The Squabbling Stepsisters

INTRODUCTION & DISCLAIMER - When divorced single mum Lisa emigrates with her two kids from the English city of Manchester to the Australian capital of Canberra in 2001, she quickly meets the man of her dreams in James, also a single divorcee with two kids, and they marry. Their sons Chris and Sean get along really well together, but it's a completely different story with their daughters Polly and Ophelia, who are polar opposites, get off to a bad start and simply cannot get along.

By 2009, loud-mouthed, messy British tomboy Polly and refined, neat freak, girly-girl Australian Ophelia are both aged 19, and the stepsisters either fight like cat and dog or ignore each other in long term displays of passive aggressive behavior.

Lisa and James wish that their respective daughters would make an effort to get along and stop squabbling, but they have no idea what the dissimilar pair get up to when left alone together in the house ...

All characters and events in this story are fictional, and any similarity to real people living or dead coincidental and unintentional. Only characters aged 18 and over are in any sexual activity. For North American readers unfamiliar with Australian and British slang, the word fanny is used for vagina on several occasions. Please enjoy 'The Squabbling Stepsisters' and rate and comment.

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The best decision Lisa Atkins had ever made in her life was in the year 2001, when she along with her son Chris and daughter Polly, then aged 12 and 11 respectively, left the English city of Manchester and emigrated to the Australian capital city of Canberra. Lisa's older brother and his wife had made the move to the Land Down Under several years before that with their own young children, and Lisa's only regret was not making the move sooner.

There was certainly no opposition to the move by Chris and Polly's father. Lisa's attempts to get so much as a pound of maintenance from her estranged ex-husband was like getting blood from a stone, and the man showed no interest in either his son or daughter.

Of course, the Australian Capital Territory and its native bush environs was completely different from Manchester but Lisa and her kids soon got used to their new home. Early in 2002, about a year after their arrival in Australia while walking on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin one day not far from Parliament House and the National Gallery, Lisa met the handsome guy of her dreams in James Thompson, the man who 18 months later would become her second husband.

Like Lisa, James was divorced and had a son and daughter named Sean and Ophelia, who were the same ages as Chris and Polly. Also like Lisa, James had faced the frustration of a spouse who showed no interest in their kids, Sean and Ophelia's mother taking off for New Zealand with a new lover and making no attempt to contact either her son or daughter back in Canberra in the following years.

Setting up house together in a nice leafy inner suburb of Canberra, Lisa and James had a great marriage, far removed from their previous unhappy marriages. Lisa got along well with James's sister, her husband and kids and the rest of his family, and James liked Lisa's family who lived in Australia. Lisa loved Sean and Ophelia like they were her own children and they in turn loved her, while it was the same situation with Chris and Polly and their new step-father James. Sean got on well with step-sister Polly and Chris got on well with step-sister Ophelia, while Sean and Chris immediately became best friends. They were more like actual brothers than step-brothers and would often spend time together on the weekends, sometimes making the drive to Bateman's Bay so they could go surfing. Unlike all other state capitals around Australia - Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Darwin and Hobart - Canberra's location far inland meant a trip to the beach was not a short drive. Lisa's kids had always gotten along well as brother and sister, as had James's two kids. Even the dog and cat were the best of friends. There was only one problem in the otherwise harmonious house. Polly and Ophelia could not stand each other and nothing that anybody else did or said could seemingly fix or improve the situation.

Putting two 12-year-old girls in a house together and expecting them to suddenly be the sister each had never had or best friends forever was always going to be a prospect difficult to attain, but right from the start Polly and Ophelia did not see eye-to-eye on any issue big or small. That Polly and Ophelia were polar opposites did not help. Polly had always been a bit of a tomboy which contrasted to the girly-girl Ophelia.

Polly was into playing sports, and was an excellent cricketer and field hockey player. She also enjoyed watching football - soccer, rugby league and since her arrival Down Under, Australian Rules Football. She would watch the games on television, and her loud voice with plenty of interesting four letter words could be heard in all parts of the house and outside too when she got over-excited. In contrast Ophelia was into tennis, a sport in which she excelled.

