Cassandra's Dead Sister's Bucket List ✔

-6-

·Katie·

Ulysses' emerald eyes glisten with the reflection of the screen of his phone. My bother sucks most of the time. Overprotection is his middle name, especially when mom and dad are working long shifts, or when they just travel for the weekend. Thankfully, he is graduating this year so he is gonna be gone next year to some posh university.

He is good at everything he does, and my parents always put him as the example of the family. But that's only because he has all these secrets I'm helping him keep from them, particularly the band he formed with Georgina's brother. Aside from that, he is a good person, so needless to say he will help Cassandra.

Jon breaks my trance clapping once when—apparently—a big idea hits his mind. "Let's just use one of those things girls wear in their hair. They do it in the movies all of the time. It can't be that hard." Jon turns towards the bathroom.

"A hairpin?" I ask, walking to my desk where I know I have a small box filled with those.

"What're you doing?" Cassandra quizzes Ulysses as I rummage around the contents of my drawer.

"Just watching some Youtube tutorials to open padlocks without keys," he explains to her.

"We don't have time for that!" she exclaims. "Let's just try to break it with a knife or a saw, maybe?"

"A saw? Really?" he asks, sarcastically. "We don't have many options, Cassandra. Unless you want to go have dinner while still wearing your coat."

She groans, her hands grabbing fistfuls of her hair. "Just open the damn thing."

I walk back to them holding no hairpin. Someone took them out from their place and I know it was Jon.

"I brought one of those hair things!" Jon beams, kneeling in front of the suitcase.

I glare at him with my arms crossed. "You took them from their place," I accuse.

"I needed them." He shrugs his left shoulder.

"You need a haircut, not a hairpin," I fire, my fingers toying with my necklace.

"Guys!" Cassandra barks. "Can we just focus on opening the damn suitcase?"

"Oh my God!" Realization hits me when I look down at the pendant of my necklace. "I have this." I show them the dangling key linked to the silver around my neck. "It's my journal's key, maybe it's like a universal key and it can open this thing as well." I beam, happy to have found a possible solution. I kneel next to Jon.

"Just let me first try with the hair thing." Jon nudges me away with his shoulder.

"Hairpin," I clarify. "And no." I nudge him away harder. "Let me first try with the key. I have a key you have a hairpin. I think padlocks are opened with keys, so make room."

"Just wait," Ulysses commands as he continues watching one of those dumb youtube tutorials.

Jon nears me, cupping his hands around my ear. "Come on, Kat. Let me impress Cassandra. I know I can open it," he whispers.

"Impress her?" I question loudly, my brows knit together.

He glares at me in response, making a hushing gesture with his index finger pressed to his lips.

"Are you serious, Jon? She is like five years older than you and teenhood hit her like a train," I hiss.

"Just let me try!" he insists.

Ulysses mumbles something about not putting something I don't know where.

I look up at him to try and get what he said, and then I hear the clicking noise of the hairpin finding its way into the padlock.