The life of the rich and famous can be overwhelming—at least to those who aren't a part of it

Hell is nothing compared her almighty wrath

(Author's Note: Please read and review! You may feel free to give me any criticism you want. Thanks for your time!)

The sound of Jade Lewallen's blood-red pumps echoed across the wooden floor, each sound louder than the one before as her anger increased with each step she took. The noise of her heavy exhales of breath reverberated across the now silent house. By this time, everybody had already retreated to their places. From the moment Jade Lewallen had slammed the oak door to her father's study, the household staff knew to stay away unless they wanted to witness a major shit fit that would ultimately end in one of them being fired. No, it was safer to stay out of sight until Jade's anger had passed.

Many times in life, people had stopped to wonder at Jade Lewallen, daughter of world famous lawyer Mark Lewallen, the face behind her own makeup brand, leader of the school's most infamous clique, and self-proclaimed queen of Beverly Champion High School. But even though Jade was proud of herself for all of the above things, the first thing she'd tell anyone about herself wouldn't be any of them.

If they really had to know one thing about Jade Lewallen, it was that there was nothing that pissed her off more than news of another woman. And when Jade Lewallen was pissed, everyone involved had a nasty habit of suffering long-term and often irrevocable mental damage.

This time, it was Hannah. Hannah Van Buren. Or otherwise—Jade shuddered internally—her future step-mother. Normally, Jade was able get rid of her father's girlfriends faster than it took her to max out her American Express. In fact, it was practically a morning tradition for Jade to find yet another blonde wannabe actress sitting at the kitchen table each day she woke up.

After all, Mark Lewallen might snatch up girlfriends quick enough, but he was known to "dump" them even faster. With the help of some behind the scenes action from a certain someone, of course.

After so many years, Jade knew what to expect from her father's girlfriends. Blonde, twenty, with the mental capacity of an eggplant.

But, it seemed like he'd finally started to acknowledge the fact that there was something wrong, not to mention, weird about the fact that he couldn't keep the same woman for longer than twenty-four hours after she'd met his daughters. And now, enter Hannah van Buren, instead. She was still blonde, but she had three kids, had graduated from Berkley and was definitely nowhere near twenty. And apparently, this was her father's type now. Which, basically explained why Jade even knew about the existence of this woman.

And the result? Mark had basically foretold Jade's doom in three words: I'm getting married. She didn't even care about anything he'd said after that. Her mind had completely drove itself over the top trying to figure out what to do as she stared blankly at her father, who made her sit there for half an hour as he talked on and one about his plans.

Apparently, he'd already told her twin sister his "happy news" yesterday night, because Jade was the only one in the room who had to suffer through details of what was going to be "a modest, family-only wedding."

She didn't give a damn about how perfectly lovely Hannah and her kids were. And the "big, happy family"? She didn't buy that crap. As far as she was concerned, her big, happy family had ceased to exist the moment she found out that her lying son-of-a-bitch father hadn't even bothered to tell her he had a girlfriend until the ten minutes before she was about to show up on Jade's front doorstep.

And no matter how fabulous Jade was, even she couldn't think of a grand plan in ten minutes. Which meant that tonight, Jade was officially facing a night of sharing the second floor with four new strangers.

Ah, home sweet home at its finest. Not.

If Jade had it her way, Hannah and her kids would receive a nice kick in the ass from yours truly before Jade let them taint the Lewallen name.

She twisted her door knob open with unnecessary force, trying to envision Hannah's dumpy neck in its place. If only it was that easy to get rid of her, Jade's life would be set.

She'd hardly closed her door, when someone opened it again. Jade didn't even bother to turn her head. Only one other person could enter the room at a time like this.

"What do you think?" Arielle asked, coming into Jade's twelve hundred square feet bedroom in a flurry of Dior Ma Cherie.

Jade gave Arielle a once-over. It was the day after spring break, and also the day that the three Van Buren kids would be transferring to Beverly Champion High School.

At the thought of this, for the first time in the morning, Jade felt a sense of power surge up in her system. Now school, that would be an interesting. She couldn't wait to see what kind of losers Hannah's kids were. And far away from the prying eyes of her father, the possibilities were endless.

"Cool," Jade said absentmindedly. What had Arielle asked her again? She felt a turn in her bloodstream as ideas started spinning around in her head. Would stuffing her future step-sister's head down the toilet be too easy on her or totally been-there-done-that?

