Most girls would be jealous of Calliope Draycott. She seemingly has it all. The friends, the money, the boyfriend, and in a few years, if all goes to plan, she'll have the job too. So why doesn't she feel happy? It's after a disastrous family dinner...
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It's good to be home, even if I haven't missed the chaos that Violet and Oscar cause; you would think they were five rather than turning fifteen tomorrow. They're obsessed with TikTok at the moment, which means Ma and I are frantically dodging limbs as they dance to short clips of songs, and if I hear them one more time I might just go insane.
My only saving grace is Calliope. Since the party, we've been in, what seems like, constant contact. It's been one continuous text conversation, only pausing when one of us is in a lecture or sleeping. I found out pretty quickly that she always turns her phone off during lectures, and I'm starting to get in the habit too, now I've got that cleaning job at the law firm that is. Which means no more anxiously checking my inbox for interview invites, and the second they told me I had the job, it was like a weight was lifted off of my shoulders.
My phone buzzes in my pocket and I don't even have to look at it to know that it's Calliope. She's at Isaac's today, and when she first told me, I had to repress the irrational jealousy I felt rising in my stomach and instead I just told her that I hoped she would have a good day. I read the text and a smile spreads across my face. We're talking about the party, and she's firmly on Josh's side that the fog machine was necessary. She'd been on the fence about it until I told her that he borrowed Parker's without telling me.
I had wondered why he had stopped bugging me about it after yammering on about it for a month. Sly git.
He was right though, the party would've been a total dud if it weren't for the fog machine. Not that I remember much of the party. Not because I got that drunk, but because it all paled in comparison to seeing Calliope again.
I remember agreeing to go to the cinema with Jen, and then looking up when Josh called me, but all I could see was her. She was the absolute last person I expected to see standing with Josh and Arden.
Her hair had been curled and was in some sort of up-do thing, with a few strands framing her face, she was a vision, the perfect muse because when I saw her, words came flooding into my head and I was torn between disappearing to write them all down or taking the opportunity for a second chance I had been blessed with by the heavens above.
Her dress showed off more skin than I'd seen on her, but considering I'd only met her once before that isn't a surprise. It was still the least revealing out of the small group she came with. Arden was dressed in a tight black dress and a red cape - a classic take on the little red riding hood costume, and her friend Cece was dressed up as an angel. Both of them are beautiful girls but they don't even come close to Calliope.
I shake my head to clear it of those thoughts. Those thoughts are dangerous, she has a boyfriend. A boyfriend she seems to be happy with - mostly.
Another thing I haven't forgotten about the party is the way she reacted when she found out that Isaac had made an appearance. The small frown she had tried to hide by plastering a fake smile on her face instead. She had pulled away from my hold slowly, reluctantly, with her eyes closed and she let out a small, disappointed sigh when my hand dropped from her waist.
