When the glowing numbers of my alarm clock flicked over to 5AM I sat up, grabbing a hoodie off the floor and pulling it over my head, welcoming the warmth it brought.

I couldn't bear lying in bed and waiting for sleep that wasn't going to come, so I stood up, got a hold of the corner of my duvet and dragged it with me down the hall and to the lounge room.

Once dumping the duvet in a heap on the couch, I padded through the house and back to the kitchen, flipping the kettle on and sitting on a stool to wait for the water to boil.

I rested my heavy head on my arms which were on the cool marble of the counter.

Why can't I sleeeeeep?

It wasn't the first night I hadn't been able to sleep and from past experiences I knew it wouldn't be the last.

The kettle made a 'ding' noise signalling that it had boiled, so I got off the stool and climbed up on the bench to get a mug, my jumper rising a bit as I stretched.

I jumped back to the floor, got a tea bag and then filled my mug with hot water.

After a minute I took the teabag out and put it in the trash, then made my way slowly back to the living room.

I turned the news on then collapsed onto the couch.

I snuggled under my incredibly warm duvet and sipped on my peppermint tea as I waited for the sun to rise.

After an hour of depressing 'breaking news' stories I heard someones footsteps in the house and I heard the kettle turn on.

I set my empty mug - which I had been holding only for warmth - down on the coffee table and untangled myself from the covers.

Walking to the kitchen, I saw my father sitting at the counter with a coffee in one hand and the newspaper in front of him.

He looked up when I walked in, his light brown hair now streaked with gray messily sticking out at all angles.

"Good morning, kiddo," he smiled sleepily as I went around the counter and poured another cup of tea.

"Morning Dad," I responded, pulling my hair out of my ponytail then going back to sit opposite him.

Lines around Dad's eyes appeared as he frowned. "What are you doing up so early?"

I shrugged. "Couldn't sleep."

Dad nodded in understanding and his eyes went back to the paper, scanning the words. I doubt he was actually taking any of the information in.

Sometimes I think he just read the paper because it was what normal father's do.

"The news is so boring," Dad groaned after a few minutes of silence, closing the paper and throwing it to the other end of the bench.

The sun was coming through the window and I smiled. Hopefully it wouldn't be as cold as it was yesterday.

I laughed at my father's immaturity and he frowned, jutting his bottom lip out like a five year old.

"Why are you laughing at me?" He asked in a kids voice, making me laugh even more.

Dad smiled widely as Kye rounded the corner to the kitchen, already dressed in dark jeans, a white t-shirt and a hoodie that was hanging open.

I looked at the clock above the stove and it read 7:30. Kye usually isn't out of bed until at least 8.

"Huh, Kye? What are you doing up?" I asked as my sleepy headed little brother sat on the counter and rested his head on his arms.

"Stupid sun is too bright," he mumbled.

Dad laughed at him. "Awh is poor Kye not getting enough sleep because the sun is too nice and warm and bright?"

Kye's groan was muffled under his arms and he somehow managed to flip Dad the bird.

"Hey that's not very nice," Dad said with a smirk, taking a sip of coffee.

I decided to leave the boys to their conversation so I walked to my room, got out a pair of dark jeans with rips in them, a light grey flowy singlet and my jacket, then walked across the hall to the bathroom to have a shower.

When I got out I dressed quickly then walked back to my room to put on my Explorer socks. Slipping into my boots as I walked, I went back to the kitchen where the boys were still sitting, except now Kye was sitting up properly and eating bacon and eggs.

It was only 8am and we still had a good fourty minutes until we had to leave so I did a bit of tidying, including putting my duvet back on my bed.

As I tidied I tried to stay near the windows as much as possible. The sun was streaming in through them and there was not a cloud in the sky, a huge change from yesterday's weather.

Thank God.

I don't think I could've handled another day of that much coldness...

At half past eight I got my bag from my desk chair and slung it over my shoulder, getting my keys off my desk and walking back to the kitchen where Kye was still eating breakfast.

"Kye we're leaving in ten," I told him, putting my bag on the ground and sitting beside him.

He groaned but finished the last of his breakfast then dissapeared to his room.

"I don't know why you do that to him when you won't end up leaving until quarter to nine," Dad said, putting Kye's dishes in the dishwasher.

