She's Not Cinderella

1: hi its me

Chapter one: "hi its me"
December - 26 - 22017
I finally was able to sleep after the music from my mom's room calmed down, my sister was up in the bed next to me trying to finish her homework and calm the baby down. My mom almost every other day will invite over her boyfriend and some of their friends and throw a big party. We never know what the party is about until around 4am when the music dies down and we hear everyone make their way out of the house. Then my mom will come into our room to make sure we are sleeping and within the hour or two we get, we wake up and go to school.
    Today was different, mom didn't come into the room. We never even heard a goodbye when we were leaving for school. My sister was a senior and graduation was about 2 weeks and she was more than ready to pack up her things, give the baby to her father and go to college. While I would be home to watch mom and make sure nothing really happened to her. 
That was when we got home mom was in handcuffs on the front lawn while the front door was wide open. Me and my sister walked through the door. The stench we were used to was there but then a stench none of us could explain came through our noses. As we walked closer to where the smell was coming from we saw about four or five cops standing in my moms room. One looked at us.

-Presents day (january 29 2022)-
The rest of that day was mostly a blur. My sister Crystal did most of the talking, while I sat behind her in tears. The story that my mom told the cops was, after the party her and her then boyfriend did the rest of the drugs and coke in her room then fell asleep, my mom was woken up around 12 to her boyfriend on the floor face down she checked his pulse and there wasn't any that's when she called the cops and well the rest you can put together.
It's been five years since my mom has been in jail and from that five years my sister finished school and is now working at a hospital while I graduated high school and went to a month of college then dropped out. I was never like my sister. I wasn't very smart growing up, I would always skip school and go hang out with my best friend rose. There was never a time i liked being in class and the sound of more school after just finishing school always sounded very stupid to me. Why do more when you just finished four years of the same shit. So now I'm working to save money to get a small apartment with Rose,  and hopefully get out of New york.
I live with my sister and her partner Ash in their apartment. We moved here about a year ago and Ash and Crystal have been dating for about three years. They met in college and have been living together since. And are now starting a family. My sister is now two months pregnant.
"Good morning" i said leaving my room it was a friday and normally ash has work and crystal is already coming home for work but today they have to go to a doctors appointment so they both took off to go
"Morning kid" Ash said as they sat down on the couch eating a bowl of cereal
"Morning, did you hear anything from mom?" I said on one of the island chairs and I turned to face Crystal who was making eggs in the kitchen. She was very upset with our mom at the moment. Mostly because she was never really a good mom, she would always be out of town or bring random people into the house and never really care what me or my sister had to say about it.
"No Anna when i see mom is calling i try not to answer" she says and i roll my eyes i see where my sister is coming from but it's our mom, trust me i'm not a huge fan of her either but i wouldn't ignore her the women is in jail and is probably lonely or something.
"And don't say well i should try and talk to her, i did to tell her i was pregnant again and she sat there saying every slur she could say to me and after that just said bye and hung up, that was 3 days ago anna im not wasting my time on the old bitch just to get hurt on who i chose to love" she said and placed the eggs in a dish and sat next to ash on the couch.
    Crystal was always headstrong and she was smart but when it came to people mistreating her she would never take it, as one should. But when it came down to the people she loved she wouldn't stand for it and if someone hurt her or the people around her she was quick to jump and say boo if you know what i mean.
    As I made my coffee, the front door opened to reveal my best friend Rose. Me and Rose have been friends since the six grade. She has been here for literally my whole life. I don't remember a day without her being right next to me.
"Good morning mori family and ash" she laughed sitting on one of the chairs on the island "how's the future mom who is already a mom doing" she said facing crystal who shrugs, rose looked at me as i spread butter on my bagel and smiled, her brown eyes hid behind a pair of glasses most days she has her down down and her curls are always wild and as some say it looks like she doesn't know what a hair brush is but today she has her curls in a low ponytail. She was wearing her normal work outfit which is black shirt and jeans. She works at the deli around the block. It's owned by her uncle so she works there to get money to one day go to school.
