My Elemental

Chapter 3

"You're going to be late to school if you don't get up. I won't tell you again." I hear my uncle say.

I look at the time and it's two minutes before my alarm is supposed to set off. Why can't my uncle just leave me alone in the morning? The one thing parental he does and it pisses me off. I mean, why does he have to wake me up before my alarm goes off. He's trying to ruin my mornings is what he's trying to do.

I always get a ride to school from the Brooks. I make sure that I'm ready to go and have eaten breakfast at least 10 minutes before they usually arrive.

When I get down to make some pancakes I see that the kitchen looks trashed. Like usual. The counters have traces of spilled alcohol and the floor is filled with beer cans. There is even some girl's lingerie laying around. There is no way I'm making pancakes today. So I settle for some yogurt. It's not much, but it'll have to do for now.

"Was that my yogurt you just ate?" I hear a girl say behind me. I turn around to stare at her. She's only wearing a silky robe.

"Excuse me? Your yogurt?" I say with an attitude.

"Yes little girl. My yogurt. I woke up for that." She says with her hands on her hips.

"This is my house. Therefore, my yogurt."

"Greg!" She yells and in comes my uncle.

"What." He says rudely.

"She ate my yogurt. You said I could have it before I left." She whines and pouts her lips. My uncle looks unamused and looks at me. I gulp.

"Did you eat her yogurt Aria?" He says in a monotone voice.

"It was my yogurt! Did I see her name on it? No! I bought it! So it was mine. Maybe if you cleaned up a bit I would have been able to make me some pancakes. But since it's a pig sty in here I had to eat my yogurt." I say.

"Don't give me an attitude Aria. I took you in. I'm giving you a roof over your head. The least you can do is be considerate of others." My uncle says angrily.

"It was my yogurt!" I exclaim. That's when he comes over and slaps my face hard. He's done it before, but his slaps seem to get harder. They never used to leave much of a mark, but I feel like I'm going to have to cover this one up with make-up.

"Don't talk back to me. I expect you to give this girl over hear an apology for eating her yogurt. The one I said she could have."

"This girl? Do you not know her name?" I say with my arms crosses. I can see his face turning red with rage.

"Apologize now and get to school!" He yells.

"Sorry girl." I say with a devious smirk and I quickly grab my bag and run out of the door.

After a few minutes of standing outside I see Julian's car coming towards my house with Caden in the passenger's seat and Jordan in the back. They pull up to the curb and I get inside. When I put my backpack down I see Jordan staring at me in the corner of my eye.

"What happened to your face Aria?" Jordan asks concerned.

"Shit!" I say remembering I didn't get a chance to cover up the bruise that must be forming from my uncle's slap. I look away but Jordan gently grabs my chin to turn my head towards her. I could see Julian and Caden looking at me. Julian looks worried and Caden is just staring at me.