How To Be 15

1

"Mum, I swear I'm gonna burn that book."

"You come near this book and I'll slaughter your Xbox."

"As if you have an Xbox. Playstation all the way."

"You slaughter my Xbox and I'll slaughter the cat."

"What cat?"

"Jo's cat!"

"Jo has a cat?"

"Of course she has a sodding cat!"

"We've only had it 3 years Oscar, where have you been living?"

"At Emma's house, ha-hey."

"You can shut right up, Samuel."

"Did you just call me Samuel?"

"Yeah."

"Bastard."

"Watch your tongue, Samuel."

"I'd be watching your book if I was you."

"What?"

"Well it's raining, a cat just cruised into the lounge, and it's dirtying Othello in your Notable Shakespeare book."

"Bollocks!"

"Watch your tongue, Mother."

"Watch your Xbox, Boy-o!"

"Watch that cat!"

"It's Jo's bloody cat!"

"Where is Jo?"

"Who's Jo?"

"Your bloody sister!"

And so began another day in the Simmonds household.

It had started with Mum in the lounge, hollering quotes from her Notable Shakespeare book, and everyone else in the kitchen screaming at her to shutup.

The cat, Skip, had been rolling in the garden in the rain. Her love for lying down on paper had made her dirty bits and pieces of Othello, thereby dirtying bits of Mum's soul.

I had camped in my room for 20 minutes before braving the kitchen.

"Jo's here."

"Ayup Jo."

"Jo-lar!"

"Don't call me that, Oscar."

"Your name is so funny." Sam chuckled, pointing his spoon.

"Why?" Oscar frowned.

"Because the only person who wants you is Leonardo Dicaprio." He burst into laughter.

"I wouldn't mind being wanted by Leonardo Dicaprio." I mumbled.

"Am I picking Jackie up?" Oscar asked.

"You wish you were picking Jackie up. I think we all know which Brother she prefers." Sam teased.

"What? Jo, who does she prefer?"

"Actually, she said she'd turn for me once."

Sam dribbled milk all down his chin laughing, and Oscar gave me a flat look.

"Seriously, though."

"You think I'm joking! She did!" I laughed along.

"Yeah, I'll give her a lift." Oscar finalised, putting his bowl in the sink and grabbing his keys off the side.

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"You look nice today, Jackie."

"I know. Do we have any homework due in?"

Jackie was perfect, even when she wasn't. She wasn't wearing an ounce of makeup, her hair was practically unbrushed, and she managed to make our hideous school uniform look good.

She was petite, only about 5 foot 4 at most. We looked ridiculous together, with me standing at a good 5 foot 8 and a half.

"English and Chemistry. I take it you haven't done it?"

"Absolutely not, when do we have English?" She secured her seatbelt, and we were on the off.

"First. It was that Sheila essay."

"Balls, how much did you write?"

"Two sides of A4, you can do it in form."

"Mint, what about Chemistry?" She asked, excitedly digging in her bag. She produced her Chemistry book, and looked at the worksheet.

"Here, copy mine." I handed her my sheet, and she set about labelling the diagram of a lime kiln.

We made light chit chat until Oscar pulled up outside our school: Wicksham Community School. The name was completely off, we hated the community.

Me, Jackie, and Sam got out of the shoddy Ford Mondeo and Oscar drove off to 6th form.

"Are we going the lockers?" I asked, needing to drop off my physics folder.

"Yeah."

We weaved through the crowd of year 11s and scraggy 11 year olds. I opened my locker, which can't have been any bigger than 30cm every way, and jammed my folder in.

"Mate, have you seen Kelly?" Jackie asked.

"No, why?"

"Turn around."

"Christ on a bike!"

Kelly was one of the kids who were popular for all the wrong reasons. At the age of 14 she smoked, and did various other deeds unsuitable for someone that age.

Her usual orange complexion was nowhere to be seen, she instead looked sickly pale. Her eyes were squinty, and she was curled in on herself.

"What happened to her?"

"Apparently her Mum found out she smoked and confiscated all her fags, and she hasn't had one since last wednesday."

"Where the hell did you hear that?"

"Where do you think?"

"Paula." We both said at the same time.

Paula was the hub for all gossip. We were both close to her, but not as close as we were to each other.

"She looks almost human." I commented, turning back to face Kelly.

"Almost."

"Yeah, almost being the operative word. Take it in."

"What, her not being orange?"

"Yeah. Rare as a cat in horse shit, that is, Jack."

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A/N- short first chapter, and loads of dialogue. But you really get to know the Simmonds family and all the characters.
What do we all think?

Alexa Chung as Jackie.