Rose is skinny not skinny were it would leave you concerned but skinny enough where she looks good, i always wished i had a body like hers but food as been my only source of enjoyment for the pass nineteen years of my life so i always a bit chubby then the rest of the girls my age.
Me and Rose really bonded when we were little both being weirdly too old for our ages, and had to grow up too fast because of the people around us. So we bonded over movies. We really bonded over the movie 'Cheech and Chong' . We would  always joke that it's going to be us growing up. All stoned out and livinging the best life while doing it.
"Work today" i ask as she takes a bite of my bagel and we make our way into my room
"Yeah jackson decided to take off today so i am stuck filing in his shift, he is such a asswhole still have no idea what you see in him" she said sitting on my bed as i sat on my desk chair
"Being honest here i don't know either but he was cute when we were in high school" i smile and eat my bagel
"Did you hear anything from cole you guys were on the phone almost the whole fucking night" she asked and i shurged
"Hes weird, i know he loves talking to me but in public doesnt even bat a eye in my fucking direction, i dont know why".
    Back to Jackson, Jackson and i dated for most of high school, he was the only reason i was able to pass high school in general, we started dating mostly because of rose she was friends with him first and as she says the moment she met him she knew he would be a good match for me which i mean she wasn't wrong but towards the end of high school things between me and jackson were shaky. He would leave me on the deliver for days and when we would hang out he would be on his phone the whole time, then i found out he pobelm he was cheating on me with a girl name cassie in our school, she was new to our school and has almost every class with jackson so they got close and i guess too close in you know what i mean. And the night of Axel's graduation party they hooked up, and Rose caught him and soon told me and by graduation we were no longer a couple.
"Wait stop should you say what you saw in him to set us up" i laughed putting my finish plate on my nightstand sitting next to rose on my bed
"Don't blame me for him cheating he was nice freshman year" she said standing up and fixing her outfit "can i borrow this sweater" she asked i nodded as she put the sweater on and tied her shoes "off to work" she smiled "bye my love, we can hang tonight wanna get dinner at my mom's place" she asked i nodded she smiled hugged me and made her way out of my room.
    I grabbed my phone and scrolled through tik tok for the rest of the morning before Ash and Crystal walked in to say bye and make their way out of the apartment. It's around three o'clock and I was starving so I got dressed. Which is a pair of blakc sweatpants and a dark green oversized tee-shirt.  i walked into the kitchen and pulled out the bread to start making a sandwich when my phone started ringing it was ellie,
I met Ellie when I was in the country visiting my dad. She is my dad's daughter, he adopted her when she was fourteen from her parents who kicked her out because she was trans. Ellie's dead name is Eliot. She knew she always wanted to be a girl and always felt trapped in her body. So she started going through the transition and her parents being christians, kicked her out at the age of fourteen and she started living with my dad and step mom who soon adopted her.
"Hello" i said answering the phone
"Hey anna" she said as i placed her against the kitchen wall so i can continue making my sandwich
"Hi Ellie whats up" Ellie called me a lot mostly because she doesn't have a lot of friends where she is so she calls me often.
"Oh nothing just got home from school frank is taking me to a doctors apportionment in a few and i thought to call you while i wait"
"Good idea i actually wanted to talk to you about you coming up for the summer, did you talk to my dad yet" i asked she sighed
"I don't know frank doesnt think its a good idea mostly because of crystal being pregnant he doesn't want me to be in the way of anything" she said
"If you come down in april cry will only be six months pregrant i don't think you'll be in the way" i said as the door opened and crystal and ash walked in
"Say hi to ellie" i said as i took a bite of my sandwich, crystal came walking over and she jumped in front of the phone
"Hello girly" she said ellie smiled
"Hey cry hi ash" she said ash said hi as they put their coat in the closet "how is everyone" she asked "mostly the baby" she said
"Baby good, two months now" Crystal smiled as she did a little dance. "Frank there" she asked.
me and Crystal have different dads but she was close to my dad mostly because he was there for most of her childhood and only left after my mom had me. Mostly to get  away from my mom, and also to get a better job in texas.
