Chapter 1: The Last Day

"Good morning sweeties!" The sickly sweet voice of the triplets' stepmother Sadie called through the house's intercom system. "If you don't get up now, you will be late for your last day at school!" Esmee groaned and rolled onto her back, regretting that she had survived the night. It was 4am, couldn't they have one day when they didn't have to clean the entire house? Apparently not, she thought as she stretched and got out of bed. Apparently, she wasn't the only one who thought this as Savannah and Claudia looked as much like a trainwreck as she felt, as they silently got dressed.

At least we aren't getting beaten anymore, She thought as she combed her long, curly hair into as much of a neat bun as she could manage. Sure, Sadie wasn't her mom and their family wasn't half as close as they had been ten years ago, but at least CPS workers weren't knocking on their door.

When she, Savannah and Claudia had finished getting ready, they silently made their way down the stairs to the kitchen to start their chores. Sure, they weren't getting beaten, but that didn't mean that there wasn't the threat of violence if they didn't obey, and turn up on time. They had seen what Sadie was willing to do to Jeremy, Joshua and James (Sadie's identical triplets and Esmee, Savannah and Claudia's step brothers), Esmee really didn't want to see what she might do to either her or her sisters.

"There you are!" Sadie exclaimed with false excitement as the trio entered the kitchen. Jeremy, Joshua and James were already there. "Now, you boys must get this place as spotless as possible. Savannah, you can help them. Your father is expecting six guests for lunch, and so everything must be perfect." Esmee gulped. Any time either Jonathan or Sadie was expecting guests, she could count on Sadie being even more demanding than she already was. Especially when she asked Savannah to help their brothers clean the house. "Now Esmee, I want you to make a two course meal for our guests, and make sure that it is fancy enough to impress a monarch. These guests may very well determine your future. Claudia can prepare breakfast and clean up after. Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am." The six of them replied in union.

"Good. You are dismissed." Sadie turned her back to them and went back upstairs.

"What do you think she means 'these guests may very well determine your future'?" Claudia asked Esmee after they had taped over the intercom with their special piece of styrofoam (For while Sadie might have been okay with the siblings talking quietly in the morning, she was definitely not okay with hearing their chatter through the intercom).

"I have no idea, and that scares me." Esmee admitted as she pulled out a cookbook, a notepad, a pen, and the most recent inventory of the food stores. "Now, please don't talk to me until I have decided what is going to be served."

Two hours later, and one near disaster when she realised that she didn't quite have enough sugar to make lemon tarts (she discovered that there was still half a jar of honey she could use), Esmee and Claudia were done cooking.

"Everything going okay?" Joshua asked as he poked his head in.

"As well as could be." Claudia replied, scrubbing the last of the tart molds. "Are you guys done?"

"Yes, we are. Should I go and get her majesty to give us an inspection?" He asked.

"Not yet, we still have to finish the dishes." Esmee said, putting away yet another bowl.

"Do you want extra help with that?"

"No, you had better go back and give the house another once over before their majesties come down, in case you missed a spot of dusting. Breakfast will be served once everything else is done." Esmee replied, shooing the gathering hungry crowd from the kitchen.

It didn't take long for the pair to finish the last few dishes, plate up the breakfast of pancakes and compote and set the table. Anticipating the arrival of Jonathan and inspection given by Sadie, Claudia pulled the tarts out of the fridge and the rack of lamb out of the oven and helped Esmee arrange it so that it looked semi-presentable even on the tinfoil tray.

"Done already sweeties?" Sadie asked as she entered the kitchen.

"Yes ma'am."

"These certainly do look good." Their stepmother commented, looking at the pastries. "What have you made?"

"For lunch, I have made roasted lamb cutlets with honey baked carrots and roasted potatoes, to be served with a mint and parsley butter and garden salad." Esmee replied, pointing to each of the components. "This dish will need to be reheated, all except for the butter and salad of course."

"And for dessert?"

"For dessert our guests will be dining on homemade lemon tarts, to be served with fresh cream and yoghurt." She replied, taking a deep breath. "Is the butler coming today?"

"Of course." Sadie replied as she left the kitchen. Claudia breathed a silent sigh of relief. She really didn't want to miss their last day of highschool, all because her parents were having guests over.

After everything that was not related to the serving of breakfast had been put away and the majority of the kitchen had been cleaned down, Savannah came into the kitchen.

"Here, these are for Dad and Sadie," Claudia said, handing her two plates of pancakes and compote as Esmee wrote down the serving instructions for the butler to follow at the luncheon. "You can come and get the rest once you have served them."

Breakfast, as usual, was a silent affair, and now that the rest of the dishes had been done the triplets were back up in their bedroom.

"So why do you think that Dad and Sadie decided to invite guests over today?" Esmee asked, breaking the silence. Claudia shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know," She admitted. "I doubt that they are planning on sending all six of us to college, they have already said that they won't support our college dreams."

"Could it be related to college for the boys?" Savannah asked.

"I doubt it," Jeremy answered, leaning on the doorframe that led to the girls' bedroom. "None of us have applied for college. Are you girls ready yet?"

"Not yet," Claudia replied, shooing Jeremy away. "We will be down in a moment."

"You better hurry up, Alec is here and he is very cranky." Jeremy replied, as Esmee, Savannah and Claudia raced around their bedroom, finishing up their morning routine and zooming down the stairs.

"You were almost late, little Ladies." Alec, their driver, complained as the sisters climbed in next to Jeremy, Joshua and James. "Is that something you really want to happen on your last day?"

"Sorry Alec." Claudia replied. "Sadie had us preparing for their lunch guests."

"Is that right?" The driver asked.

"Yea, it is." Joshua said in response. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

"I am sorry, young master, I cannot answer that question to a satisfactory quality without violating my contract."

"Of course you can't, a good soldier never gives away their country's secrets."

"Exactly." Alec replied as he pulled into the parking lot of Liberty High. "Now, go and have a fantastic last day of freedom."