Chapter One

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"CASSIE!", mum shouts manically. I jolt awake, groaning as I realise I'm already fourteen minutes late. I fumble in my wardrobe, my sleep-deprived brain just about functioning enough to find my uniform. I have a mini internal panic attack as I realise I have no time to do my makeup and freeze momentarily. Bad move. Stopping even for a second is enough to send my family into overdrive. "CASS, I'M LEAVING WITHOUT YOU." Callum yells at me up the stairs. "God, I'm coming!" I mutter under my breath and slam downstairs into the comfort of my brother's car.

"You made it. Just about." Callum grins. I love my brother. He's like my best friend, and growing up we were voted cutest brother sister duo in the primary school talent show. It's an admitted mistake that Callum and Cassidy Brooks sounds extremely cheesy - thank the parents for that burden. But he is one of the best people I know. In the hardest periods of my life Callum has always been the one to pull me onto my feet again, and I wouldn't change him for the world.

As he steers out of our driveway, I laugh and punch my brother's arm, grabbing a pen from the glove compartment. I have to constantly scribble reminders on my hand or else I am completely hopeless. Callum's own hands are covered in his identical reminders, written in typical boyish capital letters, as he grips the steering wheel tightly. I smile to myself; a degenerative characteristic in both sides of our family tree is mindfulness, yet Callum and I are the most absent-minded people ever. It's especially annoying as my ditziness means I live up to my dumb blonde stereotype.

We steer to a stop as my school gates approach us and I groan. I'm not sure I can face another Monday.

"Okay, baby sis, I'll pick you up at four?" my brother says as he leans over me to open the car door. "No need," I smile, stepping out onto the pavement, "I'm at Noah's tonight so he can drive me home."

Callum pokes his head out of my window and grins mischievously, "God, Cass, one of these days you're going to have to get your driver's license..." He can't even finish his overdramatic eye-roll as I shove his head back into the car and stick out my tongue. "See you later!" He grins, honking his horn loudly at me. I wave his car away, ambling slowly through the gates despite the fact that I am now thirty-seven minutes late. Oh well. Its a new week, and with my luck, this is the only minute of peace I'll get.

                  

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