"Hi," I hear my Mum greet the person on the phone, her voice tired," Is it possible if I could cancel my shift for today?"

Silence.

"But something has come up and I can't work today!" Mum continues.

I guess that the person she's calling is the receptionist at the hospital where my parents work.

"It is your problem," Mum has a tinge of annoyance to her voice probably because the receptionist told her that it's not her problem," You signed up for this job - do it!"

Another silence.

"How dare you accuse me of being impolite!" Mum spits venomously," If there's anyone being impolite it's YOU!"

A few seconds later, Mum exclaims," She hung up on me!"

"Well, maybe you didn't take the best approach, Meggie," Dad murmurs gently," What did she say?"

"That apparently if you want to cancel a shift, you have to do it at least twenty four hours in advance!"

"I've never heard of that rule before!"

"It's probably because that woman that calls herself a receptionist made it up! Well, she'll regret it after she gets sacked on the spot after I report her!"

"Why don't you try calling in sick?" Dad suggests.

"The same receptionist will probably answer so there's no point!" Mum sighs.

"But we can't possibly go to work and leave Storm all on her own for the whole day!"

"Don't you think I know that!"

Even though their bedroom goes silent, you can still hear the tension of the argument sparkling in the air like a firecracker. Mum is the first to break the silence.

"Maybe I can ask Mrs Martin next door to come over for the day," she suggests quietly.

"Old Mrs Martin? Left with Storm for the whole day? Imagine Storm barely behaves when she's left with River! How will that old lady cope with her!" Dad splutters.

I feel my face fume with anger. How dare he talks bad about me as if I'm not across the corridor! I have to stop myself from storming into their room.

"Let me see if I can get hold of River," Mum states.

A minute later, my ears are filled with the continuous ringing until it takes Mum to River's voicemail, where she leaves a message to call her back as soon as she hears it; of course my older sister is not going to! She's smarter than that and is probably declining Mum's calls right this minute.

CLICK! CLACK! The tapping of Mum's high heels across the carpeted corridor distract me from my thoughts along with Dad's shuffle. I hear the gentlest of knocks and watch my parents open the door and peer at me.

"Morning, sweetheart! How was your sleep?" Mum's sugary sweet tone surprises me from how it was five minutes ago.

"Quite good actually until your argument with the receptionist on the phone disturbed me," I grunt.

Her cheeks turn red as she asks," You heard all of that?"

I nod.

"We really are sorry, Storm!" Dad pipes up," If we could, we would stay at home but-."

"But you can't so I have to spend the whole day home alone. Don't worry! I get it!" I finish.

Mum releases a sigh of relief.

"We will make it up to you. Here," she says as she places pound notes on top of my chest of drawer," Treat yourself but no parties!"

"Aw! You've spoiled it, you party pooper!" I whine like a little kid.

"I'm serious, Storm! If me and your father come home and find any sign of a party, then you'll be in more trouble than your sister if she manages to rustle up the courage to come home. Understand?"

"Yes, sir-I mean ma'am!" I say while I salute.

Mum says goodbye and mutters something that sounds like 'what am I going to do with that girl?' and Dad chuckles and winks at me. I wink back as he shuts the door behind them. Just like a spring, I jump out of bed to stand by my bedroom window. My parents have bundled themselves in the car and are manoeuvring out of the driveway. Staying by the window, I watch the car drive off until I can no longer see it.

I'm all alone...

I come out of the bathroom after having a lovely long bath and applying a hair mask and face mask. After moisturising my body, I change into an oversized turtleneck sweater of a creamy colour and a pair of plain black leggings.

So...what are you going to do now?

Here," she says as she places pound notes on top of my chest of drawer," Treat yourself but no parties!"

I remember that Mum had left me some money so that I can treat myself. Instantly, I grab my phone and text Stella, Sophie and Emma:

Me: Hey! Girls day out?

Emma was the first to respond:

Emma: Who's coming?

Me: I've u and Sophie

I don't tell her the whole truth and it's like she senses it:

Emma: Not Stella?

