A Race to the End

Chapter 2

*Flashback*

Best friends. What will anyone ever do without them? I've heard that some people either go through life without one ore they have a best friend they end up losing touch with, never to be heard from again. I'm lucky. I have three of them, Sophie, Mason, and my twin brother Sean. We've known each other all of our lives and have always been inseparable. Today was no different, we're all hanging out in Sean, and I's back yard, messing around and being teenagers. Sophie and I were dancing crazily along to the music while the boys were sitting down, watching us. Once the song ended, Sophie and I fell to the ground, her strawberry blonde hair spreading itself out in the space around her, while my brown and blue hair fell in my face, entirely out of breath; nonetheless, we laughed along with the boys.

When we had been able to catch our breath, Sophie and I sat up to face the boys. We all had tears in our eyes and travelling down our cheeks from laughing so hard. After wiping away the tears, the only evidence of laughter was the huge smiles on all of our faces.

"That was fun." Sophie said still breathing heavily from the dancing and laughing

"Agreed" Sean, Mason and I said in unison, which only caused more laughter.

Once we had finally calmed down, a stomach started grumbling, rather loudly might I add. We all looked over to where the grumbling came from and saw a sheepish looking Sean with a hand over his stomach. Not long after, Mason's stomach grumbled which was then followed by Sophie and I's stomach grumbling.

With a little laugh, I say "Ok. I think we might need some lunch."

Everyone nodded in agreement, and we made our way to the kitchen to see what we could eat. After a little debate on what we could eat, we agreed on having Spaghetti Bolognese. While Sophie and I cooked some pasta and the Bolognese sauce, the boys had gotten out grated parmesan cheese, plates, and cutlery. Just as we were serving lunch, a white Honda CR-V pulled up at the house on the piece of land.

"Who's that?" Sophie questioned pointing to the family getting out of the car

"Oh. They're the Anderson's. They just moved here a couple of days ago. They have three sons and one daughter. The oldest son is 17, so a year older than us, and the daughter is our age. The other two sons are 13 and 10." I answered

"Where'd they move from?" Mason inquired

"England. I think their two youngest stayed in England for a little longer for a going away party or something. Plus, their cousins moved here too, and I'm guessing they arrived today" Sean responded.

Sophie and Mason nodded in acknowledgement, and Sophie and I placed the bowls of pasta in front of the boys. While we ate, we just talked about random things from summer plans to Sean and I's birthday that's coming up in a few days.

"I'm so excited. You guys are turning 16." Sophie exclaimed

"I can't wait to be able to get my drivers license." Sean stated with a dreamy look in his eyes

I looked down at my bowl and twirled some spaghetti on my fork, my smile fading into a tiny frown.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Mason asked concerned

I look back up at all of them and notice concern in all of their eyes. And Sean being the best twin ever read my mind.

"Is this about mum?"

I nodded, taking a breath before saying "For a while, I've been dreaming about my sweet sixteen and mum was there. But every time I wake up, it's like someone punches me in the face and says 'Jokes on you. She's not here.' I never really thought much about it until I started having those dreams."