Ophelia's main talent however was music, and the young girl received a special scholarship to allow her to study the violin at high levels, one of several instruments she could play. On weekends, Ophelia earned a fair amount of money as part of a string quartet with three other girls, who would play at weddings, society and political events.

Polly had no discernable musical talents, but her outgoing nature meant that she had no qualms about getting up on stage to sing karaoke, delivered in her loud voice with her strong Manchester accent. Big-mouthed Polly also liked heavy metal music, contrasting with quiet, softly spoken and only slightly Australian accented Ophelia, who had studied classical music.

All through adolescence Polly, who had a propensity to be messy and untidy, and neat-freak Ophelia either fought like cat and dog, or completely ignored each other in long displays of frosty passive aggressive behavior. As one example, when the girls were 15 the family made the long drive up to Sydney for a wedding, and despite sitting next to each other in the back of the car they did not exchange one word with each other on the way there, while in Sydney, or during the drive back to Canberra. When stopping for fuel in Goulburn Polly had wanted to take a picture of the giant ram statue to send to family back in the UK, but only did so when Ophelia moved out of the view of her camera and therefore was not in the picture.

Lisa and James had thought that the two girls as they matured in their later teenage years would get along better, but it was a hope to no avail. The girls got off to a bad start at the age of 12, disliked each other all through adolescence and now in 2009 at the age of 19, both Polly and Ophelia university students who worked part time, disliked each other as much as ever. This was even evident online. Both girls were ardent users of the My Space website, but Polly never posted anything about Ophelia, and Ophelia never posted anything about Polly. It was like each girl didn't exist to the other.

It was fortunate that Polly and Ophelia did not ever have to share a bedroom together, however they did share a bathroom and this was the most common cause of tension in the house. Polly would go to the toilet and use the last piece of toilet paper in the process, then exit the bathroom leaving an empty cardboard tube with no loo paper on the roll holder. Then Ophelia would need to go to the toilet, enter the lavatory and find to her great frustration no toilet paper, then have to go and get herself a new roll of toilet paper so she could use the loo.

Polly would frequently leave her wet towel, used clothes and sometimes even her bras or her knickers on the bathroom floor when she had a shower, something that Ophelia hated. The girls each had a side of the vanity for them to place their toiletries, and Ophelia would deliberately encroach her things into Polly's space to get on her nerves. Other times Ophelia would leave Polly sarcastic post-it notes pointing out her bathroom hygiene failings such as failing to close the lid of the toothpaste tube, which made Polly even more pissed off.

While Polly and Ophelia did not get along any day of the month, things always got worse when it was that time of the month, and living together the two teenagers' menstrual cycles had synchronized. The three guys dreaded it whenever they saw Ophelia and Polly buying sanitary pads because it meant two hormonal, cranky and crampy teenagers having their periods at the same time and getting on each other's nerves far worse than on normal days.

Lisa dreaded it more. Not only did she have to play peace-keeper between her tempestuous daughter and stepdaughter, in proof that women's menstrual cycles do synchronize her own time of the month coincided with that of Ophelia and Polly, so she had her own period problems to deal with it. Ophelia and Polly's wildly fluctuating estrogen levels would cause a massive argument between the girls, Lisa while feeling like crap herself would have to intervene as the three men were understandably too scared to do so, and inevitably one or both girls would break down in tears, accuse Lisa of favoring the other and storm to her room crying, slamming the door behind herself.

The frosty tension from period-related fights between the stepsisters would last for hours, and Lisa saw evidence of this at the wheelie bin one evening. Like all menstruating women, Lisa, Polly and Ophelia had to make the inevitable trip to the wheelie bin on the patio to dispose of the sanitary bags that contained their used pads. Lifting the lid of the bin, Lisa disposed of her bag, and held the bin lid open for Ophelia to do the same. Polly had emerged from the laundry door carrying her own sanitary bag, and Ophelia had held the lid of the bin open for her. But as soon as Polly went to dispose of the bag, Ophelia slammed the wheelie bin lid back down and walked inside.

The two teens had then exchanged loud insults over Ophelia's rudeness, Polly getting her own back by eating an orange, a banana and an apple and leaving the peel, skin and core on the living room table to drive clean-freak Ophelia mad. The inevitable fight erupted while Lisa, afflicted by period-related bowel problems was sitting on the toilet with her knickers around her ankles, and the long-suffering Lisa had to get some toilet paper to finish fast so she could get out there and sort the squabbling pair out.

