Light.

Mr. Perfect

I placed the casserole in the oven and leaned against the counter, wiping the sweat from my face.  Nothing had turned out good ever since Mr. and Mrs. Kensington left me to cook dinner for the 6 famished children.  To think they were starving.  They got served 3 meals a day, with snacks in the middle.  I was given a mashed up porridge/outmeal thing us experiments called 'gulp,' and dirty dish water in the afternoon after various amounts of painful tests.  I had learned Mr. Perfect, otherwise known as Alec Kensington wasn't all he looked to be.

"What do you mean?"  I had asked, furrowing my eyebrows.  Alec had laughed, giving his brothers a is-she-kidding-me? look.

"It means the kitchen's on the next floor.  It's already 6pm and we're hungry!"  Alec snapped.

"I don't know how to cook!?"  I had hissed at him, luckily, Anthea had decided to come in.

"Let me show you, my mother has tons of cookbooks in the library, I'll help until I have to get back to my own home where Harris is waiting."  Anthea had piped up and pulled me out of the foyer and into the elevator.

"I'm sorry about Alec."  She had said to me, her dark eyes staring straight ahead as we came up to the second floor.  I nodded, a bit defeated.  I wish I could rant about that he was worse than the scientists, but they weren't supposed to know about my past.  Apparently I was just a girl looking for a little money and that was all.

We found ourselves in the kitchen and Anthea had dug out a pile of colorful cook books and taught me how to start a delicious spinach and cheese casserole.

Here I was now, waiting, out of breath and about to collapse from exhaustion.  Then the worst possible thing could have happened.

"Hey Ari."  Alec Kensington entered the kitchen, grabbing a shiny red apple from a basket and taking a bite.  He leaned against the counter.

"It's Ara."  I muttered while cutting up some carrots for the salad Effie had taught me to make.  She had managed to sneak in vegetables from her garden back home.  It was the first thing from the outside world I had seen since I was little.  She knew all the tricks, when there was enough oils, how much of each veggie to add.  When we were able to taste it, my taste buds tingled as they took in the delicious taste of homegrown foods.

"Yeah whatever, Ara."  Alec responded.  His black hair was dry and brushed atop his sea green eyes.  I hadn't seen him in a tee shirt yet though, and when the thought of his abs came to my mind, I felt like melting.  Ew, what was I thinking?

He tossed the apple in a shiny silver can and took a seat at one of the chairs by the small wooden table against the window.  I guess that was where I was to eat from now on.

"So where're you from?"  Alec asked, his voice just as deceiving as his secretive father.  I wondered if his children and wife knew about the bidding and his foul smelling spirits he drank.

"Erm, why do you ask?"  Mr. Kensington had never gone over where I was from.  I turned back to the chopping so he couldn't see my nervous expression.

"You're my servant now.  I think I should know..."  Alec knew.  He knew I was different.

"A farm.  Somewhere in the country.  We grew vegetables there!"  I improvised quickly, hoping he would by it.  Instead he fell into a heap of laughs.

"Was it really that hard?!"  He asked, standing back up and coming to my side.  My legs felt like the noodles I had prepared earlier.

"No.  You're just rich and all..."  I was making this beievable.  He was buying it.

"Nah, we've got some money..."  He sighed, fingering his way towards the pile of neatly sliced carrots.  Once he had his finger son one, he popped it in his mouth and chewed slowly.

"Are you kidding?!  You're payed a-"  I stopped myself, he had bought it, I was about to ruin it.

"Payed a what?"  Alec asked.

"Must have payed....a fortune for this kitchen!"  I almost shouted, the sweat condensing again.

"Yeah whatever.  I know he payed a fortune for you, I'm not dumb you know."

I gulped and was about to amit he was right.

"I mean our last servant became so rich that she quit on us!"  I could have fainted from relief.

"Ha!  He's paying a fortune for me living here.  He's not paying me a thing!"  I scoffed.

"Oh."  Alec rubbed the back of his neck.  "Well, I better go, see you at dinner."  He said quickly and rushed away before I could say anything more.

The door swung shut I fell to the floor, my inside feeling like the inside of the oven that was cooking my..

"CASSEROLE!"  I shouted and staggered to open the oven.  Once I did, all I found was a burnt thing that could have been a perfect dinner.

"What's that burning!?"  I heard Mr. Kensington call from outside.  I bit my lip and waited for him to enter, my head held low, tears threatening to roll down my cheeks.

"Oh my!  What happ-"  Mr. Kensington stopped himself for some strange reason, like I could kill him if he yelled at me.  I stepped away from the oven.

"I'm sorry sir, I-I burned dinner."  I looked up at Mr.Kensington who was now patting my shoulder.

"It's ok Ara, go up to your room and I'll fix things."  He said through gritted teeth.

It was over.