Cinder: A Close To Normal Life

Chapter 1

Cinder's POV

"Wash the clothes, clean the bathrooms, get the groceries, make dinner and STOP DRINKING MY COFFEE!" screamed my step-mother as she took the coffee I had made out of my hands. Some of it spilled out from the top. "And clean that up." she said as she left the kitchen. I sighed and grabbed some paper towels to clean up the mess. Today was the first day of school. The first time I would walk into school as a junior, I thought as I cleaned the coffee spill.

I looked at the clock, it was 6:00 and school didn't start until 7:30, but I had to do some chores before I left, in case I didn't have time after school. I quickly packed lunches for my step-sisters, Peony and Pearl. Peony is a really nice and a great friend too. She's going to be a freshmen this year. Pearl is...well...definitely not Peony. She doesn't really consider me as a sister, more like a servant. And I usually feel like one too, considering that I'm the one that's always doing things for the family. They don't even lift a finger. Peony does try to help, but she gets frustrated so tell her that she doesn't need to. On the other hand, Pearl and my step-mother don't even try. They just ignore me and sometimes try to make my jobs even harder. I'm just glad that next year, Pearl will be out of the house. She's a senior now, and I can't help but hope that she gets accepted into a university or college far far far away from here.

While packing some lunches for Pearl, Peony and myself, I start thinking about how nice it'll be when I leave the house and can officially be in charge of myself. I'm still day dreaming when I start to cut an onion, and then I glance down at my left hand. When I was a baby, my house caught fire. My mom and dad both died, but somehow I survived. I was badly burned, though, and I needed to replace my hand and foot with prosthetic parts. I usually try to wear sweaters or sweatshirts with long sleeves so that the can cover my hands, or to always put them in my pockets. And as for my foot, it's covered by my shoe, so I don't have to worry about it. When I was younger, though, I would walk kind of funny because of it, it looked like I was constantly limping. But I slowly strengthened both my foot and my hand, so that I can walk normally and use my hand normally.

I'm finish making sandwiches for Pearl and Peony and myself, then grab the cleaning supplies and head to the bathrooms. When I walk into the first one, I realize that it's still spotless from the last time I cleaned it, but I know that if I didn't clean it again, Pearl or my step-mother would find out one way or another. So I cleaned it anyways. I did the same with the other three bathrooms.

The house was really big. Apparently my adoptive father was a millionaire. He was the one who wanted to adopt me from the orphanage that I was sent to after the fire. I was 11. Sadly, he died only a month after my adoption. After he had passed on, my step-mother begged the women in charge of the orphanage to take me back. But she said that there was a no return policy. So my step-mother was stuck with me. She didn't wait a second to give me all of these chores though.

After I had finished cleaning all of the bathrooms, I took a quick shower and threw on some cargo pants, a T-shirt, and a black zip-up sweater. By the time I was ready it was 7:00. Peony and Pearl were already gone, because their mother takes them to school. But she refuses to take me. So I shouldered on my backpack and started biking to school.

When I got to school, it was 7:10. I got off the bike and walked through the open doors to a packed hallway. I stood in one of the many lines to get my schedule and locker number. That's when I hear my name being called behind me.

"Cinder!" I spun around and realized that it was two of my friends, Cress and Scarlet. Cress was a junior like me, and Scarlet was a senior. Cress only lives with her dad, because her mother is dead. And Scarlet lives with her grandma, because both of her parents are also dead. I think one of the reasons the three of us get along so well is because we all know how it feels to not have a parent.

"Hey, guys!" I said as they joined the line I was in. "How's it going?"

"Interesting," answered Scarlet. "One of the freshmen just passed out after seeing the royal highness Kai."

I laughed, "You're kidding!"

"She's not." answered Cress, "I saw it too. It was hilarious!"

Kai, the guy they were talking about, is a senior this year. Apparently, he's amazing at everything, especially sports, and his dad owns a huge company, so he's rich. Everyone likes to call him Prince Kai as a joke. I haven't actually seen Kai before. It's a big school, and last year sophomore's and junior's didn't have any combined classes. And I probably wouldn't even know that it was him if I ever did see him.

As we continued to wait in line, the three of started laughing at how you could see the different cliques just by the clothes they wear. A little while later, we finally reached the front of the line.

"Name?" a middle aged women asked me.

"Cinder Linh" I answered. She shuffled through some files and handed me my schedule and my locker number and combination. I waited for Scarlet and Cress to get theirs so that we could see if we had any classes together. Turns out the three of us only shared one class together, which was kind of disappointing, but at least we got one. We then separated ways to get to our lockers.

I was locker number 271 in hallway D. I found the locker and put in my combination, 30,32,02, which I thought was the best combo ever. I opened the locker and started to but my books in. That's when I learned who was locker number 270.

"Hi," said an unfamiliar voice. I turned to the sound and was greeted by an arguably cute looking guy. He was asian (I'm half asian, half caucasian) with shaggy, straight, black hair and copper brown eyes. I didn't recognize him so I assumed that he was either new or a senior since seniors and juniors share the same two hallways. "I think I'm your new locker neighbor."

I stood up from my kneeling position and said, "Hi, I'm Cinder." While holding out out my hand.

"Nice to meet you, Cinder. I'm Kai" Then he grasped my hand and shook it.