"You didn't even look," Arielle adjusted her shirt, reminding Jade of just how much she wanted to stuff her own sister's head down the toilet right now. Jade sighed exasperatedly. For once in her life, couldn't Arielle be less dependant on Jade? Her sister already looked gorgeous in a Trina Turk V-neck paired with a blazer on top of Sevens and a pair of Michael Kors cut-out wedges peeking through at the bottom. It was hard to be in the mood to gush over that when you were dressed in a wrinkled mini skirt and a pair of killer high heels you forgot to take off from yesterday night's partying. Jade squinted closely at her forehead, to see if all the champagne from yesterday's blissfulness had left an outbreak of skin problems on her forehead.

Arielle nervously blew air out when Jade just continued glaring at the mirror. She'd finally realized her mistake. Never attempt talking to Jade when she's in a shitty mood. Arielle sighed and examined her hair instead. Even though she'd only gotten her bangs cut two days ago—they were parted to the side and slanted to the left—she already hated the way they always fell into her eyes.

Jade eyed Arielle out of the corner of her eye. watching her blow her bangs out of her baby blues. Nobody but the two of them knew that Jade had actually considered getting her brown locks done the same. She'd changed her mind when she realized how hideously matchy-matchy they'd look. It was one thing to be twins and another to look like identical mirror images of each other.

Instead, Jade had hers cut in a pixie-style, which she now admired in the oval mirror. It was multi-layered and the tips grazed her collarbone. And faintly, there was a barely-there-but-still-noticeable streak of red, her favorite color. When she put her hair up, the sun almost made it glitter. Which explained why Jade had twisted her hair in a bun with cute pearl chopsticks securing it. She patted herself on the top of her head lightly when she had pushed the last chopstick in its place.

Jade turned away from her mirror and slid off her clothes, facing her closet. She rifled through the handful of designer bags splayed over the eggshell-white carpet. Thanks to her father's impromptu announcement, she'd left her closet in a state of disaster. Jade gently smoothed her poor Nanette Lepore black lace top, which had been smushed under Jade's new Balenciaga bag.

She ended up selecting a navy, strapless Lilly Pulitzer beaded dress, which she put on top of her white Joie cutoffs. Grabbing her black Kate Spade slingbacks and expertly spritzing her hair with Fekkai spray to make sure the bun stayed put, Jade slid on her Harry Winston diamond earrings, jabbing them into her ear with more force than necessary.

Take that Hannah van Buren, Jade thought savagely. She regretted it once she remembered that it was her own ear she was hurting and not Hannah's neck, though.

She checked her ear to make sure it wasn't bleeding and then turned to her sister. "What are we going to do?" she sighed, blowing a long stream of air out of her mouth.

"I don't know," Arielle bit her newly manicured nail, even though she wasn't supposed to, since she'd just gotten them touched up yesterday.

Jade glared at Arielle, who was sitting in Jade's chair, crossing her stupid stick legs in a pretzel shape like an innocent Barbie doll. It was so hard to be the brain for two people. What she wouldn't give to have a day without having to come up with all the ideas. Not that she was complaining or anything. After all, Arielle did what Jade told her to do, which actually came in handy a lot of times.

"Jade, relax a little." Arielle sighed dejectedly, seeing Jade's intense look, which was the face she put on when she was thinking too hard.

The truth was, Arielle was nervous about meeting the new kids. But unlike Jade, she was actually kind of excited. No matter how much she loved her twin, it was so lonely in the house, especially since her dad was always working on some life-changing case or another at his office. But three kids. Now, that sounded like a party to her.

"Arielle," Jade planted her hands on her hips. She stood so close, Arielle could have hugged her if she wanted to. Which she didn't. Not when Jade was glaring at her like that, " You can't be thinking that having those kids around will be fun."

Arielle shuddered internally. She'd always wondered if her sister had the uncanny ability to read minds. Not that that was even possible, but Jade still had the knack of hitting a little too close to home.

"No, of course not," Arielle pretended to scoff at the idea.

"Good. Because it would suck if you chose them over me." Jade said, never taking her vibrant green eyes off Arielle.

Arielle looked away. She heard what was implied. She had to pick a side, and if she picked the wrong choice, she knew exactly whose life would suck afterwards.

