"Wake up, Paris!" a voice shot through my pleasant dreaming.

Believe it or not, I do have dreams.

Most of them end in me dying as a single, lonely old lady with five cats—

But I do have them.

"Paris is already awake," I mumble. "They're probably having lunch now."

"Not that Paris, Paris," my mom replies, and I can just imagine her hands resting on her hips. I suddenly hear her arms fall to her sides. "Now I realize how confusing that is," she murmurs.

I grin against my pillow. "You're the one who named me, remember?" I remind her. "Dad wanted Vivian."

I hear the door close softly behind my mom, and I flip over to my back.

I could just go back to sleep, but then that leaves no time for my extra long hot shower to steal all the hot water.

I leap from my bed, ignoring the flying bedsheets tangling with my mound of pillows now on the floor. I run to the door, leap up to the bar at the top, and swing myself forward, using the momentum to skid into the bathroom.

"You are not stealing all the hot water," a voice says behind me.

"And who's gonna stop me?" I reply, slowly turning, arms crossed, to face my older sister.

She still has her classic bed hair, and her pajamas are wrinkled from sleep. "I am," she answers, hands set on her hips with a look that's meant to look 'oh so mighty' but just shouts, 'I just woke up'.

"And how are you going to do that?" I question while slowly backing into the bathroom, feet searching for the end of the door. She finally realizes what I'm doing and springs forward, but my foot finds the back of the door and I slam it in her face, quickly turning the lock. I hear her picking at the lock, but she doesn't realize that I installed an extra one on the bottom that actually works.

The one on the door is incredibly easy to pick, despite the bathroom being kinda important to have a good lock on.

Screaming and grunts come from the other side of the door, but I ignore them as I pat my towel hanging from my hook with my name on the wall.

I twirl over to the shower nob, turn on the water, and go back over to the sink to brush my teeth while I wait for it to heat up.

I finish up quickly, humming a little tune before the water is finally warm.

"You sneak me Nutella and I'll save you some hot water," I murmur against the door, where I know my sister still is. She remains quiet, apparently pretending to not be there. But I hear her soft breathing and shake my head. "I know you're there, Mia," I say with a roll of my eyes.

"Sister sense?" she questions quietly.

"Nope, just your loud breathing," I reply.

"Anyone ever tell you how annoying you are?"

"You're not the first if that's what you're wondering." I shift my weight to my other foot, with my other ear pressed against the door. "So, deal or no deal?"

"Fine, but it better be worth it," she grits out.

I move away from the door without replying and touch the water flowing from the shower head.

Nice and warm.

———————

"What was that!?" my sister screams when she gets out of the shower. "You barely left me anything!"

I throw her an uncaring shrug. "You didn't set an amount, so I had to do it," I reply. "Plus, you took away from your own time by taking so long to decide on the deal."

She huffed, walking around the counter to grab a muffin. "Mom's making me drive you to school," she seethes. "You better be ready in two minutes." Then she leaves the kitchen with her breakfast treat, not giving me a second glance.

Once she's gone, I swing my legs around my chair and head to my bedroom to pack my bag for school.

"I'm not going to school with Mia and Paris!" I hear my youngest sister whining in the room next door. "What will my friends think!?"

Mia's boots thump down the wood hallway, and I see her enter Emilie's room with one hand on her hip. "Say another word, and I'll tell everyone at school about your barbie binge session."

"Really? Blackmail?" I hear my sister squeak. "What about your hair extensions?"

Silence.

I exit my room and see my two sisters in a staring battle with each other. I rub my neck at the sight, their height difference making me cringe.

Deciding against getting involved, not that they have anything on me—I don't care if they tell everyone about my weird food separation habit.

Don't ask.

I cross my arms and raise an eyebrow. "As much as I enjoy watching you guys throw sharp tanto knives through each other's steel eyes, we're going to be late if we don't leave in the next few minutes," I say, staring at the immature hyenas my eyes are cursed to see.

Ｓｉｂｌｉｎｇｓ

𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐫 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧; 𝐚 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫.

Ｓｉｂｌｉｎｇｓ

A 𝐛𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐲𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞 (𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲) 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬

"Unless you want to walk to school, Emilie, I suggest you pack your bag quickly," I say, turning on my heel, grabbing onto my backpack straps, and setting off to the front door.

Mia appears right behind me with her car keys swinging on her long, nail-polished finger. She pushes past me and leaves the house.

"I think you left something behind!" I call after her.

Her head turned to me. "And what's that?" she asks in an annoyed tone, her hand set on her hip.

"You're manners," I reply, padding down the stairs in my black high-tops and brushing past her as she scowls at my passing figure. I get into the front seat of her car and stare out the window, ignoring her sharp eyes that trail all my movements. She finally clambers into the car next to me and starts the car.

She taps her foot impatiently as we wait for Emilie in the hot car.

We finally see her slumping down the stairs wearing her school uniform and a purple beanie hanging loose on her head. She's holding onto the one bag strap that's on her shoulder, the other falling down on her left shoulder blade. She slips into the backseat of the car, arms crossed, and her pouty lip sticking from her mouth. She tries to act mature but deep inside she's still ten years old.

Mia sighs and turns back to our youngest sister. "Put your seatbelt on," she tells her.

Emilie turns away in silent refusal.

After a hot minute that consists of another sharp staring battle, Emilie gives in and grabs her seat belt roughly.

Everyone all buckled in, Mia starts backing out of the driveway with her eyes on the untrustworthy camera.

Mom always checks out the back window to be sure—

Suddenly I'm thrown forward as the car comes to a sudden stop.

"Go get your dumb boyfriend, sis," my sister says and I snap my head to her. She's staring at me with a beyond annoyed expression.

I scrunch my face up and check the camera.

You've got to be kidding me.