To Hate My Stepbrother

Ava’s POV

I unpacked my things and arranged my room to my taste, it took about an hour for me to be able to finally finish unpacking. I picked up my phone to check the time and it was 6:30 PM. I dialled my best friend’s number again and as usual it went to voicemail.

Perhaps the Internet connection in where she currently is is extremely shitty.

I miss her a lot and if she were around, I would have told my mum to let me stay with her instead. I sighed as I laid back on the extremely big and comfortable bed. The bed was two times bigger than my bed back at our old house and the bedroom was so spacious and stuck up, it almost made me feel grateful that my mother hadn’t given Into my request to move into the school dorms.

The bedroom had a large closet which was also stuck with a lot of high quality brand new clothes which I really favoured, all in my size. My mum must have definitely given him a hint in that aspect.

I reminded myself to thank Danny for that later today.

The room also has a reading table, a new MacBook laying atop it with my name atop it on a sticky note. A vanity mirror at the other side of the room, and so on. All in all, the entire bedroom was like I’ve always envisioned my bedroom to be like in the future.

I hadn’t realised the said bedroom was coming to reality sooner than later.

It wasn’t long before I heard a knock on my door.

“Dinner is ready.” My mother announced with a smile, I could tell she was satisfied at how comfortable I looked right now and how there’s already a touch of myself all over the bedroom already.

I slid out of my bed and walked towards her, throwing my arms around her and holding her tightly against me.

“This bedroom is everything, I love it.” I whispered earnestly and her chuckle filled my ear as she returned the hug.

“I know, right? He really went all out because he wanted to impress you and make you as comfortable as possible.” Mum responded and I chuckled a little

“He has impressed me just fine.” I offered and she chuckled once again.

“Don’t forget to let him know how much you love the bedroom.” She called out as she was leaving and I reassured her that I already planned on doing just that.

~~~

The dining table was filled with the smell of different foods that made my stomach growl. I slid into the seat by my mother’s side, only later realising that it put me in the direct line of Mason. The table only had four seats and there was nowhere I could shift to.

Once again, I cursed my shitty luck.

The thought of having to watch his face as I ate left a really unpleasant feeling in my stomach. Mason didn’t look pleased by the seating arrangements, telling by the scowl on his face, which made me scoff beneath my breath and roll my eyes.

We all sat in silence for a while, enjoying our meal. I thanked Danny for the bedroom and the gifts in it, and he was quick to assure me that I was welcomed and that Mason had been eager to help decorate the bedroom, but before Danny was done speaking, Mason was quick to point out that he had been forced to do the said ‘helping’.

I glared at Mason and give him the middle finger while cutting my chicken and he returned the gesture while lifting his glass of wine up.

Another comfortable silence settled over us until Danny finally decided to speak up and the peace I felt vanished immediately.

“So,” he started, “How’s the bonding going?” He asked and I dropped my fork.

“Oh, it’s going just fine, leaving me with the immense urge to gauge his eyes out everytime.” I spoke in a sweet voice and Mason only shook his head and scoffed.

“Oh dear Ava, how much will I love to return the favour, hm?” He retorted and I snorted.

“I said it earlier on, nonsensical.” I added as I chewed on my steak.

We were about to get into another round of argument when the roaring sound of our parents’ laughter made us stop.

“What is funny?!” We both demanded in unison and shot each other a deadly glare but that only made our parents’ laughter grow louder.

I was fuming over here, seriously mad about the fact that I would always have to see his face and my mum, along with his father, were laughing like it was the funniest thing ever.

Mason had a calm look on his face when I glanced at him and I pursed my lips. I really wish I could strangle him right now, in order to wipe that smug look off his face.

He sneered at me but I ignored him. We both continued our dinner as we ignored each other and I was grateful for that.

“Where are you going, young woman?” My mother asked when I stood to take my leave with my plates in hand.

“To wash my dishes and then bed.” I answered, not quite sure what she meant by her question.

“We’re done too, aren’t we?” She asked Danny, who only nodded and took the napkin to dab the side of his mouth, “You and your brother can do the dishes together, right Mason?” She added and I could hear myself screaming internally.

I don’t know how much tolerance I have left in me before I explode from her referring to him as my brother.

Not saying a word, he picked up the dishes and I reluctantly followed closely behind him.

I was loading the dishes into the dishwasher when a suddenly startled in order not to drop a plate.

“Don’t step on me!” He shot at me and I shot him an irritated look.

“I should be saying that to you instead, you know? Since you have a nice reputation of running into people and blaming them for your own wrong.” I shot back as I stacked the dishwasher with the dishes, with more force than was required.

“I don’t get how in your head you are, you could just apologise, or pretend to, at least, even though I’m definitely not going to accept it– because you’re a total jerk.”

“How delusional and stupid can a person be?” He asked rhetorically and I gritted my teeth in anger.

“Expecting an apology from me is just dumb because it wasn’t my fault you weren’t looking at where you were going to in the first place!” He added and I scoffed in disbelief.

I stared at him from head to his toe and everything about him was making me angry for no actual reason. His hair framed his face and curled over his ears, catching the kitchen’s lights perfectly.

“Trying to talk to, and get you to act right is just pointless.” I finally said as I wiped my wet hands with the towel and dumped it on the counter and made to leave.

“Like I need your dumb help to act right. I think you need my help more, because you know? To prevent you from walking into people and then blaming them for it.” He retorted and I stopped In my tracks, I bit my lower lip and tried to come up with something to say, but when I got nothing, I breathed out a sigh and flipped him off before turning around and exiting the kitchen.

I took a quick shower and burrowed into my bed. I was about to retire for the night when the unexpected suddenly happened.

The floor of my bedroom along with the walls began to vibrate with a very loud music which was playing from the room next to mine.

I didn’t need anyone to tell me who that room belonged to. It obviously belonged to Mason.

The music was so loud that it didn’t take long for my head to begin to hurt.

I groaned in annoyance as I tossed and turned in my bed.

I contemplated walking to his bedroom to tell him about how much his loud music was disturbing me but I knew it would be a bad idea, and it would obviously stroke his ego that I was already giving in so easily.

I stood up and made my way to the bathroom to pee. On returning, it felt like the music had tripled in bass.

I kept turning and groaning, covering my ears with the pillows before finally deciding to put my headphones on since they were noise cancelling.Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.

I let out a sigh of relief when I could barely hear the noise from his stupid blaring music anymore.

As I slowly fell asleep, I wondered if it would make me a bad person if I go pick a knife from the kitchen and stab him with it.