Shadow Bite || WATTYS 2017

Chapter One

"I gave you a kissy!"

"It'll be the last one," I retort, sticking my tongue out playfully at her. She mimics me and we are suddenly caught in a face-making contest. She turns to Mum who eyes us closely and is swirling around the pancake batter in a pot, and sticks her tongue out at her, to which Mum responds with her own grimace. At that moment Dad makes his entrance and stops in his tracks, letting out a chuckle. "Well, this is different." He walks over and places a kiss on Mum's cheek, after which a blush creeps its way to her face.

"Let me cook David!" She scolds, although adoration lies just beneath her words. He responds by wrapping his arms around her waist and placing a long kiss on her lips. Mary makes disgusted sounds beside me and I roll my eyes, stabbing my fork into the pancakes. When I've finished up my plate I slide down from the stool and put it in the dishwasher. Mum and Dad exit the kitchen and walk off to do things that I really don't want to know about, and Mary begins to harass me with Barbie dolls until she finally succumbs to my silence and goes back to her room.

Upstairs, I close my bedroom door behind me and turn around to face the mess. I glance at my phone screen that flashes a bright 10:30 AM. I throw the device on the bed and begin unpacking the boxes. My bookshelves are completely filled by the time I'm done with my life essentials-marked box, which only consists of books, my sketchpad and my set of charcoal pencils. I fold the few clothes I have and place them in the wardrobe. Because of the move, Mum has insisted that we donate most of our clothes to charity, and thus my wardrobe now faces an important shortage of occupants. I throw a blue plaid fuzzy comforter onto my bed that seriously clashes with the red and yellow duvet, alongside an assortment of miscellaneously coloured pillows. I move towards the desk and unpack all of my school utensils. At the thought of the new school that I'll be attending, dread rakes its way through me. I've never been good at blending into new crowds; in fact, I spent most of the time reading books and hidden away in the library, back in my home city. The only thing I can look forward to with this place is seeing my best friend who moved here many years before me. Our fathers' job relocations to the same exact city have happened by pure coincidence.

Suddenly, the doorbell rings. After a minute, I still haven't heard any footsteps running to get it. "Mum? Dad," I call out. No reply. I poke out my head from the doorway. "Is someone going to get that?"

Still nothing.

"Well, thanks for the support family!" I exclaim, muttering under my breath as I descend the stairs grumpily. The doorbell rings again. "I'm coming, I'm coming, jeez! So impatient." I swing the door open and freeze. My eyes zoom into an incredibly handsome face: an incredibly handsome and amused face. In fact, the guy is trying to hold back his laughter as his eyes linger on my sweater.

"How old are you?" The blond-haired man chuckles, or rather, young man. He can't be much older than me. That is, seventeen.

"Shut up," I snap, crossing my arms over Olaf's joyful face. "What do you want?"

"First, hi, nice to meet you too, I'm Jasper. How's life," he says, ignoring my question. I clench my teeth and narrow my eyes. I am so not in the mood to be polite right now.

"Life was marvellous before you decided to come by and ruin it."

"Snappy are we?"

"Just to you."

"Great. Well, I'm here to deliver furniture to number 23. That's you?"

"Yes."

"I was hoping it wasn't," he declares, turning around and quickly running down to his truck. I watch as he leans into the back, his arm muscles rippling underneath the tight tee shirt as he lifts out the couch. What the hell?