Chapter 2

AIDEN

She was feisty. Small, but feisty which was even cuter.

When my mum told me she was getting married and I would be having a new little sister, all I could feel was dread. I guess you could say 18 years of being an only child had grown on me and I wasn’t ready to share that with some little brat.

What my mother had failed to mention was that my “little sister” was my fucking age.

As we sat to have our first dinner “as a family” she shot bullets into my skin with her eyes.

“So, when’s the wedding?” I asked no one in particular, my eyes not leaving hers.

“Next year, spring. Your mother wants to have the wedding with the blooming flowers” Eric said as he reached out to hold my mum’s hand.

She looked nothing like her father, I mean they had the same piercing brown eyes but that was pretty much it, and she was much lighter than him. I didn’t mind Eric that much, and I didn’t mind their entire marriage either, in fact, I didn’t really care. My mum seemed genuinely happy and I was happy with that, plus I only had to stay with them for a year before I went off to college, but I could tell little Miss Firecrackers here cared a lot.

Her eyes bore into my mum and her gaze felt like laser beams cutting through my skin whenever she looked at me.

“Aiden, Ellie’s going to be attending your school from next week so please help her around.” My mum said softly.

The last thing I needed was my “baby sister” following me around school like a lost puppy but my mother had a way of always convincing me. Softening her voice and her eyes, she knew I could never say no to her when she did that.

“Fine,” I said reluctantly. Ellie rolled her eyes and rested her gaze on her food.

***

“Hey princess, are you ready yet?” I asked as I walked into Ellie’s room. She had her uniform on already, thankfully.

“Can you fucking knock?! And don’t call me princess” she snapped as she grabbed her backpack.

“What are you going to do, hurt me?” I mocked which earned me yet another glare.

“Yes.”

“Bold of you to assume I won’t enjoy every minute of it,” I said with a smirk.

We had barely spoken to each other the entire week she lived in the house. She mainly spent her time in her room and anytime I caught her exploring the house, she would act like I was invisible and walk away from me.

“Fuck off Aiden” she pushed past me. “Oh my gosh, she knows my name.” I sang mockingly.

Her glare locked onto me, a silent storm brewing in her eyes before she stormed off.

“You know you make it so easy to taunt you right?” I called out after her with a laugh.

When we got to the car, she slammed the door shut in my face before scrambling to the driver’s seat and locking me out.

“Okay Ellie, stop fucking around,” I said as I struggled to open the door, my keys were in the car too.

Her face broke out into a playful smile as she watched me struggle. “Ellie c’mon, open the door,” I said banging lightly on the window.

With a deep eye roll, she unlocked the door and went over to the passenger seat.

“You’re hilarious,” I said sarcastically.

“Oh, I know. You know you make it really easy to fuck with you,” she said with a victorious grin.

“Oh, I didn’t know you wanted to fuck me Ellie. Gosh, you should have just said so.”

Her face contorted into an unmistakable look of disgust.

“I said fuck with you, not fuck you! God, you’re disgusting!” she said as she pulled her seatbelt over her body.

“Good because I’m not sleeping with my little sister.”

“I’m not your little sister!”

“Oh, so you do want to fuck me?”

“Oh my god! Aiden, would you just drive!” she hid her face with her hands but I could tell she was laughing underneath them.

The firecracker could be broken. Noted.

***

“I can’t believe your dad’s actually getting married,” Kai said as he dropped his tray on the table.

I swiped a French fry from his plate before making space for him to sit. Kai was my best friend and had been since we were in the first grade.

“I can’t believe your mum didn’t tell you anything about your sister being in our grade, that's so messed up,” Ander said.

“The whole thing’s messed up but hey, who can stop old people's love right?” I said with a chuckle. “And she’s not my sister.”

The cafeteria door swung open and in walked Ellie. The poor thing looked lost as she scanned the entire room with her eyes before they finally landed on me. I immediately mouthed no, to which she responded with her usual eye roll.

“Is that her?” Kai asked.

“Dude she’s fucking hot,” Ander said with a laugh. An irritated wave rushed through my body, a current that clenched at my chest and coiled around my stomach but I played it off with a forced smirk.

Ellie grabbed her tray of food from the lunch lady and plopped on the seat next to me.

“You abandoned me.” She said simply with her arms crossed.

“I’m not your babysitter princess.”

“I told you to stop calling me that” She snapped, her eyes flashing with unrestrained frustration.

“Are you going to introduce us or...” Kai broke through our mini glare.

“Ellie, this is Kai and Ander. Jasmine and Ana are gonna be here soon so maybe you’ll have some friends to talk to and finally leave me the fuck alone.”

She slipped me the middle finger before reaching out to take Kai’s hand. As their gaze met, a soft shimmer crossed Kai’s eyes. That knot was back in my throat again.

“Nice to meet you, Ellie,” he said softly, too softly. A gentle hue of warmth flushed Ellie’s skin as she broke out into a small smile. That knot was beginning to suffocate me.

Ander took her hand and kissed it which made Ellie’s face scrunch up slightly. “You’re as hot as Aiden described.”

Her brows rose as she turned her head to me. That little shit, I didn’t even describe her, now she’s going to think I’m some pervert.

“I didn’t say you were hot.”

“So you think I’m ugly?” A mischievous smile grew on her face as she crossed her arms.

Of course, I didn’t think she was ugly but I also didn’t want her to think I thought she was hot. Even though she was, god now that I took a good look at her, she was hot.

Focus Aiden.

“Piss off princess.”

Jasmine and Ana walked in saving me from this painful conversation. I introduced them to Ellie and they seemed to hit it off pretty well. Well, Ellie didn’t look at them with absolute disgust at least.

“You guys are still going to Jason’s party right?” Jasmine asked.

“What party?” Ellie asked.

No, no, no. If she wanted to come, mum would definitely force me to let her and I’d be stuck babysitting again.

“Oh right, you’re new. Jason Bridger always has a party after each summer break. You should definitely come, it’s always awesome.”

I didn’t realize when an irritated groan left my mouth causing all eyes to fall on me.

“You don’t want me to come?” Ellie snarked.

“Actually yeah I don’t. I don’t want to be stuck with your ass all night, so just stay at home.”

Her face fell slightly, sending a pang of regret into me. I admit my tone was a bit harsh but oh well.

“You two argue like an old married couple and I've been here for 5 minutes,” Jasmine said with a chuckle.

“Dude, relax. You should come to the party Ellie, you’ll be with us” Kai said. He had that stupid glint in his eyes again.

“Whatever,” I said as I got up and walked off. Before closing the door, I stole a glance at Ellie, her eyes were still locked on me with a muted frown on her face.