Corps de Swans

The girls chit-chatter never ended did it?

Some argued about who did the dance step better. Some argued about who had a better dance figurer. Some argued which boy in their class was cuter. Some argued who got more compliments from a teacher.

But they all agreed on one thing: to make my life miserable on the way home after every dance class.

I held back an eye roll as my sisters talked, yelled, and whispered to one another. The ones that were yelling didn’t bother to turn it down, knowing that I hated when they were being loud. And the ones who talked or whispered, were more than likely talking about me.

Like usual.

I pulled up into our drive way and the girls quickly rushed out. Our father and mother were at the door waiting to greet them. Half went to greet my mother and the other to my father.

But I went to neither.

I got out of the car and threw my dance bag over my shoulder heading into the house.

“Lucy, darling, please get your sisters outfits ready.” My mother spoke.

“Outfits? For what?” I frowned looking at her. One, because I was confused. And two because we had maids to do it. “Or do you mean you want me to tell the maids to get it done?”

“The girls maids are on vacation right now Lucy, gosh!” My mother shook her head and put a hand on her hip looking at me.

“My boss’s son is coming over tonight for dinner. Now get the outfit ready.” Father told me with a stern voice. There was no smile or joy on his face when he looked at me.

Nothing was the same when my parents looked at me.

I turned around without another word and marched up the stairs. Walking into the girl’s room, I shut the door behind me and looked around.

They all shared this room. We easily had enough rooms for each sister to have their own. But my parents insisted on keeping them together and my sisters didn’t seem to mind one bit. They were together every minute of every day. They laughed, smiled, talked, gossiped, and enjoyed each other’s company. Both my parents had no problem spending every second of their day with my eleven sisters. No problem at all.

But they had a problem with me.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

“Hurry up! I need to use the bathroom now!” One of the sisters called out to me while I was in the bathroom fixing my hair. I sighed and wondered why I even bothered with my hair. I also sighed because we had millions of other bathrooms to use and yet, my sister wanted to use this one. Unlocking the door, I stepped out of the bathroom and heard the door slam quickly behind me as my sister walked in.

Slowly, I made my way down the stairs and toward the dining room where I heard a number of voices talking at once. I heard the sisters that were only a few years younger than me wonder if the boy who was coming would be hot.

Did they honestly have nothing better to do than talk about boys? I shook my head to myself and made my way to take a seat at the end of the table. I opened my mouth and took a sip of water while I glanced up.

I chocked.

“Lucinda! Watch your manners!” My mother hissed from somewhere. But I wasn’t paying attention.
The only thing I was paying attention to was the man that stood at my dad’s about to enter the dining room.

The same man from this morning who wanted to sign up his niece for dance classes.

“Malcom, this is my precious family.” My father said, and introduced my mother and my sisters. Lastly, he stopped at me and said my name with no real emotion.

Malcom looked at me after my father had told him my name and nodded. I had finally calmed down from my water chocking and looked down at my empty plate. Father took a seat at the opposite end of the table so he sat across from my mother and to my left side. He told Malcom to take a seat next to him.

Which was across from my own.

I looked up and watched him take his seat. His brown eyes were shining as he laughed and smiled at my father’s lame jokes. His brown curls were not dramatic, and complimented his smooth, tan skin color.

In others words, he was handsome.

His eyes suddenly met my curious ones and I quickly looked away and reached for my glass of water.

Dinner went like usual. My family talked about what they did on their free time, what their hobbies were, why they wanted a family, etc. It was always the same whenever we had guests over for dinner. Nothing ever changed.

Except when Malcom asked me a question directly.

“Your name is Lucinda, correct?” He asked, and everyone at the table stopped talking. I stopped my fork mid-air and met my eyes with his. Slowly placing my fork down on the plate I nodded.

“Yes.”

“You’re the one I ran into this morning.” He stated.

I nodded my reply. “That was me.” I could already hear my sisters whispering and their jealousy filled the air.

“So, Malcom…” One of my sisters tugged on his arm and forced him to look at her. I held in a sigh and continued to eat.

As the night continued, and we were almost down with our desserts, I heard a noise from above. I frowned a bit and looked up at the ceiling. From where I sat, there was no room up there. But the sound of something falling made it seem like there WAS something up there.

“Thank you for joining us Malcom.” My father’s voice drove my attention back to the table.

“Thank you for having me.” Malcom replied and glanced in my direction one last time.

“We will be seeing more of each other now that you are my new assistant. Let me walk you out.” My dad told him with a smile.

“Good night ladies. Ma’am.” Malcom said with a polite nod to my sisters and to my mother before walking out of the dining room.

After Malcom left, my sister went up and showered. I, on the other hand, helped the maids that worked in the kitchen, clean up. My phone buzzed when I had finished putting the last dish in the dishwasher. I pulled it out and read the text message.

~Ready to P-A-R-T-Y!~

It was from my best friend, Ezra. I smiled and replied.

~Always.~

~Sisters coming?~ She asked through the text as I made my way upstairs and toward my bathroom.

~Just like always~

~They are never going to stop are they…~ Ezra knew that my sisters would only continue going because they claimed they were rebels. I sighed and got ready to shower.

~I’ll see you there after midnight.~

I sent her the text and placed my phone on my nightstand before jumping into the shower.

After midnights used to be my escape. Used to be my way out. Used to be what Ezra and I only did.

But that all ended when my eleven sisters decided to tag along.