A Sensitive Arrangement

Chapter 1

"Wake up or we're going to be late." I yelled, throwing a pillow at Olivia's head. I had been standing inside her bedroom doorway for a good five minutes now, trying to coax her awake with a combination of yelling and throwing things. Finally she seemed to stir.

"What time is it?" She mumbled. I checked my phone. It had just turned eight o'clock.

"8:15" I lied, knowing it would get her out of bed faster.

"Oh God, why didn't you wake me half an hour ago!" She shrieked, hopping out of bed.

"Because that's not in my job description." I laughed. I was Olivia's unofficial alarm clock. I always had been.

"A little privacy." She muttered, throwing the pillow back in my direction.

"Fine, I'll see you downstairs. Twenty minutes." I shouted as I stepped into the hallway, knowing it would be at least thirty.

I went down to the dining room to find Ella and Max already eating breakfast. We had done away with formalities years ago. They were practically my parents now and calling them Mr. and Mrs. Callaway just seemed awkward.

"Alice, dear, so nice of you to join us at a reasonable hour. Any chance you might rub off on my daughter a little?" Ella smiled. This was not the first time she had asked that question. It likely wouldn't be the last.

"If it hasn't happened yet, I wouldn't hold your breath." I joked.

"I suppose I should just be grateful that she has enough charm to make up for her lack of punctuality. She'll need it when she shows up twenty minutes late to everything." It was true, she was the social butterfly of the family, and the media ate it up. I was the quiet, reserved one. The girl next door type, I had seen written in a magazine somewhere. I hated that description. And Julian, well he was everyone's favorite bachelor, playboy extraordinaire, and heir to CalWat Industries, one of the worlds largest and most successful conglomerates.

My father and Max had started the company in their youth, growing it from a single idea, that international travel should be more accessible to all Americans, and expanding it into a massive global corporation. Of course, it didn't hurt that they both came from wealthy families already. But now Max was the third richest man in the world. And Julian and Olivia were set to inherit that wealth. My inheritance had already been set aside for me after my father's death in a trust. It was understood that I would be able to access it when I turned twenty-five. Until then, the Callaway's would provide for all my needs. We were family now.

While Olivia and I were set to gain a lot of money and shares in the company,  Julian would be the one actually running it. He had been mentored by his father, and mine, since childhood. Even as kids, he somehow found facts and figures fascinating. He saw numbers everywhere. From the box office success of his favorite movies, to the weight of a bag of chips. Sometimes he seemed like a human calculator. He'd excel at leading the business. He was one of those rare types that was good with both numbers and people. Basically he was perfect. And every girl knew it.

When Olivia finally came down it was nearly nine o'clock. She was going to have to speed if we were going to get to school on time. Luckily, that was one of her specialties.

"So nice of you to join us." Max said.

"I know. I have that effect on people." Olivia teased, flashing a Hollywood-worthy smile at her parents.

"We need to go." I rolled my eyes. She grabbed a piece of toast and an apple off the table as I took her arm and led her to the door. "I don't know why you do this. There's a full breakfast spread every morning and you just grab an apple."