That's My Sister ➼ tas

Chapter 17

As Austin and I were leaving school on Monday, we came face to face with my worst nightmare: reporters. There were close to thirty of them, and I didn't know what to do.

Suddenly, Austin slung his arm around my shoulders as we walked out the front doors and towards the carpark. They followed us and began crowding around us, shouting questions and snapping photos. I kept my head down, and carried on walking. Taylor had said to ignore them for now, and that's what we did.

We reached Austin's car and I didn't hesitate the open the door and dive inside. I slammed the door and watched as a few of them continued to take photos of us. Closer to the front of the school I saw a few reporters talking to some students, no doubt about what they knew about me.

Jokes of them, though, I'm still the new girl here. However, I did notice Poppy speaking to one of them, smiling and laughing at what they were saying whilst twirling her dark hair around her index finger. Out the corner of my eye I noticed Cameron getting into his mom's car. He gave me a wave and I smiled back, before Austin started the car and we drove away.

The drive home was silent for a few minutes until Austin spoke up. "So, how was you day?" He asked.

"It was alright, so many girls were smiling and being nice, but almost everyone was staring. It felt unreal. Cam and that lot were totally chill though." I laughed to myself at the thought of Amber definitely not acting chill. "What about yours?"

"Yeah, it was cool," he shrugged nonchalantly. "The guys didn't really care so much, but I actually got a couple of party invites."

"Cool," I replied, staring out the window.

When we arrived home, mom was standing in the hallway, basically giving away that she was waiting for us to arrive home. As we walked through the door, her arms flew around our necks and she pulled us into her.

"You guys, I got a text from the school saying the reporters had turned up and, oh my gosh, you're okay!"

I couldn't help but chuckle, although I was finding it kind of hard to breathe with my face squashed into my mother's neck. "Mom," I pulled away from her embrace. "We're fine, don't worry."

After mom had quizzed us both about our day, I began to feel tired. I'd experienced too many eyes on me, too many questions directed my way, and it had been exhausting. I said goodnight and ran upstairs, snuggling into bed as my clock read 9:03pm. I checked my Twitter (which had increased to about 130k followers now) and my Instagram (Taylor doesn't even follow me on this, so I had no idea how I'd gained 50k). I clicked my phone off and sighed. There really was no turning back now.

-

"Hey, Cait! Come sit with us!" I'd had just walked into form on the Friday morning, and Poppy was inviting me over. She'd done this already for the past few days, and I was beginning to think she wasn't that bad.

This whispering and the pointing had reduced, no one stared for longer than ten seconds anymore and I felt less like they were all laughing at me. But then, I guess walking with Poppy would make them stare anyway, so at least I can pretend that they're staring at her and not me.

I glanced towards Emily, who was sitting on the front row. She wasn't looking my way, but I knew she'd notice I'd been sitting at the back. I began to walk over to her, but Poppy called me again. I turned to the back of the classroom and sat down in the seat next to her.

"So, how's your sister?" Aiden turned to me.

"Uh, she's alright, she's in California right now with producers." There was no denying it: Aiden was hot. And that made me a little flustered when he spoke to me.

"That is so cool!" Kimberly, one of Poppy's friends, gushed next to me. "I wish my sister was famous."

"Oh, you lot, stop it!" Poppy rolled her eyes. "Do you really think Cait wants you to only speak to her about her sister? Treat her properly."

Kimberly looked down and Aiden turned back to speak to the guys. Poppy gave me a wide smile before speaking again. "So, we're having a party tomorrow night at Nick's, wanna come?"

I'd never been invited to a party before - and I more or less had an idea of what it would be like. I mean, there was no denying that Poppy and her group were extremely popular, and the popular parties always consist of the same thing: no parents, tons of alcohol, teenagers making out and trashed houses. It wasn't really my scene.

"Uh, I'm not sure..." I trailed off. Those type of parties made me nervous.

"Awh, come on!" Poppy pleaded, grabbing my arm. "Please? It'll be so much fun!"

It was a nice offer and she didn't have to ask, but I didn't want to seem like a loser that couldn't go to such parties. Before I could second guess it, I'd accepted the invite.

"Great! I'll text you the details and you can get ready at mine!" Poppy smiled before turning back to speak to the boys in front. Kimberly and Layla continued to talk to me about what my favourite makeup was, and I found it all too girly cliche. I would've rather spoken about favourite pizza toppings or novels.

-

In science Josh invited me over to sit next to him, and I felt too polite to decline. "You going to the party tomorrow, yeah?" He asked me as I placed my bag on the floor.

"Uh, yeah, Poppy's invited me to hers to get ready. Are you?"

"Yeah, me and the lads are drinking at Aiden's before heading to Nick's, it's gonna be a sick night! What are you drinking?" He was tapping away on his phone, not aware of the teacher trying to begin the lesson.

"Uh, I don't know?" I replied, already mentally slapping myself. I'd never drank alcohol - I never felt the need to, but more realistically, I was never given the chance to.

"C'mon, we're getting wrecked! Come find me tomorrow night and I'll let you have a bit of my stuff," he winked at me before pocketing his phone. I felt a little uneasy, but I settled with it being nerves.

At the end of lesson I shot out before anyone could speak to me again, and made my way to the cafeteria where my friends were already seated. I sat down in my usual seat next to Cameron.

"Hey, man! Where were you at break?" Jennifer asked me, before stabbing her pasta with her fork and eating it. I unpacked my sandwich and apple from my bag.

"Oh," I replied. "Poppy wanted me to sit with her-"

"Woah, Poppy?" Amber exclaimed, eyebrows furrowed. "Why were you sitting with her?"

"I, uh, was being nice?" I mumbled again.

"Ugh, she's such a piece of shit," Amber muttered.

"Why don't you like her?" I questioned, before I could even filter my thoughts. I quickly tried to rescue myself. "Like, just wondering."

"Stereotypical: she's self absorbed, thinks everyone loves her, is only out for herself, y'know," Amber replied, staring down at her lunch.

"Oh, okay..." I muttered. We sat in silence for a few minutes, the only sounds on our table being Blake playing a game on his phone.

"Hey, Cait," Kieran got my attention. "Hanging out at mine tomorrow night, wanna come?"

"Oh, thanks, but I, uh," I contemplated whether to tell them my plans, but after what Amber just said, I didn't want to aggravate her. "I'm busy already."

"Awh, that sucks," Cameron chipped in next to me.

"Yeah, it does," I turned back to my lunch and didn't say another word.

----------

triple update i am on a roll

ok maybe i should stop now

~ shay xo

PLEASE VOTE AND COMMENT THX