Chapter One
Ella
“Ella! Where is my smoothie? I need my green smoothie pronto!”
“Coming!” I yell from the kitchen over the blaring noise of the blender, currently making said smoothie.
I swipe my hand across my forehead to clear away the sweat. It’s an abnormally warm day for September in New England, in the high eighties.
I grab the cutting board and cut additional fruit into wedges, then pour the blended mix into a highball glass. I add the fruit wedges to the rim just the way Vienna likes it: over-the-top and excessive.
I clutch the drink with my left hand and stride over to the living room, sliding open the large glass doors to the over-sized balcony overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
My stepmother is lying on a white lounge chair with a massive pink umbrella over her.
“Finally,” she spouts as I hand her the drink.
She lifts it to her mouth, searching for the swirly straw, but misses on the first few attempts.
She has on a pink face mask with orange slices covering her eyes, because—I have no idea why, but this is basically our routine every single day.
Just with different fruits, depending on what is trendy and the hardest to source, because Vienna loves to ruin my life.
“What are you still doing here?” she asks, not even bothering to turn her head an inch to face me. “Get to work.”
“I can’t today. I have to study before class.
” Unfortunately, I haven’t had a chance yet.
Between my first year at the local university, regular work at the ice rink, and the mile-long list of chores Vienna has for me on a daily basis, I’m struggling to balance everything.
I’m only in my third week of college, and I already feel behind.
I thought once I made it to college, everything in my life would instantly improve, but that’s not the case at all. If anything, life is even harder than it was in high school.
Maybe I should’ve picked a college five-thousand miles away from my stepmother and stepsisters, instead of one five minutes away. I’m sure they’d still find ways to make me suffer wherever I was located.
But in my defense, my college, Bristol Bay University, is in the quaint ocean side college town of Bristol Bay, where I grew up and where my parents first met.
I’ve always dreamed of attending this school, even as a small child. I loved listening to stories from my father about his alma mater and memories of meeting my mom at the ice rink. It may seem weird, but I feel closer to them now that I’m a student myself.
I just wish my request for housing hadn’t been denied, because I would have loved to stay in the same dorm my mom or dad lived in. However, there were too many requests and not enough rooms. Anyone who lived within a thirty-mile radius of the college had to commute.
So, here we are. I’m a college student living with my stepmother, still in a tiny, dusty room in the attic and paying rent for the room via my soul—at least it feels that way sometimes.
“You know, Ella, people go to college to get a job after school, but you already have a job. So, really, it’s just stupid that you are even going to college.” She puckers her lips and takes a sip of her large smoothie. “You’re already skipping some steps. You are so lucky, you know.”
There’s that word. Lucky.
I sure don’t feel lucky, at least not now, with the sun scorching my skin, and my body exhausted from the three hours of sleep I could fit in last night.
I just shrug, because there’s no use in arguing with Vienna, especially when she holds housing and tuition money over me.
At least, I have that, plus the views and memories of my childhood house, just steps away from the Atlantic Ocean.
Maybe I am lucky. I just need to remember that.