The Scheme: How I Fell for my Super Hot Rich Bad Boy Stepbrother

Chapter 1

I was in my new bedroom hanging up my paintings from the remaining boxes that were left to unload, when someone knocked twice on the door. Before I could answer, my mother opened the door, poked her head through and proceeded to walk in. She gasped when she saw the finishing touches I put in my new room.

"See I told you it was gonna look identical to your old room, except now you have your own bathroom. Isn't that exciting!" My mother said. I hate you, you ruined my life, is what I really wanted to say to her.

"Yeah, pretty cool I guess." Is what I actually said.

"And would you look at the closet space!" Mom began to rummage through the closet with excitement. "Oh man, now that means I gotta buy you twice as many clothes to fill up all this empty space!" She laughed. I rolled my eyes. Bribery. Like my mother knew of any other source of inducement. Not that I would ever accept anything from her at this point.

"We gotta plan a day this weekend and go shopping Tati." How about you shut your whore mouth Tasha. Should be easy for her to buy me clothes if she's getting money from him. Noticing my unresponsiveness, she strode across the room and gently pulled me away from my paintings and sat me down on the bed with her.

"Look baby," She sighed. "I know this is hard for you. But I'm happy, really, really happy. I've never been this happy before, and I wanna share it with you Tat. Just give it some time honey, and things will get better. I promise."

"Mhm" I muttered and stared at the floor. She was wasting her breath. I wasn't ready to accept what she did to me, to our family, to my dad. It was the ultimate betrayal. I used to look at my mother as someone I could measure up to. As cliché as it sounds, she was a role model to me. I strived every single day to be like her and make her proud of me. But these last few weeks revealed her true colors, and now I'm not sure I like the person she "really" is. There is no way in hell I could fully accept her choices, not within time, maybe never.

"I'm here if you ever wanna talk." Tuh, you wish. "I love you, Tati. Good Night." She concluded and then left, leaving the door open a crack. God, I hate when she does that. She knows I hate it. She found my door closed, so why couldn't she leave it that way? I swear she intentionally makes it harder for me to forgive her. Too tired with bothering to get up, I sighed and fell back on my bed. I pushed away all my depressing thoughts to the back of my head and started to think about the start of my senior year at Brooke Lane Prep. I would be driving on my own for the first time since I got my license. I felt so accomplished when I went to the used car dealership with my parents and picked out and purchased my very own 2015 Lexus sedan. It's an icy black 4-wheel drive, with white leather seats and my own personalized license plate. The plate says "PRINCSST," which is what my dad calls me after I get my way. He says the name is befitting because I'll always be his princess and I always get what I want. I completely disagree with him on that, but my parents usually do whatever they can to make me happy, even if it's close to impossible for them to do it, they always find a way. Especially my dad, it kills him to see me unhappy. Suddenly my dad's tear-streaked face and red eyes shoved aside my happy memories. Oh, God, here come the waterworks.

Suddenly I heard shouting coming from downstairs. Thank God, my head was aching from all the crying I've been doing, I could use all the distractions I could get. I creeped quietly out of my room and tried to listen in to what was going on downstairs. It was an argument between my new stepfather and stepbrother. I involuntarily shuddered just thinking about having to write them down on legal documents.

"I don't want this shit in my house Sebastian! How many times do I have to tell you!" Jonathan yelled.

"Dad, relax, its just some fucking bud. Not like I was smoking the shit." Sebastian responded nonchalantly.

"I don't care if you're shitting this stuff out for all I care. You know better than to bring drugs in my house. I'll kick you out of this house Sebastian. I swear I'll do it!" Jonathan threatened.

"Not like you ever notice that I live here anyways." Sebastian laughed bitterly. "But if you do kick me out, who's gonna look after Mikey daddy dearest?" He smiled an evil bitter smile. The one he uses on teachers when hes about to wreak havoc. "Oh, wait I forgot, you have a new bitch living here to do everything for you right? What's her name, Latoya? Shaquanit--" His words got cut off by Jonathan punching him square in the jaw and then grabbing him by the collar. I gasped.

"Say one more smart thing about Tasha, I swear to God Sebastian it will be the last thing you say" Jonathan spit out and shoved him backwards. Sebastian laughed his bitter laugh again and put his hands up in defense.

"Alright, Alright I'll chill, but I gotta admit that daughter of hers has an ass that just--" He made a shape with his hands which was supposed to be a representation of my ass. I rolled my eyes. Boys. Jonathan began to lunge for Sebastian, but Sebastian was too fast and managed to dodge him.

"What is going on?!" My mom asked. She was in her robe and her hair was wrapped inside her nightcap.

"Night Pop" Sebastian said slyly, he shoved his hands in his pockets and walked away like nothing even happened.

"Jonathan?" My mother demanded. Jonathan ran his hands through his hair out of frustration.

"I swear to God, I'm this close to kicking him out." He said through gritted teeth. She came up behind him and began to rub his back.

"Baby, now is the worst time to be hard on him. If sweet Tati can give me the cold shoulder and look at me like I'm not even the same person anymore, than surely Sebastian has to right to act a little indifferent." She said sadly. So my mom does notice my indifference towards her. Hm. The look on her face almost made me want to forgive her and give her a bear hug right then and there. Buuuut I didn't.

"Baby, I'm sorry, I'm sure she'll come around." Jonathan said. "I will do anything I can to keep you both happy, and make a family out of us. Even if it kills me." Jonathan cupped her face and then kissed her. I couldn't bring myself to look at them. It made me physically sick. Last thing I heard was my mom laughing and saying how poetic Jonathan was as I made it back to my room. I closed my door, turned off the lights, jumped into my bed, anxious for sleep to consume me.