Rule 6 (Not proofread, please ignore any mistakes as I will fix them on my final edit, thanks).

            Sid had given me a lift and wished me luck when she'd dropped me off back at the flat. I was going to need more than luck, even a miracle would be cutting it slim.

            Melinda's sudden appearance was bad for three reasons. One: With her here, my chances of getting Ash's job offer had plummeted. Two: She would probably go and feedback to my parents if she found out that I wasn't going college. And three: If she and Ash were to get together, I'd never get rid of her.

            When I opened the door to the flat, I heard nothing but my sister's chuckles emanating from the kitchen. I rolled my eyes and started towards the living room, unsurprised when neither of them were in view. If they were naked, sprawled across the kitchen counters, I was not only going to burn the kitchen, but also disown Melinda as my sister.

            They weren't having sex on the counter, but merely having a cup of coffee and a chat. Well, so it seemed.

            Melinda was a pretty much polar opposite to me, making me question that I was even part of the family. I had light brown hair with an olive skin tone, whereas she was pale and blonde with a tall, slender figure and perfect features. Her green eyes met mine and her expression dropped.

            "I thought you'd be in college," she sniffed. Crap, I hadn't thought of that.

            "Teacher is sick, I've got the lesson off. What're you doing here?" I was always a good liar as a kid and it was one of my only talents.

            "I've come up to spot check and I have a convention to visit on the outskirts of Manchester. Dev said it would be okay for me to stay with you for a few days," she said with a shrug. I was staring at her in disbelief. Dev was in for a slow and painful death.

            "Where do you intend on sleeping?" I questionned. Ash grinned and threw his arm over her shoulder.

            "She could always stay in with me," he chided and Melinda smiled, leaning into him.

            "Get me a bucket," I scoffed and Ash smirked.

            "If you want to stay in my room with me and your sister have your room, that's fine with me, love," he drawled. Without any further words, I turned on my heels and paced back into my room with a grunt.

            I didn't leave the comforts of my tiny sanctuary until I heard Dev come through the front door. When he did, I peered out into the passage and beckoned him into my bedroom.

            "Well, that wasn't creepy," he muttered when he was safety inside with the door shut behind him. I swatted his chest and he frowned.

            "What was that for?!" he exclaimed.

            "Letting Melinda stay here!" Dev sighed and leaned back against my door.

            "She's family too, Al," he reminded and I waved my hand dismissively.

            "Not close family, Dev." He just raised an eyebrow and shook his head.

            "No, but family all the same. We'll just have to pretend that you're going to college and I'll take you down to the garage with me," he offered. I nodded, breathing out through my lips.

            "What about Ash?"

            "What about him?" Dev asked.

            "He's all over her like a rash," I said. Dev just let out a bark of laughter and moved to open my door.

            "Well good luck to her. Oh, and she's going to be sleeping in your room," he added before slipping out of the doorway and into the passage.

            "No, she bloody well isn't!" I hissed, moving to prevent him walking away from me. Dev just raised an eyebrow at me with an amused smile.

            "Well she's not sleeping in Ash's room. Because, well, let's be honest, I don't want him banging my cousin. She's not sleeping in my room because I pay rent," he continued and then pointed to me. "You pulled the short straw."

            "I pay rent!" I retorted but he just looked at me.

            "Your parents pay your rent," he started and then pointed towards the kitchen. "Her parents are your parents." He paused, seemingly having confused himself. "I'm the tenant, I don't have to explain myself to you," he finished and ruffled my hair before taking off towards the living room.

            I groaned into my hands and followed him out, guessing that it was probably about time I faced Ash and my sister. Ash was leaning against the arm of the sofa in the corner with his phone resting in his lap. I watched one of the muscles flex in his forearm while he typed until he looked up and caught me watching. He said nothing but just lifted one side of his mouth as continued with what he was doing.

            Dev went into the kitchen to get some food, after greeting Melinda and telling her to help herself to my bedroom. Ash looked up at the sound of this and let out a bark of laughter at my un-amused expression.

            "Want to bunk with me, love?" he cooed as I got closer, preparing to drop onto the sofa.

            "I think the sofa will be fine, thanks," I countered and curled my leg up underneath me with a sigh.

            As if on cue to make my day so much better, Melinda walked - well, sauntered - into the living room and sat delicately on the armchair. I said nothing to her and she cleared her throat.

            "Well, Alexandra?" she asked. I raised an eyebrow.

            "Well what?" My tone of voice was far less enthusiastic than I had originally intended, making me sound stroppy.

            "How's college going?" she asked icily.

            It didn't take long for Ash to click on that we didn't really get along. With her fame, came arrogance, a quality that I'd grown to hate in her. We were quite good friends when we were younger, before she became Britain's next child prodigy. I was a big enough person to admit that I was a little jealous of her intelligence and appearance, but her personality was rotten.

            "Fine," I dismissed, still not officially thawed out from the argument we'd had before I left home.

            When I got the train up, I hadn't exactly had a brilliant leaving party. Dad was angry with me because I'd been drinking, Melinda was annoyed at me because my drinking had delayed one of her celebration dinners  and my mum was the only person in the house, apart from Norman my dog, that didn't hate me when I left. It was safe to say that the argument I'd had with Mel was too bad and contained too many insults to be forgotten over a measly few days.

