"Come in," Lily smiled as she held the front door wide open. "Dinner's almost ready."

I walked into her house with my hands in my pockets, feeling awkward and out of place. Her house was a thousand times more impressive than mine. Mine was a dump, not an actual dump, but most of my friends did often refer to it as 'the shed.'

Lily's house was a mansion. I stared up at the giant, modern ceiling and scanned my eyes over the tiles that shone like pieces of crystals. The marble, white floor glistened as well; as though it had been polished until someone's hands had bled. To my left there was an archway into what looked like a giant library or study, with so many shelves of books that I actually had a bizarre urge to read. Adjacent to the study was another room that I couldn't quite see, but it linked to another archway which was smaller and more oval. To my right was an open doorway into an enormous sitting room with leather couches and a fancy, posh chandelier that hung above a flattened rug that also looked like someone had vacuumed it until their hands bled. I knew her parents were rich, they owned half of the real estate in town, but, this?

Lily was well and truly an uptown girl. 

It was all so clean. It smelt clean. It smelt like a large dose of air freshener, the kind my mother rinsed our 'shed' in when she had discovered me secretly smoking. Wasn't so secret anymore, though. 

 I felt the urge to take my shoes off, so I did, and Lily collected them, looking amused. She placed them beside the door and then skipped past me. So, I take it I'm supposed to follow her then? It was my first time in her house, first time meeting her parents, but also, the first time I'd seen her since we slept together a few days prior. It had been three months since our first date, and things progressed quickly, more than quickly. By that point I think I knew everything there was to know about her, she wasn't exactly a closed book.

I rubbed my hands, still glancing around as I shuffled my feet down the passageway and into a noisy, body-filled dining room. I walked in on laughter between her family that were sat in their places, drinking and smiling, but then it fell quiet.

"Everyone, this is Jason," Lily introduced, as she bounced at the end of the long, glass table. "My boyfriend."

All their eyes glared up, evaluating me with suspicion and stillness. Rosie scowled, Davina was disinterested after a few seconds, Sarah was dishing out plates and paused halfway to stare then carried on and David, who I had been the most terrified about meeting, surprised me the most.

"Well don't just stand there," he said in a chirpy mood. "Come join the family."

A smile lit up Lily's face and she pulled a chair out next to Davina, I walked around the table and slipped into the one next to her, directly opposite Rosie, who stared straight into my eyes with a piercing look of resentment.

"So you're official now?" she whispered, narrowing her eyes. "Cute."

I swallowed and looked away. Lily was whispering something into her younger sister's ear and they both began laughing. 

"So, Jason," David coughed out. "Lily tells us that you want to be a boxer."

"That's correct," I nodded. Looking into his hazel, careful eyes made my blood pressure rise. "I've been training for two years now."

"He's good with his hands." Lily blurted out.

I glared at her along with everyone else and she hung her head down with a smirk. Thank fully, David didn't get the reference, if ever there was one, and he continued. 

"Is it an easy field to get into?" he asked.

"Um, depends," I rubbed my head. "With the right training and commitment, I guess so. I've had three major fights so far which I haven't lost, so I'm doing something right."

David chuckled, lifting a bottle of beer to his lips which left a ball of froth over his mustache. He wiped it with a napkin and then Sarah came back into the dining room carrying a large platter of meat that resembled a full sized pig. 

"I hope you're all hungry," she said while leaning across the middle of the table to drop the enormous platter. I heard a splintering crunch as it left her hands and I was surprised the table hadn't cracked in two. 

"Would you like a beer, Jason?" David asked me.

"He's driving, Dad." Lily said.

"One not hurt," he replied, glancing up at Sarah. "Bring the lad a beer."

"I'm okay I-" 

I started to say, but David silenced me with a look. "Nonsense," he said. "No need to be shy in this house. Sarah, a beer."

"Give me a minute," she snarled back at him while cutting slices of hedgehog bread. "Unless you want this carving knife in your throat."

She stabbed the knife through the air with a grin and David held his hands up, meeting my eyes across the table. "I can't argue with that," he said. "Women, aye."

"Yep," I said. "Women."

I looked to Lily in sudden fear and she smiled. "You're doing fine," she mouthed to me. "Relax."

I wasn't feeling fine and I wasn't feeling relaxed. My forehead was becoming sweaty, my fingers kept slowly rubbing together across my legs without my consent, and I couldn't stop tapping my foot in agitation. I wasn't even this nervous before my very first fight, and I was pretty damn nervous. This was like anxiety, nerves, frustration, awkwardness and incurable fear all rolled into one, multiplied by an infinite number. 

"Have you ever had hedgehog bread, Jason?" Sarah asked me suddenly.

"No," I said. "I heard it's delicious, though."

"It's more for. . . our kind of people."

"Mum!" Lily roared. 

Sarah dropped her eyes, carving the last piece and began passing it around. She vanished through a doorway and I held my breath.

Rosie was the one that passed me a plate, and as I took it from her hands she gripped it stronger, playing an immature game of who can keep their hands on the plate the longest. I pulled it from her fingers. A smug smirk fell across her face.

