Just Another Cinderella Story

Fuck It, I'll Be a Stripper

After talking a bunch with the girls, I went to sleep. In the morning, I woke up and got ready for school (ugh). 

After changing into a T-shirt, jeans, and combat boots, I walked into the kitchen to see... My mom?

"Mom??" I asked incredulously. What is my mom doing here?

"Hey honey." She looked tired. There were dark bags under her eyes. 

"What's wrong?" I asked. Only then did I notice Rose flipping pancakes on the stove and Kathryn making coffee. Kylie was probably still in bed. 

"The court battle isn't going so well... Seeing as how there's no proof that your father is abusive, I can't completely pull you out of his custody. I can get visiting periods, but that's it." My mom looked defeated.

"We'll think of something." I say quietly. In reality, there's not much I can do. I don't even know if it's legal to stay with Kathryn, Kylie, and Rose considering my mom doesn't have custody of me. 

"Yeah," My mom sighed. "We'll think of something." She kissed my cheek then started towards the front door. "I have to go now."

"Okay..." I didn't want my mom to go so quickly, but I knew she had a lot on her plate already. "Bye, Mom."

"Bye, honey."

***

After my mom left, Kylie finally got up. 

"Why does school even exist? Why can't I just say 'Fuck it, I'll be a stripper' and be done with it?" She asked angrily. Kathryn sighed and looked at Kylie like 'bitch what the fuck are you on?'.

Rose was especially quiet. I looked at her and asked, "Hey, Rose, what's up? You seem... distant."

She snapped her head up and shook her head. "I'm fine! Really." She said when she saw my skeptical look. I narrowed my eyes at her. Something is bothering her. Call it a gut feeling, or maybe I just know what troubled people look like, but I just knew something was wrong.

"You can tell us." Kathryn said softly.

Rose turned the stove off suddenly and put her elbows on the counter, cradling her head in her hands. "They were fighting again."

Kylie snapped to attention. "Mom and Dad?" She asked. Rose nodded.

Kathryn swallowed. I looked around the room at each girl. I never thought they had familial problems. Looking at the relationship with their dad, and the nice house, and everything they have, you would think their home life is perfect. But it's obviously not.

I hesitated, but asked the question that was burning in my mind in the end. "What were they fighting about?"

"Money. Record deals. Hollywood things in general." Rose said, dejected. I wasn't going to say 'I'm sorry'. Sorry doesn't help anything, I know that by now.

"I just wish Mom would stop!" Kylie said angrily. "She's always on Dad's case like 'oh honey you should go on THIS tour' and 'wouldn't it be better to make another album NOW?' and I'm sick of it! She's the reason we never get to spend time with him! If she wasn't so fucking obsessed with money, we could actually do things with our dad. He's like a stranger half the time!! I mean, look at this house! Do we really need more money?!" 

She took a deep breath. The other girls were nodding with her.

"She never even really has his interests in mind. Remember that time she made him go on stage for hours straight even though he was sick?" Kathryn said, with a hint of malice in her tone.

"She's the real problem here." Rose said quietly. 

I looked around the room. "You guys... You really hate your mom, don't you?"

Rose shrugged. "I don't think we could ever hate her."

"She's just the only maternal figure we've ever had." Kylie added.

Oh right. Sometimes, with this glitzy, glamorous lifestyle of theirs, I forget that these girls used to live in orphanages. Probably not good ones, either. 

"Your dad..." I started. The girls looked at me. I remembered the first and only time I had seen their dad. How he was nice and warm to me, but their mom was... cold and resentful. "He deserves better."

Kathryn nodded. "He really does." Rose bit her lip. 

"Let's make a vote." We all looked at her. 

"A vote for what?" Kylie asked Rose.

"Do we want to skip school today or not? Raise your hand if you want to skip." We all raised our hands. Rose laughed. "Well, that makes things easier."

We were in a slightly better mood now that we didn't have to go to the abomination that is school. I turned on some music (Hollywood Undead for LIFE) and we all danced while cooking breakfast - together. Like a family.