What I Hate About You (#1 What I Hate About You)

Chapter 5

I guess it’s a habit of mine, waking up early before anyone in the house.  For some reason I can’t seem to sleep in past 6:30am. I kind of like it because I get a bit of peace and quiet before Lindsay or my mum wakes up. I heard movement in my mother’s room as I walk past it to go downstairs. She will be coming downstairs soon.

I make myself a bowl of cereal and then sat down at the table. After spending at least five minutes to myself, Mum comes into the kitchen. She greets me good morning, but I don’t respond. She turns on the coffee machine and then pops some bread into the toaster. We don’t speak to each other like we do almost every morning, acting like we are strangers. I may be being rude to my own mother, but I just don’t like to talk while I’m eating.

Lindsay doesn’t join us in the kitchen until maybe about fifteen minutes later. Glancing up at my sister I can see why it has taken her so long to come down here. She has put on tons of mascara, eye liner, a light green eye shadow, lip gloss and foundation. I don’t know how she can even think she is beautiful wearing that junk. She greets Mum and ignores me as she walks over to the cabinet, grabbing a bowl. She fills it up with Special K that is left out on the counter, along with the milk. She then takes a seat across from me.

Mum takes a sip of her coffee. “So what are you girls getting up to today?”

Lindsay shrugs her shoulders. “Oh, nothing much.” She takes a spoonful of her cereal.

I make sure no one is looking my way and roll my eyes. I find it so unbelievable what Lindsay has said. She is forgetting that I can see right through her, knowing exactly what she is planning to do today. I can read her mind. Even if we aren’t close sisters anymore, I can still read her mind. As twins we shared a sixth sense of knowing what the other one is thinking. She is going to give another shot at getting Nathan to notice her.

“What about you, Alex?” Mum asks me. “Are you doing anything interesting today?” She takes a bite of her peanut butter toast.

I don’t say anything. All I do is shrug my shoulder and continue eating my breakfast. I just don’t feel like talking.

“Girls, just to let you know I’m going out with Dereck tonight,” Mum continues after I ignore her.

At the mention of my mother’s boyfriend’s name, I glance up at her. Dereck London. I hate him. Mum has been seeing him for the past six months now. When mum first announced to Lindsay and me that she was dating again, I yelled at her. She was still with dad. Why would she even think about dating another guy beside him? Dad left when we were twelve. He was coming back. I know he was. I don’t know where he is. Mum never told us. She just told us that he left. He was probably on a business trip. He worked for some big company in the city. He used to attend a lot of them when we were younger and was gone for mostly the weekend. It has been almost six years now, and he still hasn’t returned. I still believe he is on a business trip, and I don’t appreciate Mum having an affair. Lindsay doesn’t seem to care if she is. She likes Mum being with Dereck.

“Jerk,” I mumble, hoping mum wouldn’t hear me. She doesn’t like it when I say mean things about Dereck.

But she does hear me, and she shoots me a warning look about my behaviour towards him. “Alex, you know I don’t like you speaking that way about Dereck.”

“So?”

“So, I would like you start being more respectful to him and give him a chance.”

“I don’t want to give him a chance.”

I stand up and take my bowl over to the dishwasher, placing it inside.

“Alex, please. I know you’re mad at me for dating him, but I want you to at least give him a chance.”