Choosing a book to bring into English proved a harder task than I'd initially thought. I sat on the floor of my bedroom that afternoon, surrounded by books, flipping through them anxiously. Some of them were profound contemplations of life, others sappy romantic novels I liked to peruse for fun. I had a few classics, which were safe, but ultimately boring, bets.

And then...

And then there was my favourite book: 'The Midnight Train'.

Written by a little known author in the 1970's, it was a tale of love, of yearning...and of farming. Seriously, there was a lot of talk about working on a farm.

But while milking cows wasn't really my thing, the romance at its core had captured my heart long ago, and if I was going to be honest about this assignment, it was really the only book I could feasibly bring.

Caressing its worn cover, I flipped to a random chapter and began to scan the pages.

'Hector sighed into her mouth and tugged her closer, closer, pushing Elizabeth's hair from her eyes. "You're so beautiful," he murmured, scanning her porcelain face. In that moment, she was an angel, a piece of art, a-'"

I shut the book with a decided thud. Nope, definitely not that.

Sighing, I pushed the hair from my face and glanced over the books again. After another moment's consideration, I picked up 'Great Expectations' and placed it into my school bag.

Boring, but safe.

A soft knock at my doorframe drew my attention.

"Hey, Alyx." My sister, Elena, was leaning against the doorway and massaging her temples with her thumb and forefinger. "Dad's home."

Save for our dark hair, Elena couldn't have looked any more different from me. For one, she was tall, taller than I could ever hope to be, and while I had the same wide, watery brown eyes of my father, she had inherited Mum's gentle green gaze. She also had an elegant nose and a peppering of light freckles, while my face was small and squinty; people often thought I was scrutinising them from afar.

"That's great," I muttered, scooping the remaining books from my floor.

"I remember this." Elena reached for 'The Midnight Train' and smiled fondly down at its violet cover. "Is it still your favourite?"

"Yeah." I scratched awkwardly behind my ear. "Yeah, it is".

Elena smiled, and like Mum, it was a soft, secret kind of smile.

"Dad wants us to have dinner with him," she said finally.

I kept my voice indifferent. Bland. "Oh, does he, now?"

"I know its hard," Elena sighed, blowing her bangs from her face. "But just give him a chance, alright?"

With a meaningful stare, she turned away.

- - - -

In my house, dinners were an awkward, once-a-month kind of affair, and I generally regarded them the way one might regard a particularly gruesome bout of homework.

Tonight was no exception.

"How was school?" Dad asked as I sat across from him at the table. He was wearing a cheap suit and an ugly patterned tie. His hair was its usual disheleved mess, and the skin beneath his eyes hung in purplish folds of skin.

"Fine," I replied stiffly, reaching for the salad.

"Alyx won an award recently," Elena cut in.

I glared at her.

"Really?" Dad smiled eagerly, but there was an innate weariness to it. "What for?"

When I didn't respond, Elena said, "It was for doing well in Chemistry."

He clapped his hands together. "Wonderful! We should go out for ice cream next time I'm here."

Dad had a small-time gig at a marketing company two hours from the city. Because of this, he usually crashed with an old mate from high school who lived out that way.

"Maybe."

As a result, we rarely saw him outside of his monthly check-ins.

"You know what-Let's do it tonight!"

That was fine by me, though. And since Elena was an employed adult, it all worked out.

"Can't. Sorry." I stood briskly from the table and collected my plate. "Thanks for the meal."

"Now-Hold on a minute," Dad called. "Why don't you stay a moment, tell me about your day? How're Robert and Martin going? Are you still friends with them? What about your friend Kylie, how's she going these days? You know," he added, grinning conspiratorially, "I always thought you had a bit of a thing for her. Do you?"

Elena winced. "Dad...You know Alyx is gay."

The smile dropped from his weathered face. "Oh, right. Sorry."

"It's okay, Dad," I cut in. "I know you don't know anything about your children." Silence followed as I trudged up the stairs. "Don't worry, I'll do the dishes tonight."

- - - -

"So," Robert said the next morning, "What book did you end up bringing?"

A yawn escaped me before I could answer. I had English first thing on a Tuesday morning, and around me my classmates were sipping their take-away coffees and gazing absently out the windows.

"Decided to play it safe." I took the copy of 'Great Expectations' and placed it on the desk. "Didn't know what else to bring."

Robert rolled his eyes. "So basic," he teased. "Mine is way more inspired." He rifled through his bag and produced a small, worn book with an indiscernible cover.

"What is it?" I asked, squinting.

Robert shrugged. "I don't know. It's one of my Mum's". He frowned at the cover. "Something about a rooster. Or...Maybe a chicken."

"Lame."

"Whatever, man." He shoved it back into his bag. "It's totally a metaphor for something. Metaphors are all the rage these days. Seriously though," Robert added, "this was hard. I nearly did bring in one of Dad's playthroughs."

He glanced behind him, and I followed his line of sight to where Cash and Bryce were sitting in the back, laughing at something on Bryce's phone.

"But I just couldn't subject some poor soul to that."

"Alright, class," Mr. Reiner called, trudging into the room with his usual air of frantic confusion. His glasses were balancing precariously on the tip of his nose, and I was pretty sure his jacket was inside out. "I hope you've all brought your books, because next lesson I'll be assigning them to each of you."

He tripped as he reached his desk and slammed a pile of textbooks onto it before they could spill onto the floor. When he straightened, his glasses were completely gone.

"Please don't show anyone else your book." He began blindly groping along the carpet. "That will ruin the surprise." With a satisfied hiss, he snatched his glasses up and settled them triumphantly back onto his face. "Now, I'm going to call each of you up, and you're going to put your book in this bag I've brought with me."

"Here we go," Robert sighed with mock uncertainty. He ran his palms down his thighs. "I'm so nervous."

"It's okay," I comforted, patting his back.

In roll order, each of my classmates made their way to Mr. Reiner's desk and dropped their book into a large blue bag with small white stars embroidered across its surface.

When it was Cash's turn, he bumped my shoulder sharply as he breezed past. I glared at his back, rubbing my arm gingerly, but I couldn't resist trying to catch a glimpse of the book he'd chosen when he dropped it into the bag.

Unfortunately, I was unsuccessful.

"Think it was a copy of 'Douchebag's Weekly?" Robert murmured.

"Maybe," I whispered back. "Maybe it was a children's colouring book."

"Thankyou, Mr. Smith," Mr. Reiner said, giving the bag a shake. "And thankyou for remembering, unlike our Mr. Greene."

"Oh, its no problem," Cash drawled, in an annoyingly smooth vocal caress. "I take my studies very seriously."

As he turned away from Mr. Reiner's desk, our eyes met for a fragment of a second, the tiniest moment.

And he winked.

A/N: Thanks for reading! If you're enjoying so far, please leave a vote and/or a comment :)