The moving van swung around the Square and parallel parked in front of number 13. Tyler and Jay, on their way to the garage, halted and watched a girl get out of the driver's seat wearing a checked shirt, Converse trainers and denim hotpants.
"Oh, wow." Jay said.
"Eyes back in your head squirt. You've got a girl – this one's mine." Tyler said, playfully shoving Jay's shoulder. Jay shoved him back.
"Oi!" The girl shouted, coming around to the passenger door and knocking on the window. "You getting out this van and helping me or what?" She waited while the other person replied. "Yeah, well, get used to it. You ain't mucking this time up for me." She stormed back to the back of the van and unlocked it and lifted it up. "Bailey!" She shouted down the side of the van.
"Coming!" The other girl shouted back. Jay shook his head and walked away but Tyler remained watching.
Bailey rolled her eyes. Ever since they got kicked out of their flat in Kensington – not completely Bailey's fault, but when does her little sister listen? – Jamie had been even more on her case lately. She opened the door and nearly took the very nice face off a lad who had been walking down the street.
"Oh my – I'm sorry!" Bailey said.
"It's no problem." The boy said looking at her. Bailey blushed. "I'm Antony. Antony Moon."
"Bailey Bennet." She said as she climbed out of the van, her legs encased in red and black striped tights. Antony got a better look at her once she was out of the car – she was wearing a black denim mini-skirt, black Doc Martens and a baggy dark grey Paramore concert t-shirt. She was pretty with pale skin and reddish brown shoulder length hair. But the one thing he noticed was her piercing blue eyes. Antony realised she was holding out her hand and he shook it.
"So, you're the newbie to the Square." Antony said as they walked to the back of the van.
"Yeah, me and my sister." Bailey replied – surprised at how she was managing to string together sentences.
"You have a sister?" Antony asked.
"Yeah." Bailey said as they turned the corner at the back of the van. "Jamie!"
Jamie put down the box in her hands and jumped down off the back of the van. She picked up the box. "Hiya. I am your sister." She said. "Who's this?" She asked, gesturing to Antony with the box in her hands.
"This is Antony Moon." Bailey said. "I nearly decapitated him with the van door."
"Oh, come on, BB, you know this van is hired!" Jamie said, shifting her weight to her left foot. "Now is your little boyfriend going to help us or is he leaving?"
"Jamie!" Bailey squealed.
"Actually it's alright, I have to get to work." Antony said.
"What do you do?" Jamie asked.
"I work in a junk shop and I am really late." Antony kissed Bailey on the cheek, blushed at what he did and ran off.
Jamie raised her eyebrows as her sister coloured and watched Antony run away. "Oh put your tongue away!" She laughed and nudged Bailey gently on her way past.
"Nicely played." Tyler said as Antony appeared beside him.
"Shut up." Antony bent over and panted for breath. "You don't think the kiss was too much?"
"Nope. It was the finishing touch. What's her sister like?"
Antony looked up at his little brother. Panic flashed across his face. "No, Tyler. No way!"
"What, is she mean?"
"She's feisty. She actually reminded me a lot of you." Antony grinned. "Feisty and would walk over hot coals for her older sister." Antony nudged his brother. "Come on. Work."
"No, wait." Tyler said, pulling his brother back. "Look."
Antony looked in the direction that Tyler was looking – back at the Bennet sisters. Jamie reappeared from the house and ran down the steps and vaulted over the gate. Bailey laughed and Jamie lightly pushed her sister's shoulder as she jumped into the moving van and grabbed the next box. She handed it to her sister and back flipped off the lip of the van. Tyler and Antony opened their mouths in shock. Jamie curtsied before taking the box from her sister and running back up into the house.
"She is definitely like you." Antony said as he pulled his gormless brother away.
"That's everything." Jamie exhaled as the mattress thudded onto the floor. "Right I am going to take the van back to the company. You've got your interview at the Queen Vic. I'll see you in there when I get back." She looked at her sister. Bailey gave her a watery smile. "Come on BB, it's going to be alright this time. Trust me." She gave her sister a half-smile. "Dad will never think to find us here."
