Big Cats Don't Cry

What the...

- I need somewhere to hide. Just don't look at me, okay? - My voice is shaky and raspy.

- Look, Winter, if you feel embarrassed or something, I swear I didn't do it on purpose.

- It's okay, Hunter. Just go.

2 days earlier,
August, 21

Summer break is over and I'm going back to highschool tomorrow. Honestly, I'm not that excited since I've been hanging out with my friends a lot lately. Well, not with Jasper. He found a girl, Leah. She's cute and bright, and she's shorter than him. She's nice, but not my type of friend. She talks too much about superficial matters and wears more makeup than her face can handle. I'm happy for Jasper, though. He just got tamed, if you know what I mean.
She's not from our high school, so I can still hang out with him during the week. He's obviously a little bit sad that he can't have someone following him around, but I heard there are going to be new kids, so he might make a friend or two, and I'm going to make sure it goes that way. As for hopeless Jamie, I have a plan to make her talk to new guys. I'm going to drag her to Connor's party with me. I have two weeks to make her want to go, but I have to start working now.

August, 22

I woke up to the sound of my little brother playing with my dog.
As soon as I open my eyes, Brian, a giant black lab, butt-lands on my face, making Damon laugh like crazy. I push Brian away turning him around to face me.

- You like it, huh? You wanna make your big sis uglier by making our poor doggie smash my face? - I grinned at him with a playful voice. - Brian, let's get him! - I tickled my brother so hard his cheeks went red.

After playing with Damon and Brian for God knows how long, my mom started freaking out, making me look at my wrist watch.

- Fudge! I'm late!

- Fudge...? - Damon looked at me, leaning his head to the side.

- You didn't hear me, okay? I said marshmallow. - I put my index finger in front of my mouth, begging him for silence.

- Brian, she said marshmallow, okay? - He scream-whispered to the dog while I was getting ready to go. It's really cute when you know someone who's so innocent they don't know how to whisper.

- Kids, I can't get dressed with you standing there.

- Why?

- I'm a big girl Damon, and you don't see big girls getting undressed unless you want to hear from ma. - I wink at my little brother, and he tries to wink back at me.

- Let's go Brian. You can't see big girls getting undressed. - He grabbed my dog by his collar and got out.

I finally got dressed, making my way to the kitchen with a smile on my face, which fades away as soon as I see my mother standing at the door, with a nervous look on her face.

- Winter, you're stepping over the boundaries.

- Ma, just chill. You look beautiful when you're angry, but you look even better when you smile... - My mom rolled her eyes, smiling at me. - Let me just grab something to eat.

I shoved an apple and a couple of cookies in my bag and then headed to the living room to kiss my brother and my dog goodbye.

- Why do you have to kiss the dog?

Oh, I forgot to tell you... my mom is afraid of germs and that makes me crazy.

- Brian is family too, isn't that true, my cute little canine brother? - I turned back to my dog, smashing his big cheeks.