Cinderella's Ghost

Chapter 8: Priorities

Chapter 8

"So, let's think of some ideas for yourself," Jarell said as I swept the floor.

"If you're asking what makes me laugh, I have no idea. I didn't even realise that I haven't really been laughing until you told me."

"Okay, we'll start with the easiest: drop that broom."

My head jerked to stare at him. "What?"

"It's one of the things to do on the list: don't let your stepmother dictate your life. Why do you have to listen to whatever she has to say and follow through? Besides the obvious, of course. If you don't do it, you could get kicked out of the house and all that, and maybe Lilla and Lina will start to make things even worse than they already are. But the thing is, not cleaning for a day? I don't think your stepmother will even realise that you didn't do it."

I looked at him as though he was crazy. "I'm an honest person. I can't help it."

"So, if I were to tell you to sleep now, will you do it?" asked Jarell disbelievingly.

"Don't even think about it; it won't work on me. I only listen to the elders."

"Well, that's too bad." He thought for a while. "What about this? We'll do that slowly. Let's take a day off when we decide what can make you laugh, how about that?"

I sighed, uncomfortable by the thought of defying Carrie. I knew I'd regret saying yes to his ideas, but he knew and I knew that I was not going to back out now or ever until I saw this to the end. I had the rose to look at before I sleep every night. The sixth petal was already going on gold, the last time I saw, out of the fifty or so petals in total. If Jarell hadn't given up the previous night, spending his time counting it, we could have a proper estimation of our deadline by now. I was definitely going to remind him to do it again tonight by the window in the living room. He would have plenty of time since he didn't sleep. But whatever it was, the countdown object was always there for me to see, and there was no way I was going to back out. I didn't think I could live with the guilt.

"Fine," I said eventually.

Jarell nodded, completely down to business. "Let's start by listing the things that you like."

"Are you flirting with me right now?"

"You very well know that I—" he started defensively and... wait, was he blushing? At least he wasn't withdrawing into himself like he always did last time when I made him uncomfortable.

"I know! I was just joking!"

Narrowing his eyes at me, he said, "For someone who's not prone to laughter, you tend to make a lot of jokes, especially when they aren't funny at all."

I huffed in indignation, feeling myself flush. "I think it's more of your problem for not picking it up."

"I think it's more of the way you said it, with your straight and sometimes serious expression. Who does that when they're trying to joke?"

"Okay! All right! I suck at joking! Can we please go back to what we were talking about before?"

"I'm still waiting for your answer," he said, looking bored.

I groaned. "Fine. I'll give you some examples during dinner."

The task was harder than I thought. Thinking about the things I like? That thought had never crossed my mind. The times I spent had always been on wanting to finish cleaning before dinner so I would have time to revise after that. What were the things that I liked to do before Carrie entered into my life? I could barely remember, but I tried my best to search through my memories, the times I was able to spend with dad whenever he was able on the weekends, however heart-wrenching it might be.