their servant even in school. She was so excited. Note the sarcasm. Avery quickly wiped the tears. Her family would’ve wanted her to be strong. Still, it couldn’t be denied that those first few weeks after moving had easily been the worst weeks of her life, dealing with the grief and the hatred. But she was getting better, and the pain was slowly fading. Very, very slowly, but with everything else going on, she didn’t have much time to grieve, and her mind was kept off the subject. Soon she finished sweeping the house, and right on cue, one of her cousins bellowed, “Avery!”