Last Player Standing

Chapter Ten

It's Sunday.

The week has already ended, and a new one starts tomorrow.

I get out of the car and walk towards the church with my sisters, my parents and older brother trailing behind us. We're climbing the steps to wait for the late afternoon service that will end around 4pm. After the service I have 2 hours worth of cooking and cleaning to get to. I can never catch a break. I just had to be born a middle child, didn't I?

"Isla!" someone calls. My family's heads snap to the right at the sound of my mother's name. The West family is walking from the carpark towards us, looking as beautiful as ever.

Ms. West is tall and slender, and she walks with an energy I can't understand. She's always so positive and happy and you can see it even in her steps. Her white and yellow dress suits her personality perfectly, as she glides towards us waving her hand. Avery floats beside her in a strapless pink tulle dress that would have the boys in her class swooning. Her hair falls down her back in its natural curls, and she has on a simple necklace Aliyah and I bought her for her birthday. It was clear who Avery and Lucas took after, with their lean bodies, blonde locks and good looks. Avery had her mother's brown eyes, and I assumed that Lucas took his fathers eyes, but they both looked exactly like her. A family of angels indeed.

Well two angels and a raccoon.

No, Raccoons are cute.

Two angels and a blobfish.

Yes.

Perfect.

"You know he doesn't even look remotely as bad as a blobfish," a voice in my head whispers.

"Shut up. And find a way to pay your rent or I'll kick you out," I answer. So I'm hearing voices now. I might be hallucinating from lack of sleep. Sigh.

My family seems to unintentionally be following a light color scheme. My mother is in a long baby blue dress, and my dad's tie matches her dress. My sisters are in varying shades of pink and purple. Miles and I on the other hand are looking like the absolute opposite of light. He's in a black shirt with black pants, and I'm matching him with a black floral dress with long sleeves and a slit up one leg. My brother and father almost didn't let me out of the house. In my defense, the slit ends mid thigh, so it could have been worse.

Ms West swoops my parents into a conversation, and my elder siblings Miles and Janelle talk between themselves. Avery makes a beeline for Aliyah. They were the most popular best friends of their form, a bit like Ning and I, I suddenly thought, grinning. Aliyah is busy twirling Avery around and complimenting her dress, leaving Lucas and I to enjoy each other's company.

We're staring at each other, as our families engage one another, seeing who will crumble first and make conversation.

My bet is on him.

He always falls first.

I look over his outfit during our standoff. I know a handful of girls on my team who would pay to switch places with me, just to see him in a suit. He's in a crisp white shirt under a vest with pants and some black shoes. It's a simple outfit with a basic black and white color scheme, but with his height, broad shoulders and thin waist he looks like he stepped out of a Vogue catalog.

I hate it.

I want to mess up his carefully combed hair, maybe rip a few strands out too. I can feel myself smiling even just thinking about it. Lucas raises an eyebrow at my smile but I ignore him and continue plotting. I'll pour pink over his vest, and graffiti his shoes. And his tie.

His tie. I hone in on the skinny black tie that was loosely done and skewed to the left under his vest. My hands twitch.

"Cassie, please." My conscience begs. She already knows how this is going to go. I hate when things are out of place. I'm borderline OCD when it comes to wrinkled or out of place clothes. And if I look at Lucas's tie for a minute longer, I might cry. Genuinely.