Aeger's Plan

☞1. Ari likes her toast with syrup☜

Ari awoke to soft light filtering through her eyelids and groaned. Ari hated mornings. Mornings meant she had to get up and the face the cruelty of the world. More specifically, the cruelty of Dave Kensington. Well, he was cruel in Ari's opinion. Her mother, Miranda, obviously thought otherwise. 

Miranda had adopted Ari because she was unable to bear children of her own. They hadn't been the wealthiest of families, but for Ari that was just fine. She was happy with the way things were. So when the rich Dave Kensington came along, Miranda saw him as her knight in shining armor, while Ari saw him as the foul demon come to steal their happiness. Now she was stuck in a shining, pristine mansion with her mother and Sir Jerkface of Jerk Land, whom her mother had married a couple months after they met. 

Ari opened her eyes and spent a couple moments laying on her stomach and staring at the spray-painted wall opposite her. After drowning herself in self-pity for a few moments longer, she rolled out of bed and got ready for the day. She made her way down an overly polished set of stairs while pulling on a burgundy hoodie and dreading the moments to come. 

"Good morning." Dave said tonelessly as Ari entered the breakfast room. Yes, that sounds weird, doesn't it? Well, Dave had a breakfast, lunch, and dining room, as well as a kitchen for each. 

"Where's mom?" Ari asked, pointedly ignoring his greeting as she grabbed a slice of toast from the table. 

"She's not here. She left early to help out at the animal hospital."

"Ugh, you should've gone too, signed up as a patient." Ari said while drenching her toast in syrup. 

"Behave yourself! And what are you doing with your food, Artemis?" Dave demanded.

"It's Ari, and I'm playing with it." Ari replied casually.

"That is not a suitable breakfast for a young lady!" Dave huffed, snatching her toast away and tossing it into a nearby golden trash bin. 

"Hey! That was my breakfast!"

"Not anymore." he said, slapping a plate of grapefruit on the table in front of her. "Eat up."

"Why can't I eat my own breakfast?"

"We let you get away with a lot of things," Dave began diplomatically, raising his pencil-thing eyebrows and sitting in the fancy chair across from her. "but it is essential you eat a healthy breakfast." he finished, patting down his already way to flat grey-blonde hair.

"Pah! I'm a growing girl, I need some sugar."

"You will eat the grapefruit, girl, or nothing at all!"

Ari sighed and stabbed a piece of grapefruit with her fork. Dave continued eyeing her suspiciously. She threw him a pointed look as she stuffed the fruit in her mouth. When she was finished with her plate, she was about to bring it into the kitchen when the butler snatched out of her hands and hurried away. Ari rolled her eyes and turned to Dave.

"Why do these people work for you? You pay them, like, a dollar a year."

"I suppose they just know what kind of work is right for them." Dave shrugged.

"Are you threatening them?" Ari asked, astounded.

"How dare you suggest that?!" Dave bellowed, slamming his fist down on the table so hard it made Ari flinch. "I have been nothing but good to you, child! Another toe out of line and you will be sent to a boarding school!"

Ari held up her right index finger and inspected it closely. "Only toes? Fingers don't count, then?"

"You know exactly what I mean."