→ No matter how broke, you can always be fixed

→ Talk a lot, I like hearing your voice

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will you bee my bumble bee," daddy sang his famous dad jokes in a voice that sounded awfully similar to the one of a screeching cow.

I told him exactly what I thought and he narrowed his eyes at me, "Well, if I sound like a dying cow-"

"No daddy! Not a dying cow, a screeching cow," I interrupt, quick to fix his mishap.

"Yeah, yeah potato, potah-to."

"What's a potah-to?" I ask innocently, looking up at daddy from my spot on the kitchen counter. Daddy was making pasta today and I, as always, got to be his little helper. Which translated to just watching daddy stir the pasta since he said I was 'too little and might get burnt.'

"A potah-to is..." he paused for what I assumed was meant to be a dramatic effect, and put the stirring spoon down in a bowl on the counter. "A tickle monster!"

"That doesn't make any sense," I thought outloud, furrowing my eyebrows. A second later, my eyes widened as I realized what he was talking about but it was too late. Daddy reached across the kitchen island and poked my sides, making me giggle, before full on tickling my sides.

"No daddy, no! No tickle monster! Go hibernate!" I manage to squeal between my screams of laughter.

"Tickle monsters don't hibernate, you silly goose," daddy shakes his head, kissing my forehead before finally letting me go and plops down on the couch.

"Yes they do," I claim stubbornly stomping one of my feet before glaring at daddy, who looks at me with the same amused expression.

"Wait daddy! You forgot about the pasta!" I scream, suddenly forgetting all about my tickle monster dilemma.

Daddy's eyes widen in realization as he sprints off the couch to get back to his spot as chef.

Let's just say we didn't have the best tasting pasta that night.

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When I opened my eyes though, my loving dad's eyes weren't the first thing I saw. Instead, I woke up in an unfamiliar room. Cream colored curtains covered the huge windows in the far corner of the room and a light cinderella blue painted the walls. A huge bed, that I somehow lay in the middle of, with the net clothed canopy spread out around me. Unlike the tiny attic that served as my room back in Florida, this room matched one of a princess. An antique looking brown dresser with a tall mirror attached, positioned facing me so I could see my reflection perfectly from where I was laying. My now thin dark brown hair was in a ruffled nest on the top of my head and even the loose braid I had done fell out, dangling across my face. Tired lines grazed the bottom of my eyelids that were struggling to stay open, reminding me of the countless hours I had worked overnight shifts. It would be easy to define my reflection as a 'mess', more so than usual.

The events of the past day came flying back to me and I frowned at the mirror in realization of my so-called new life. The girl in the mirror frowned back at me, not seeming affected by it, as I kicked the blanket off me. Slowly one by one, the threatening tears that had been bottled up started to leak. I didn't bother wiping them away as I continued to stare at the girl watching me, blotchy faced. They dropped all the way down my cheek and fell onto the rug I hadn't noticed before. Fluffy and expensive, just like everything else here. I swallowed the remaining tears, knowing that someone would soon realize I was awake and catch me crying. Now swollen red, thanks to my sensitive eyes, the girl in the mirror grabbed the tissue from the dresser table, just waiting to be used. Slowly wiping my eyes, still drained of energy, I ran my fingers through my hair, in an attempt to look presentable to say the least.

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After an conversation of "how are you doing"s and describing my life back in Florida in the most understatement of ways on the ride here in the car, I had gasped in shock when I first saw how huge the house, mansion to do it justice, looked. Long pillars stood tall on both sides of the mansion, reminding me of pictures palaces back in the day shown in my history textbook. Caden had simply looked amused at my reaction but I barely had time to feel embarrassed considering how amazed I was. The house seemed quiet when I walked in with Caden besides for a man who greeted us at the door. Caden explained the silence as one of the rare ones since the boys were all at football practice. He had offered me snacks but I politely refused, saying I was tired, and he had directed me to this room. Barely glancing at the princess looking room I was adoring at the moment, I had fallen back onto the comfortable bed and fell asleep, the moment my head hit the pillow.

