We're Not Related Anymore...

...The Mice Will Play

Jacob: Three Years Ago

For a while, Maddie stops treating me like she can't stand to be in the same room as me. She always greets me in the mornings, asks me how my day was and lets me in on her life. But somehow it's worse than before. I preferred it when she was stand-offish to me. At least that way I knew it was because she was thinking and feeling all the things I was. 

But all her sisterly crap is grating on me. Ever since that almost kiss in her bedroom, it's like whatever she wanted to get 'out of her system' is gone. Any attraction she had for me is nonexistent. 

But I'm more obsessed with her than ever. I can barely concentrate on anything when she's around. 

Right now, I'm in my AP Biology class, trying my best to take notes while the teacher drones on about things I've studied about a hundred times. 

Maddie's friend Tessa shares this class with me. She sits behind me and until Maddie became my stepsister, our interactions were nonexistent. 

But that's all changed now, like everything else in my life. 

I feel a slight pressure on my shoulder and I turn around to see Tessa holding a note out to me. I raise an eyebrow but take it before the teacher can see we're passing notes. 

You should come to my parent's lakehouse this weekend, she's written. I turn over the note, trying to see if she's written anything more but it's blank. Why does Tessa want me to go to her parent's lakehouse?

Before I can write no, I feel another tap on my shoulder and see she's presented me with another note. 

I snatch it from her, moving my books around my desk when the teacher suddenly looks in our direction. When he goes back to pointing at his board, I open the note. 

Maddie's coming. I asked her to ask you but she said I must do it myself, she's scribbled hurriedly. 

My pen pauses on her note. Maddie being there does change things... It would be nice to hang out with her somewhere that isn't the house. So I scribble a quick yes and toss the piece of paper onto Tessa's desk. 

She unfolds it and I see the smile that lights up her face when she reads my answer. I didn't know Tessa even knew who I was. But maybe that's just because I didn't know who she was. 

When the bell rings, I shove my things into my bag and find Tessa waiting by her table for me, wearing a shy smile. 

"I'm so glad you're coming," She tells me as we walk out into the busy hallway. There's a hum of chatter and the echoing sounds of lockers being slammed shut all around us. "Maddie said you would say no." 

"Oh?" I say. She wasn't wrong. At least, until I knew she was going. 

"Yeah, she says all you ever do is study and play soccer. She says nothing else matters to you," Tessa says, she starts twining the straps of her bags around her fingers and stops in the middle of the hallway. I guess it's because we have seperate classes now. "Anyway, I'll come by your house tomorrow and pick you and Maddie up at two," she says and then waves over her shoulder. 

"Ok," I say, shaking my head as I get to my next class. What the hell did I just agree to anyway?

-

I come home after my soccer practice feeling desperate for a shower. I have grass stains all up over my knees and shins and my hair feels damp from sweat. But before I run up to use the bathroom, I take a detour to the kitchen where I dump my tote bag on the tiles and open the fridge to grab a soda. When I turn around, opening up my can, I see Maddie leaning against the kitchen counter with her arms crossed. She looks pissed.