The Royal

Chapter 2

<The Encounter>

Knowing the fact that Daphane would make a scene early in the morning before going to school, I woke up at 0530 to prepare my things and cooked breakfast for Daphane. I was so exhausted from the lack of sleep and I had always wondered how Daphane could still be at the top of the game when she partied all night. At 0630 sharp, I heard my sister shouted "Ellie! Where is my Shirt?'' I ran up, despite the fact that I had to run 3 flights of stairs, - I was in the kitchen- to her room. If I did not ran fast enough, she would tear the whole house down just to make me do more work and would try all ways to frame me. Which happened to me once or twice and ever since, I made sure to be by her side whenever she called.

The moment I opened the door, there stood my sister, in her undergarments, shouting "Ellie, Quick. I'm late for school." in a panic tone that made me felt like bursting into laughter. This was so absurd, she should have clean her room to ensure that everything was tidy, not trying to create a war zone and doing nothing about the mess here. Her state of bedroom felt as if a hurricane came and went past, it was so messy that I bet I could hid somewhere in her pile of clothes and not be found. I glanced at her messy bed piled with clothes and wrappers laying on the floor near the door and saw the same guy from yesterday night laying on her bed, still dozing off. I glanced around her room, scanning for her uniform before spotting it in the pile near the bed. I walked towards the pile of clothes near her bed and started digging for her shirt.

While bending over to search her shirt, I heard a deep voice saying "Nice Ass." and I felt a pair of hands running up and down my back. I tried not to shiver and whacked him with the moves I learnt while reading random martial arts books so I quickly grabbed the shirt on the floor, threw it to Daphane and rushed out of her bedroom. I heard her giggling loudly when I closed the door and the guy commenting on my reaction. I let out a frustrated sigh and walked away. So much for being my sister, always finding chances to humiliate me.

I was packing my lunch box into my bag on the couch when Daphane walked down the stairs with that one night stand guy (I said that because I knew he would not appear tomorrow) and she said "Ellie, remember to cook dinner and replace me at work down the street after school." I nodded in return, eyeing the guy and shooting death glares but the guy took the chance to throw me a few glances and a wink. I glared at him and I managed to control my urged to not stabbed him with the letter opener knife lying on the coffee table. Such disgusting creature.

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Finally half a day in school went by as quickly as the summer wind, I could barely registered the subjects taught because of the tiredness but I would study on my own free time when I have the quiet time. Which I usually had when I was not replacing Elise at work or doing housework. The bell rang, signalling the end of first half and I was heading towards my locker to empty my bag, preparing for the next lesson when I heard "Ellie, Want to chill" -Mabel said first- "in town later after school?" -Max continued the sentence- They were the school's only twins and they looked exactly alike, except that they were a boy and a girl. Nobody would know if they switch roles - dress up as each other - but I knew them well enough to differentiate. I had remembered once that Mabel had fallen very ill and her piano recital was the day after, Max dress up as his sister and went ahead to the piano recital. To our surprised, he won the first prize. Nobody knew or suspected till this day but they were my two best friends (my only friends, in fact.), so I kinda knew that Max was the one in place. It was epic because their parents had not mentioned anything after and Mabel stopped taking piano lessons after.

"Nah, I'm going home to cook for Daphane and I have to work later. Thanks for asking though." I smiled warmly and replied them both. As much as I would like to let my hair down and party with them, I had to take care of Daphane first before she even got any chance to complain to mum. If that happened, I am doom. They knew from the start that I was tired of all these treatments from my family and that was why Mabel and Max were always here for me. "Okay" -Max said- "take care and we love you." -Mabel continued- Mabel hugged me tightly and her fruity perfume filled my nose, while Max just gave me a pat on my shoulder. She was the best of the best, not forgetting Max. After awhile, they waved goodbye to me before walking off towards the direction of the school library.