Chapter One

Chapter OneBEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
"Ugh! Five more minutes."
BEEP. BEEP. BEEE-
"Oh, shut up! Who set you up anyway?"
My hand flails about knocking down things in the pursue of finding my alarm clock. When I finally find
the clock, I give it a hard tap. It stops its awful beep noises and I snuggle back comfortably into my
pillow.
I hear the door to my room open after a few peaceful minutes and footsteps tiptoe in. I lift my head up
groggily to see who when a loud high pitched screech blares in my ears.
"What the-"
THUD
"KYLE YOU STUPID MORON!!" I seethe from the floor.
My voice comes out muffled because of the blanket that I got tangled up in when I fell from the bed. His
chuckles could be heard as he raced down the stairs in light thuds with what I guess was an airhorn.
Nobody. Nobody messes with Ellie early in the freaking morning.
Unless you got food. Then maybe you have a five percent chance at forgiveness.
I groan and untangle myself from the snuggly blanket I am trapped inside. Deciding to make myself
presentable first, I walk into the bathroom. Finishing my business, I open the door with a little extra
force than needed."And it goes - Oh! Oh! Oh! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!"
I bob my head to the music and dance my way into my room again.
"One. Two. One, two, three - and we danced all night, to the best song ever!"
I shimmy into a pair of high waisted black jeans and a long-sleeved white shirt with the saying, 'Just
wing it. Life, Eyeliner, everything.'
novelbin"Where are you hiding? Where are you- AHA!"
I pull out my favourite white sneakers with black stripes at the sides and slip them on. I strike a pose at
my floor length mirror and give myself a once over. My eyes finally rest on my hair and I sigh, grabbing
the hairbrush. When I finally tackle my hair into a ponytail, apply lip gloss and mascara, I smile and
stand back, giving a thumbs up to my reflection.
I run down the stairs two at a time. The heavenly aroma of pancakes fills up my senses. I smile
knowing my Dad is at his kitchen duties again.
"That smells amazing Papa bear. Got a new recipe from your cookbooks?"
"Why, thank you princess! And yes, I actually did." Dad gives me a warm smile.
I stack three pancakes on a plate, add lots of syrup and plop myself onto one of the kitchen stools.
"Hey there little sister, had good sleep?" Cole lightly punches my shoulder and
gives me a toothy grin.
"I would have if a certain someone hadn't spoiled it for me." I glare at Kyle who promptly sticks his
tongue out at me."I was just getting you to wake up. You would have missed dad's pancakes if you were late."
"You didn't have to blow a freaking airhorn on my face!" I say pointing my fork at him. He eyes the fork
for a moment before shrugging at me.
"I wanted to check if it still worked."
"Are you kid-" I start but Dad cuts me off.
"Alright, alright shut it both of you. Kyle do not do it again and Ellie, your brother is an idiot. Let him be."
I throw a victory smirk at Kyle who gapes at Dad in disbelief.
"So, you wanted to tell us something dad?" Cole nods his head at our father.
"Ah yes. I am leaving for a business trip tonight.” He starts. I open my mouth to interject but he shushes
me. “Yes, I know it is Christmas, but I am so sorry pumpkin, it's really important. I will back on time to
open presents. Hopefully." He ruffles my hair.
"Does that mean we get the whole house to ourselves since Mrs. Marty is going away to see her
family?" Kyle says excitedly.
Mrs. Martinez or ‘Marty’ as we call her, is our housekeeper. She has been with ever since we were
children and basically acted like a nanny to us when neither dad nor nana were around.
"Of course not! Your grand-" The sound of the front door opening shifts my attention.
"Missed me lovelies?" A voice rings from the hallway.
"-mother will be here to take care of you lot."Dad finishes and we all look up to see Nana grinning at us. She places her bags near the stairs and
turns to us with her arms open wide.
"Nana!!"
Kyle and I attach ourselves on her, almost knocking her down in the process while Cole settles for a
calmer side hug.
"I see that my babies missed me dearly. Don't you worry kids, we'll have lots of fun with the old man out
of the house." She flicks her thumb towards Dad. He frowns in response.
We finish our breakfast talking and making plans for Christmas. Dad leaves to pack and get a few
things from the store. Nana pulls the three of us into the living room.
"I got your jumpers!" Nana tells us as she pulls out three knitted woollen jumpers of the colours blue,
black and red. Nana always makes us jumpers every Christmas for as long as I can remember. It
started as a hobby and soon settled in as a tradition. They were soft and extremely comfortable and not
one of those cringy, ugly ones that you see on movies either.
She hands the blue one to Cole, the red one to Kyle and the black one to me. Each jumper had our
initials on the front in an impressive cursive swirl. Mine has ‘E’, Kyle has ‘K’ and Cole has ‘C’.
"They are lovely as usual. Thank you so much Nana." Cole tells her and kisses her cheek. She smiles
and pats his head.
"Where's the rest of your lot?"
"They should be here any minute now." Kyle answers. The doorbell rings just then and I get up to
answer.
"Nana was just wondering about you guys." I say as Hailey, Melissa, and Jason troop in.They are mine and Kyle’s friends from school. We have been best friends ever since middle school.
Jase and Kyle were in the same class and graduated together last year and decided to take a break
year before college. The girls and I graduate this fall.
"Are we late for the jumper ceremony?" Melissa asks eyeing my jumper. I take a bag from Hailey and
smile.
"You're just on time."