Hey! I think I'm back! ;) I'll be painting again today but the room is almost finished- I'm hoping to just keep writing until I need to paint.

Enjoy!


Josh hissed under his breath, poking at yellowing bruise on his rips. He looked at the mirror and frowned, covering his torso with his green shirt. He ran a hand through his dirty-blonde hair and swept his fringe across his forehead. He pushed the bathroom door open and jogged down the stairs, swinging his bag over his shoulder. Before he made it to the front door, he stopped at the sound of his father's voice.

"Josh,"

Sighing inaudibly, he turned around.

"I'm not going to beat around the bush," Jerome informed him, slipping his hands into the front pockets of his pants. "Where'd you get the bruise?"

Josh kept his face straight and shrugged a shoulder, though he instantly regretted it when pain shot through his side, but he didn't show that it hurt. "I got smacked in the side by a football at school. It was an accident."

"Josh…"

"Dad, I'm going to be late. I'll see you later." He mumbled, rushing out the front door.


Leo scratched the back of his neck. "So you think that Mara somehow tricked your aunt into liking her?"

"It's the only logical explanation." Josh said.

"Dude, even I know that's not logical. Maybe Mara's a really nice person and you just don't want to accept her yet. It's not a bad thing. You can take your time. Just get to know her."

"I told you that I don't want to know her—" his growl was cut off when he ran into someone. He took a step back and looked down at his twin with an audible gulp.

Louisa stared at him for a moment as the awkward silence hung in the air. Leo, Fiona and Danni watched them cautiously. And then Josh broke their eye contact, submitting to her stare, and she brushed past him without a word. Danni sent him a glare that was barely laced with concern as she past him and Fiona smiled quickly.

"You haven't apologized yet?" Leo asked.

"She's been avoiding me."

"Can you tell me why you're avoiding her?"

Josh sighed tiredly.

"I mean, I know you have trouble with saying sorry, but there's more to it, isn't there?"

"You won't be the first person I tell, mate." Josh mumbled, scratching his neck. "Sorry, I forgot that I can't talk to friends. I'll see you later."

Leo watched after him worriedly.


Alice bit her lip and eyed Nick from her seat. He was two seats to the right, jotting down notes as the teacher listed them. And then he looked up and met her eyes. He smirked and winked at her in a way that she suddenly found obnoxious. He looked back down at his notebook and Alice directed her attention around the room. Michael was three seats behind Nick. He was glaring at the back of her boyfriend's head. Alice didn't blame him.

When the bell rang, the class suddenly sprung to life and the students hurried out of the room. As Alice was packing up her bag, Michael stopped by her.

"I've got tutoring again. Can you get home alright?"

"Actually, I think Nick was going to take me to get ice cream." She replied, strapping her bag across her upper body.

"Well, be careful. Dad hasn't met him. I haven't met him…"

"So you can't trust him."

"Not just yet," he chuckled, giving a strand of her hair a tug. "See you later Goldilocks."

"Mickey Mouse," she smirked teasingly as he left the room.

"Shut up," he called.

Nick arched an eyebrow, watching Michael leave the room. "Who was that?"

"He's my brother." She shrugged.

"I thought your brother was like, ten or something." He mumbled, taking her hand and pulling her out of the room.

"Seven and thirteen," Alice corrected. "I've got three brothers and two sisters."

"Yeah, okay, so you decided to take me up on my ice cream offer?" he smirked, swinging an arm over her shoulders as he pushed the school door open and walked out into the afternoon sun.

"Um, yeah, I guess so."

"Alright, let's go. And then we can head over to my place and watch a movie or something."

"Okay—"

"Crap, I forgot my phone in my locker," he realized, patting his pockets. "I'll meet you there." He pecked her lips. "Love you."

Alice watched him run off with wide eyes. "Bye…"


Michael huffed in annoyance and pushed his hair out of his eyes again. It had been bugging him all day. He had run out of hair gel and he had only realized it after he took his shower after PE. So his hair had dried and it flopped in a way he wasn't used to. He planted his elbow on the table and rested his forehead on the palm of his hand while his fingers held his bangs out of his eyes.

He dropped his hand to hold the corner of the notebook as he erased something he wrote, and then swept his bangs away from his eyes again. They flopped back down and before he could react, Emily had stood up while dripping some water out of a bottle into her hand. She reached across the table and ran her fingers through his hair, effectively slicking his hair back with the water.

He looked up at her, shocked. And then he masked his expression, replacing it with a questioning gaze as she avoided his eyes and picked up her shark book.

"Your fidgeting was making me nervous," was her explanation, and they fell silent once again.


"If you could go anywhere, in the whole world, where would you go?" Lynn asked, sitting cross legged at the top of the slide.

Matty sat across from her with his legs pulled up to his chest. "Um, Australia,"

"Why?"

"B-because I like k-kangar-roos,"

Lynn laughed. "Oh my god, me too," she reached into her purse and pulled out a small booklet. She scooted over to him and flipped the booklet open. "My mummy got me this book. It's got pictures of animals."

"Cool," Matty grinned, staring at the kangaroo.

"And then on the back, there's a fact about the animal." She turned it over and showed it to Matty. "You read it. I can't read very well yet."

Matty felt his cheeks burn a little but nodded, taking the booklet from her. "K-kangar-roos are the only large a-animals that m-move by hop-ping."

"Now read one about parrots." Lynn grinned, bouncing on her knees excitedly.


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"I could make you happy, make your dreams come true. Nothing that I wouldn't do. Go to the ends of the earth for you. To make you feel my love..." -Make You Feel My Love, Adele

-Rachel