Me: Nope

Emma: I can come :)

Emma wasn't the only one who was unsure:

Stella: Is Emma coming?

Me: Yes and Sophie. Stella, please come! Emma thinks she's winning because I told her u r not coming and she will if you don't turn up :(

Stella: Fine!

Me: Yay!

Finally, Sophie is the last to confirm that she can also come:

Sophie: I can't :(

Me: ?

Sophie: I can't get out of bed! It's too cold!

Me: When you finally get out of bed, we'll meet at 11 at Flowermill Shopping Mall

Sophie: K :)

I slip on my Nike Air Max 97 white and cream pair of trainers stuff the pound notes Mum left me into my purse and zip up my coat before leaving the empty house...

"Hey, girl!" Sophie wakes me up from my daydream.

She sits next to me on the bench outside the mall, where I've been waiting for the girls to arrive.

"Finally managed to get out of bed?" I tease.

"Don't think I'm not devastated that I had to leave the warmth of my bed behind," she sighs dramatically, her hand to her forehead.

For once, Sophie's face is bare of makeup and she seems like her tiredness forced her to jump into a green sweatshirt and a pair of plain black leggings while her auburn hair, which is usually styled, is tied into a messy bun.

"I'm actually surprised I came here before Emma!" she exclaims.

I bite my lip; I haven't told Sophie about Stella.

"Stella is coming too," I state," And I lied to Emma about it."

"Speaking of the devil, here she comes!" Sophie announces.

From her posture, I notice that Stella is nervous as she makes her way across the pavement towards us. She's wearing a white sweatshirt, beige joggers and FitFlop Freya Suede sneakers and her hair is tied into a messy ponytail.

"You ok?" I ask.

"Yeah," she replies.

"Good because I smell trouble!" Sophie jumps in," Look who's coming!"

All three of us turn to where Sophie's eyeline is directed: Emma has just rounded the corner so that she has entered our view. It looks like she's the only one who has put effort into what she's wearing and her makeup: a black long-sleeved top with a necklace visibly on top, a tartan skirt, plain black opaque tights and heeled black boots with mascara and concealer. The mincing steps Emma takes and her stern expression on her face makes her look dangerous. I'm not the only one that notices this because Stella shivers severely and Sophie comments, taking this situation more as a joke:

"If only I had brought popcorn!"

"Not funny!" I hiss just as Emma approaches us.

"Hi, guys," she greets with false cheerfulness before turning to Stella," Oh, hi, Stella! Storm led me to believe that you weren't coming!"

Now, all eyes are on me. Emma has one eyebrow raised, waiting for me to give in, apologise and negotiate. However, that's not what I'm going to give her.

I slap my head, exclaiming," Oopsie! I am a bit of a Dory, aren't I? I forgot that I had texted Stella too and she has said she's going to come! Now, it's better that we get this day out I planned for you guys started so that I don't forget a single detail from my brilliant plan!"

I don't wait for response as I jump up from my sitting position and stroll towards the mall's entrance. A few seconds later, I hear three other pair of footsteps following from behind me and I know that I've saved myself. Phew! Now, I only have to try to make sure we all have a nice day out!

Easier said than done!

-----------------------------------------------------------

"I think we all need a break from shopping! How about we get some lunch?" I suggest, my arms aching from the shopping bags I'm holding.

"That sounds like a good idea! Shopping really makes me hungry and it doesn't help that I barely had enough breakfast this morning because I was worried about arriving on time," Sophie agrees heartily.

"Well, that explains why you look like you haven't put any effort into what you're wearing," Emma remarks.

"I have a great sense of fashion!"

"Debatable!"

"You wouldn't understand anything about fashion unless you've been to Paris, ma chérie(my darling)," Sophie declares passionately with a French accent.

"Nah, everyone knows Milan is the city of fashion!" Emma disagrees.

"No, Milan is better than Paris in food but Paris is better than Milan in fashion."

"No it's the complete opposite."

"Mamma mia! You can't possibly be saying that frog legs and snails are tastier than pizza and pasta!"