"Aw, Jade. I'm right by you, a hundred times and over," Arielle swallowed and steeled her voice. " You know there's nothing that'd make me happier than to see the bitches dead."

"Good," Jade smiled, all traces of hostility gone.

Arielle grinned back weakly. She hadn't been lying when she said she'd side with Jade. Her sister was practically her only family. Arielle didn't know how she'd survive if she lost her too. But that was how it was with Jade. There were only two sides: with her or against her.

"Okay. So, I have two months to get rid of Her." Jade said, all business now. She brushed a strand of loose hair out of her eyes. Two months. Jade would have nightmares for days, trying to figure out what to do. Of course, if she failed, the after math would be too terrible to think about. In her mind, she ran over a mental list of the horror's she'd be facing:

A hideous bridesmaid dress probably to be found on the shelves of the Salvation Army

Three new brothers and sisters (this includes sharing- a lesson not taught in Beverly Hills kindergarten classes since the rule had always been "If you can't buy it yourself, you shouldn't even be here." )

Nights of knowing exactly what was happening five doors down the hallway in her father's bedroom

A permanent and possibly life-threatening brain disorder from dealing with all the above

It was enough motivational thinking for her.

Jade could've gone on and on, but the doorbell downstairs decided to ring at that moment.

Arielle quickly pushed past Jade and snapped the curtains open to get a curious glimpse to see who was the infamous Hannah van Buren, how her kids looked like, and exactly in what kind of fashion she was arriving in.

"She looks..." Arielle paused, her nose pressed against the clear glass windowpane. She was about to say "nice", but thought better of it, "...like she came from the slums," she finished instead. And it was true. Hannah had long, but dank hair, and her clothes had holes in them and random rips.

"Let me see," Jade nudged Arielle aside and tried to get a better look. She smirked. Hannah did look like total hobo. So did her flaming cherry head of a daughter, who was looking around lush, green yard. A third person got out of the car, probably one of the brothers. He immediately opened the trunk of the sad-excuse of a car and took out three dirt-brown bags that looked like they'd been sitting in the attic for a long time.

Beside her, Arielle saw Jade shuddering at seeing anything coming into her house without the customary Louis Vuitton or Yves Saint Laurent initials stamped all over it.

Jade watched silently as her father came out and hugged Hannah and kissed her on the lips. She felt a lump of disgust welled up inside of her. Did they have to do it where the whole entire damn neighborhood could see?

"What a slut," Arielle gripped Jade's wood shutter.

"Ugh," Jade was rendered incapable of making any sounds other than revulsion.

Down below, where the cherry-head girl was standing in between the roses and the gravel path, she suddenly squinted up from down below and shielded her eyes from the morning sun. A moment too late, Jade realized a second too late that she was looking at their window, and immediately snapped her shutters shut again.

"So, what do we do now?" Arielle flopped down onto a chaise lounge chair dramatically and leaned back, eyes closed.

"We wait and we observe." Jade sprayed herself with her customary Coco Chanel smell and did her inhaling and exhaling exercise that was supposed to calm her down. Her therapist had recommended she do it when she had the overwhelming urge to kill someone. Part of the exercise was to help Jade overcome her angst, so she didn't accidentally strangle the nearest person, which in this case, would've been poor Arielle.

"What are we observing?" Arielle drew her legs up onto the spotless white chair, and propped her chin onto her cupped palm.

"Anything. Everything. She's bound to have a weak spot somewhere." Jade tucked a loose brown lock behind her ear. This was where she came in. Jade Lewallen had a nasty habit of knowing just exactly where to hit a person for it to make its permanent mark.

Their father's last girlfriend had been an aspiring actress. All it took was the help of a picture and a tech freak and they'd sent a photo of her making out with an "anonymous" person to US Weekly. Her career was done before it even started. Jade had given herself a pat on the back for finishing that relationship in a record two hours.

A high-pitched squeal of laughter floated from downstairs, reminding Jade of what kind of job she was faced with.

Jade opened the shutters only a slit this time. "They're all inside. Let's use the back door." She swiped her Balenciaga off the rack, and flipped off the lights.

"But Jade, it's seven thirty. School doesn't start until eight thirty," Arielle protested, pointing at Jade's glass clock that hung on the purple wall.

