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Selena's POV:
"You'll never guess what just happened!" Mum squealed. Nick and I exchanged glances before looking up at our mother. "What happened?" Nick asked, trying to sound excited. He was working on something on his computer, I don't know exactly what it is, but I know it's important. Mum squealed again and I cringed slightly at the noise. Jesus, for an almost forty-year-old woman, her squeals could be passed off for a stereotypical teenage girl's. "That draw your Dad and I entered, we won!" She shrieked. I resisted the urge to cover my ears. "Which draw?" I inquired. My parents did this all the time. They would go out and put in the ticket thingies and wait for something to happen. As they usually only put in like one or two tickets, they've never actually, you know, won something. But they did it anyways. And this time.. it actually paid off. "The one from the mall." She rolled her eyes, I nodded, pretending that I actually knew exactly which mall she was talking about. Nick's eyes turned back to Mum as he looked up from his computer. "What's the prize?" He asked. Mum beamed. "Your father and I get to go on a week-long cruise in the Caribbean." My jaw dropped. The Caribbean. The freaking Caribbean. My parents were going on a cruise without us to the Caribbean, lucky people. "You have to stay with your brother. It's a good thing Nick is here." She clapped her hands together excitedly. "You mean I have to babysit on my vacation?" Nick asked in disbelief. "I'm not a baby! So you don't have to babysit me." I defended, to be honest, I'm kind of offended. I mean, come on! I'm seventeen! Mum rolled her eyes. "Both of you are too childish to stay at home; maybe I should call a babysitter." She muttered. "Hey!" Nick and I protested. "Hay is for horses." Mum responded. Looking at our flat expressions, she laughed. "Oh come on kids, you know I'm kidding." She reached over to pinch Nick's cheeks and he swatted her hands away. "Mum.." He whined. "I'm not a baby anymore." She laughed again. "You'll always be my baby." She replied fondly. Then she rubbed her hands together. "Back to business; I have to get packing." she announced. "When do you have to go?" I questioned. She glanced back at me from the stairway. "Tomorrow evening." I almost choked on my cereal. "Tomorrow." I repeated. How could the contest people only give them one day? That's so stupid. "I know, sweetie." Mum sighed. "But we can't help it. I'd better get going." I nodded. Mum has to go tomorrow with Dad to a cruise. Without us. Nick and I'll be in the house. We could do whatever we wanted. "Hey, Sel?" Nick interrupted my thoughts. "Don't you have school today?" he asked. "Oh shoot!" My hands flew up in the air. How could I have forgotten? I ran and got dressed as fast as I could. I will, I repeat, I will not be late for school today. I rushed out the door. "Bye!" Nick shouted after me. "Bye!" I called back. Now it was just the race to school. - "You have class in two minutes. You know that right?" I pulled my books rapidly out of my locker and turned to glare at him briefly. "I know that." I snapped. His shook his hair, eyes twinkling. How can someone this annoying be so hot at the same time? "You'd better hurry up." He commented. I glared harder. Stupid boy. I wonder if someone has duck tape. It would come in handy right about now. "Shut up." I slammed my locker door shut and started rushing towards the classroom, Justin following after me easily matching my pace. "By the way," He started. "We're having another band practice in the music room at lunch. You gonna be there?" I gave him a sideways glance. "Yeah, I'll be there." My voice refused to voice the snarky comment imbedded in my brain. He nodded, the he smirked. "I also have a favour to ask you." He stated. My head turned to look at his face and shot him a questioning glance. "I need you to come over to mine after school." he said. "Why?" I asked. "Because it's Soph's birthday and I need help with the balloons and party stuff." I smiled. "Course I'll help." I agreed. There was no way that I was going to miss little Sophie's birthday. Besides, sounds like fun helping. He beamed. "Great," He almost chirped. "I'll see you later." I nodded and he walked away. I entered the classroom and sat down. Now if only I could manage one day of classes and then this would all be over. - I washed my hands at the sink. Taking the 'I need to go to the bathroom' excuse to get out of class was something at least every student at Crosswell had used at least once. I was no exception. So I washed my hands, humming as I did so. Then something caught my eye in the mirror and my humming came to an abrupt halt. I turned, sighing. "What do you want Nicole?" I asked. Her arms were crossed over her cheerleader uniform and her expression was not happy. "I thought I told you to stay away from Justin." She glared. I shook my head. This is what all this was about? "Why are you doing this Nicole?" I fired. "You don't even like him!" Her face dropped a little but she composed herself