            "How is living here?" she pushed.

            "Fine," I repeated. Melinda sighed and threw her arms up in the air.

            "Alex, I'm trying here," she muttered. I frowned at the nickname before letting out a deep breath. We never called each other by anything less than our full names. Not since we were kids, anyway.

            "You're pretending to try, Mel. You're not asking because you care, you're asking because you're spot checking for mum and dad." She narrowed her eyes at my words and shook her head.

            "I'm trying to make life easier for you by doing it myself. If mum and dad came up, they'd expect top grades and top living conditions like I had. I can exaggerate for you," she countered. I'd gotten used to her slight digs so didn't wince like I used to when she spoke.

            "I'd rather have worse grades a crap living situation than have a stick stuck up my arse," I shot back and Dev coughed, leaning on the doorway to the kitchen. I didn't even look at Melinda, she was getting up and walking over to Dev. I overheard him say that he'd show her to her room and help her get settled in.

            "Should I be preparing myself for some kind of weekend family drama?" Ash teased and I smiled.

            "It's Wednesday. If she's still here over the weekend, I'm leaving," I mumbled and he grinned, slipping his phone back into his pocket.

            "How's the job search going?" he asked. I frowned and rolled my eyes.

            "The same as it was yesterday." I could hear Dev and Melinda talking in the passage but I tried to block it out, hoping that he wasn't confiding in her about my lack of college attendance.

            "You've only got a week until my offer is off the table," he replied. I twisted my head so quickly that I was surprised I didn't get whiplash.

            "Your offer is still on the table? Even with Melinda here?" I asked. He nodded slowly, looking at me like I'd just suggested having a sex change.

            "So, you want it now, do you?" he asked with a grin.

            "Maybe." Ash nodded at my response and brought his ankle up to rest on his knee.

            "Why would Melinda affect our little deal?" he enquired. I shrugged and twisted to face him, surprised when his dark green eyes were trained on my face.

            "Because with her here, you could take her to your little dinner and your guests would get to ask her all the questions and just bow down in amazement," I listed off. Ash just smirked.

            "I'm sure she would answer all their questions. She wouldn't look as good as you would, though and she's a bit too stuck up for my liking," he replied easily, leaning back.

            "You're so shallow," I grumbled.

            "I know. Made you smile though," he said. I looked up and met his eye before not really knowing how to reply.

            "When is this dinner?" I asked, clearing my throat.

            "Next Saturday night. I'll get you your job in Friday." I thanked him just as Melinda and Dev walked back in, both of them chatting animatedly. Great, my cousin was getting friendly with the wrong sister.

            "I hope you don't mind that I'm sleeping in your room, Alex," she taunted when she walked in, giving me a smug smile. I rolled my eyes and moved from the sofa to the armchair, closer to my cousin.

            Melinda dropped down onto the sofa and Ash's eyes widened. There was a huge clunk from beneath her and when she got up, one of the springs was pushing up through the cushion and the back of the sofa was sinking.

            "I'm sure Ash and Dev mind that you just broke their sofa," I mumbled under my breath. Dev shot up and Melinda coincidently scooted down to sit pretty much on top of Ash while Dev inspected the damage.

            Turns out, the spring had come loose and the wooden rail at the back of the sofa had snapped. I warned Melinda to stay off the sausage rolls, but she didn't find my joke as funny as Dev did.

            So two hours later, I found myself tromping into Ash's room with a solemn expression and my clothes for the next day.

            Ash's room was much bigger than mine, decorated with a simple grey colour scheme. He didn't have many personal items around, just a double bed, chest of drawers and some CDs.

            "Make yourself at home," he replied and pointed towards the bed.

            "I'll sleep on the floor," I corrected and he gave me an incredulous expression.

            "You're seriously going to sleep on the floor?" he asked.

            "That's what I just said," I teased.

            After about half an hour of arguing, convincing and an annoying dare, I pulled back the covers to get into the left hand side of the bed. I'd insisted that we created a pillow barrier between us, which Ash had obliged to after scoffing and calling me a coward.

            "If it's that much of a problem, you can swap with your sister. I wouldn't mind," he said with a wink. I just scrunched up my nose.

            "Rule 6, don't flirt with my sister," I informed him. He just grinned and motioned to the bed.

            I pulled back the covers and yelped, jumping back with my heart racing at about fifty miles an hour. Staring me in the face was a massive, plastic hairy spider. The black was contrasting against the whites of the sheet and Ash was grinning at me, chuckling.

            "Shared of spiders, love?" he asked. I held my chest and picked up the spider, feeling my stomach churn as I did so.

            "Asshole," I hissed, throwing it at him. He didn't even bother trying to protect himself against my lob.

            "I've been called worse. Now, are you going to sleep with me tonight or not?" he asked, waggling his eyebrows.

            "In your dreams," I muttered, sitting on the edge of the bed. Ash flicked the light off and I rebuffed our pillow barrier and laid back, hoping that it would keep for the night.

A/N: Lemme know what you think, please vote and possibly chuck me a cheeky comment :)