Strictly Breaking the Rules

Meet Hale

Truth is, I actually enjoyed waking up early, it gave me a little bit of privacy before my day started. Everything after that, someone was always in my personal space. I never had time to myself, which was why I used the morning when everyone was still asleep. My eyes fluttered open and I stretched, letting out a yawn.

"Thank you Friday." I smiled, jumping out of my bed and skipped to my closet. I skimmed through, looking for something that looked nice and Richard would approve of. My clothes always corresponded with the weather, so I glanced out my window, hoping it would give me an idea.

"Rainy...?" I poked around until I found a white and blue striped button up shirt and khaki capri pants. I squatted down to look for a pair of shoes.

"Sperry's" I grabbed the shoes and laid them across the bed with the other articles of clothing I had picked out for the day. It looked like a pretty good match to me. Quickly stripping from my pajamas, I noticed the time and quietly cursed to myself. Richard was just getting up, just like he did everyday at 5:35. He'd be up here to make sure I was awake in the next ten minutes, giving me enough time to get dressed and do hair. I put on the clothes I picked out and combed my fingers through my light brown hair. I loved my hair, no matter what anyone said. People thought I had it lightened, but my parents would have never approved of me changing my hair color.

Without any warning, Richard bombarded into my room. I had gotten used to his 'surprise' checkups in the morning. They had become apart of our daily schedule ever since I was at least six. He stood looking at me from my door, his arms folded across his chest, his face expectant.

"Morning." I said lightly, I knew he was waiting for it.

He nodded and processed my appearance. He seemed satisfied because he didn't have anything to say, with was kinda out of the ordinary.

"Morning Madison." My mother, Diane stepped into my doorway. See what I mean? No privacy. I squirmed at my full name. I wasn't used to it.

I looked at her. "Mother, please. Call me Maddie."

She was about to reply, but Richard decided that he needed to put in his input on what he thought of the situation.

"You're parents gave you the name Madison." I noticed how Diane looked mighty uncomfortable and blushed when Richard said 'your parents'. What was that about? Did she hate it and felt embarrassed when he talked in third person just as much as I did?

"Okay." I said. "Can I have my phone?"

Richard reached into his pocket and produced my cell phone. I thanked him properly and put it inside my backpack. If I had put it anywhere else he would get suspicious.

"Is Adrian up?" I asked.

As if on cue, Adrian produced a low groan from the back of his throat and dragged his feet toward the bathroom. When he saw Richard and Diane, he straightened up and nodded his head, acknowledging their presence.

I walked over to my sink area, thank god I didn't have to share one with the rest of my family. I vigorously brushed my teeth and washed my face before heading to the kitchen where my mother was making breakfast. She ushered me to a chair and I sat down. Diane and I weren't relatively close. Our relationship with each other was on and off like a light switch. One day she would be fairy godmother nice and the next she would be ten times worse than Richard.

"Thank you for the meal, Di- I mean, mother."

She smiled a tight smile. Like Richard, she rarely showed emotions unless he was yelling at me. Over the years, I realized that she never really yelled at Adrian. When she was angry, she always directed her anger toward me. It wasn't something I was used to at first, because neither of my parents ever showed any emotion. She set breakfast in front of me and my mouth rejoiced. Blueberry pancakes, eggs, and fruit yogurt. I counted to ten before I touched any food on my plate, taking slow bites and savoring the flavor in each bite I took. Adrian sat down across from me and greeted everyone before taking a bite of his food. If we failed to do that, we had to take extra notes when we got home. This was one of the other thousand rules we had.