That's My Sister ➼ tas

Chapter 15

"So, are you sure you're okay to go to school tomorrow?"

It was now a Sunday evening and we were washing dishes. Taylor had released the information about Austin and I earlier today. My phone kinda blew up from messages from my friends, especially Amber. Even my Twitter gained a good 30k followers in just a few little hours.

Austin is seemingly chilled out, so my mom's question was directed at me. I mean, I'm sure I'd be fine to go to school in the morning, it's not like I'm the famous person. I just happen to be related to one.

"Yeah, mom, don't worry about it. Cameron and those guys will be there with me," I replied, giving her a smile for good measure. Mom suddenly began worrying about us and whether this was a good idea or not. Turns out there really would've been no other way, apparently old friends from back in America had already began making the connection.

"Okay, honey, as long as you're okay with it," mom replied, worry still evident in her voice, as she passed me a dish to be dried.

"It's gotta happen sometime," I said it return, placing the plates away in the cupboard. Mom lips seemed to thin out a little, but she didn't say anything else about it for the rest of the night.

-

I woke up to my alarm, but tapped it to snooze. Five minutes later it went off again and I groaned before rolling out of bed. Shuffling along the hallway, I hopped into the shower and began getting ready for school. Call me a little conceited, but I knew today would be different from all my other days at school, and because of that I felt like I needed to make an effort on my appearance. After showering and drying my hair, I tied half of it up, got changed and applied some makeup: powder, eyeliner and mascara. My outfit consisted of a white band t-shirt and light denim jacket, black skater skirt, skin coloured tights and black chelsea boots.

On the drive to school I began fidgeting, a nervous feeling suddenly flooding into my stomach. I had no idea what to expect, it's not like this commonly happens, nor would I know how to deal with it either. Mom gave us both an extra long hug before we left this morning, almost as though we wouldn't come home.

Before I could even contemplate jumping out the car window and sprinting home, Austin was pulling up into the school carpark. My breathing suddenly picked up, and my eyes widened. I whipped my head round to face Austin, but he gave me a half-hearted smile and rubbed his hand over my own.

"Don't worry Cait, it'll be okay. I'll be in school all day if you need me."

I gave him a shaky nod in return and composed my breathing before exiting the car. Austin came round the hood and walked in with me, but as soon as we reached the front doors, everything was as I feared it would be. You could hear the door squeak on its hinges as we entered the building as everyone was dead silent and staring our way. Girls huddled in groups stared wide eyed, some turning to each other and whispering.

"Did you hear? They're Taylor Swift's siblings."

"Dude, I totally told you they were related to the singer."

"D'you think we could meet Taylor through her sister?"

That last one threw me off - it was one of my biggest fears, that people would use me to get to my sister. Sister...that still sounded so weird. But, I guess I just had to get used to it.

I kept my head down as I walked through the hallway. No one approached me and so I spoke to no one. I reached my locker and people still continued to stare. It felt like day one all over again, only ten times worse. As I opened my locker, a familiar face came up to me and I felt myself relax.

"Hey, how you doing?" It was Cameron, and he stood a few feet taller than me, giving me a genuine smile. His placed his arm around my shoulder and pulled me in for a hug, which I really needed.

"I'm doing alright...it's so unreal, y'know?" I replied, although I knew he'd have no idea how it felt. He chuckled a little before letting me go. He offered to hold my folders for me and I kindly accepted.

It was only another ten minutes until the start of form, as so we took a seat outside my form room. No one had really stopped staring, I mean, they ranged from sideways glances to full on stares. I felt extremely uncomfortable, and Cameron seemed to notice.

"Hey," he spoke softly, placing a hand on my arm. "I know it's like, a really big deal, but it will blow over. I'll always be a step away from you."

I nodded, giving him a small smile. What would I do without him?

No one else came to see us before the bell rang, so I guess I'd have to speak to my friends at first break. Cameron gave me a long hug before making his way to his own form room, and so I stood up and walked towards form. Hopefully the demeanour of confidence and not noticing anyone's stares I was hoping to portray was paying off, but I wasn't too sure.

Just as I was about to enter the form room, someone grabbed my arm. I turned my head and came face to face with Poppy.

"Hey, Caitlyn, you never came to sit with us last week! You wanna come today?" She gave me one of her trademark sickly sweet smiles, and I couldn't tell whether her eyes were begging or forceful.

"Uh," I began, but one of the two friends that follow her around cut me off.

"C'mon, please? It'd be lovely to hear your side of this Taylor Swift story! I mean, wow, you're famous now!"

Poppy whipped her head to face the girl, giving her some look that made the girl shrink back and stare at the ground.

"Ignore her," Poppy muttered as she turned back to me. Her smile showed off her pearly white teeth. "You don't sit with anyone in form, so we really would like you to join us."

"I mean, I sit with Emily-" I was cut off again, only this time by the other girl.

"She's always so absorbed in those stupid books that I'm sure she won't even notice you gone!" Her smile was almost a replica of Poppy's, only the shade of white wasn't as bright.

I was too nice a person to say no, however uncomfortable I felt around these girls. "Okay," I replied with a smile.

"Great!" Poppy beamed before grabbing my arm again and dragging me into the form room. We continued to the back of the class and Poppy pointed to the chair next to her own for me to sit in. I sat down, placing my bag under the desk in front of me. I could see Emily sitting in the front row, her head buried in a book. I felt bad.

Soon enough other students flooded into the room, the boys talking loudly and slumping in their chairs. Many of them sat down around Poppy, who had her elbow on the desk and was leaning her chin in her palm, dazzling everyone with her smile.

"Hey guys, I invited Caitlyn to sit with us today, stop acting like pricks," Poppy addressed the boys, who quietened down and turned to look at me.

"Hey, you're the chick that's sisters with Taylor Swift! Yo, I'm Nick," a guy with shagged brown hair smiled at me. I gave him a small smile in return. A few of the other boys gave their names, and one winked at me. Um. A few of them asked me about what it was like being sisters with the famous Taylor Swift, but I'm sure my reply was less than they wanted: I didn't really know because it had only been two days.

Throughout form I felt that Aiden kid turning and looking at me a lot and it was weird because I was pretty sure he was dating Poppy. Some of the guys walked to maths with me, and although I could still feel everyone staring at me, I thought that maybe everything would turn out okay.