"How about we stop talking about fashion and actually get something to eat," I suggest, knowing that if someone didn't intervene, this debate would get out of hand.

"Yes! I saw a lovely Italian restaurant on the way here!" Sophie states.

"That's great, Soph! But we are sophisticated and no culture can beat the French when it comes to that! There's a new French cafe and everyone says the food is to DIE FOR! We must go!" Emma insists.

Now, there was a new argument on where should we go to eat.

We are not getting anywhere.

Stella is still beside me, watching my two BFFs have the most pathetic quarrel of all time!

"Where do you want to eat?" I whisper to her.

She shrugs.

"Come on, Stella! I don't mind where we go unless I have some food in my stomach and we can't possibly leave it up to those two to decide otherwise we'll be here all day!" I whine.

"I think there's a McDonald's upstairs," Stella answers.

"Great choice! Somewhere we all like," I approve before announcing to Sophie and Emma," Stella and I are going to McDonald's! You two can either continue your petty argument or come with us! Let's go, Stella!"

The pair us start finding the nearest lift and when Emma and Sophie give up, they follow so that all four of us enter McDonald's together.

"I know what I want so I'm going to line up to order," I say before joining the queue.

A couple of minutes later, the other three join me and I can't help notice that Emma and Sophie look like a pair of 5-year-olds on Christmas Day.

"What's up?" I question.

"Look who's sitting on the table in the middle!" the two girls exclaim.

I look to where they're talking about and discover why they're so excited: the popular group of boys from our year group are eating their meal. This includes Liam, Jonah(Liam's best friend), Noah and Oliver. I'm surprised that the two new boys have already become well-known among the boys in our year in such a short amount of time.

"We'll get our food and join them," Emma says.

"Do we have to? This is a girls day out, remember?" I remind Sophie and Emma but it's either that they're excitement blocks their hearing or that it doesn't and they choose not to listen to me because as soon as we all pay for our food, they stroll over there, trying to look casual.

I roll my eyes and Stella notices, smirking back. By now, Emma and Sophie are at the boys' table.

"Hey, boys," Emma greets.

Because all the seats are taken, she takes a seat from the next door table, which happens to be empty and places it in the empty space beside Jonah. Sophie does the same next to Oliver.

"What a coincidence that we run into each other! I practically begged the girls to go to McDonald's and it seems like I was right to otherwise we wouldn't have bumped into you guys," Emma's gushing makes me want to vomit.

What a lie! If it wasn't for Stella, we'll either be at an Italian restaurant, stuffing ourselves with pizza or at a French cafe with Sophie, Stella and I gagging at the sight of cooked frog legs or snails served on the plates in front of us.

"Do we have to go over there?" Stella asks, wrinkling her nose in disgust, probably at Emma's gushing.

As if in answer Sophie calls us over and there's no escaping. Reluctantly, we drag our feet to that table. I'm forced to sit next to Liam because Stella has taken the seat next to Noah.

"Hey, Storm!" Liam greets.

"Hey!" I smile weakly.

Emma and Sophie has already got into a conversation with Jonah and Oliver while Noah is making small talk with Stella. An awkward silence hangs over Liam and I.

I clear my throat.

"How was last night's football game?" I question.

From then on, Liam doesn't stop talking about football. How can you find watching people kick a ball around fun? I'm about to fall asleep when someone's loud laughter jolts me awake.

I turn my attention to Stella and Noah, both of them trying to stop laughing but failing.

"What's so funny?" Emma asks sharply, jealous that all the attention is on them.

"I was dipping my chicken nugget into my strawberry milkshake but I lost my grip and it fell into it and I can't find my nugget," Noah gasps for air.

I'm the only one that smiles while the rest give dirty looks to the pair.

"I'll go get another strawberry milkshake. Do you want one, Stella?" Noah questions as he stands up.

At that moment, Stella finally manages to stop laughing and turns serious.

"Uh-yeah. Thanks!" she stutters.

"No problem," Noah says before walking towards the tills.