"Alright. I'd better get ready for my interview. I'll see you in a bit."
"Yeah. Love you."
"Love you too." They hugged before Jamie grabbed the keys and ran out to the van. Bailey watched her little sister get in the van and put her seatbelt on and check everything before carefully pulling out and driving off. She worried about Jamie a lot, ever since she was five and Jamie was four. The girls had been arguing over the Barbie dolls and their Dad had come in. Bailey shook her head, trying to erase the memory but everything was beginning to flood back. She turned away and ran upstairs to the bathroom. She rinsed her face and gradually began to regain focus as she started to get ready for her interview at the Queen Vic.
"Oh my God Tyler, will you shut up?" Antony said, rolling his eyes. Tyler had spent the best part of the last hour and a half deconstructing Jamie Bennet.
"I know, but her legs!" Tyler said.
"That's it! That is it! You need a drink. Come on." Antony pulled his brother up by his collar and they left the shop together.
Jamie walked into the pub and grinned widely when she saw her sister behind the bar.
"I knew you'd get the job! You're just too good for them to not give it to you." She said as she hugged Bailey over the bar.
"One Diet Coke coming up." Bailey grinned as her sister slid onto a bar stool. "I think it was my Guinness."
"You've always had a knack for that. I'm impressed." Jamie smiled and nodded as she received the drink. "Thanks." She paid her sister and took a sip.
"Look, there's Jamie." Antony said as the brothers sat down at a table. Tyler looked over at the bar where he instantly recognised the honey brown hair that was pulled back in a ponytail. "That's her sister Bailey behind the bar. Isn't she fit?"
"You mean a TOTAL SLAPPER!" Tyler said loudly and the whole pub went silent. The two sisters looked over and Jamie stood up.
"What did you call me?" Bailey asked.
"Bailey, don't." Jamie begged, looking at her sister.
"I called you a total slapper." Tyler said as he walked over to the two girls.
"Right," Bailey said and Jamie grabbed her shoulders.
"Bailey, don't. He's an idiot, don't listen to him. It's nothing to what we've been called before."
Bailey nodded.
"Yeah, I'm sure her customers call her something different." Tyler said and Jamie wheeled around and punched Tyler straight in the face, knocking him straight down.
"What the hell are you playing at?" Antony cried at the exact same time Bailey cried out, "Jamie!"
But Jamie ignored both of them, kneeling down in front of Tyler.
"Are you okay?" She asked, gently taking Tyler's face in her hands.
"You aren't going to hit me again, are you?" He asked. Jamie smiled as she shook her head.
"No. Come on, I'll help clean you up." Jamie said and she helped Tyler up and they walked over to the toilets.
"I'm sure I can clean up my own bleeding nose." Tyler said, wincing away from the wet tissue. Jamie cocked her head to one side. "Fine." He said and Jamie proceeded.
"I'm sorry for hitting you." Jamie said. "Sometimes I just react before I think." She smiled slightly. "I guess I take after my Dad in that way. The rest of me is my mum."
"Where are your parents?" Tyler asked. Jamie looked at her feet. "I'm sorry. I was just curious because you're here with your sister alone."
"It's alright. It seems that people around here like to gossip so I might as well talk about it." Jamie said, picking up on cleaning up Tyler's face again. "My Mum's dead and I don't know where my Dad is."
"I'm sorry." Tyler said before quickly adding, "About your Mum, I mean."
"Yeah, well, I'm over it." Jamie shrugged, "I don't think Bailey is though. She's got a past you know. Be careful what you say to her."
"Or you'll give me a black eye to match my bleeding nose?" Tyler said, grinning cockily. Jamie snorted and began to laugh. Tyler smiled and laughed as well. Jamie leant the top of her head on his chest before pushing off and giving his nose another wipe.
"I think that's you done." She smiled and put the tissue in the bin and washed her hands.
"Hey, Jamie." Tyler asked, wondering why he felt so nervous.
"Yeah?"
"Will you be my best friend?" Tyler asked shyly and Jamie turned to him with a smile on her face.
"Tyler Moon, I thought you'd never ask!"