School had been the same as always today, noisy and, boring. Yes yes, I know I am the same person who was all "school is awesome! I love school" just this morning. 

I mean school is still school,I still want to just shut my eyes and sleep during Math class. I want to sneak out during lunch with my friends to escape from the disgusting cafeteria food.

But still. School is better than home, anywhere else is better than home. It didn't always use to be like this. I didn't always dread going home. I didn't constantly check the time, counting down how many hours I had left before I had to go home and face my family, or just my mom in general.

I shook the thoughts out of my head, the bell had just rang, indicating the end of school. I packed my bags slowly, lazily pulling myself off my chair. I smiled and chorused a series of goodbyes to my classmates. Normally I would have gone home with my friends but it was Monday, which meant the Debate Team had its weekly meeting.

I walked to Marcia Phelps's class, Marcia, or Mars as I called her, was one of the few people in our group of friends who was in the Debate Team. Marcia wasn't book smart, but the girl was witty, headstrong, and did not like being proved wrong, and just like her nickname, the girl's mind was usually somewhere up in space, in her own world.

I picked up my pace when I saw Mars, waiting outside her classroom, weaving my way through the thick crowd of students, once in a while stopping for a brief second to greet the seniors or other classmates of mine. 

When I finally reached to where Mars was waiting, I noticed she was talking to a small group of juniors, happily chatting away.

"Jules! You're here! alright girls, gotta go. Catch up with you later alright?" She sent them a flirtatious wink making some of the girls roll their eyes in amusement while the rest giggled.

I rolled my eyes at her antics and smiled politely at the girls, I recognized a few of them, Summer Reynolds, Wong Fen Chun and other familiar faces that I couldn't put a name to. 

"Mars, lets get going, we're late and you know how Logan is" I pulled her away and she quickly fell into step beside me squealing excitedly 

"You will not believe what I just found out!"

 I rolled my eyes and smiled, humoring her. 

It was always like this with Mars, she was close with a lot of people in school and because she was so easy to talk to, people usually ended up spilling secrets and rumors to her. 

This usually resulted in her telling me in school or calling me at 3 am in the morning to tell me about which teacher got sacked for sleeping with which student from which school. None of these really excited me, but even if you made it clear to my best friend that you aren't listening, she will still continue to talk.

On the way to the designated room Mars told me about all the new rumors she had heard, half of which amused me, the rest I didn't quite think were real. 

"You know half of these rumors are probably not even true right?" I told her, she grinned "Probably, but  I only tell you because I know your'e not going to spill to anyone" I sighed, shaking my head is discouragement.

"Sorry we're late!" I yelled as soon as we walked through the door, every one looked up, I smiled apologetically at them, catching Logan's annoyed glare, I grinned sheepishly. 

Making my way towards him, Mars in tow "aww is Papa Bear upset?" Mars cooed, making me laugh and Logan frown.

Logan Castro, or as people in our friend group called him "Papa Bear" was that one other person from our friend group on the debate team, he was also the president of the debate team.

Logan did not appreciate tardiness and hastily pushed Mars away "sit down" 

"sorry papa bear" I said in a sing-song voice, reaching up to ruffle his blonde hair. But he swatted my hand away hastily and smirked at the offended look on my face"sit down you idiot"

So I, of course, did the mature thing and stuck out my tongue at him before finding my way to an empty seat beside Mars who was already making conversation with Justin Whatshisface from one of our classes.

"We will be taking part in an Inter-school Debate competition soon, the school we will be competing against has not been revealed to us yet, we will probably find out a few days ahead of the competition" Logan announced as he distributed sheets to everyone. Immediate chatter broke out in the room as everyone started discussing the topic.

I looked at the piece of paper I was holding and read the topic  "Is Euthanasia Justified" 

"I like the topic, you?" I asked, Mars nodded at me enthusiastically "its a good topic, I just hope we are arguing for the motion" 

"What school do you think we'll be debating against?" Justin whatshisface asked, looking a little concerned. Now that I thought about it, I think this was his first time debating with another schools and for some goddamned reason I just couldn't remember this guy's surname.