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My fingers, from instinct, flew up to my neck and I felt my crescent shaped moon necklace, immediately calming me. My dad had given me the necklace when I was only three years old, putting it around my neck gently after moving my hair saying, "princess, this is my pinky promise to you that I'll always be with you." At that time, my only giggling reply had been, "I can see you daddy, I know you're with me." Little did I know that he would be gone less than three years later. I did wonder every so often if he would be watching me, if he would be proud.

A quick look around the room and at the messy bed made me realize I better start cleaning. Like a reflex, one that I had done frequently while cleaning every morning, I started by removing the sheets completely and dusting them off by flapping them. They hit the windowsill, almost knocking off the plant that was carefully hung near the curtains. Immediately retracting the bed sheets, I sighed, realizing that this was going to be much different than our empty, almost possessionless house.

Just as I was tucking the sheets back into the corners of the bed, the door flung open and in walked another man, this one looking much younger than Caden. I jumped in fright, the unexpected visit caught me by surprise.

"Oh!" He himself looked at me surprised for a moment when he saw me making the bed. I immediately brought both hands behind my back, hiding them from view so he wouldn't see how badly I was shaking. "You don't have to do that, we have maids you know?" His voice didn't seem sarcastic, more surprised and informing.

Maids? How rich were they? The mansion of a room itself felt like too much from where I came from. I gulped, not knowing how to respond and decided with a short nod.

"Wait, silly me! I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Mason, your second oldest- well, brother," He announced with the same level of cheerfulness as he had when he came in. "And you must be Jessica! Can I call you Jess? Ok, Jess, so, I was at football practice and the coach made us run so many drills. I swear, I was sweating so badly but not as bad as-"

"Mason! I swear to god, you're going to scare her, shut up!" Another boy barged into the room, shoving Mason slightly on the way in.

Mason scowled, clearly not taking getting interrupted well.

"Well, Hi, Jessica right? I'm Eli," the new boy claimed. Eli had raven black hair, similar to Caden's and Mason's, that seemed damp like it had just been washed. He was wearing a loose blue shirt with knee length shorts and had a bright smile on his face.

"Hello," I say quietly.

His smile seems to brighten, even at my unenthusiastic reply. "Do you want to come down and meet Aiden? He's our other brother," he explained after taking a look at my confused expression.

It took all my willpower not to say 'no' and give a sarcastic response. Instead, I nodded and followed Eli and Mason as they led me out of the room and into a long hallway. The hallway had a red carpet flooring and paintings hanging on both sides of the wall. Waterfalls, forests, lakes, nothing was missed in the beautifully drawn paintings. One specific picture though caught my attention. It was of four boys, all crowded around a young girl and in the background a man watched, laughing. My dad. I swallowed the lump in my throat that had magically appeared and made a mental note to ask Caden about it later.

A set of stairs stood with a chandelier hanging from the ceiling, so close that I could reach out and touch it from my spot on the staircase. The stairs curved in a spiral design, the handles themself made out of glass. The boys led me to an open room with a leather couch placed in the middle. The room itself looked less fancy compared to the others, a simple den like design with a huge TV sitting straight across the couch. Caden and another boy, whom I assumed was Aiden, lay on the couch, sprawled out with their legs under a fluffy blanket. They both held remote controllers in their hand, focused so much on the game they didn't notice us enter the room.

Eli sighed and marched up to the TV, pulling out a plug on the far right, making the screen go black.

"Come on! I was just about to win!" Aiden whined, throwing his hands in the air for emphasis.

Mason snorted, "No you weren't, Caden was crushing you." Aiden held up his middle finger, flipping Mason off, before turning towards me.

"And you are...?"

"Jessica?" I say, sounding more as a question, and immediately scold myself for not sounding more confident.

Caden clears his throat, taking initiative to end the awkward conversation. "Aiden, this is your sister I was telling you about." The way he said sister, in a question tone, immediately made me want to hide behind a couch and never come out. Knowing that wasn't an option, I waved shortly at him before dropping my hands back at my sides. "Okay, so let's go have dinner! The chef's almost done with dinner!"

Great, there are chefs here too.

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