River Rock

I stared up at the ceiling in my bedroom. My bedroom. That still felt strange. I'd been sleeping here for three months now and I still felt like a guest. The room was as clean as it was when I first set foot in this house, maybe a part of me hoped deep down that this wouldn't be permanent, that one day soon we'd just pack up and move back home. There was no use getting comfortable when this is all temporary, right? But that day never came, for the time being this was home. Just me, my dad, and the others.

Dad had met Hannah one night in a bar. He went to that bar all the time, he was friends with the bartender, but this night in particular was his birthday. She saw him sitting there alone, offered to buy him a drink and the two got to talking. They got to talking all night, until the bar closed. I could tell straight away that he was smitten, the way his face would light up at the very mention of this mysterious woman at the bar. They started dating a few weeks later, and then, a year and a half after that night at the bar they were married.

There was a knock at my bedroom door, "Hmmmm?" I said in response. It was all I could muster, having woken up only a minute ago.

"Oh, sorry!" A voice whispered from the other side of the door. "Breakfast is ready!" The voice waited for no reply before I heard the footsteps descending out of earshot and down the stairs. I take a deep breath and throw the bedcover off me, I put on some pyjamas and head downstairs.

Hannah was seated at the head of the dining table. She'd already started on what looked like a delicious egg white omelette. Sitting on the left side of the table was one of Hannah's daughters, Millie.

Millie was 18, like me, and blonde like her mother, although her long hair was tied back into a tight ponytail while Hannah's shorter hair sat freely by her shoulders and somehow always looked like she just shot a conditioner commercial.

They both gave me a smile as I sat down. Hannah's smile was genuine, Millie's seemed obligatory, barely giving me full eye contact before continuing typing on her phone. Hannah's smile continued even after I'd sat down and picked up my fork.

"No Mads again?" I motioned to the empty seat next to me. Mads was Hannha's other daughter, a year older than Millie, and very rarely seen at gatherings like this. This was frustrating because I actually hit it off well with her when I first met her. I quickly discovered a mutual love of movies and games and we spent hours talking about our favourites, we even 1v1'd in an obscure fighting game I hadn't heard of nor could I remember the name. That obscure. And she shamed me. Of course I blamed the controller to save face, but the way she laughed at my blushing face told me that she could see through the ruse.

"Madelyn had a late night," Hannah said, "and she doesn't have classes until 2 so I thought I'd let her sleep."

"Did you ask him yet?" Millie said, eying her mother from the side of her eyes.

"Give him a minute, Millie, he just sat down!"

"Ask me what?" I said.

Hannah gave Millie a face, as if to silently scold her but she quickly went back to a smile. "We were wondering if you could drive Millie to school today. She's never liked taking the bus and we thought..."

"Oh, yeah that's no problem."

Hannah motioned to me, looking at Millie, "See? There's no problem. What do you say Millie?"

Millie shot her mother a look of her own, after a moment she looked to me again, "Thank you, Jason." There's that obligatory smile again. I barely talk to this girl, why is she so against me?

Hannah looked very excited, and she had reason to, I suppose. After breakfast she stood up and said "Right! I need to head out now, you two, shower." Us two? She can't mean- "I don't care who goes first so I won't hear any arguments about it. It's a big day for all of us and we're all going to embrace it with open arms. Yes? Yes?" She punctuated each Yes by looking at each of us, waiting for us to nod in agreement.

It was a big day. Millie was starting senior year, it was my first day in a new school in a new town, and Hannah was starting her first year as principal of River Rock High. And she certainly looked the part. She wore a red buttoned shirt, black blazer and matching pants. The pants, I couldn't help but notice, were just tight enough that I could see the curve of her legs, but I quickly got off this train of thought after a moment.

Grabbing her bag and keys, Hannah said "It's my first assembly as principal, I could use the confidence boost of seeing both of your lovely smiling faces," she demonstrated by showing an enormous, comically exaggerated smile which made me laugh. Millie rolled her eyes and groaned. "Jason, you're on the fast track of being my favourite, Millie's been slipping lately." She gave me a little wink at that moment, and my eyes widened involuntarily just a little. Alright, love you both, have an excellent day and don't forget...it's Ms Stanton now!" And with that, she was gone. I turned back to Millie, only to see an empty seat. I could already hear the shower running.

