Beauty and the Beat

Beauty and the Beat (7)

“You do know I hate you, right?” I made sure to ask my brother as he drove us home.

His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “And what is the reason this time, dearest sister?”

“You invited Cruella De Vil to our house! She’s going to skin Rover and make him into a coat!”

Riley rolled his eyes. “Sadie, Rover died two years ago.”

“Still!”

Riley rolled his eyes once again, as if he had heard this a thousand times already. But when I thought about it, I was sure he had heard this a hundred times. Growing up, I had never exactly been Anna’s biggest fan, and it was the exact same feeling the other way around. We hadn’t ever liked each other, and I knew we never would.

“I would think that you and Anna would be able to get along now,” Riley sighed now, not even looking at me as he took a left turn. “You guys haven’t seen each other in years. I’ve never even understood why you didn’t like each other anyway.”

“Because… Because…” was all I was able to utter, because I honestly couldn’t think of anything I could actually say. Why did I hate Anna so much? And why did she hate me? Sure, I had always been her best friend’s annoying little sister, but was that enough for her to hate me?

I pouted, staring out the window and not saying anything for the rest of the ride home. I already knew I wouldn’t like whatever he had to say to me.

We got back to our house the same time Anna and Ethan did, even though we had all driven there in three different cars. Ethan was still obviously unenthusiastic about everything that was going no around him, and I couldn’t help but agree with him.

At least we finally agreed on something…

“Anna!” my mother squealed once we made our ways inside my house, and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at her. “Long time no see! How are you, dear?”

Did she mean to call her dear? Or did she mean to say devil?

“Mrs. Walker!” Anna greeted, hugging my mother without a second thought. I was going to have to remember to tell my mother to take a shower before she touched me again. “I’m amazing! I got a teaching job at the high school along with Ethan!”

My mother’s grin grew another two sizes. “Really? That’s great! I remember how you always telling everyone that you were going to be a teacher! And now you are! Isn’t it just fantastic?”

That wasn’t the word I’d use.

It annoyed me greatly that my mother didn’t even acknowledge me. I mean, I knew that she saw me every single day, but couldn’t I have at least gotten some sort of hello? That was all I asked for.

“And it’s so cute to see the two of you together again!” my mother now giggled when she saw Anna standing beside Ethan. “You were always glued to each other’s sides when you were kids!”

I felt like gagging. Did she really have to remind me?

Just like always, Ethan looked uncomfortable with this subject. It really annoyed me, because I wanted to know why he looked this way. I was also the only one who seemed to notice how unhappy he was.

“I hear familiar voices!” a voice I recognized called from upstairs, and I gasped as I turned toward them. I felt like crying tears of joy when I saw Johnny making his way toward me.

“Johnny!” I cried, pushing right by Riley and toward my other older brother who I hadn’t seen in months.

“Well, I feel loved,” Riley called out to me, but I ignored him. I saw him a lot more than I saw Johnny.