1. Brand new year – same old people

Mini Mackenzie was struggling to keep up with her sisters' fast walking as they were heading for school the first day after summer. She was practically running beside her, and in her mind she secretly envied her long Bambi legs.

"Would you slow down, Popeye!" she blurted out. "What's with the hurry anyways?"

Popeye turned her head to give Mini a look full of I-Know-Better-Than-You-Do, and slowly responded. "Incase you missed out, today's the first day of school. The time for meeting your friends and chatting about the way you spent your summer, who met the cutest guy, who has the nicest tan, you know. Important stuff, the kind you like."

"Oh yeah, can't wait," Mini muttered sarcastically. As a matter of fact, one of the reasons she didn't look forward to school was her friends. Back to the hallway of shallowness, she thought. They would be all over her like a leach, bragging about who spent their summer here and there doing God knows what, and she wasn't up for that at all right now. She actually never was.

"Besides," Popeye added with a little happy jump. "As from today, I can call myself a senior!"

Mini glanced at her all jealous again. Popeye was only a small step from graduation, which for her meant freedom. There was nothing Mini wanted as much as getting out of this town. She had not believed her ears when their oldest sister Hayden had decided to come back to Castle Rock after she spent three years away at Med School in Michigan. Her plan had always been living in a big town, so Mini had expected her to move to New York or something cool when she finished her studies. But her plans crashed as their father had had others. At the beginning of summer, not even three months ago, he ran off with his secretary. When Mini first heard the news, she thought it was a joke of some kind. It sounded just like the kind of thing that happens in the stories Popeye kept under her bed but kept on claiming she didn't read. His secretary, really?

But it wasn't a joke, Mr. Mackenzie ran off to London with his British girlfriend and left wife and daughters behind. It all happened so fast that no one really knew what to say or how to act, especially the Mackenzies' themselves. The whole damn town knew, but in lack of knowing what to say, they all kept quiet and pretended nothing had happened.

Mrs. Mackenzie practically had a breakdown. She spent the first month after the incident just lying in bed, watching soap operas and talking bad about Mr. Mackenzie with whoever happened to be around at the moment. After some time, she started getting out of bed in the morning. Slowly, she started to go back to her daily chores, with a bunch of help from her five daughters.

Thinking about her father made Mini confused. A part of her wanted to hate him for what he had done, but another part had already forgiven him reading all the letters and receiving all presents he had sent the girls since (At least the ones their mother hadn't found out about, those she herself sent back to him without a word).

"Hey, what's up with you? You look like you have all of the world's problems hanging from your shoulders," Popeye said, waking Mini out of her thoughts.

"What? No, I'm just not that eager on going back to school."

"Why? It's gonna be great! Okay, I'll admit the school itself not that great. Maybe I'm just all happy because I'm a senior!"

"Shut up, I don't wanna hear it anymore," Mini cried and tried to hit her on the arm, but her sister had managed to lure a little smile upon her face. "It just seems to useless. We go to school, we gossip with friends, we go home. Every day the same thing! It just never ends."

"Cheer up, will ya! You're spoiling my good mood. Come on, it's a brand new year."

Mini looked at her sister, with a dejected smile. "Yeah, but the same old people."

When they reached the school Mini prepared for a bunch of questions and chatter from people either kissing up or her friends demanding to know her every minute of the spent summer. She figured she'd just lie and say that she'd went to Europe and spent most of it there. She wondered what they would have to say of she told them she spent mostly of it at home, taking care of her wreck mother while she was still trying to accept what really had happened. She giggled at the thought of the looks on their faces when they slowly realized she actually had real feelings, but stopped when she realized it wasn't all that funny.

"Brace yourself," Popeye said as they entered the school entrance.

The first thing Mini heard was as expected a loud cry and before she knew it she had Suzie Cumber hanging from her arm looking up at her with pleading eyes. All of a sudden there was a big crowd in front of her, all speaking at the same time.

"Oh my God, Mini, you look so pale!"

"What did you do all summer?"

"I tried calling you! Oh my God!"

"What did you do? Where did you go? Seen any cute guys?"

Popeye was nowhere to be found. Mini figured she went away with some friends of hers. Seniors.

Well, love 'em or leave 'em, she though to herself and painted on a big smile.

"Oh you know, I spent my summer in Paris with my sisters…"