That's My Sister ➼ tas

Chapter 4

"We're home!"

Austin opened the front door, alerting our mother that we'd survived our first day at school. I followed behind him, kicking my shoes off and dumping my backpack at the bottom of the stairs. Seconds later, mom came round the corner from the kitchen, a smile present on her face.

"Hi, darlings!" She beamed at us. "So, how was it?"

We followed her into the kitchen, where I took a seat on one of the kitchen stools, as Austin began giving a detailed description of his day, from his amazing chemistry lesson to being invited by some guys to try out for the soccer - I mean football - team.

"And you, sweetie?" Mom faced me, expectantly.

"Oh, me? It was good, y'know, made one friend..." I mumbled.

I mean, school wasn't bad at all - don't get me wrong. But, Emily hardly ever spoke to me today, she was always so absorbed in her novel. And that Josh kid continued to mock my accent during lessons - four out of five that I share with him so far. Plus, that girl, Poppy? After one day at school I'd come to realise that she was your stereotypical-rich-and-perfect popular girl, where all the guys wanted to date her and all the girls looked up to her. Somehow, she managed to make the uniform look fashionable without even breaking any dress code rules. I thought I'd escaped these type of people when I left America.

"Ooh, friends on the first day!" Mom clapped her hands together in excitement. "I'm proud of my two little ones!"

"Two little ones who are graduating in the next four years," Austin reminded her, removing an apple from the fruit bowl and turning to go upstairs.

"So," Mom began. "What's your friend's name? What are they like?"

"Oh, her name is Emily, I mean, I'm only really 'friends'," I raised my hands to make air quotations. "Because the only available seat was next to her and we shared some classes. I guess it was nice to sit with someone at lunch though. I noticed Austin seemed to get on pretty well with a group of guys."

"Well, I think it's been a successful first day for both of you." She turned to the cupboards and began taking various ingredients out. "Is pasta okay for tonight?"

-

My first week continued more or less the same as my first day - I spoke to a few more people, mainly people who wanted to know what America was nice. Poppy questioned me in form one time about whether I'd been to all the built up places of America, such as New York or Los Angeles, like she had. I had to admit that I'd never actually left Florida, which made me feel a little embarrassed - some English girl had been to more places in the US than the girl actually from the US.

I couldn't help but notice that Emily went through a different book every two days - which she never put down, even when we were eating lunch together. One time at lunch I noticed a few people staring at us - although I mean no disrespect, I'd come to learn that Emily was the quiet girl that no one ever spoke to, and so they were probably all assuming that I'd become the same.

I did make a few more friends, however. During gym class - physical education? PE? - the girls were forced to play volleyball whilst the boys played basketball. And during that game, the only time I managed to hit the ball was when I sent it flying off the court completely, hitting one of the boys mid-game. After the lesson I bumped into this guy, where I apologised for my clumsiness.

"Hey, don't worry about it, 'merica," he'd winked. "Nice accent, by the way. I'm Cameron." He'd extended his arm to me, which I shook with a laugh.

On Wednesday Emily went home ill before the lunch period, and I was absolutely dreading having to sit by myself. Luckily, Cameron caught me walking into the cafeteria and asked me if I'd like to sit with him and his friends. That was where I'd met Jennifer (aspiring fashion designer), Amber (incredible artist), Blake (biggest science geek ever) and Kieran (the best photography student in the school). I'd gotten on pretty  well with them, and they'd even invited me to the beach this weekend - I invited Emily out of politeness, but she said she was too busy visiting her grandmother. I didn't know if I felt relieved or not, because I was beginning to feel comfortable about making friends, and although I felt rude leaving Emily when she'd helped me out at the start of the week, I knew she'd never want to sit with anyone else.

"Hey," I spoke into my phone, riding shotgun whilst Austin drove me towards the beach. "I'll be there in 10."

I hung up my phone call with Cameron, grinning slightly that I was already making friends after only one week. I'd chosen to wear my aqua blue bikini, a flowing navy blue beach dress on top and my flip flops on my feet. The sun was shining in the sky and it was baking hot. I lowed my sunglasses over my eyes and tied my blonde hair into a ponytail.

Austin pulled up in the beach carpark, where I thanked him and got out, running over to the group that were already there.

"Hey!" Cameron yelled. "You made it!"

"I told you I would, did I not?" I laughed, letting him hug me. I greeted the others and together we made our way onto the beach. We laid towels down and sat down, applying sun lotion. I removed my beach dress in order to try get a small tan.

"Who wants to go swimming then?" Blake questioned, a cheeky grin appearing on his face.

Before I could say anything, Cameron was grabbing my wrists and Blake had my ankles. I screeched as my body left the floor, wriggling around in attempt to escape their grasps.

"No! No!" I yelled out, although I couldn't stop the small laughter that escaped with it. "Put me down!"

The girls were giggling next to them as the boys ran down to the shoreline, still holding onto me. I noticed to the side that Kieran was howling with laughter, a video camera in his hands. Water splashed around the boys' ankles and soon began lapping against my back.

"Guys, seriously!" I screamed. "I'll never speak to you again!"

"Well," Cameron breathed, as him and Blake began swinging me back and forth. "We know that's not true, so, don't forget to hold your breath."

Suddenly the grips on my joints disappeared and I was wrapped in cold water. I surfaced seconds later, spluttering slightly, taking in the laughing teenagers around me.

"You guys are next," I warned, and suddenly sprinted towards the boys, water splashing around me. I made a bold move and jumped onto Cameron's back, as he laughed and began twisting in circles. With my toes dipped in the sea below me, I used that as an opportunity to kick water up at Blake. Soon enough, every was jumping on each other and pushing each other underwater.

I laughed as I turned to look at Kieran, who was still standing on the shoreline, camera in hand, recording this moment. I screamed as Cameron's arms wrapped around my waist, as he picked me up and threw me into the water.

Maybe there was nothing to worry about with moving here. Maybe I would live a normal teenage life with my new friends.