Prologue
I was born into probably one of the worst jobs in the world. It wasn't my parents' fault really. They both had dreams much higher than working for someone else. Dad wanted to be a chef in one of those fancy restaurants; you know where they charge $100 for a mouthful of food? He even wanted to own his own restaurant some day. He thought he'd get his start working as a personal chef for some rich people. 17 years later, his dream still hasn't come true. Mom wanted to be a dancer, and from the videos I've seen of her performing, she was pretty good. But she also didn't get her dream-come-true, and she's ended up as the maid for these people, which is how her and Dad met.
I guess that is one good thing that came out of it all. If it hadn't been for the Townsends' my parents never would've met.
Mr. and Mrs. Townsend get to live in a huge mansion, while my parents, my little sister, and I live in a small cottage on their estate that consists of two bedrooms, a tiny bathroom, a kitchen, and a living room. As long as we work for the Townsends' we get a place to live as well as regular payment. If we ever get fired, we're on our own. We're pretty poor though, so my sister and I have to work too to bring in some extra money, keeping me too busy to join sports, clubs, and most socializing.
My only hope for escape is after the next school year, my senior year, when I go to college, figure out what I want to do with my life, and get my family out of there. I just hope they can make it a couple years without my additional income while I'm away at college. And I'll have to reply on student loans for tuition since I have very little money saved up.
Don't get me wrong though, we're not living in poverty, struggling for every meal. No, we live comfortably enough. But we're not living in the luxury of the Townsends' and they look down on us for that. We live like most people, and can even afford a treat now and then, but, like I said, we're not exactly living in luxury.
The Townsends' come from old money, so basically they've never had to work a day in their lives, making them even snottier than normal rich people. Even worse, they have a son, Bobby, who's only a year older than me. Imagine having to go to school with the son of your employers, who's constantly reminding you of your place and your duties and how easily he can get me and my family fired. He never lets me forget. I couldn't even try to hide my family's situation from my classmates, since Bobby basically went around advertising it. He liked to make me do mundane chores that he could do himself, but was too lazy to do, and just wanted to gloat that he could get me to do them for him. He also liked finding ways to get me in trouble when I wouldn't do his homework. He'd make fun of me at school until I couldn't take it anymore and I'd beat him up, then he'd run home to cry to his parents and get me in trouble with his parents and mine.
When the Townsends' decided to send Bobby away to a boarding school for "better education" (they were just tired of having a kid around) somewhere around the start of high school, I wanted to celebrate. High school without Bobby Townsend? That really was a dream-come-true. He'd come for the summer, but mostly he'd be out with friends he hadn't seen in months or in his room, too busy to bother with making me miserable, except for a few biting comments here and there.
But those four years of peace are coming to an end, because Bobby has just graduated from high school and is coming home for summer vacation before heading off to college. Which means three months of tolerating him again. With any luck he'll be busy making this summer "the best summer ever" since it's kind of his last, so he'll leave me the hell alone. But we don't always get what we want.