"In ten minutes it will be quarter to nine," I told him, with a tired smile.

I could feel the lack of sleep starting to affect me but I just rubbed my eyes and got up.

Moving around a lot helped me stay not tired.

I walked around the bench and wrapped my arms around Dad's neck. "Bye Dad," I kissed his cheek then walked to the entryway.

"Kye come on!" I shouted.

A few seconds later Kye came around the corner with his bag over his shoulder and his phone in his hand.

We walked to my dark red Hyundai i30 and got in, enjoying the nice feeling of the sun.

The wind was still cold but the sun cancelled it out, making it very pleasnt.

We got to school with five minutes to spare. I said goodbye to Kye then went to my locker, just getting the books I needed and taking them to my first class; Physical Education Unit 1.

I walked into the room as the bell rang and sat down at the back of the classroom, next to a glowering Brooklyn.

I figured if she wanted to talk about it she wouldn't hesitate, so I got out my pen and started doodling on the back of my notebook.

"Are you and Max a thing?" I heard Brook ask, so I turned to see who she was talking to.

Funnily enough she was looking directly at me. Well, glaring actually.

"Uh, no?" I phrased as a question, frowing.

Why would she think that Max and I are 'a thing'?

The idea of that made me want to be sick.

"Really?" She shot me a dubious look and I returned the look.

"Did you not see him annoy the crap out of me yesterday? Did you not see me be annoyed?"

Brook looked at me guiltily. "Sorry, I just thought you two were together."

She paused for a moment as the teacher walked in.

"Wait, does that mean I can go for him?" She whispered across the aisle and I raised my eyebrow at her poor taste in boys.

"Go ahead," I whispered back, looking towards the front of the room.

PE and photography flew by and soon enough it was recess.

Unfortunately at my school recess only went for ten minutes, so I only really had time to go to my locker, get my books and walk to class.

When I got to my locker I saw August leaning against it lazily, with his books tucked casually under his arm.

He was only wearing a t-shirt and jeans and I wondered for a moment if he was cold, but then I remembered that it was actually sunny and the classrooms were warm anyway.

"Hey August," I smiled up at him and he moved out of the way so that I could get to my locker.

"What's up Rylie?"

I shrugged then returned the question, just being polite.

To be honest, no one cares what anyone else was up to. It is just another version of 'how are you'.

"Not much, just really excited for Jap!" He exclaimed with a bit too much enthusiasm for someone who doesn't like Japanese. "It should be interesting."

"Why?" I asked, shrugging off my coat and shoving it into my locker. I then got my books out of my locker and closed it.

As we started walking August just shrugged. I narrowed my eyes at him as he held the door open for me and he sighed. "Fine. Max is in our class and I just find your behaviour amusing around him."

Hell no.

Dear God no, can Max please please please not be in the class?

I groaned and ran a hand through my light, loose curls.

"Why do you hate him so much?" he asked with a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"Where do I begin?" I scowled, walking into the language block.

August frowned. "Is it just because he reminds you of-"

"No. It's nothing to do with him. And I thought we agreed to never bring that up again." I interrupted him with a scowl.

"Sorry," Gus looked at me guiltily and I sighed.

"That's okay. Sorry I'm exhausted," I apologized for snapping at him. I truly was exhausted and it was getting to me.

I walked into the room to find Seth and Tessa sitting at the back of the room together, deep in conversation.

Nate was sitting by himself so I went to sit by him while August sat on the other side of the classroom.

All the desks were set up in two's, so you always had to sit next to someone.

This classroom was very small which was good for this class because there were only six of us. It was just a coincidence that we were all in the same group.

"Hey Nate," I greeted him. He didn't look up from his page as he said "Hello Rylie."

I leaned over to see why he was so conceantrated on his page and I saw that he was in the midst of writing something.

Reading it, I realised they were song lyrics to Not A Bad Thing.

I smiled then got out my notebook and continued my drawing on the back of it that I had started in PE.

I was drawing a smile with dimples and I was just up to shading in the lips when the teacher walked into class.

"Goodmorning everyone!" Mr Cole greeted us from the front of the room.

Mr Cole was a young teacher with dark brown hair and stylish glasses. Today he was wearing dress pants and a shirt with a tie, but the sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. He was also one of the best teachers I had because he understood and remembered what it was like to be in high school.

