"I fell over the other day," My sister, Holly informed me whilst we were in her bedroom.

As if to prove her point she lifted the leg on her jeans, revealing a large plaster on her knee. She glanced at me as though to gauge my reactions.

You had to love my sister. We were so similar except that she looked more like Dad and I definitely looked more like Mum. Holly was tall with red-brown hair and dark blue eyes. She might have been popular had she not been so awkward. She seemed to take after me in that respect.

"How'd you fall over?" I asked, staring at the plaster.

"Alicia Bennett shoved me and I just fell." Holly shrugged.

She and Alicia were best friends, but they were both prone to play fighing and tickling each other. The last time they had done this, Alicia ended up tripping over a chair and giving herself a concussion. They were both accident prone to the extreme.

"You remember Alicia, right?" Holly lowered her jean leg and smiled.

"Yes, I remember your best friend." I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, well you're surrounded by cute guys so I thought you'd forget about your adorable, little sister and her world." Holly said, completely serious. She then snorted out a laugh.

She knew I was hopeless with guys and loved to remind me of all the stupid stuff I'd done. I sometimes regretted telling her these things, but I figured they'd help her through school. Holly was only sixteen and five years my junior.

"So, how are all the cute uni boys?" She grinned. I knew what she was getting at.

Oli used to be a regular visitor here and Holly used to follow him round like a lost sheep. She adored him and over time she had developed a crush on him.

"Oli is fine." I laughed when her face went bright red.

"Shut up." She snapped.

I loved coming home to my family, despite Holly being so much like me. She sat down on her beanie chair and sighed.

"Remember when that guy asked you out and you got a nosebleed?" Holly giggled.

Ah yes, who could forget that occasion. Holly and I had been out shopping when a guy, roughly my age had approached us. He started chatting to me about comics and my favourite X-Men characters.

I remembered having a cold that day and not feeling very attractive. I blew my nose and when I removed the tissue I was gushing blood. He seemed concerned for me, but escaped pretty quickly.

"Yeah, well I had a cold." I reminded her. She gave me one of her famous Holly smirks.

"Girls, dinner is ready!" Mum called from the kitchen.

Holly was out of the chair quickly, shooting down the hall and narrowly avoiding Dad as he left the spare room. I followed her just in time.

"Hols, be more careful, please?" Dad called after her.

"She's like an accident waiting to happen." I laughed as I followed Dad.

Mum was plating up the food when we all arrived and we took our usual seats. Mum turned to Holly, shooting her a disapproving look.

"Hols, be a dear and put the plates on the table," Holly shot up. Mum held out a plate to her. "Carefully, please."

She groaned, but did as she was told.

"Thanks, slave." I laughed when she put my plate in front of me.

"Shut up," She grinned, sitting down and flicking a pea at me.

Mum sat down with her own plate and handed Dad his. She shot us both a look and Holly immediately stopped messing around.

"How's uni going?" Mum smiled at me.

"Yeah, really good, Mum." I sighed when she looked proud. "I get to work in a lab soon."

Mum glanced at Dad and he paused before eating his mash potato. He smiled and patted my shoulder. My Dad was a man of few words and he didn't like to get involved with other people's business. He and Mum were total opposites in that respect.

"Hey, Mum?" I suddenly remembered what I had to tell her. "I've seen Jake."

Her eyes shot up from her food and realisation shone in those blue-green eyes. I knew Mum was really torn up when Carolyn died. The two of them had been best friends since primary school.

"Really? How is Mark? I haven't seen him for years." She said, looking forlorn.

"He's fine, I think. Jake doesn't really talk about him." I replied.

"Oh dear, what does Jake do for a job?" She asked, all traces of sadness gone for now.

"He's a tattoo artist." I couldn't wait for the response.

Dad raised his eye brows and seemed impressed. Mum looked a little startled by this piece of information. She obviously remembered Jake as a young boy and I faintly wondered if she still viewed me as a little girl. Her little girl.

"Here, I'll show you a picture." I laid my knife and fork down, pulling my phone from my jeans pocket.

Dad stuffed some chicken in his mouth and was watching as I found the selfie we had taken back in August. I found it and handed the phone to Mum. She accepted and her hand went to her mouth. Her eyes filled with tears.

Holly leaned over and her eyebrows shot up. She looked at me, smirking as she did so.

"He's hot, sis." She winked at me. I glowered at her, making her laugh loudly.

"He looks so much like Carol," Mum dabbed at her eyes. "He has her smile."

Dad leaned over to look and smiled, patting Mum on her arm. She seemed to remember where she was and handed me my phone. She smiled as though to reassure us that she was fine.

"And you two are dating?" Dad turned to me.

I heard Holly laugh again. Mum looked shocked then she smiled so sweetly. It must be what she and Carolyn had dreamed of when they were younger.

"No, we aren't dating," I stuttered out. "Just friends."

"Yeah right." Holly cut in, giggling.

I shot Holly a sharp look and she didn't even have the decency to stop grinning. She kept mouthing 'you like him' over and over at me.

"You make an adorable couple," Mum nudged Dad and he grinned.

"We aren't together." I groaned, ignoring their shared smiles.

The rest of dinner went by normally and Holly helped Mum wash up. I knew I'd need to get back soon to sort my bag out for tomorrow.

"Hey, Dad can you give me a lift, please." I didn't usually ask, but the nights were drawing in and the underground was a scary place in the evenings.

"Sure thing, pumpkin." Dad stood, laying down his newspaper. "Just going to nip Kota back." He shouted.