Two days had now gone by since Lisa, Polly and Ophelia's uteruses had moved from the 'Drain' cycle and back to the normal cycle and they had finished their periods for the month, but the two teenage girls were still not getting along any better. It was now a Friday evening, the Canberra autumn weather now definitely cooling down from the hot summer but still nowhere near the freezing midwinter temperature's often seen in Australia's capital, and Lisa and James were heading out for a work function. Chris and Sean were away until Sunday, which left the two girls alone for the evening.

Tired of the incessant bickering, Lisa and James had taken their respective daughters aside to have words with them about getting along better and ceasing their squabbling and passive aggressive behavior. Lisa was talking with Polly, the pretty and petite 46-year-old with her shoulder length red hair looking quite different from her daughter. Polly at five foot nine stood more than eight inches taller than her mother, and her frame was more big-boned although Polly was not at all overweight aside from maybe carrying a pound or two too much on her bum. The two women's breasts were also markedly different despite being mother and daughter - Lisa's bust size just scraped in at a B-Cup, while 19-year-old Polly's massive mammary glands easily filled a D-cup bra, some of her ample young breasts spilling out of the fabric.

With a very pretty face, Polly had eyes the same color of blue as the skies over Canberra on a perfect day and a fair, flawless complexion. Her long blonde hair - which contrasted from the red hair of her mother and brother but matched that of her estranged biological father - was tied back in a pony-tail through the back of the pink peaked cap she wore, Polly's hat part of the uniform she wore at the fast food outlet where she was a part time employee. Polly had a tee-shirt the same color of pink as her hat, but this was covered up by a pink hooded jacket she wore with blue jeans and sneakers, a jacket necessary as the weather outside had turned rather drizzly and cool in the afternoon.

"Polly, just please promise me that you and Ophelia can make an effort to try and get along better?" Lisa pleaded. "You don't make it easy on anyone in this family squabbling like that."

Lisa's English accent, like that of her son, was softer and closer to a standard British accent than a true Manchester dialect. But as soon as Polly opened her mouth, her broad Mancunian accent filled the living room. "It's not me, it's her, she always gets on me tits."

"Polly, you know I don't like that expression," said Lisa sternly.

"Alright then, she annoys me," complained Polly. "Honestly like, I get me period and she's like pissing me off all the time, way more than usual."

Lisa sighed. "Ophelia also had her period last week, and you didn't exactly make it easy on her either, Polly, nor me. Anyway, we're all back to normal now so how about you and Ophelia try and be nice to each other this evening while we're out. Perhaps you could watch a DVD you both like?"

"Yeah, I wonder if anyone's ever made a movie about wicked stepsisters?" Polly asked sarcastically.

Lisa sighed, wondering if James was having any more success with his own teenage daughter.

The only way she could have known was if she had been out on the patio, where Ophelia and James were talking. Unlike Polly and Lisa who shared few looks in common, 47-year-old James and both his daughter and son shared dark hair, brown eyes and relatively tanned complexions, although while James and Sean were tall, Ophelia was much shorter at five foot three. This evening Ophelia's petite teenage body with B-cup breasts and a trim bum was attired in a black jumper, black leggings and black flat-heeled shoes on her feet.

James sighed. "Ophelia, I know Polly can be difficult at times. But maybe you should think about some of the things you do that you know she'll react to. Like leaving the post-it notes for her in the bathroom and the kitchen if she does something you don't like."

Ophelia raised her eyebrows. "So I should put up with Polly's bad hygiene? The way she leaves the cap off the toothpaste or throws her towel on the floor in the bathroom, and doesn't clear away and clean up her plates or dishes in the kitchen?"

"Maybe try not to let it get to you and giving Polly the satisfaction of getting a reaction from you?" her father suggested.

"That's not even the worst of it," Ophelia complained. "She leaves her dirty knickers on the floor in the bathroom or on the floor in her bedroom where everyone can see them. How would you like it if I went around the house leaving my knickers everywhere?"