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I waited in my pick-up truck, my thumb tapping the steering wheel while I waited for Millie. "Two minutes", she told me. I checked the time. We'd probably make it, if traffic was nice, but I didn't want to cut it so close on the first day. Finally I saw the front door handle jiggle and she stepped out. I gestured with my hand, silently asking what took her so long? She stopped on the driveway, motioned to her outfit as if that alone was an acceptable answer

Giving her credit, she did look nice. Every strand of hair seemed delicately placed just so to her exact specification, her makeup (from what I could tell, never having to think about makeup in my life) was spot on, working with her natural beauty perfectly. Her clothes were also well chosen. A black skirt, reaching a couple inches above her knees, a white T-shirt, and a light pink cardigan sweater, the buttons done up to just below her breasts. Hanging from her shoulders was a backpack that seemed too small to hold anything at all.

She climbed into the passenger seat, struggling a little due to her tall heels that add six inches to her height. I stared at her.

"What?"

"We're probably going to be late." I started the engine and put the truck into gear.

"Well, yeah I'm not surprised, by the time you back this...HUM-V out the driveway. We're in high school, who needs a big truck like this?" With her small frame, her outstretched legs don't even come close to touching anything.

"I just thought if I meet someone-"

"What? She'd be impressed with your big bad truck? That's so lame, Jason-"

"Actually, I was going to say she'd ride shotgun and you can roll around in the back like a piece of lumber."

"Oh, would you relax? I'm just joking."

We headed out the driveway and started the journey to school. Millie checked herself out the whole way, using every mirror in the truck along with her selfie cam. We pull up to a red light and when we're stopped fully, she pulls out a thing of lip gloss and starts to apply it, slowly brushing her full lips with the precision of a surgeon. I can't help but be captivated by it. The lengths she goes for beauty, a beauty she already possessed, but just to heighten that little bit more. I never noticed her perfume before but with the windows closed, it became all I could smell, a luscious smell that I could tell wasn't cheap to bottle.

HOOOOOONK

Oh shit! I didn't know how long the light had been green for, but the old lady in the tiny car behind me was tired of waiting. The truck roared as I started down the road again, I waved my hand apologising to the lady.

"Hey, be careful! I'd love to not spend senior year dead, thank you. You're lucky I didn't make a mistake!" She used her pinky finger to trace the outline of her glossed lips, making sure she didn't colour outside the lines.

"You look fine, Millie! You looked fine coming outta the house, you looked fine the first time you checked, and you're still gorgeous now."

That last one left my mouth, taking us both by surprise.

"Awww you think I'm gorgeous?" In the corner of my eye I saw her perfectly manicured nails before I felt her soft hand touch my skin. I felt my cheeks flush as she pinched my cheek. "You think I'm gorgeoussss?"

"Cut it out!" I say, lightly smacking her hand away.

"It's okay, Jayjay, there's no shame in it! You just have a little crush on your gawwwww-juss step-sister," she drew out the word gorgeous, posing like an ingenue before laughing at me once more.

What followed was an awkward moment. A long awkward moment. I couldn't tell what she was thinking, probably of some way to hold this over my head. Maybe that was harsh, but I always had a tendency to overthink things.

We sat in silence for the rest of the journey.

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Pulling up to the school's parking area, I realised we were earlier than I thought, and I let out a relieved exhale. Millie was fidgeting with her bag strap, her eyes facing down.

"So, I guess I'll see you-"

"Thank you for the, uh,-"

We both speak at the same time. I try to reiterate, "I'll see you here at 3?"

I see her nod her head in the corner of my eye, "Yup! I'll see ya."

We both climbed out of the truck. Millie's heels once more caused her a little trouble, but she only stumbled a little.

Millie went on ahead, spotting what I assumed was her friend group, a squad of about five other girls who had taken similar care into their appearance as Millie.

I looked at the structure of the school. Big campus, multiple buildings. It'll take forever for me to get used to everything. I reached into my bag and pulled out my lesson plan for the day. Oh wait, Hannah said there'd be an assembly. I checked the map that was printed on a second page that came with the lesson plan, and made my way to the assembly hall.

Passing Millie and her friends I caught a little of their conversation.

"Oh my god, he's cute!" said one girl.

That caught me off guard, but I kept heading forward. I'd embarrassed myself enough for one day.

"Ugh, shut up..." I recognised Millie's voice.

"Millie got herself a secret boyfriend over summer!" came another girl's voice.

I don't know why I turned back to look at them. Maybe it was morbid curiosity, but I turned back to see who they were talking about. Only for a moment. Millie and her friends were all looking in my direction. No, they were looking at me. Millie's face was flush, embarrassment maybe, but her cheeks were practically glowing. She looked just like how I felt on the drive.

I give a little wave 'bye' and a smile. I saw her gasp a little, the faintest thing, almost invisible but I saw it, and she waved back.

I turned back and went on to find the assembly hall, smiling to myself as I heard Millie's friends erupt with overlapping comments and questions...