Rapidly, I jump into Noah's seat, scared that Liam might start boring me with more of football.

"Someone has a crush on Noah and I think that someone might be Stella!" I tease.

"No, I don't!" Stella insists.

"Looked like you do from where I was sitting."

"Well...you have a crush on Liam!"

Now, I'm the one trying to stop laughing.

"He's BORING!" I exclaim, not caring that he's only a few seats away," I asked him one question about football and he based the whole conversation about! It wasn't even a conversation because he did all the talking!"

"Ok, chill! It was a joke!" Stella tries to calm me down.

"I might have been joking about you liking Noah but I do really think he likes you!" I say.

"He doesn't like me. Remember that time we met him and Oliver on the bus. He said: she has nice looks but is as quiet as a mouse."

"He might not have meant it and even if he did, people change."

Noah is now walking with two strawberry milkshakes towards us; Emma sticks her foot out but I'm the only one who notices. It's too late to say anything! He trips, he loses his balance and the strawberry milkshakes end up on Stella's sweatshirt...

"I'm never wearing white again!" Stella declares.

We're in the toilet, trying to mop away the mess Emma has caused. Just thinking of her name makes my blood boil. If Stella hadn't asked me to not make a scene, I would have grabbed someone else's drink and poured it on her carefully styled hair.

"You're angry," Stella sounds scared as she watches my knuckles turn white as I clench them into fists.

"Of course I'm angry! I'm angry that she did it! I'm angry that she gets away with it! I'm angry that she hasn't apologised! I'm angry that you are not angry at her for all those things!" I exclaim.

"I don't want to ruin your friendship with Emma!"

"I think I'd rather lose a friend then have a toxic friendship with an even more toxic girl," I mutter darkly, " It's horrible to think how people change for the worse."

"You can go back to the table."

"What about you?"

"I can't go back there. I've embarrassed myself! I can't face them!"

"Where are you going to go?"

"Home."

"No! You are not going anywhere! I wanted everyone to have a good day! The day hasn't gone as planned but stay longer and we can try to end it nicely!" I plead.

"Thanks for trying, Storm, but it's probably best I go home. Bye!" Stella sighs and she leaves the toilet.

As I go back to the table, I start seeing red. Emma is no longer sitting next to Jonah and is now sitting next to Noah. That was her plan all along. She sensed the chemistry between him and Stella so she got rid of her for five minutes; during that short amount of time, she took the opportunity to sit next to Noah. After witnessing this, I now want to do more than just pour a drink on Emma's hair. My legs no longer seem attached to my body as I sprint out of McDonald's.

The unexpected wintry breeze cools me down. I slowly inhale and exhale. My two BFFs are by my side in a minute.

"Storm, are you ok?"

It's Emma and after hearing her say that, it's a physical struggle to avoid punching her.

"Let's find Stella," I say before starting to walk in another direction.

"Storm!" Sophie calls out.

I turn to face her.

"I think she went the other way!"

I start walking in the direction that Sophie is pointing me to. The beach is not far away and we notice Stella sitting on the sand. I approach her.

"Please, come back," I beg.

"Can we not go back to the mall?" she asks.

"We won't," Sophie appears," We can go back to Storm's place and have a 'fashion show'. I'm sure your strawberry-milkshake-stained-sweatshirt will win."

Stella smiles.

-----------------------------------------------------------

"Sorry to sound like a spoil sport but I think it's time for you girls to go home," Mum tells us.

We've spent the whole afternoon having a 'fashion show', posting photos on Instagram and watching Netflix. The day has turned around after the McDonald's fiasco.

"See ya on Monday," I say as I lead the girls out of the door.

"See ya," they chant back.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Emma's POV

When I get home, I find someone has sent me a direct message on Instagram. The person has taken a screenshot of the photo Storm posted earlier. It is of Storm, Sophie and Stella smiling while I look grumpy in the background. Underneath the screenshot, the person has written:

You don't look like you're having fun

I text:

Who is this?

The person replies:

River

Storm's older sister...