The Dragon Princess novel Chapter One

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

"Ugh! Five more minutes."

BEEP. BEEP. BEEE-

"Oh, shut up! Who set you up anyway?"

My hand flails about knocking down things in the pursue of finding my alarm clock. When I finally find the clock, I give it a hard tap. It stops its awful beep noises and I snuggle back comfortably into my pillow.

I hear the door to my room open after a few peaceful minutes and footsteps tiptoe in. I lift my head up groggily to see who when a loud high pitched screech blares in my ears.

"What the-"

THUD

"KYLE YOU STUPID MORON!!" I seethe from the floor.

My voice comes out muffled because of the blanket that I got tangled up in when I fell from the bed. His chuckles could be heard as he raced down the stairs in light thuds with what I guess was an airhorn.

Nobody. Nobody messes with Ellie early in the freaking morning.

Unless you got food. Then maybe you have a five percent chance at forgiveness.

I groan and untangle myself from the snuggly blanket I am trapped inside. Deciding to make myself presentable first, I walk into the bathroom. Finishing my business, I open the door with a little extra force than needed.

"And it goes - Oh! Oh! Oh! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!"

I bob my head to the music and dance my way into my room again.

"One. Two. One, two, three - and we danced all night, to the best song ever!"

I shimmy into a pair of high waisted black jeans and a long-sleeved white shirt with the saying, 'Just wing it. Life, Eyeliner, everything.'

"Where are you hiding? Where are you- AHA!"

I pull out my favourite white sneakers with black stripes at the sides and slip them on. I strike a pose at my floor length mirror and give myself a once over. My eyes finally rest on my hair and I sigh, grabbing the hairbrush. When I finally tackle my hair into a ponytail, apply lip gloss and mascara, I smile and stand back, giving a thumbs up to my reflection.

I run down the stairs two at a time. The heavenly aroma of pancakes fills up my senses. I smile knowing my Dad is at his kitchen duties again.

"That smells amazing Papa bear. Got a new recipe from your cookbooks?"

"Why, thank you princess! And yes, I actually did." Dad gives me a warm smile.

I stack three pancakes on a plate, add lots of syrup and plop myself onto one of the kitchen stools.

"Hey there little sister, had good sleep?" Cole lightly punches my shoulder and 

gives me a toothy grin.

"I would have if a certain someone hadn't spoiled it for me." I glare at Kyle who promptly sticks his tongue out at me.

"Nana!!"

Kyle and I attach ourselves on her, almost knocking her down in the process while Cole settles for a calmer side hug.

"I see that my babies missed me dearly. Don't you worry kids, we'll have lots of fun with the old man out of the house." She flicks her thumb towards Dad. He frowns in response.

We finish our breakfast talking and making plans for Christmas. Dad leaves to pack and get a few things from the store. Nana pulls the three of us into the living room.

"I got your jumpers!" Nana tells us as she pulls out three knitted woollen jumpers of the colours blue, black and red. Nana always makes us jumpers every Christmas for as long as I can remember. It started as a hobby and soon settled in as a tradition. They were soft and extremely comfortable and not one of those cringy, ugly ones that you see on movies either.

She hands the blue one to Cole, the red one to Kyle and the black one to me. Each jumper had our initials on the front in an impressive cursive swirl. Mine has ‘E’, Kyle has ‘K’ and Cole has ‘C’.

"They are lovely as usual. Thank you so much Nana." Cole tells her and kisses her cheek. She smiles and pats his head.

"Where's the rest of your lot?"

"They should be here any minute now." Kyle answers. The doorbell rings just then and I get up to answer.

"Nana was just wondering about you guys." I say as Hailey, Melissa, and Jason troop in.

They are mine and Kyle’s friends from school. We have been best friends ever since middle school. Jase and Kyle were in the same class and graduated together last year and decided to take a break year before college. The girls and I graduate this fall.

"Are we late for the jumper ceremony?" Melissa asks eyeing my jumper. I take a bag from Hailey and smile.

"You're just on time."