"Yeah, but just wait until Mark starts calling for us to meet the van Burens. Then, I'll have to drive the three new kids to school. And we both know there is nothing more devastating than having to arrive at school with people that look like they've been picked off the farmlands of Pennsylvania." Jade said, cocking her eyebrow in the way that the girls at her school had practiced in front of their mirrors at home with no success.

"Fine, but we're getting Starbucks." Arielle grumbled, heading out the door with Jade.

"That's fine with me. I could use more than a cup right now," Jade sighed, strapping her bag behind her shoulder.

" So, any ideas yet?" Arielle said, as Jade unlocked and opened their back door. She looked behind her shoulder, just in case anybody was looking at them.

"No. Not yet," Jade said treading softly on the grass. She opened the lock on the gate and slipped through, tipping the security guard for pushing her BMW out of the garage without any sound.

"But don't worry. This hasn't failed me yet," Jade triple tapped her head and slid on her limited edition Gucci shades. The two of them stopped to stare at the tan car, parked to the right of the driveway. Inside, Jade could see stacks of papers and a paper cup of coffee with lip stains all over the edge, probably picked up from some road-side emergency gas station. The ones who sold it for ten cents a cup and had tiny bathrooms with no toilet paper and soap. It looked like the only kind of place stupid, life-wrecking Hannah van Buren could afford.

"Come on, let's go," Jade said, hoisting her bag over her shoulder and keying the engine. Arielle lingered at the car for a minute longer, squinting against the sunlight reflecting off the window. Something caught her eye. It was shiny, so the sun made it hard for her to see what it was.

"Arielle, let's go." Jade shouted over the engine noise.

Arielle ran and jumped inside. "Sorry, I thought I saw something...oh, never mind."

"Sure. Whatever you say," Jade steered the car out of their street and down another, not really in the mood to deal with her sister's hallucinations. She cranked open the radio, which was blasting some Pussycat Dolls song.

"You nervous?" Arielle bit her lip intensely, wishing desperately that she could bite her nail instead. But doing so would only confirm that Arielle was nervous, and she didn't want Jade to know that.

"About the Hannah thing? No," Jade lied, choosing to pulse to the music instead. Then, she added for good measure, "Why would I be?"

"No reason," Arielle tossed her golden blond, curly locks. If Jade wasn't going to fess' up, neither was she.

Her sister didn't respond, either because she didn't want to, or because they were already at their destination. "Here we are," Jade slammed the horn down on her car, and stopped in front of a beautiful, white mansion.

Jade took a long look at the winding driveway, and then turned to Arielle, lowering her shades. "Listen, Ari. Look at us. What do we have to be nervous about? Everybody would kill to be you and me."

Arielle shrugged. She wasn't so sure about that. Right now, Arielle didn't even want to be herself.

Jade slid her sunglasses back on, interpreting Arielle's silence as agreement. "We're infamous, gorgeous, and maybe even a little bit crazy. And we're one of a kind."

"Damn right," interrupted a smooth voice.

They turned around to find one of their best friends, Winter Belmont grinning behind them. Her raven black hair went straight down to her ribcage and her golden skin shone in the sunlight.

"Hey sexy," the two of them chirped.

"Hey gorgeous. Miss me?" she blew a kiss at the two of them, and they blew one back.

"Not at all. Beverly Hills was just as crazy as the Hampton." Jade geared the car up again.

"Yeah right. The two of you are buying me that pair of Christian Louboutins that I've wanted since forever." Winter laughed, throwing her head back so that her hair rippled in the wind.

"No way. I got sixteen. Beat that." Jade said.

"Eighteen." Arielle chimed in.

"Twenty- three." Winter crossed her legs. "It's amazing what kind of disaster a girl like me on the beach can create."

"Twenty-three." Jade whistled. "You've earned those Louboutins."

It was a game between the three of them that whoever had the most guys hitting on them at the end of the week would get treated to anything of her desire. Through the time that they'd known each other, they've all had their ups and downs.

Jade dialed up the volume of the stereo a couple notches. As long as Mark paid the bills, she might get a pair of Jimmy Choos while she was at it. After all, everyone knows that the biggest thing in spring was to shop for summer.

"Now that sounds more like a party to me," Winter grinned.

In response, Jade turned up the volume to the loudest it could possibly go.

Watch out Beverly Hills Champion High. The three sexiest girls are coming, and they want to make sure that everybody damn well knew it.