We all muttered our greetings as Max opened the door to the room, slightly red faced.

"Sorry, I couldn't find the room," he smiled at Mr Cole who returned the smile.

"No problem. Max, isn't it?" He asked, holding out his hand for Max to shake it, which he did.

"Yes, Max Harris."

"Well nice to meet you. You can take a seat next to August over here and we can get started. Have you done much Japanese before?"

He sat down in the seat beside August and smirked. "Hai! Ninenkan nihongo ni sundeimashita."

I rolled my eyes. He could've just said that it English.

Show off...

"Try not to rip his head off," Nate whispered beside me, looking genuinely worried that I would do something of the sort.

And maybe I would. Who knows?

I smiled angelically. "Not making any promises."

Mr Cole had moved on to writing our work on the board, for the time before lunch.

Unfortunately the rest of the day was Japanese.

If you were still doing a language in year ten then you had a class for four periods on a Tuesday, from period three to six.

I had been doing it for a few years but it was a bit too much Japanese for one day.

Thanks to Nate who was taking my mind off my annoyance towards Max - I think Nate was worried that I would actually do something - the class went by really quickly and in no time it was lunch.

We all left our books in the room and walked to the cafeteria together. Tessa and Seth were way ahead of the four of us, the four being myself, August, Nate and Max.

"Hey Nate," August started. "I still have your History book in my locker. Do you want to come with me to grab it?"

"Yeah that'd be great! See you guys at the cafeteria!" Nate exclaimed and with that, they left me to walk with the self richeous prick.

Max moved to stand beside me so I rolled my eyes and walked faster, but he had longer legs so he matched my pace.

"In a hurry are we?" He asked, the ever-present smirk lighting his stupid face.

"To get away from you, yes," I responded sweetly, turning the corner to walk out of the language block.

"Why would you want to do that?" He asked innocently, holding open the door for me.

For a moment my brain went well that was nice of him. But then I corrected myself.

He was just doing it to annoy me in some way or another. I'm sure.

"Because you're a pretentious douche?" I asked as if it were obvious, using my sister's description.

Max just smirked even wider, ruffling his black hair with his hand. "Awh I'm sure you can come up with better insults than that!"

I frowned, thinking. "You have a very sympathetic face. It has everyone's sympathy," I told him, and he laughed.

"Come on, surely you've got better!"

"If I wanted to kill myself I'd climb up your ego and jump to your IQ," I told him, remembering my favourite insult.

Max burst laughing as he opened the door to the main building. "You still don't want to be friends?"

I shook my head. "Not if my life depended on it!"

We were nearly at the cafeteria when I saw a girl with long, bleached hair, wearing a halter top and a mini skirt. She was leaning against the wall and batting her eyelashes while looking at Max.

Seriously?? It is freaking winter!! Put some clothes on!!

I went silent as she stepped in front of Max's path, putting her hand on her hip and batting her eyelashes so much that it looked like she was having an epileptic seizure.

My plan was to keep walking but Max caught my arm and pulled me back.

He was truly trying to torture me, wasn't he?

Why couldn't he just let me goooo?

I groaned quietly as the girl started talking.

"Hi there," she said in a voice that sounded like it belonged to a baby. I don't see why so many girls think it is attractive to talk like a toddler. Do they really think guys find that attractive? "Max isn't it?" She asked, still batting her eyelashes with a coy smile on her face.

"Yeah..." He trailed, confused.

She held out a hand to him and he shook it. "I'm Sascha. I realised your new and wondered if you needed some help around the school?"

Max looked from his hand to this girls face, back to his hand, then back to her face. "Thanks Sascha but I'm going to have to pass. I already have someone to do that," he put on a fake smile as he looked to me, his eyes begging for me to help him.

And because I wasn't a total bitch I decided I would. "Yeah sorry Sascha. Mr Cole asked that I show Max around if he was unsure. I wouldn't really want to dissapoint him." I put on my best apologetic face and she frowned.

"Ugh you are such a loser. It won't kill you if you let me show Max around. It's not like it's going to affect your grades if your teacher find out. Oh em gee," she ranted.

I was not expecting that, but at the same time I wasn't in the least bit surprised. She was a bitch and she wasn't going to be nice to me, so I wasn't going to be nice back.

