Violet and Her Rude Sister

Salutations, readers. I decided to put "Pigling and Her Proud Sister" into the terms of high school. It seemed about right, since there's so much pettiness in this story. Although most of it comes from the stepmother who really should have grown out of that. Enjoy!

Sometimes, your makeup is a magic.

Violet had hoped that when her father got married again that the house would be more welcoming. He'd been gone a lot lately, and Violet assumed that had been because he's been seeing Beatrice. But even when he was home, it wasn't more welcoming.

He kept forgetting that Violet was his daughter and not his son. And Beatrice and her daughter, Elina, seemed to follow his lead. It didn't matter that Violet never responded to the wrong name, they kept using it anyway.

Violet had been doing more work cleaning up around the house because her father was gone so much. She had thought that would change when he was home more, but that was another thing she was wrong about. It seemed that no one else in the house knew how to use the dishwasher or vacuum. And if Violet didn't clean up, she had to live in filth, and they accused her of being lazy.

Violet began to spend more time out of the house. She told them she was at clubs after school, but she just stayed in the library, counting down the days until graduation. When the spring dance was getting close, Violet planned on going with some of her friends. She didn't have as big of plans as Elina did, but she was still planning on going. Violet had mentioned that she was going to the dance, but when she was starting to get ready, Beatrice appeared in her doorway.

"What are you doing?" Beatrice asked.

"Getting ready for the dance," Violet said. "I'm meeting up with my friends in about half an hour."

"Absolutely not," Beatrice said. "You need to finish your chores first. This house is filthy!" Then she flounced away.

Violet tried appealing to her father, but that didn't do anything. He just agreed with whatever Beatrice said. So, about the time Violet was supposed to leave, the rest of them left to get pictures of Elina and her date in a park somewhere. Hot tears fell down Violet's eyes as she cleaned. She could clean the house, but she'd miss dinner with her friends, and that would be half the fun.

Someone was knocking at the door. Violet opened it and saw no one. Then she looked down and saw what looked like tiny people walking into the house.

"Can I help you?" Violet asked.

"We're here to clean," one of them said.

"Go get pretty," another said.

Violet stared around her. If this was real, it had to be magic. She should watch them. But as she watched, Violet saw they were taking more care dusting and cleaning that she did. It had to be magic, and the good kind. Shaking her head, Violet went into her room and got ready for the dance.

By the time she'd finished primping, all of the magical creatures had gone. "Thank you," Violet said to the empty room. The house was spotless. Violet grinned and twirled. She'd make it in time for dinner after all. She texted her friends the good news as she headed out the door.

Violet probably should have expected something similar when prom came around. But she didn't. It was her senior year. This was her last prom and she wanted to make those memories with her friends. But when she started getting ready, her stepmother told her the lawn needed to be mowed first.

They had a big yard, so it would take over an hour to mow it and then she'd have to shower afterwards. That was on top of all the time it would take to get ready for prom after that. Again, her father was less than no help. Violet was already wearing her dress and had started doing her hair, so she just waited until the rest of them left to take pictures of Eline in her dress with a different date. It was Eline's junior year, so she'd have another chance at all of this. Violet wouldn't.

Trying not to cry, Violet wheeled the lawn mower out of the garage and opened the gate to the backyard. However, when she did, cows started walking out of it. They were coming from the gate itself, some going into the backyard and some nudging past Violet to go into the front yard. It was impossible. And yet it was happening.

As Violet watched, the cows started eating the grass. And they managed to eat it perfectly evenly. In no time at all, the lawn was cut beautifully. Violet stared open-mouthed as the cows went back towards the gate, from both sides, and disappeared.

Finally, there was one cow left. It nudged her. Violet patted the cow carefully and scritched under its chin for a moment. The cow sighed in bliss before straightening up and walking into the gate. When Violet looked in her hand, she saw what looked like makeup, although there was no branding on it.

Violet looked at it for a moment, debating on whether or not to use it. Then again, this would be a long game for some magic creature to hurt her. Once Violet was done with her hair, she decided to go ahead and use the makeup.

It looked beautiful on her, just the shade she wanted. And Violet found that no matter how hot the dance floor got, her makeup didn't budge. She had a great time and when she came home that night, her makeup came off almost as soon as she used makeup remover on it.

Violet ended up with a full ride scholarship to the college she wanted. One of the biggest perks of that school was that it was away from her hometown. When she got the letter, Violet's father ended up reading it too.

"That's great," he said, smiling a little. "A full ride. That's wonderful."

Violet would have liked this approval earlier, but she would take it. It was only because of this approval that her father said they all had to help Violet move in. She had thought she'd have to cram whatever she could into a few suitcases, but they were all going to drive down there and help her move. She could bring everything she wanted.

Violet kept her makeup a secret, not that that was hard to do. None of the rest of her family had taken pictures of her before prom, and she didn't have much reason to wear that makeup afterwards. It wasn't until Eline started bothering Violet while she was packing that anyone else saw it. It was the day before they were supposed to leave, and Violet was hoping that would help her patience. It didn't.

"What kind of garbage makeup is this?" Eline demanded. "There's no label on it!"

"That's mine!" Violet said, trying to grab it.

"Why would a boy need makeup?" Eline taunted.

"I'm not a boy," Violet said, although she knew it fell on deaf ears.

Eline opened the lipstick and tried to put some of it on her lips. Then she jumped back like she'd been shocked and dropped the lipstick.

"That was a mean trick! I'm telling Mother!" Eline said, leaving the room with her hand on her lips.

Violet bent down and picked up the lipstick. It looked normal to her. And, after interrogation from Beatrice later, it looked normal to Beatrice as well. Violet even put some on to demonstrate that there wasn't anything sharp concealed in her lipstick. Why she would have put a needle in there was beyond Violet's ability to explain.

The next morning, Violet put on her makeup before leaving the house. It made her feel powerful, and it seemed like a nice way to say goodbye to the house and the creatures who'd helped her in it. As they headed toward Violet's college, with Eline sulking because of her swollen lips, Violet reflected that there were good times ahead for her at last.