Once they arrived at the Harpshire home, Joanne pulled Alanna aside into the oldest sister's room. When Alanna went to cry out, Joanne placed her hand over her sister's mouth.
"Hush, sister dearest," Joanne said with a sly smirk. Alanna let out a sigh of relief when Joanne released her. Joanne moved to lock her bedroom door and leaned against it to prevent anyone from entering.
"So ..." Joanne began, taunting her sister by dragging it out. Alanna sighed, perching herself on the end of Joanne's bed.
"What d'you want, Jo? I haven't got all day. You know Mum and Dad want to ask me how everything's been going at school and about my friends and--"
"You kissed that boy," Joanne cut her sister off. Alanna stopped, and to say she was surprised was an understatement.
"I-I have no idea what you're talking about," Alanna said, eyes wide as she tried to cover it up. Joanne moved across the room and knelt down in front of her sister. Alanna tried to keep it together, but it just wasn't her strength. "Okay, so I kissed Remus, so what?!"
"Ha! I knew it!" Joanne said as she jumped up. She began doing what Alanna could only assume was a victory dance. Alanna bit her lip.
"Are you going to tell Dad?" she asked in a small voice. Joanne stopped dancing and knelt down in front of Alanna again.
"Hey," she said softly, bringing Alanna's blue gaze to focus on her. "Not if you don't want me to."
Alanna gave Joanne a small smile and nodded. "That'd be nice, thanks."
Joanne smirked. "But still. I won!"
Alanna frowned. "You won what?"
The smirk faded from Joanne's face. "Oops ..."
Alanna stood up. "Joanne ... did you bet on this?"
"Guilty as charged," Joanne said quietly. Alanna glared at her older sister.
"Why would you do that?! Jo, this stuff is private!"
"It wasn't my idea, if that helps!" Joanne defended, not wanting to be at her younger sister's wrath. "It was Mel's idea! She bet me first!"
Alanna thought for a moment, a frown on her face. "How much did you bet?"
Joanne grinned. "Ten pounds."
Alanna glanced at her sister, thinking it over in her head for a few seconds. "Alright, I'll let this slide."
Joanne pumped her fist in the air.
"But I get half the profit," Alanna concluded, crossing her arms with a smug smirk on her face.
"And there's the catch," Joanne said, lowering her fist. "Why are you so mean?"
"Hey, I want what I want. Five pounds it enough to get me some nice food."
"Why do you want nice food when you can just get Mum to do the shopping for you?"
"Because Mum doesn't buy nice food," Alanna said in a 'duh' tone. "That's what mums do. They buy the gross healthy stuff and feed it to their kids while they go out with their husbands and buy all of this expensive restaurant dinner stuff. We get the crap food!"
Joanne laughed. "The younger ones get the gross food," she corrected her sister. "Emily complains all the time. See, Mel and I have this thing called a job. We earn money from it so we can--"
"I know what a job does!" Alanna snapped. She sighed in irritation.
"I think you need some sleep," Joanne murmured. "Go get some rest. I'll tell Mum and Dad that you were really tired from the train ride and you need to sleep it off."
Alanna sighed and nodded, pulling her hairband from around her ponytail. She blew her fringe out of her face and headed towards the door of the bedroom.
"Jo?" Alanna said as she opened the door.
"Hmm?" Joanne hummed as she fixed her hair in the mirror.
"I love you," Alanna said quietly. Joanne smiled at the reflection of her sister in the mirror and nodded.
"I love you too," she murmured. "Now go get some sleep, crankypants."
Alanna giggled and took off down to her own bedroom. Joanne chuckled as she put another bobby pin in her hair.
"That girl ..."
* * *
"Where's Alanna?" Harena questioned when she saw that only two of her daughters had come downstairs for dinner.
"Taking a nap," Joanne answered with a sigh. "She needed to sleep off the train ride."
Harena nodded. "Alright. Dig in, girls."
Emily clapped her hands and put a finger to her mouth. "Hmm ... what do I want?"
"Just take a roll and eat it," Joanne said, shoving a bread roll in her sisters open mouth. Emily spat it onto her plate, making Joanne laugh. "You're such a dweeb."
"Hey! Mum!"
"Don't call your sister a dweeb, Joanne," Harena scolded as she sat at the dining table. She sighed. "Stephan, come and eat dinner with your family, you lazy fool!"
"It's not my family when two of my daughters are missing!" Stephan called back. "I need Melanie and Alanna out there before I eat!"
"Mel's not gonna be home 'til after ten, Dad!" Joanne called. "Just come and have some food!"
Stephan made a very audible noise of frustration and stood up. He dragged his feet through the living room and the kitchen before finally seating himself at the head of the Harpshire dining table. He glanced from the left to the right, seeing where his second eldest and second youngest daughters were supposed to be seated before letting out a heavy sigh and hanging his head, slouching in his seat.
Harena chuckled at her husband's nature. "You're being overdramatic, Stephan. Come on, eat some food with your wife and daughters."
Stephan grabbed his forked and poked at his bread roll.
"Honey, you eat that with your hands," Harena told her husband. "Like this, here ..." She stood up and moved to the other end of the table. She picked up Stephan's bread roll and shoved it into his mouth. Stephan coughed and spluttered, spitting pieces of bread roll everywhere.
"Harena!"
"You won't eat!" Harena cried as Joanne and Emily laughed in their seats. Stephan spat out the last of his bread roll before glaring at his wife who had resumed her position at the other end of the table.
"Oh, it's on," he said, chuckling darkly as he picked up his mashed potato with his fork.
*
Alanna awoke to the sounds of screaming downstairs. She bolted upright and rushed downstairs, thinking someone was hurt.
"Mum? Dad?" she cried. However, the sight she was met with was definitely not what she was expecting.
Stephan and Emily had lifted the table onto its side and were using that as a barricade to shelter themselves from whatever Harena and Joanne were throwing at them. Joanne had taken refuge behind the breakfast bar in the kitchen while Harena had frozen midstep while she was obviously trying to get somewhere.
"What is going on?" Alanna asked in a quiet voice. Everyone had stopped what they were doing and were staring wide-eyed at Alanna. "What is this?"
"Um ..." Stephan hummed, trying to come up with a valid explanation. "We were taste testing the food," he said finally.
"Yeah," Emily said quietly. She took a bite of the bread roll she had been about to throw at her mother. "It's good." She gave Alanna a thumbs up.
Before Alanna could say anything, the Harpshire family heard the front door open and close.
"I'm home!" Melanie's voice rang out through the home. "Mum? Dad?"
"Alanna, get over here! Quick!" Joanne said. Alanna grinned devilishly and sped over behind the breakfast bar with Joanne. "Mum, hide!"
Harena quickly scurried behind the table next to her husband. When Melanie came in, the entire family opened fire. Food was flying everywhere, making Melanie scream. The family took that as a sign that she was hurt and Harena poked her head over the table.
"Did we heart you, honey?" she asked quickly, only her eyes visible to the second eldest Harpshire daughter. Melanie glanced down at her outfit before looking back up at her mother with a horrified look. "Sorry," Harena apologised. However, she soon regretted the apology as Melanie grinned evilly.
"It's so on."