Just as I opened my mouth to respond, Max started talking. "Look bitch. I wouldn't want you to show me around the school because quite frankly I wouldn't want to be seen with you. And really? It's winter! Put some fucking clothes on!!"

I choked back a laugh and put my hand over my mouth as her mouth popped open in surprise.

"Uh, eh-scusee me?" She asked and I just rolled my eyes.

I put my hands on my thighs and talked as if I were explaining to a toddler. "He doesn't want you to show him around. He called you a bitch. Do you know what that means?"

She looked as if she had just been slapped, but then regained her composure and without any further words she stalked off.

"You're going to need to wash your hand," I informed him, thinking of the handshake.

Eugh...

Max nodded with a frown. "I know."

After a moment I looked up at Max and we both burst laughing.

"Oh my God I can't believe that just happened!" Max said, trying to catch his breath.

I was still laughing so I just nodded as we walked through the doors to the cafeteria.

"Hold on, why did you help me?" He asked, his green eyes glowing of excitement.

I rolled my eyes. "Because, believe it or not, I'm not a total bitch. I like helping people."

He smiled a genuine, all-teeth-showing, smile that showed the dimples that weren't there when he smirked. "Well thank you."

We just arrived at the table where Seth, Tessa, Brooklyn, Olly, Isaac and Chase were all seated.

Seth and Tessa were off in their own little world, as per usual, and I wondered idly when Seth was going to ask her out. I knew he was going to because he'd talked to me about it, but he hadn't yet.

Isaac and Olly were clearly in the midst of a discussion as Olly was scribbling words down at a fast pace, then showing them to Isaac who would laugh and respond.

Brooklyn was looking at Max so I decided to be a good friend and sit inbetween Leah and Chase. That way Max would either have to sit next to Brook or up the other end of the table by Seth and Tessa.

I smiled at Leah but she was too busy doing some sort of homework to notice.

"Hey Rylie," Chase smiled, his blonde hair flipping to the side when he turned to look at me.

"Hey Chase! How was class?" I asked as he took a bite of his hamburger.

I usually didn't eat lunch at school because I was never hungry, but I skipped breakfast this morning so I was getting peckish.

"It was good. Aren't you going to get something to eat?" Chase asked, almost as if he were reading my mind.

Or maybe he had caught me staring at the food on his plate.

"Nah I'm not that hungry," I lied, playing with the turquoise pendant hanging from the thin, black rope around my neck.

Chase clearly saw through my lie because he grabbed the apple of his tray. "Here. I'm not going to eat it."

I was about to refuse but I thought better of it. My stomach would be grumbling all through Japanese and I didn't want that to happen. Again.

"Thanks," I smiled appreciatively as I took the apple from his hand and took a bite.

August and Nate showed up then, taking their seats at the other end of the table next to Seth and Tessa.

"Issac," Nate called to his brother. Isaac's head snapped up and he frowned. "What?"

"Did you tell them?" Nate asked, and Isaac looked as if he just remembered something as he shook his head.

"Alright. Well everyone," Nate started, getting everyone's attention. "Our family has two cabins up in Butterfly Forest and Mum and Dad volunteered it for the weekend for us to use. So we were wondering if any of you wanted to come along."

Ooh that sounds like fun!!!

"When would we leave?" Seth asked and I could tell the whole group wanted to go, but a few people were frowning.

"Well because we have Friday off for Labour Day, we were thinking of leaving Friday morning," Isaac said.

"Ugh I can't come. I'm going to see family," August said with a frown.

"Yeah I can't either. We're going away," Chase added.

"Alright, let's just go around the table and say who can go and who can't," Nate said and I figured it would be easier to do that.

"So August?" Nate asked.

"Nope."

"Tessa?"

"I'll have to ask my parents."

"Seth?"

"Yeah same, I'll have to ask."

"Olly?"

He nodded with enthusiasm.

"Isaac can obviously go. Brook?"

"Nah there's a party here I want to go to."

I felt the urge to roll my eyes. Sometimes I wondered why Brooklyn still hung out with us. It's not as though she was best friends with any of us and she always did other stuff instead of going out with us.

I didn't really care either way, but it was puzzling.

"Okay," Nate continued. "Max?"

"I'm in," Max smiled.

