"Are you headed to school?" My step mom asked me in disbelief. I looked around, wondering if I missed the fact it was a Saturday. Nope, it's definitely Thursday. I crossed it off my calendar this morning.

"Do you get liposuction every other month?" I asked in return. She glared at me. The answer would be yes.

"You can't." She replied angrily.

Shoving my hands in my pockets I asked, "Why not? If there's something wrong with my car I can just get a ride with Easton."

It looked like she wanted to puke at the mention of his name. There was absolutely nothing wrong with Easton. What she didn't know was both of her daughters had crushes on him. But if she knew that, she'd somehow blame me for bringing him around so much. She didn't like the fact he wasn't rich, to put the facts in a nut shell.

"No. I just have a to-do list for you." Was she being serious? Kathryn Diego was a lot of things over these last five years without my dad, but having a sense of humor wasn't a characteristic she would ever portray. She had to be serious.

"It's against the law for you to keep me out of school for no reason." I blurted, for some reason wanting to go to school. It's not like she broke the law yet but if she kept keeping me out of school and social services found out, she'd be locked up.

On second thought, let her keep me out of school.

She rolled her eyes at my excuse, "Get to work, young lady. Standing around isn't going to help you get to college. Not if you want me to pay for it."

Missing school isn't going to help me get to college, either. But if she's paying for it, so be it. I hate to say it, but I'm becoming more and more of a minion to her. I chuckled at the thought of wearing overalls and those big goggles from Despicable Me.

I grabbed the to-do list from her hands as she gave me a fake smile. I'm surprised she could pull off a smile given the botox she just had Tuesday. Let's just see what the witch wants me to start with.

"Dry cleaners? Scrub floors? Vacuum the staircase? But Kathryn, we don't even have carpet on the staircase. Wash the car, feed the hog, shovel the driveway-"

She stopped me short, "I didn't put those last three on there." The poor (well, she was rich, but ignore that fact) lady had never seen National Lampoons Christmas Vacation. I decided to leave her dumbfounded and started on my chores. Well, not entirely.

Even though my step mom was rich, she still had a job. She worked as a secretary for some attorney. It wasn't big money, but it was enough hours and pay to keep her out of the house while we were at school. With this in mind, I headed to the cleaners, acting as if I was actually obeying her. She went off to work, assuming I was being the good little servant she always thought she had.

Because my step mom was such a cheap skate, every dime I earned from being her minion went towards college. I had 10,000 dollars in the bank and I was not going to withdraw a penny of it. So maybe the thought occurred to you that I don't get allowance, she doesn't buy me nice clothes like she does for her own daughters? It's all true. I get paid to be at her beck and call, but what she doesn't know is I have a small job working at the local grocery store. Believe me, she doesn't have a clue. Especially since she always tells me to bring home food. Kathryn would probably have me wear hand-me-downs from Demi and Scarlet (my step sisters).

So with the minimum wage I make with my grocery store job, I buy my clothes. Again, it's nothing fancy or glamorous. My step sisters would be suspicious if I looked better than them. Usually I go to theThrift shop and up-cycle my clothes. It's surprisingly easy to make the clothes fit my style, especially with the help of my little mice friends. Nah, I'm kidding about the mice. Though, sometimes I worry all of these cleaning materials will attack my brain and I will see mice sewing.

My outfit today is as simple as a pair of purple skinny jeans and a tank top with a tan poncho over it. I'm pretty short so any chance I get I wear something with a wedge heel. I wore a pair of tan ankle boots with a wedge on the back. I headed to the cleaners to pick up the unnecessarily expensive clothes Kathryn bought.

It was a good thing I had 10 minutes before school started. Note my sarcasm. If I knew this place well enough, it was going to take the woman an hour to put the clothes in my hands. Guess who was going to be checking into school late?

Indeed, I arrived and the lady working behind the counter waved her 100 dollar manicure at me. Her waves in her short dark hair bounced as she turned around to go in the back of the shop. This could take awhile. I sat down and waited in a seat. Yes, they had a drive-thru for pick ups but I knew better than to waste my own gas money (again, I never touched my college fund) just sitting at a window.

I decided to pick up a magazine to read. What else was I going to do with my time? Write a review on the slow service of this place? P.s -I already did that. As I was flipping through the pages, I found aninteresting article on the Jacksons. More specifically, the brother to Rider. It wasn't that I was obsessed with their family, and I really wasn't too found of Rider himself. You can't blame me forgetting in on local gossip, especially when I've known Rider since kindergarten.

Apparently, there was a big celebration for his oldest son's college graduation, back in May. It went on to tell all of the details of the crazy party, with the details varying from what kind of napkin holders they used to the graduation boy kissing pretty much the wholetown. It was a real scandal, the press caught Edward (the second) kissing a total of 15 different girls at his party. It didn't seem like a big deal to me, but the press ate this stuff up. They make anything a big deal.

For some reason my interest faded when I realized this story had nothing to do with Rider. That's too bad, I would've loved to have some blackmail waiting for him when I arrived at school. If I arrived at school. Lady, what is taking so long?

It was 8:15 and I was ready to leave at this point. At least tell me how much longer it would be? What do they do? Wait until you come to pick it up to clean it?

The lady emerged from her office (20 minutes later) smiling as if I wasn't shooting her daggers with my eyes. As many times as I've been here, though, she doesn't act anything like Kathryn. She may be a little lazy, but she isn't bossy or narcissistic. It's slightly refreshing.

Just as I was about to leave, the lady asked me quite bluntly, "Do you want a job here?"

As I stopped dead in my tracks, I turned on my heel. Was she serious? She made me wait 45 minutes and expected me to help her? But I surprised myself and asked, "What's the pay?"

The lady - who's name tag I finally read, Martha - raised her eyebrows, as if she wasn't expecting me to respond. "Well, depends on the hours. I need help mainly throughout the weekdays. But you're out of school aren't you?"

I looked behind me and no one was there. She was talking to me? I know I'm mature and have a demeanor about me that almost says I'm an adult but I was no where near out of school. Did she mean on break?

"I... I'm a sophomore in high school, and we're not on break." I answered both questions just to make things clear.

Her slight smile fell into a frown, "Oh. I thought you were in college or something. You're always here and it seems to me that you miss a lot of school."

Her voice was suspicious. Martha, if you know what's best for the both of us you'll call the cops on my step mom.

"I'm late a lot." I avoided the accusation, for some reason saving Maleficient's reputation. Why? Why did I do that? Good thing that Martha didn't seem convinced. Please, please, please call the police.

"Well I have weekends covered. A young man helps me out and he's in high school. If you can't do weekdays I can't hire you. Which is a pitty, because we can both see weekdays are my busier days. I'm sorry for the long wait."

Whoa, she was apologizing! And I didn't even have to complain! Other than that time on her website, but it was anonymous.

"It's alright. Thanks for the offer." I said awkwardly as I walked out the door. What I wanted to know was what high school guy would spend his weekend in a Dry Cleaner's? But my main focus was getting to school. At this point, first period was shot. I mentally apologized to Rider for not being there to help with the essay, but he needed to learn to do things on his own. It would be good for him to do something other than ring a bell for his servants.

A/N

I still haven't figured out my updating schedule for this book, but I will at least post every other week. Please keep reading! This chapter is dedicated to my friend lauren2819b!

Thanks,

Always, Sunny ;)