Well Beyond Expectation

Chapter One.

Naturally, the day had to start off with rain.

I didn't know it at the time of course, but that rain was an omen of much more than just another below average day. It was the end of what I used to consider normal. If there is such a thing.

My alarm blares in my ear, not that I need it. I'm physically incapable of sleeping in past five thirty in the morning, and the sound of the rain pelting the tin roof woke me before even that, so by the time my alarm does decide to begins its relentless attack on my ears, it only takes me one second to turn the stupid thing off instead of the usual two extra snooze attempts I usually use up before school.

Ugh, school.

Yet another unextraordinary day at Pletzer Prep awaits me. As if that statement alone isn't enough to make me really want to drag my feet on the way into the bathroom to grab a shower, thunder shakes the bones of the house as a reminder of the storm that brews outside. Again I have to curse the fates for making it rain today. Couldn't I just get one day? One day to go right?

I make my way down the hall and into the single bathroom I share with my brother and uncle. One look at the pile of dirty socks and boxers shoved to the side of the room and the toilet seat standing up, but yet still managing to have dried pee on it, gives me the same thought I've had every single day since Bekham and me moved to this little house with Uncle Terry and Aunt Lauren.

No girl should be forced to share a bathroom with the male species.

It didn't used to be as bad when Aunt Lauren was still alive. She used to actually enjoy running around the house and cleaning up after the boys all the time, but now she's gone and her duty falls to me. I'd like to think if I could just ignore the messes for long enough that the guys would eventually do something about it, but I'm too freaked out by roaches and rats to let any mess go for too long. It isn't worth the risk of having something crawl on me.

I take a slightly longer shower than usual. I don't need to budget time for doing my hair since the stupid rain is going to ruin it no matter what I do, so I take my time. When I finish I brush my teeth, brush out my blonde locks, wrap up in my robe and then breathing only through my mouth I collect all of the dirty laundry from the floor and trudge it down to the kitchen and shove it all in the washer before I start on scrabbling some eggs for breakfast.

"Morning." Uncle Terry grumbles from the stairs when he comes down to sit at the table where I've laid out his plate, the paper, and a cup of coffee.

"Morning." I say back with equal enthusiasm. "Seen Becks?" I ask as I slide some eggs out of the skillet and onto his plate and then the other two plates I set out on the table.

He shakes his head as he takes a big gulp of his coffee. "Was after two when the kid got in last night." He informs me before going back to the paper.

I roll my eyes and rush upstairs. If Becks isn't ready to leave the house in thirty minutes we're going to miss the bus. I take the creaky stairs two at a time and turn left at the landing, pushing open Beckham's door.

"Woah, Lena, come on!" Becks shouts, turning away from the door to cover his junk. "Ever fucking heard of knocking?"

"Ever heard of-." I start to gripe at him about needing a new alarm so that he doesn't keep over sleeping but then my eyes scan across the room and I really wish I would have knocked, or even just left without him. There are two barely dressed girls laying in the bed, one of them I think I have fourth period bio with. "God, Becks, really?" I roll my eyes. "Get ready to go or we will be late."

"That would be tragic." He says sarcastically, pulling up a pair of jeans before going over to the bed to slap one of the girls on the butt, making her giggle hysterically. "Wake up girls."