Not so Cinderella (SAMPLE)

Chapter 3

Athena

After what happened in PE, I went home early after texting Mason. I need to clean before tonight anyway, so here I am, cleaning the house. I already cleaned all four bathrooms, the living room, Lexi's room, and my step-mother's room. Now, I'm working in the kitchen.

"I'm home!" Lexi's shrill voice calls as the front door opens. Nobody cares. When no one answers, she walks into the kitchen with Mason trailing after her, carrying all her books. Lexi waves Mason away. "Take those to my room, boy," she says, making my anger reach another level.

"He has a name, you know," I tell her, trying to rein in my anger.

Lexi looks at me and scoffs, "And I don't care. Do I need to tell mother you're not doing as you're told?" She asks me, knocking over a bucket of dirty water. The bucket crashes to the floor, splashing me in the process. "Look at what you've done!" Lexi shrieks, walking out of the kitchen. My hands ball up into fists, and I walk after her.

"Woah there, tiger," Mason says, grabbing my arm.

"Thanks," I tell him, leaning against the counter and closing my eyes. After a minute, I'm calm, and I open my eyes to see Mason cleaning up the water. He soaks it up in some towels and throws them into the laundry room. When Mason returns, he glances at the clock. "We should go get ready," he points out. I usually get to the Underground early for surprise fights, if there are any.

I look back at the clock and see it's almost seven. Running up to my room, I go to my bathroom, take out my contacts, and put them into their containers. I set out a towel before jumping into the shower. I do my usual routine quickly, washing up and shaving before climbing out.

Wrapping my towel around my body, I exit the bathroom. I already set my fighting clothes out; today, I chose a teal tank top and some flexible black shorts.

Once I'm dressed, I go back to my bathroom and dry my hair, letting it fall into its natural curls. In a smooth, practiced movement, I twist my hair up and pin it. Carefully, so no hair falls out, I pull the cap over my head and then grab my silver and gray wig from under the sink. It takes a minute to get my hair situated and pinned tight enough that it won't move or come off if yanked.

When I hear the door to my room open, I know it's Mason. The step-monsters don't come into my room. "I'll be out in a minute, Mase!" I call. I apply some black eyeshadow, eyeliner, and some nude lip gloss. My hair gets completely dry, and I walk out of the bathroom, my eyes scanning the room. They fall on the shoes in Mason's hand. "Thanks," I say, grabbing the black high-top converse.

I stand up, grab my leather jacket, and smile at Mason, "Ready?" I ask, feeling excited. He chuckles as we head downstairs and walk out of the house to the shed. Mason pulls the door open, revealing our motorcycles; mine is a sleek black, and his is dark blue. Quickly, I grab mine and push it to the street, with Mason following my lead.

Once we're a safe distance from the house, I climb on and rev the engine. I smile as I sit on my baby. Before we leave, we both slip on our jackets. "Let's go!" I yell, sliding my helmet on and taking off. We drive downtown and pull into the ally that leads to the Underground. We park our bikes, and I pull my helmet off, smoothing my hair down. Usually, we leave our bikes out in the open because everyone knows they belong to me and wouldn't dare touch what's mine.

"CW! What's up?" Ray, the bouncer, asks as we walk up.

"Not much," I reply as he lets us in. He's one of the more pleasant people here, another friend. Well, a friend that doesn't know who I am, I guess. Mason is the only person who knows everything. I walk down the stone stairs, through the door at the bottom, the cheers making my blood pump and flow with excitement.