Everyone said younger siblings were annoying… And younger sisters in particular had the worst reputation of all. As an only child, you never had to worry about such things before.

That was… Until your dad died and your mom, lonely and looking to mend her broken heart, promptly remarried.

Your step-father, Richard Dell’Anno, was a good man. Marrying him not only made your mom incredibly happy, but also sky-rocketed her --and, by extension, you-- into a much higher tax bracket. He was strict with you, but ultimately pretty fair.

There was something… Off… About your new little step-sister Candace. Or, rather, Cherry, as she liked to be called.

“I’ve never had a sibling before,” she said, an indecipherable gleam in her eye and edge to her smile. “This will be fun!” There was something almost lascivious about the way she applied her cherry-flavored lip gloss after she said it.

You thought you were just imagining it. Sure, Cherry was pushy, attention-seeking, and downright invasive at times… But that was just being a teenager, right?

Or maybe she just suffered from spoiled brat syndrome. She was the loudest in the room because she felt she was owed it. She knew no bounds because no one ever set and enforced firm boundaries with her before… Not the way you did.

That didn’t stop her, though. She was constantly borrowing your things without permission, barging into your room without knocking, touching you like you’d known each other your whole lives…

Case in point was tonight, when you returned from a shower still wrapped in a towel… Cherry was sprawled across your bed and scrolling through the internet history on your laptop. Had you left it open? Didn’t matter now…

You lunged forward and pulled the computer out from under her tiny French-manicured hands.

“D’awww,” she whined. “I was just getting to the interesting bits!" She rolled from her side onto her belly and stretched like a cat, causing her little cherry-red pajamas to ride up. The grin she gave you with a mischievous thing.