Mars gave him a shrug in response "No idea, lets just hope for the best" 

"Everyone, I want you to do your research, and have it prepared by next week's meeting. Understood?" Logan yelled over the chatter

~

It was 5:30 by the time I left school "wanna go get something to eat?" I asked Logan and Mars who were walking on either side of me, Mars shook her head " Mom will kill me if I get home late today, apparently we will be having a family night tonight" 

I nodded then turned to Logan "I don't feel like eating out tonight, wanna come over instead?Mom was talking about how she hasn't seen you in a while" 

I grinned happily, even clapping a little "ooh I love your mom's cooking!" 

Mars pouted "damn it, save me some cookies and bring them for me tomorrow will you?" she pulled her light brown curls into a ponytail as we walked to the bus stop.  "Nope!" I said popping the "p"  I walked in front of the two, jumping around childishly and singing "nO COOKIES FOOOR MArs!" I squealed as Mars broke into a run and started chasing me, bubbles of laugh escaping her. 

Logan followed behind us, shaking his head and smiling.

~

By the time we reached the Castro household, it was 6:15 and I was starving. 

"Mom I am home!!" Logan yelled as he shut the door behind us, "LILLIAN!! I AM HOMEE TOOOOO" I yelled, diving straight for the most comfortable couch.

The Castro household was warm and lively, it felt, looked, and smelled like a home. 

Logan dumped his bag beside mine and fell onto the couch, groaning.

"Tired?" I asked, turning to look at him. He nodded and ran his hands through his blond hair "very" 

I smiled sympathetically, Logan was the oldest of 3 siblings, the Castro household owned a small Cafe which Logan's father, Barney Castro ran. The Cafe was often very busy so Logan helped out during weekends, which meant he was exhausted on most Mondays.

"where are the twins?" I asked, looking around for the two Castro troublemakers, Sienna and Bailey Castro. 

The Castro twins were infamous in our neighbourhood and school, known for their antics. The girls were 14 and had pulled more pranks than I could count.

"They're at their friend's house, working on some group project apparently" 

Logan and I looked up to see Lillian, Logan's mother make her way out of the kitchen. I got up to give her a quick hug, and I was engulfed with warmth and the smell of freshly baked cookies. It was almost a reflex to hug Lillian every time I saw her. A habit I had picked up after spending so much time with the Castros. 

Logan took after his mother in terms of looks. They both had the same blond hair and kind brown eyes.  Logan had also inherited his gentle personality from her. 

Because Logan and I had been so close since childhood, many liked to speculate the relationship we had. But all those who saw us could tell our affection for each other was purely platonic. Logan was practically the older brother I never had.

It wasn't that Logan wasn't attractive, the boy was hot. He was one of the few popular boys in our school that any girl was ready to jump. But Logan paid more attention to his studies than he did to girls, he had only dated once before but it hadn't ended very well. Since then Logan was just focused in his studies and family.

~

By the time dinner was ready and served, the twins had returned. Sienna was obviously more fierce of the two. Although the two were practically attached to the hip and had the same dirty blonde hair and dark brown eyes, taking after their father. Their personality differed just the slightest, Bailey was younger by a minute and tended to be quieter than her sister who liked to speak her mind.

"So what exactly is this project you guys have?" Logan asked, looking suspiciously at the twins. I watched in amusement as the twins exchanged sly glances "Its an art project" Sienna responded, avoiding looking at Logan.

I almost laughed as I saw Logan narrow his eyes at the twins across the dining table where we sat, waiting for Lillian to sit with us before we started eating. 

"You girls don't take arts"

I sniggered at that, earning a glare from Logan and smiles from the twins. "Yes, but your friend does and she needed our help"  Bailey clarified, Logan opened his mouth to respond but I cut him off "Relax Papa Bear, let the girls have their fun!" 

"Yeahhhh, relaxxx Logann" Sienna teased, leaning over the table to pat an annoyed Logan's cheek" 

"girls, stop bothering my son" Lillian made her way towards the table, a tray of freshly baked cookies in her hand. 

"Tsk tsk, is that favouritism I hear mother?" Bailey asked, a cheeky tone in her voice which earned an amused eye roll from her mother. 

I sat at the table like I had for thousands of times and like always, I felt the acceptance and love. And it scared me a little that this feeling of warmth had become so unfamiliar to me.