James looked most uncomfortable and made the time out hand sign to his daughter. "Whoa Ophelia, I'm really not comfortable about you talking about your and Polly's knickers like that. Perhaps if you and Polly sat down with me and Lisa we could talk through some of the things that bother both of you about each other the most?"

Ophelia's eye-roll indicated that she did not think this a realistic possibility, and likewise Lisa had no success with Polly. The two girls exited the conferences with their parents both needing to go to the toilet, and entered the hallway close to where it was located. Ophelia was closer to the toilet, but Polly moved faster aided by her longer legs, running towards the lavatory and pushing her way inside in front of her stepsister, turning on the light and closing and locking the toilet door behind herself.

"Hey!" the dismayed Ophelia protested.

Inside the lavatory, Polly was unfastening her jeans. "Just use the toilet in Mum and James' bathroom Ophelia, because I need to have a shit and I'll be in here a while," she called, most pleased with the inconvenience and discomfort she was causing her stepsister.

Polly pulled down her jeans to show that she was wearing white cotton bikini style panties with blue leg and waist elastic and blue flowers on her knicker fabric. Then Polly pulled down her knickers to her ankles and sat her bare bottom down on the toilet to urinate, her legs wide apart to show that while she removed her pubic hair around her actual vagina, she left her pubic hair to grow on her mound and the crisp, light colored curls gave away the fact that she was a natural blonde.

Polly looked down at her knickers as she used the toilet, seeing her pussy stains on her panty saddle from her vagina self-cleansing during the day and thought about being alone with Ophelia for the evening.

The fuming Ophelia, who also needed to empty her bowels but unlike her stepsister would never use the vulgar expression that she 'needed to have a shit' walked fast towards the ensuite bathroom, but stopped short at the closed and locked door, the shower audible from behind it.

Lisa, needing a shower before going out with her husband for the evening was doing just this. She had taken off her blouse, her jeans and her white knickers with yellow flowers and jumped her naked body under the shower. At this stage, Lisa's long red hair was coated in shampoo and the curls of Lisa's red pubic hair full of soap and bubbles, so she had no idea of Ophelia's bathroom predicament. Relaxing under the warm water, droplets splashing off her bare breasts and bare bottom, Lisa got some soap and washed her vagina and her anus, the soapy water running down Lisa's legs to her bare feet and down the drain.

The frustrated Ophelia could only make her way back to the laundry toilet and wait with crossed legs and her butt cheeks pressed together for Polly to finish on the loo, hoping she wouldn't pee her panties or her full bladder wouldn't burst. And Polly, aware that Ophelia was waiting outside, was more than happy to take her own sweet time. Each time Polly got toilet paper, she slowly scrunched it up before using it, and each time Ophelia heard Polly unwinding loo paper she hoped her stepsister would finally finish.

Finally after 10 minutes Ophelia got her wish. Polly had finally finished and stood up, pulled up her knickers and her jeans, and flushed the toilet.

"The loo is all yours, Ophelia," said Polly with a smile as she unlocked and opened the toilet door and went to wash her hands.

Ophelia said nothing, just sighed, went into the toilet and closed and locked the door. At least there was plenty of toilet paper, but the roll had only been changed this morning so it was obvious there would be. During their periods, Polly and Ophelia not only had to deal with their heavy menstrual flows but also associated problems with their bowels, which resulted in both teenagers spending ages on the toilet and using heaps of toilet paper each visit. And with Polly and Ophelia always having their periods at the same time, the toilet paper supplies in the house just went and went courtesy of the girls in this week.

Pulling down first her leggings and then her knickers - like Polly Ophelia wore white cotton bikini panties with flowers but the floral print and leg and waist elastic on her panties were pink opposed to Polly's blue - Ophelia sat her shapely bare bottom down on the toilet seat, still warm courtesy of Polly having sat on it for so damn long.

Unlike Polly who always sat on the loo with her legs open Ophelia always sat with her knees primly together while she was on the toilet. However, as she was getting herself in position so she was comfortable on the toilet seat, her legs did come open, showing that like Polly Ophelia shaved her vagina but not her pubic mound, and luxurious brown pubes could be found all over Ophelia's feminine mound. Down around her ankles, the saddle of Ophelia's panties showed plenty of pussy stains on the saddle, much like the female stains Polly had made on her knickers.