New Day
Chapter 1
Every morning I wake up at 5:00 am to start my day by cleaning. Not because I am an obsessive clean freak, although I do like to keep things tidy, but because it is my job. I help my mom who works for the richest family in the Arizona.
The Warner’s own the largest hotel chain in Arizona and are looking to expand across state lines here soon. My mom works at their largest hotel here as manager of housekeeping and manages several of the closer hotel’s as well. Mrs. Kathryn Warner and my mom were best friends in high school before she died away 17 years ago. Mr. Warner has always taken care of my mom and myself I assume out of respect for his late wife thought I have never met her.
Mom has passed up numerous promotions because she says she loves the peace and quiet of cleaning the hotel and rooms on third shift and early morning check outs. The work is hard, but mom says the benefits are worth it. As part of the compensation we get free hotel rooms, access to the gym, spa, and pool as well as free housing, if you can call living in the guest house by the pool of the Warner’s mansion housing.
Do not get me wrong this place is amazing but there is never a private moment around here except before everyone wakes up which is why I start my day so early. Mom is still at the hotel where she crashes most of the time in an empty room because she is to tired to drive back home and says its just easier to stay there instead of trying to sleep here with all the commotion that goes on.
My job is to keep the house, guest house, and pool clean. I start every day by cleaning up the guest house which is hardly ever dirty as its just me and mom who is never here. I then move out to the pool by checking chemicals, starting the vacuum, and picking up towels, chairs, and garbage which is left over from the triples pool parties that happen regularly once the weather gets warm enough. We are on the last few weeks of my senior year, and I swear someone convivences the boys to have a party every other day which just makes more work for me.
Once I have the pool cleaned up, I quietly make my way into the house to get a head start on the lower level so I all I have is the bedrooms to tidy up after school. I hear footsteps and the garage door shut signally Mr. Warner has left early again for work like usual. Marcus Warner has put all his time and energy into his hotels since his wife died leaving little to no time for his boys.
Kathryn died giving birth to Cole, Lucas, and Xavier via an emergency cesarean after the doctors missed all the warning signs of preeclampsia. Although the boys were delivered four weeks early, they were all healthy with no long-term complications. Kathryn on the other hand did not survive and left Mr. Warner to raise three boys alone. Mom offered to help immediately with the house and the boys and living here just made it easier when the boys where younger. Kathryn was an only child with parents who live in Texas. They send gifts for the boys regularly and visit once or twice a year. Mr. Warner has family somewhere but from what I am told they do not speak much.
As the boys got older, I begged mom to find our own place, but she said financially she couldn’t afford our own place as my education at Westgate, one of the elite private schools that promises an ivy league education for all students, tuition cost as much as two mortgage payments a month. Westgate is not as bad as it sounds. It does have your typical stuck up spoiled by daddy’s money brats who love to pick on the few of us who on here on scholarships and hard-earned money. It also has my best friend Monica who even though she lives in a mansion that could give the Warner a run for its money, she never once rubs it in anyone’s face or acts like she is better.
I met Monica in 7th grade when her family moved her from Maine to expand their car dealerships to the area. She was in my science class, and we bonded over our disgust when it came time to dissect frogs. If there is anything I hate more than snakes, it's things with warts.
I feel my alarm going off in my pocket to let me know it's time to start getting ready for school. I grab it out of my pocket but just as I attempt to hit the snooze button with my soapy wet hands, I lose my phone right into the sink full of dished I was washing from last night. Quickly I grab it out cursing the whole time through the kitchen looking for rice and a container to try and save my phone before it's too late.
As I am searching through cabinets for a small container with a damn lid that matches, I hear “What the hell are you doing?”.
I spin around so fast, startled that I was not only the only one awake at this hour.
“Looking for a container and rice for my phone.” I reply not caring at this moment that I woke the devil himself.
“Well do you have to slam every cabinet door in the process?” Xavier glares at me like I purposely disturbed his beauty sleep. Not like he needs it anyways he could roll out of bed skip the shower and still make every girl in school swoon at his feet.
Xavier is the oldest and meanest of the Warner boys. You can feel is arrogance the moment he walks into the room like he is better than everyone else, especially me, the help.
“I was not slamming cabinets” I reply a little snarkier than I probably should have. “I am trying to get my phone dried as quickly as possible because I can’t afford another one.” Not that it’s any of his business but my phones apparently love to take unexpected dips in the water. Last summer I dropped it in the pool well fishing out someone nasty pink thong from the filer after one of their summer parties. And the summer before that Lucas thought it would be a great idea to throw me into the pool clothes, phone and all as a joke in front of all his friends.
As I find the rice and a container that will work, I fumble to get my case off that only results in my dropping the new phone to ground without the case and smacking my head off the counter on the way down to grab it.
“Son of a…”
I started to yell as I grab my forehead and releasing a breath, I didn’t realize I was holding. I was so focused on the damn phone and now my head I didn’t notice Xavier who was now directly behind me picking up my phone and placing it in the container of rice.
I can smell the Axe body spray that normally repulses me from all the guys at school overusing the damn stuff after gym but right now its smells amazingly clean and refreshing coming off his freshly showered body. I shake my head trying to erase the image running through my mind realizing I must have hit my head harder than I thought as I feel myself start to slide down the cabinet to the floor.
“April, are you ok?”
I am now sitting on the floor looking up as my vision starts to blur and my world goes black.