"Leah?"

She nodded with her head still focussed on her textbook, making me smile.

"Rylie?"

"Yeah, I'll ask," I responded.

"And Chase?"

"Nah I can't unfortunately."

"Okay that settles it. If you all can text me or let me know by the end of tomorrow so we can figure out stuff with cars. Also you'll have to bring your own food," Nate explained and we all nodded.

Yay, I finally have something I can look forward too!!

The bell rang so I got up to go to class. I would have walked with everyone else but I needed to go to the bathroom, so I told them I'd see them in class.

I walked out of the bathroom and turned a corner to go outside so that I could get to the language block again but as I turned the corner, I saw a young girl with black hair trip over, her pencils spilling out of her pencilcase and onto the floor.

Without thinking about it I bent down and started to help collect the variety of pens, pencils and highlighters.

Once the floor was clear I handed them back to the girl. You could tell she was in year seven by the way she kept her head down, meaning she would have only been thirteen at the most.

We both stood up as she balanced her books in her arms. She looked at me with green eyes that were shockingly familiar. "Thank you so much," she gushed, smiling.

"No problem," I responded with a smile as well, then walked past her and through the doors to go outside.

I walked lesuirely to class as the sun felt too nice on my back to pass up the opportunity. Plus, it's not like Mr Cole was going to care if I was late.

I eventually got to the classroom and Mr Cole had already written the work on the board and was now just talking at the front of the room.

I slipped through the door as quietly as possible.

"You're late," Mr Cole pointed out.

Thanks Captain Obvious!

"Yeah sorry. Saving kittens, helping the helpless. Someone has to do it," I shrugged taking my seat beside Nate.

The class laughed, including Mr Cole and he waved the matter away with his hand.

As usual, Japanese was ridiculously boring. For the entire lesson we were copying out kanji, then writing out their meanings in hiragana and English.

It wasn't as bad as it would have been usually though, because we were all talking about the trip on the weekend while August was sulking that he couldn't go.

The final bell rang sounding the end of school. I walked out of the classroom and walked by myself to my locker as everyone else's lockers were at the other end of the school.

I got my jumper out of my locker and shrugged it on, then got the books I thought I might need and put them in my bag.

Slinging my bag over my shoulder I shut my locker then made my way out to my car.

Kye was already standing in front of it and he smiled when he saw me.

"Hey big sis! How was school?" He asked, much more cheerfully than the morning.

Then again, he wasn't a morning person. None of my family were, excluding my Dad.

"It was pretty good, and you?" I asked, getting into the car.

When I sat down a sharp pain shot through my head. I winced and Kye clearly noticed.

"Are you okay?"

I took a deep breath as I did my seatbelt. "Yeah, just a sleep headache." I told him, feeling the sharp pain settling into my temples. Clearly it wasn't going anywhere any time soon.

"I don't know why you call them sleep headaches. You should call them anti-sleep headaches," Kye explained, probably trying to distract my but it wasn't working.

I reversed out of the carpark and got on to the main road.

"Yeah I guess," I shrugged, keeping my hands locked on the steering wheel.

"Rylie maybe you should go back to the sleeping tablets," Kye suggested, sounding worried.

I shook my head. "They don't work anymore."

Kye frowned as I turned left.

In a few minutes we were home and I all but ran out of the car, through the house and to the kitchen, pulling the painkillers off the top of the fridge and filling a glass of water. I put the tablets in my mouth and downed them with a big gulp of water.

As much as I liked to think that I didn't need painkillers, I didn't want the same thing happening as last time.

Kye came through the house and straight to the kitchen, concern lining his features.

"Rylie go to bed. If you shut the curtains you know it will be dark and you have to try. I'll wake you for tea," Kye instructed me. In times like these he sounded more like an older brother than a younger one.

"Fine but if you don't wake me for dinner I'm allowed to kick you ass," I told him and he choked back a laugh but nodded.

I turned on my heel and went to my bedroom.

I closed the door behind me and I was suddenly drained of all energy. I pulled my curtains shut and replaced my jeans with cotton shorts in the dark.

Walking over to my bed I tied my hair up into a ponytail and got under the cover, resting my head on the pillow.

My headache became a dull throb behind my temples as the painkillers kicked in and not long after I fell asleep.