Sarah returned with a bottle of beer that I didn't ask for, and she couldn't even give it to me herself. Lily dropped it down next to my plate, nudging my shoulder purposely.

"Dig in!" Sarah exclaimed, pulling out a chair at the head of the table. "Before it goes cold."

Hands were suddenly everywhere, reaching across the table with eagerness. Pieces of meat were being stabbed with forks, vegetables were rolling from bowls, demands and orders were being thrown around the table as everyone wanted something too far for them to reach. 

I just sat there. In a stupid, frozen, trance. 

Predictably, Lily noticed. She put her own cramped plate down onto my mat and nudged my shoulder again, turning to use my empty plate to do it all over again.

"Thank you." I whispered at her.

"Think of it like, an exam," she whispered back. "It's not as bad as what you make it out to be in your head."

"I don't know," I said. "My head is pretty accurate."

"Is something wrong with my food, Jason?" Sarah asked, making the table fall quiet.

"N-no," I stammered. I picked up my super-shiny silverware and began cutting a piece of meat. "It looks great."

"What do your parents do?" 

"My Mum works at a restaurant down town and my Dad is a plumber."

Sarah eyed David for a moment, munching her mouth sideways with a glare that I knew too well. 

"Which restaurant does she work at?" David asked me.

"Alejandro's," I told him. "The Italian."

"So, she serves tables?" Sarah mumbled. "Must be exciting."

Lily dropped her fork and glared at her. But Sarah carried on eating, showing no sign of attempting to make that statement lighter.

"She enjoys it," I said. "She always has."

"I've always said that if my dancing didn't work out that I'd open my own restaurant." Lily said happily while kicking her leg into mine. 

"That wasn't on your list." I smiled at her.

She shrugged, pushing a pea into her mouth. "Lists change."

"Yes, well, your dancing will work out," Sarah said. "And if, by any chance it doesn't, then you're going to law school like we discussed."

There it was. Law school. Those dreaded two words that the entire embassy of posh people believe to be a God given right for their children. I was suddenly angry. I didn't want to be angry at her mother, but I couldn't hide it. My chest pumped in and out, my hand squeezed into a fist below the table and I tried my very absolute best not to throw her extremely over cooked pork at her.

"Good luck with that," Rosie said to Lily. "I'll think about you when I'm having the time of my life in Europe."

"Because that's going to happen," Sarah snickered. "Keep dreaming, girl."

"You're not dictating my life," Rosie said back. "As soon as I'm eighteen, I'm out of here."

"To go where? The college of four brain cells?" Sarah laughed. 

Rosie narrowed her eyes at her mother. "Must you constantly resent me?"

"Yes! Do you know how embarrassing it is to have two sixteen-year-old daughters and not one of you is doing well in school?"

"I am." Davina chirped up. It was the first time I had heard her speak, her voice was deep for a twelve-year-old girl. 

"Lily's progress isn't so bad," Sarah said. "But you're just ruining your future."

Fury flushed in Rosie's cheeks, she pushed her chair back and stood with a tremble. "Because Lily is so perfect isn't she? So perfect that she's having sex right under your noses."

My eyes widened and so did Lily's. The first eyes I met were David's and I could have swore he killed me right there and then. My heart stopped beating, the life drained from my face, I must had been dead. Or dying. I wanted to be.

"What is your problem?" Lily shouted at her. "What did I ever do to you?"

"It's true?" Sarah gasped out, her eyes scorning Lily. 

"Of course it's true," Rosie laughed. "We're twins. Didn't you think I'd work it out?"

"Alright, everyone just calm down." David said gently. 

"I should go." I whispered, getting to my feet.

Lily tugged down onto my arm, yanking me back down. "You're not going anywhere," she said, then turned to direct her anger toward her mother. "Yes, it's true. Jason and I slept together. And you can't say a damn thing about it because you were only a couple of years older when you had us."

"We was married!" Sarah shouted. "We was a lot more mature than you. I'm very disappointed in you Lily!"

"Are you really that delusional?" Lily barked. "What the hell do you think Rosie's doing with Luke when she stays over at his house every weekend?"

Rosie laughed at her. "They know I'm having sex, but you're the perfect one."

Okay, now that was definitely my queue to leave. I turned my body to rise from my seat, but Lily pushed her arm back down to mine again, not even looking at me. I fell back down into the seat and the table rocked slightly.

"Grow up," Lily snarled. "Or better yet, go to Europe and don't come back."

"I've had it with this house!"

Rosie stormed out of the dining room and screamed across the house. Sarah lifted herself up, following the screams into the kitchen.

Lily turned to me and smiled. "Sorry about that," she put a piece of pork into her mouth and began chewing. "Meat's good, hmm?"

"Mhm." I agreed. 

I don't know what the hell I had let myself in for, her life was complicated and dramatic. I couldn't decide on whether to run a thousand miles or continue eating. What was a normal reaction to that? What would anyone else do?

I needed an instruction manual for this family. I needed to revise, hard. Lily was right, it was exactly like an exam. 

And who the hell knew if I had passed?