Lightly

Morning comes as if it couldn't wait to wake me up. After last night's events, my bed feels like a hundred tonne weight, pressing down on me and keeping me in its embrace. Say what you want about having an active social life, it's definitely tiring, and I didn't even have sex last night.

My door opens, revealing Rosie has returned from her excursion. "Wake up, we're already running late, and we've got stuff to talk about in addition to that." She tells me, almost formally, as if serving me lawful summons, before exiting the room as quickly as she entered.

Showering and dressing doesn't take long, I walk down the stairs to hear laughter from the kitchen, drawing me closer. As I enter, I see Mama and Jenny chatting at the table, but not sign of Mum. "You're up late, Rosie and Poppy left already." Mama informs me, noticing my confused face. "Mum's gone to visit some old friends, Rosie's got money for breakfast, so you'd better go catch up."

Well, it's one way to punish me for being late home. "Thanks, Mama, at least someone bothered to tell me anything." I groan, pulling on my shoes and grabbing my bag.

"I told them to leave you, said they could get extra if you weren't there for your share." Jenny chips in evilly, honestly, I'm not sure if she's joking, but I don't have time to argue as I rush out of the door. The short walk to school is practically second nature to me now, what surprises me is the events that occur when I arrive through the gate.

A hand grabs my the scruff of my neck and proceeds to pull me out of the way of the footpath. "Echo, I know you're kinky, but I'm running late." I chuckle as I'm pulled backwards to a small alcove.

"Ew." I hear Rosie react. "It's me, dumbass, I literally said we needed to talk." I guess that's true, but I've never needed to be choked out to have a conversation. I turn to face my sister, who seems to have recovered from the previous evening, in fact she looks better than ever... Something seems familiar.

"Andi did your make-up?" I ask rhetorically. "I take it you're feeling better, else you wouldn't have the strength to throttle me." I joke, fixing my collar.

"Whatever, first thing's first... Do you have music today?" Rosie demands, apparently not recovered enough for my humour. "You're working on group projects, right? So Maia goes to her office then, right?" She continues, almost **** for an answer.

I'm almost scared to consider what Rosie's got planned, but then I said I'd help, so no backing out of the big brother role. "After lunch, she only turns up for registration, after that we're left to our own devices, maybe a ten-minute window when she's not there." I recall as best as I can. "Should I even ask what-"

"Good, second, what happened last night? Poppy seemed distraught this morning." Rosie cuts me off, hurrying to the next answer. I give her a condensed version of what occurred, as best as I can remember anyway, Birch talked too fast for me to catch all the words. "What the fuck? I know she's nuts, but it's Poppy, she wouldn't hurt a fly, why'd she go all psycho on her?" She tries to clarify.

"Your guess is as good as mine, but I think psycho's a bit far... It was like a dog backed into a corner, lashing out. Sure it was scary, but mostly it was just depressing." I try to explain, but I'm not sure if I even understand it myself. "Plus, she looked so broken, I doubt she could've done much damage anyway."

"Yeah, well, she comes near Poppy again, and she'll have a reason to be afraid." Rosie spits, feels like she's as upset at herself for not being there as she is at Birch. "Come on, we haven't got much time to eat." She sighs, leading me back towards the school building.

Honestly, after the chaos of yesterday, a bit of boredom wouldn't go amiss.

*

"See, this is why I wanted to stay, I miss out on all the good gossip." Marie moans. I got my wish for most of this morning, breakfast, attendance, English, all easy going, with the notable exception of Ty being even more silent than usual during the lesson. Poppy was nowhere to be found after, but we managed to meet up with Marie for lunch. "Everything's been so boring at home, I can't stand it." She adds, taking a bite of her sandwich.

I snort at her complaints. "Glad we could be of service, but it doesn't feel as fun on the other end, trust me." I reassure her, for what little it does to relax her grimacing expression.

"Can I sit here?" Comes a voice from behind us, upon inspection it belongs to Sora. Rosie pats the spot next to her, ushering the new girl in. "Thanks, it's so busy in here today." She smiles, taking her seat.

Marie clears her throat, clearly awaiting her introduction. "Oh, Sora, this is our cousin, Marie. Marie, this is Sora, she's new." I oblige, before I return to my pasta salad.

"I can tell, I'd have known if a girl this cute was here at the start of the year." Marie coos, giving her a slick grin. Sora seems unsure how to react to being complimented so suddenly, but Rosie sees straight through our cousin's flirting.

"Ooh, you're saying Echo's not hot? I'll have to tell her that." My sister interjects, causing Marie to roll her eyes and cross her arms in defeat. "Don't worry about her, no one ever taught her proper manners." She adds for Sora's benefit. Ever the big sister, I guess, even to those she's not related to. For her part, Sora just seems confused more than anything, though if I'm not going crazy, there was definitely a hint of a blush there for a minute.

My observations are cut short by a tap on my shoulder. I'm getting really sick of people sneaking up behind me today. I turn, only to be met by lips on mine, and hands on the sides of my face. Andi lets me go and finally greets me. "Good morning... Sorry, did that in the wrong order." She adds with a smile so cute I almost pull her back in for another.

"Definitely not complaining, are you alright?" I laugh, meeting her hand with mine and holding tight. "Didn't miss us too much?" I add slyly, causing her to giggle.

"More than you can imagine." She replies, equally provocatively. "We've got a practice game after school, did you want to come watch? You can see me in my kit." Andi offers, as if she knows I wouldn't turn down a chance to see that.

"Sure!" I nod, enthusiastically. "Have you asked Echo?"

Andi sighs disappointedly. "Not yet, I haven't seen her all morning, could you ask her in Music?" She requests. I mean, what am I going to say? No? I nod again, causing Andi to exhale in relief. "Thanks, I'm so busy today. Gotta run, I'll see you later." She adds, before planting another kiss on my lips, and vanishing from my grip.

I turn back to the table to see Marie pretending to retch, which gets an appreciative laugh from Sora. Whatever, she's just jealous.