Fake It

(03) inside out

Watching an episode of The Sweet Life after flicking through the channels on the television, Josh shook his head - Alex was so stupid on the show.

Who on Earth would want to watch something so boring? That's what Josh was thinking, before he switched the TV off.

"That's about as much as I can watch before my IQ will start to shrink lower" Josh joked, looking at his sister, Chrissy.

"So how is Mrs Gaskarth, anyway?" Chrissy asked, applying black eye shadow onto her eyelids as she looked into her mirror.

"How do you even know about all that?" Josh raised an eyebrow, sighing. The whole world seemed to know.

"Give me a break" Chrissy rolled her eyes. "They've been re-running that shit like it's going out of fashion. So who will be the rebound?"

"Rebound?" Josh repeated, confused by what his sister meant. Maybe deep down, he truly did know - he wasn't going to admit it, though.

"Come on, Josh. There's gotta be some lucky person!" Chrissy smiled to herself, knowing her brother wouldn't want to be single for too long. It'd tarnish his reputation far too much.

"l wouldn't say just some person..." Josh trailed off, shrugging as he bit into an apple. "There's this project thing."

"A project? You must be bored" Chrissy looked up at her brother, shaking her head. "Go on, tell me all about it."

"You see, she kind of... she kind of blew me off " Josh explained his personal dilemma, embarrassed to even tell his younger sister. "Didn't give me a chance at all."

Chrissy grinned as she applied her black eyeliner. "I'm liking this girl already!"

"It's gotta be some kind of mistake, though" Josh shook his head as he at next to his sister. "I mean, it's not normal."

"Josh, l realise it's a hard idea for someone with your romantic history and humongous ego to understand, but did it even occur to you that you'll need to make some sort of effort?" Chrissy asked, completing her look by letting her hair out.

"What do you suppose I do?" Josh asked, wondering why he hadn't turned to Jenna for advise earlier.

"Find out where she hangs out, what she likes and-" Chrissy began, before hearing their front door being opened. "Shoot, Mum and Dad are back. If they ask, I'm at a friend's house."

Josh nodded, watching his siter shove her make-up and jumper into her bag. He wondered why she even applied dark make-up, and why she was wanting to sneak out.

"Her brother is home and he is a total babe, as well as a drummer. Later!" Chrissy waved at her brother, running out of their back door before continuing on to jump over their back fence.

"Joshua, how was your first day back at school?" Josh's father asked, placing his briefcase and suit jacket on the coffee table.

"School is... Well, it's school" Josh shrugged, looking over at his father.

"Did Taylor and the girls have a fun time on their ski trip?" Josh's mother asked, walking into the lounge room.

Shrugging, Josh gave a small nod. He wasn't ready to tell his parents the full story - or any bit of it, for that matter. "It appears so."

Josh's father looked through each of the envelopes that he got out of the mail box. Furrowing his eyebrows, he searched for one letter in particular. "Still no word on that uni application?"

"Obviously not" Josh shrugged, stuffing a hand into his pocket. He didn't want to talk about it.

"You haven't heard from any of the eight universities you've applied to" Josh's dad sighed, placing the envelopes down. "lsn't that a bit unusual - especially this late in the school year?"