I'm spending way too much time on my hair, and Cadence, who's smirking beside me, knows it.
"Theo's going to freak out if that one strand of hair isn't perfectly straight," she says, tilting her head with mock concern. "And you should probably wear the sexiest dress you own, too. Gotta make an impression, right?"
I roll my eyes and toss the hairbrush onto the counter. "Shut up, you little rat," I say, even though I can't keep the grin off my face. "And stop saying stuff like that. You're, what, ten? You shouldn't even know what that means."
Cadence shrugs, looking way too pleased with herself. "What can I say? Big sis is in loooove," she singsongs, skipping out of my room like the embodiment of chaos.
I sigh and lean against the dresser for a second, staring at my reflection. After a night of awkward, stammered explanations, debates, and a few interrogations, Mom and Dad finally caved. Theo and I are... dating. It still feels weird to say. Exciting, yeah, but weird.
Before I can overthink it too much, Cadence's voice carries from the kitchen. "Mom! Dad! Kiara said a bad word!"
"Oh, for the love of—" I groan, grabbing my bag and heading downstairs before she completely sells me out.
The kitchen is a picture of controlled chaos. Dad's flipping pancakes, Mom's trying to put scrambled eggs in front of Cadence, and Cadence is doing her best to dramatically avoid the forkful of scrambled eggs being shoved to her.
"You're just in time," Mom says, waving a spatula at me. "Pancakes are ready."
"Pancakes are a bribe!" Cadence yells, dodging the plate of eggs by diving under the table. "She's trying to distract me from reporting the truth."
"Cadence," I say, grabbing a piece of toast from the counter, "if you keep this up, I'm going to tell Theo you might have a teensy crush on him."
Her face turns beet red. "You wouldn't dare."
"Oh, I would."
Even though it isn't implied, it's blatantly obvious that Cadence has a massive crush on Theo. Anytime I talk about him, her face makes a stop sign jealous. I don't care though. It's hilarious.
Dad shakes his head, but there's a smile tugging at his lips. "Every morning with you two is like a comedy show."
"It's her fault," Cadence says, pointing at me like she's presenting Exhibit A in court.
"You're impossible." I laugh and glance at the clock. "Speaking of impossible, Theo's going to be here in five minutes, and I am not dealing with him most likely honking the horn like a lunatic."
Mom raises an eyebrow but doesn't say anything, and I can almost catch the ghost of her mouth drooping downward. Ever since the conversation yesterday, I could feel the tension between us, even though she was easily on board about Theo and I.
By the time I hear the rumble of Theo's car outside, I've already grabbed my bag and halfway to the door.
"Don't forget your lunch money!" Mom calls after me.
I quickly dart back inside and hastily grab the crumpled bills on the counter I placed an hour ago. "Bye, Mom, bye Dad!"
Jolting out the door, I nearly trip over my feet before I hear Cadence's voice.
"And don't forget to tell Theo about how much you love him!" She shouts.
"I hate you!" I yell back, my voice full of affection as I dart outside.
