This story starts off a little bit boring and slow but I have a good plot planned so bear with, bear with. Ladies and gentleman I present to you my first chapter!!!!!!!!!:D
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'A house is made of bricks and beams; a home is made of hopes and dreams.'
That's what Mum always used to say. She told me that she'd hand over all our fancy gadgets and designer clothes if anyone threatened to ruin our family's happiness. The thought seemed preposterous when she said it. Who on earth would be stupid enough to try and mess with our family? It turns out the question wasn't who would be stupid enough but actually what would be stupid enough and I found out the answer on the week of May the 2nd, 2011.
It was just a typical Monday morning for our family, I know it sounds cliche but it genuinely was. Jack, Katie and I were packing our bags for school, little Anna was wailing for attention in her cot and Dad was downstairs reading the paper with a bowl of soggy wheetabix at his side. It was weird how insanely normal our family was prior to that awful afternoon. My dad was a financial adviser for the elderly despite aspiring to be a football player when he was younger. Mum volunteered at an orphanage and was always full of amazing stories about the kids she worked with. Jack was eighteen and our school's Rugby captain as well as Head Boy. Katie was thirteen and received straight A grades. Baby Anna was only 14 months old and possibly the cutest little girl to ever walk the planet. And I, well I was the middle kid. I was just, there.
I couldn't help notice Mum's anxious expression that morning as she kissed us goodbye. She was normally so bubbly and energetic no matter how early in the morning it was but that day she seemed weirdly on edge, as if she was keeping something from us. Spotting this, I gave her an extra long hug as I left and she returned it with a soft smile. After this, the three of us (Jack, Katie and I) climbed into Jack's relatively new car. Unsurprisingly, I was left in the back on my own.
"Good luck on your exam today Jack," I tapped him on the shoulder as he pulled out of the drive.
"Thanks Em," he replied, keeping his gaze locked on the road at all times.
Ever since Jack passed his test he had been driving absolutley everywhere and yet he was the most paranoid driver I think I'd ever seen. If he was going 31 mph in a 30mph zone then he would turn around and go back to check there were no speed cameras. Dad had agreed to pay for his car and insurance if he promised to not get involved in drugs or smoking and keep up the good grades. Despite being best friends with some of the most rebellious guys in school, Jack had kept his word leaving Dad with no choice to pay up and buy him the convertible Mercedes he'd always wanted. Cool right? Yes well it would have been, if he hadn't had it spray painted neon orange.
"It makes it indivual!" he had argued when I gave him my honest opinion.
"Well I hate to tell you this Jack but I'm afraid some, nay, most people will mistake your 'individuality' for 'bad taste'."
I can still picture the dirty look he gave me to the very last detail. It was priceless.
Once we finally arrived at the gloomy building that was our school and Jack had spent the usual fifteen minutes searching for the perfect parking spot, I took a deep breath before stepping out of the car and towards my sentence of seven hours of boredom. The usual smell of felonious cigarretes and body spray wafted up my nose causing it to wrinkle in disgust. My school wasn't a rough and violent school like some of the ones in Central London nor a fancy, elite school in Oxford or Cambridge. It was just a normal and typical English comprehensive.
A quick walk down the school drive lead me to the school field where a few of my close friends were sprawled out making daisy chains like we did when we were younger. Maddie, who was sitting on Kyle's lap, was the first to notice me.