in a flash. "Yes I do." She said through gritted teeth. I shook my head. "No you don't." I objected. She looked furious. "Don't act like you know anything about me Selena! You don't know shit." She shot. I stared at her. "But I do, Nikki." I spoke calmly. "I do. Don't you remember? I know about your first crush. The boy both you and I liked. The one you said that you loved. The one I let go for you." Her eyes burned into my soul. "You don't know anything. You're a pathetic attention seeker who ditched her friends for popularity." She spat. I sucked in a breath. "I was wrong." I agreed softly. "Overwhelmed. I was wrong but you were no better." She looked at me, her eyes burning with both anger and sadness. They say the eyes are the window to the soul. If that was true then this was who Nicole really was. She was bitter and sad. "I was no better," She hissed. "I was no better. How dare you! At least I didn't ditch my friends when they needed me." I flinched at her words. "Yeah?" I shot back. "Then why didn't you answer those texts, the calls that night? Or any of the times where I needed you? And when I called to see if you were okay? You ignored everything." Her eyebrows pulled together and she suddenly looked confused. "I don't know what you're talking about." She replied. What the hell? Can she really just lie to my face like that? "You know very well what I'm talking about!" I exploded. "I told you everything! I left that voicemail and you can lie to my face like that?" She seemed to shrink. "I really have no idea what you're talking about." She denied. "Fine Nicole." I hissed. "Play it that way." She looked like she was going to argue but by the time she opened her mouth, I was already gone. - "What's the matter with you?" Marie asked, setting up the microphone. I didn't say anything and started to set up my own. "Yeah, it's like you have dark storm clouds hanging over your head." Renee added. I looked between the two of them and rolled my eyes. "There are no storm clouds." I lied. "Just tired." They both shot me disbelieving glances and I shook my head. "I'll tell you later." I say. "You guys ready?" Dylan asked. "Yeah." Marie agreed. "Then let's get started." Jason grinned. I grinned back, my bad mood fading a little. What did my past matter if I had friends like these? The music started playing and I closed my eyes. - The song came to an end and so did my singing (obviously). Then there was a loud whooping and I gave Jason an amused smile. "We're definitely doing that one." He stated. His grin stayed intact. He was such a child. "Agreed." Justin piped up. We all agreed that Catch My Breath was a confirmed song to do at the battle of the bands. That's one more thing to cross off my to-do list. - "You ready to go?" Justin asked. He was leaning against the locker beside me and looking as handsome as ever. I smiled. "Give me a second." I stuffed my books back in my bag and slammed the locker door shut. "Where are you going?" Marie asked. Both she and Renee were looking a bit confused. I didn't actually go out to places except the mall, grocery store and their houses. "She's coming to mine." Justin answered for me. Marie looked slightly surprised while Renee looked gleeful. "Oh." Marie uttered. Renee waggled her eyes suggestively at me and I sent her a flat look that clearly told her to stop being an idiot. "Well, we'd better go." I said, hastily. Justin nodded. "Yeah." he said. Then he smirked. "Eager, are we?" he teased. "You're the one who asked me to come." I reminded him. His smirk didn't fade. "But you agreed." He retorted. I rolled my eyes, not bothering to respond. His smirk grew wider and he jogged to catch up with me as I took off. "Bye Ren, Mar." I called back. I heard a faint 'Bye, Sel' in response and kept walking. - "This is your fault," I crossed my arms over my chest that was splattered with eggs. Justin threw his hands in the air. "How was I supposed to know that cakes don't go in the microwave!" He defended. I snorted. Really? "Common sense!" I snapped. "And it wasn't just the cake that you put in, you put in the eggs. The cake batter is in here." I held up the bowl. "Then you decide that you should put the eggs, cracked liquid of the eggs, in the microwave without a cover. What is wrong with you?" I say. "You know I can't cook for shit." He muttered. I rolled my eyes. "Just help me out here." I handed him a tissue and shoved him towards the microwave while picking one up myself. "Just start scrubbing and I'll take the bowl out and wash it so I can do that part of the cake." I say. "Fine." he grumbled. Unbelievable. First he puts the liquid eggs in the microwave without a cover and his only excuse is 'I can't cook for a shit'. It's common sense. I continued to make the cake. Justin's cook, Martha, offered to go out and buy the cake as she had to make dinner but Sophie wanted something home made. So here we are. And I'll be damned if I don't finish making the cake. "I'm done." Justin finished cleaning. I nodded. "Good," I wiped my hands. "I have to go to the bathroom okay? Be right back." He nodded.
