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The door opened and the first thing I saw was a girl sitting on the bottom steps of the wide staircase.

She was staring at the ground till she heard the door open and her head shot up in our direction. A smile spread across her young face; her eyes set on Jace. She jumped up and ran into Jace, holding him in a tight hug. Jace returned the hug one handed, not letting go of my hand.

When she pulled back and stood in front of us was when I realised that I recognised her. She glanced at me and smiled at first but then took a double take. The expression on her face mirrored my own. We knew each other but couldn't work out where from.

She had darker hair than Jace and her freckles were more prominent on her face. Her green eyes glimmered in admiration when she looked at Jace. I could tell the type of bond they have; it was as clear as day. She idolises him and he spoils her.

"Ivy, this is Skylar, my younger sister," Jace introduced us to each other.

"Hi Skylar. It is nice to meet you!" She shook my hand before embracing me in a large hug.

"Hey, Ivy! Call me Sky since you can be my friend," she said when she pulled back.

I noticed Jace's eyes flicker to mine as a smile formed on his lips. Skylar considered me as a friend but is that all I am to Jace as well?

"Thank you for letting me be your friend," I told Sky.

"You're welcome," she replied, twirling a little with a smile on her face.

It was in that moment that where I knew her from hit me like a bus; she was the girl out shopping with her friends. She was the one who was walking behind.

I was about to tell Sky that I had remembered, but the look on her face stopped me. Something told me that she hadn't told Jace and I wasn't going to reveal something if she didn't want me to.

I sent her a knowing smile and discretely nodded, letting her know her secret was safe with me. She nervously smiled back.

"How's your arm?" Jace asked Skylar. You could hear the brotherly concern in his voice. It was nice seeing this side of him and the way he interacts with Sky.

Arm? What is wrong with her arm?

I inspected her arm when I realised that her left one was in a cast. Holy shit. How did I miss that?

"It is a lot better. It doesn't hurt as much now," Sky replied to Jace.

"Oh no. What happened?"

"Remember that day when I was around your house, got a call and then left? That was because I got a panicked call from our Mom," Jace finally clarified for me. It was nice to know the reason to why he left. If I am completely honest, I felt kind of bad for feeling resentful that he left but how was I supposed to know when he doesn't tell me this stuff?

"Yeah, sorry about that," Sky sweetly apologised, "I was with some friends and we all had our bikes but when we were going somewhere, my wheel hit a stone and I flew off the bike. I Jumped up because I'm strong, but then my arm started hurting."

Something about the story was off. She wasn't telling the truth and the way she looked tentatively at me afterwards confirmed what I had been thinking. Again, I wasn't going to tell Jace what I had worked out, but I was definitely going to speak to Sky about it later. I have been in that position before, so I know what it is like.

She can't keep lying to everyone, protecting her so called 'friends' when they should face consequences to their actions as much as everyone else has to.

Sky grabbed my hand and went to take me somewhere but stopped, "Jay? Ivy is really pretty isn't she?"I looked over my right shoulder at Jace. He was smiling at Sky but then turned to me and winked.

"You two go and do something while I finish off something really quick. I'll be with you both in a bit."

Sky instantly found herself at my side, her hand in mine. She is half way through showing me around the giant house when she drags me into the kitchen, "Jace must really like you."

"What makes you say that?"

"He had only ever brought one other girl other than you here and trust me, he has had lots of girlfriends," Sky informed me while pouring herself a glass of apple juice. Lots of girlfriends? Really...

"And that's a good thing?"

"Yeah. I get to spend time with you." I smiled to myself while looking down at the counter. The one thing I was nervous about was not being approved but yet here I am being welcomed with open arms by one of the most important people.

"Ivy, don't hurt him. Someone really upset him before. He just kept crying and crying, he is ugly when he cries so I didn't like it." My immediate reaction was to feel sorry for him but soon found myself laughing at the face Sky was pulling.

"I won't, I promise." I would never want to hurt Jace.

"Good," she said taking my hand and dragging me back upstairs.

-

"And this is my room," she told me, finalising the tour as she jumped onto her bed, crossing her legs in front of her.

"This is really cool, Sky." She seemed to be very mature for her age. The way she carried herself, the way she spoke, even her room was decorated in a way that someone easily four years older than she was would have their room. I sympathized her on that; I was the mature child too.

There is always a reason to why you learn to grow up faster than other people your age. There's always some type of trauma.

"Thank you," she replied sounding proud of herself.

"Sky, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"You didn't hit a stone on your bike, did you?"

She looked at me guiltily. I noticed how she nervously started playing with the sleeves of her jumper, "Yes it did." She was lying to me.

"I saw you shopping that day with your... friends."

She deeply sighed, "We all used to be best friends," she paused, struggling with what came next, "But then one day this new stupid girl, Sophie, joined our group. Ever since then I have been left out. I just hate it because you feel..."

"Like the new person comes along and replaces you and then you watch them joke about the stuff you both used to?" I interrupted her.

She had a dumbfounded look on her face, as if she couldn't quite believe what I had just said.

"Yup. Did you have rubbish friends too?"

"Yeah," I chuckled at her wording, "but I stopped it."

"How did you stop it?"

"Well, they're not real friends if they do that to you, so I left them to it and made new friends one of which I am still friends with today." When I was younger, if someone told me what I'm telling Sky now, I would have loved that, but the fact is that I didn't. I had to work it out myself. So, if I could give Sky any hope, I would.

"Really?" Her eyes lit up.

"Yep. So, don't think that just because these girls are acting like this towards you that something is wrong with you, because it's not. They're the ones missing out, not you," I told her as if I was telling my younger self. "And anyway, I have only known you for five minutes and I can already tell how much fun you are," I winked at her making her giggle.

"Thank you, Ivy."

"You're totally welcome. One thing though, you can't keep hiding this from your brother, okay?"

She looked down at the ground, still playing with the sleeves of her top. When she looked back up at me, her eyes had changed. She was sure of herself and that's all I wanted to help her do.

"Okay, I'll tell him. I promise." She sounded the strongest she had so far.

I got up, walked over to her and hugged her when there was a knock at the door.

"Can I come in?" Jace asked from the outside of the door.

"Yeah, sure," Sky called out when we stopped hugging.

Jace tentatively walked into the room and sat down next to me, wrapping his arm around my waist. Sky was on her tablet playing Minecraft on the other side of me.

Jace looked at me as if he were asking if everything was okay. I nodded and leant into his body.

"Jay?"

"Yeah?"

"I like Ivy, she is amazing." She got up and left the room. I felt Jace's grip on my waist tighten as he pulled me closer to him.