Holly rushed out of the kitchen and hugged me. Mum followed, still wearing her waching-up gloves. She gave me a kiss on the cheek and made me promise to phone her in the week.


***********

Dad and I drove back in a comfortable silence and he stopped the car just opposite the dorms. He gave me a hug and I got out. I waved as he turned the car around and drove back up the street. I watched him leave and started to walk to the dorm.

There weren't many people around this evening, but a couple of people by the stairs caught my eye. I squinted and saw Shay. She was standing with her back to me and was deep in conversation with someone. I recognised that someone to be Ashley.

He was leaning against the wall and she was doing most of the talking. I could tell by Shay's posture that she was annoyed.

"Shay?" I shouted over, and they both looked round.

Shay smiled and waved and motioned for me to wait a moment. She continued to say a few more things to Ashley. He rolled his eyes and they parted ways. He smirked at me and I glared at him.

I watched Shay walk over to me. She looked glum, but managed to smile when she saw me.

"What was all that about?" I watched Ashley leave and my gaze went to my best friend.

"I called him out for making out with me the other weekend and he claimed it was nothing serious so I just," She paused, contemplating. "Gah, I don't know. He's so infuriating."

She rubbed her eyes and pulled me into a hug. Shay might have acted tough, but inside she was soft and sweet.

"Why do you let him use you?" I rested my head on her shoulder.

"Because I like him and I guess, anything is better than nothing, you know." She sniffled.

She recovered fairly quickly and we walked into the dorm. Her arm interlinked with mine. There were a few people in the lounge tonight.

Alex and Tay were sat cuddled up together, going through notes. Vic was here again and so was Kellin. He was sitting on the floor, doodling in his notebook.

"Hey you two, pull up a chair." Tay grinned.

"No Jack tonight?" Shay asked.

"Nah, he's poorly. Came down with the flu the other day." Alex answered.

"You'll have to take him chicken soup and massage his shoulders," She laughed, and Alex grinned.

Kellin saw me and stood, tossing the notepad to the floor and hugging me. He and I had always got on. He was awkward and nerdy like me.

"Where were you earlier when I wanted Starbucks?" He sighed.

"Went to see my parents." I chuckled.

"Ouch, harsh." He pulled back.

"You guys out for Halloween in a few weeks?" Shay directed her question around the room.

"Yeah, we are. Tay's agreed to be my sexy nurse." Alex smirked, and was promptly punched by Tay. She shook her head, but kept grinning.

Shay laughed again and she seemed to have healed since earlier. I sighed and at once I knew how she felt. It had been over two months that I had known Jake and this annoying, little crush I had just wasn't going away. In fact it seemed to be getting worse.

"Are you going out?" Kellin was beaming at me.

Vic was looking interested too. He knew I didn't go out very often.

"Yeah, we both are." Shay grinned, directing her attention to Kellin.

"Awesome, we can dress up." He smiled, jumping on the spot. "Vic, let's dress up."

"Sounds super fun." Vic rolled his eyes. Kellin sat in front of his boyfriend and pouted.

I glanced away from them and looked at Shay again. She was going on about outfits to Tay, who was nodding along. She bit her lip and looked like she was thinking.

"What were you going to dress up as?" She enquired.

"A ghost." I cut in, knowing that Shay would choose something hyper-sexual. A sexy ghost or a sexy werewolf wasn't very scary.

"No, dummy," Shay sighed at me like I was an idiot. "I'm thinking a bunny."

Yeah, that definitely wasn't scary. I frowned at her and she looked at me.

"A bunny, huh?" Tay lowered her notes. "I was thinking a cat."

Again, not very scary. Both of them glanced at me. I wasn't aware I had been involved in this strange discussion. I exhaled in exasperation.

"A vampire?" I offered, making them both giggle.

"Something sexy, remember I told Jake you'd look sexy." Shay groaned at me.

"Yeah, but it can't be overtly sexualised." Vic spoke, making everyone including Kellin look at him. He frowned and toyed with his nose ring. "It wouldn't suit Kota. I think something like Alice in Wonderland."

Shay and Tay both looked at each other and grinned. Yeah, thanks for that Vic. Shay started toying with her phone. Tay got up and peeked over her shoulder.

"My outfit," She showed Tay a corset type outfit with a set of bunny ears included. She showed it to me and I scrunched up my nose at it. She laughed and typed something else into Amazon.

"Your outfit." She held the phone to me and I squinted to see.

I had to admit I was impressed by the choice. It was a blue dress with a white smock over the top and delicate frills under the skirts hem. The top wasn't low-cut and I couldn't help but smile.

"Throw in some white stockings and blue converse and we have an outfit." Tay grinned.

Kellin stood and was leaning over, looking at the dress.

"So cute." He agreed.

"And sexy too." Shay smirked. "Just as promised."

I groaned. She was still on about that. There was no stopping Shay and as soon as we got to my dorm room we were followed by Kellin and Tay. They badgered me to order the dress and some stockings. I caved and did as I was told.

"Three cheers for Kota." Tay hugged me, squeezing the life out of me.

They cheered loudly and gleefully. I couldn't help but smile and throw a pillow at Shay. she laughed and chased me round the room.

"This calls for Starbucks," Kellin grabbed my arm. "Acompany me, milady."

I giggled and we left the dorm. Kellin dragged me by Vic and stopped to grab his cap. Vic reached out, but Kellin stopped him., giggling away. I loved Kellin when we got like this. He was funny and lively.

"I don't want to go home tonight." He ruffled Vic's hair.

We stepped out into the night and made our way down the street.

Notes