"He's at the store and should be coming home any minute," she said.
    We talked to Ellie for a little longer before my dad showed up and it was time to go. She hung up and I went into my room to start watching a movie. There was always something with movies; it was my time to get away and to go somewhere new. I always remember crystal putting on a movie when we were little and my just staring at the tv in awe. I could watch movies everyday if I wanted to. I put on netflix and picked the movie 'the ugly truth' me and ash watched this a couple of days ago and i thought it was good so i started watching it.
    Before i knew it was i two movies in and my bedroom door open and rose sat next to me on my bed to watch the rest of the last movie
"Hello" i said as the end credits rolled in
"Good movie and hey, I'm starving. Are you ready to go to my moms?" she asked. I nodded and put on my shoes as I said bye to crystal and ash on our way out of the house.
    Rose's mom owns the beachwood diner where Rose's boyfriend Axel works and cole.
"How was work?" I said as I got into the crystal car. I got my license a year ago and I basically drive everywhere. The diner was in Staten Island so it was like a 20 minute ride to get  there.
"Horrible, jackson ended uo coming in and wa sin such a bad mood he fucking broke the regester then got into a fight with a customer, i dont know what got up his ass latley but its fucking anoying" 
    She hooked her phone up to the car and played '2009' by Mac miller. I raised the volume and started driving towards the Verrazano bridge. The  bridge was beautiful . This was my favorite place to see. Me and Crystal would always go to the park by the bridge and just stare at it like it was our life. I loved being from New York like any people who lived here. I made it my personality. I didn't have a thick accent like some but the word 'caw-phee' was a second language to me. As we passed over Staten Island it was getting dark since it was January. It started getting dark in New York at like four pm. So when i got into the parking lot of the diner it was already dark.
    As we pulled in Axel and cole were sitting on the steps smoking a cigarette, axel ginger hair was in a green beanie and cole was sitting there looking through his phone.
"Hello boys" Rose said as we got closer to them, Axel smiled and ran to hug her. They had been dating since they were thirteen and they were your picture perfect couple. Axel was nothing but a gentleman to everyone who he met, and Rose was the dream girl. They were never big in drama so they never had  a problem with each other.
"Hello angel" Axel smiles hugging her "I missed you" he says I smile as I watch them hug Axel did not live close to us, this is also why I think their relationship works. They never really saw each other so they didn't spend that much time together.
    I walked up to Cole who looked up at me and just nodded, as if the hours we spent on the phone last night never happened. Cole is sweet and all but with his dad and mom being big people in New York he is always walking on eggshells when it comes to hanging out with people. Big reason why we never really hang out unless it's in his car, or my house. Never seen in public together, you would never think we are friends by how we act with each other.
"Hi cole" i smile he nodded and looked down at his phone i nodded and open the door and saw kelly rose mom standing by the host stand
"Hello dear" Kelly smiled. Kelly was only twenty-nine but her personality was more like an old lady. She called everyone dear and always had candy and sweets in her bag ready to give to you if you have a sore throat or if you are hungry.
"Hi mom" Rose walked in behind me and they hugged. She brought us to the table and we sat in the booth
"I'll call axel over as soon as he is done with his break, you guys want water or anything" she asked we nodded and she walked away as we both picked up the menu.
"Did you see cole" she asked as she looked through the food
"Yeah but nothing, like normal nothing crazy" i said she rolled her eyes.
"At axel party next week talk to him, it will be fucking oerfect he will most likley be drunk and when bous atre drunk they share the truth. So just do that" she said as the axle came over.
    She has a point. Maybe at an Axel party I'll talk to Cole and see what's going on, but I don't know what happens if it's too much and I find out something I'm too scared to know. I guess we have to wait and see.

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