Chapter 2

Chris' relationship with Mara had always been a complex one. No matter how hard he tried to convince himself that it would be better to simply consider her as his own little sister, he couldn't erase what attraction he felt toward his best friend's little sister. She was one year younger than them, but it's true what they say: girls mature quicker than boys.

He kept his distance when he could and played it off as the big brother kind of concern when he couldn't stay away from her. When her first boyfriend broke up with her and she came home crying to Chris and William playing video game. When she drank too much at a party and started getting touchy with strangers. Or when she was going out to a party and her dress was so short both he and William let out a sharp comment and told her to get changed – as if it was any of their business in the first place. The thing is, Chris' concern was justified most of the time, but the most significant difference between William's brotherly worry and Chris' unease upon seeing Mara dress like she was going on a man-hunt was the motivation behind it.

But lately, it was downright impossible for Chris to look in Mara's general direction without cringing. It was clearly not his place to intervene or even say anything about who she chose to hang out with, but he was seething. He had noticed the subtle changes in her overall appearance – how could he not – although Chris was pretty sure William was oblivious to that. He simply didn't look at her like a boy looks at a girl. Chris on the other hand...

Mara, Mara, Mara... what did she think about when she got dressed this morning? Clearly not her physics test, because these form fitting jeans and the shoulder-less sweater she was wearing weren't going to help her pass this subject. Did she think about Jakob? Whom she was currently laughing with at the other end of the corridor, her hand occasionally touching his arm – if that wasn't a good enough indicator that she was into him, what else was? Or maybe it was Stefan, who whistled at her when she walked by the other Penetrators this morning. She had shot him a smirk and walked away, not giving Chris the time of day.

"Hey," one of the guys nudged Chris when he didn't answer then waved a hand before his opened eyes. "Where you at, man?"

"Mmh?" Chris hummed before shaking his head. "Nothing, just thinking," he answered distractedly.

With that he shut his locker and turned away from Mara's seduction ritual. It really shouldn't bother him as much as it does that she doesn't wink at him on her way to her locker. It shouldn't bother him at all. They're friends. The very word tasted like iron on his tongue. When did it start carrying a negative connotation? He had always enjoyed hanging out with her, being her friend was his pleasure, really. Frankly she was one of the coolest persons he had met, and it didn't matter than she was William's little sister or that she was a girl, when they were kids, they constantly played together. When one of them was around, the other two weren't far behind. The years which passed have been accompanied by a growing distance between them, but never to the point where they'd lose touch. They just grew up. Mara sought out the company of other girls, Chris and William quickly become popular and soon both had a reputation to live by if they wanted to maintain their social status – that is, at the top of the food chain.

Mara was still a constant in Chris' life, but a less present one. She stood in the background of his life, and neither of them knew when her demotion from starring role to supporting character happened. This silent role didn't suit her. If he didn't know better, Chris would think she had finally grown tired of staying in the shadows when her place was in the spotlight, and now she was reclaiming her rightful position in their little group. Step by step, day after day, Mara wriggled her way into the Penetrators' closed circle. Chris knew her well enough to know that she didn't care if it meant crushing a few hearts – getting to the top had absolute precedence over everything else. Her little game of seduction carried on, and Jakob, Stefan and her new target Sven were all falling for it. Hard.

"Really?" Mara asked, laughing at something Sven had said.

Chris had heard her use that honeyed voice before. It was followed by a clear and purposely loud laughter that was anything but authentic. Obviously he was not that hilarious, and she must have run out of subjects to make small talk. A victorious smirk fought its way on Chris' lips but he repressed it. William was next to him, he was talking and Chris was supposed to listen. But his voice didn't reach him at all, like he was exclusively channelled to hear Mara's voice and nothing else.

"I would never have guessed!" She continued to giggle.

Sven's ego must have tripled in size since the beginning of their conversation. Mara kept on flattering him by rewarding his attempts at being funny by a roaring laughter. It had been going on for over a week now, and Chris was getting jaded. He had no clue what she was playing at, but any idiot – or maybe not any – could perceive the uncomfortableness in her voice when she flirted with those boys. She wasn't interested in them, but she still publicly hit on them in a very vehement manner.

"Are you coming Chris?" William asked, the sound of Chris' name bringing him back to earth.

He had no idea what had been said during the last ten minutes, but he nodded and threw his hood over his head, following William out of the front door. His hearing seemed to come back to him once Mara was out of eavesdrop. It was getting ridiculous.

"Where are we going?" Chris eventually asked when the other boys dispersed and only he and William remained. His friend frowned and slowed down his pace to look at Chris in a confused and concerned kind of way.

"What is up with you lately? You haven't heard a word of what I said before, huh?" He asked, earning a dismissive shrug from Chris. "There's a party tonight at some second year girl's place. We need to go pick up some beer before tonight, and I need you to pick up Mara."

"What?" Chris exclaimed then quickly tried to play it cool. "Why can't you drive her? It's your sister," he said in a casual what-a-chore tone.

"Since when does it bother you?" William asked, but he didn't wait for Chris to reply before he answered his question. "I'm going with Noora, I'd rather not have my little sister with me when I'm trying to seduce a girl."

There was exactly zero argument against that. William made a pretty valid point and Chris had no excuse to refuse, because yeah, since when did he say no to spending a little quality time with Mara? She easily ranked as his second best friend, right behind her brother, and he knew it.

"Alright, alright, I'll get Mara," Chris agreed since there was nothing else to do. "Pre game at my place?"

"Sure," William said, shrugging to show that he didn't care where the pre game happened. It was just tradition, you didn't show up at a party completely sober. "Man you look out to lunch all the time these days, are you sure everything's al right? You don't look particularly thrilled about tonight."

Did William really have to start noticing this kind of things now? There was a time when he was oblivious to everything that didn't concern him directly. Chris hated it back then but he wasn't completely sure that this was better.

"Peachy," Chris snapped, not even bothering to shoot a smile along with his lie. "It's just a party, we have one every week, it's not worth getting super excited for."

"You know you can tell me anything?" William asked, insisting that something was wrong with Chris.

Not anything, no, Chris thought. He couldn't tell his best friend that he had the hots for his little sister and certainly not that he was loosing his mind over how good she looked lately, and how he wanted to break the arms of all the boys she had seductively put her hands on these last two weeks. Chris couldn't confide in William about the impossibly strong pull he felt towards Mara, or about the fact that he had turned down several other girls because Mara was constantly on his mind. William would most likely think Chris was joking if he told him anyway – until he realised he was serious and then he would smash his skull on the pavement.

Well no, William wouldn't do that to Chris, though it would hurt significantly less than to lose William's friendship. Frankly, Chris was going to lose his wits over this dilemma.

"There's nothing to say," Chris assured his friend. This time William seemed to believe him and they picked up their pace again to arrive at the liquor store before it closed.