A Single Kiss

Prologue

My Life Before Danny – year 6

Where was Cody? He should have been home by now.

I think I've made fifty laps of this room pacing, waiting for him. Erin my baby sister was crying in her room across the hall but I didn't dare go and get her, I bit my finger nail, and listened to my parents arguing in the kitchen. This had been going on for a few months but tonight was the worst one yet. I paced around one more lap when I smelt takeaway chips from my window. Rushing over I looked out, almost throwing my body out in the process.

"Cody? Is that you?"

Looking down I saw my twin brother standing beside the pipe that ran down our house, a white plastic bag hanging from his arm.

"Mare! I'm climbing up, grab Erin and then we can eat."

Cody grabbed the pipe and began to climb, with a nod I creeped into the hallway, something smashed and brought me to a halt, mum and dad were still fighting, their shouts were so quick that I couldn't understand what they were saying over the top of one another, not that I really wanted to know what they were shouting about anyway.

Opening Erin's door as quietly as I could, I could hear my sister's cries die down. "Mare?" she whimpered, my heart broke to see her tiny face look so hurt.

"Hey Small Fry, come on," I picked her up out of her cot, "Cody has bought us some dinner." Erin's small but chubby arms wrapped themselves around my neck, and she held on tight, it was almost like she was afraid to let me go.

I walked back to my room with Erin clutching my neck. Cody had moved my desk from its spot by the wall so it was acting as a table for us and my bed, our chairs. The plastic plates, tomato sauce and box of hot chips was already set up. The school clutter that was normally covering my desk was now in a neat pile on my floor.

Cody and I go to Wolonga Primary, with my best friend Gemma, we're all in year six, now when I say Gemma is my best friend, I really mean that she is my only friend, I used to have more but then the bullying started.

It started when this girl who I thought was my friend told me that Cody was spreading my secrets to everyone in the grade, and I believed her, Abbey Cole was a good friend of mine, so I didn't question her, but she made a fool out of me.

Gemma was the one that figured out it had been Abbey telling everyone my secrets.

The teasing reached its peak after my movie date with my crush Nate Shall, he was popular and the best friend of Drew Macroy, he was Abbey's boyfriend.

"You know how excited I was about Nate asking me out," I said to Cody, who was stuffing his face with as many chips as he could, "but it was horrible, he basically ignored me all night, I mean I know that you can't really talk through a movie but before and afterwards he ignored me."

"He's just a dick Mare, I wish I could have stopped this."

"There is nothing you could have done Cody." Pulling my legs up to my chest, I pushed my dinner away from me.

"You're not eating again." Cody pointed to my plate, "Mare, I know this isn't a healthy meal but you have to eat some of it at least."

"I'm just not hungry." Which wasn't true, I was actually really hungry, I hadn't actually eaten all day but if I stopped eating the rumours about me being pregnant would go away, because I would be skinny!

Cody didn't say anything, he and Erin ate the rest of their meal in silence, none of us knowing what to say.

Once Erin was done, she toddled her way over a corner in my room where all of my stuffed toys were. "How can they ignore her?" I asked.