3 years before TNCF

I yawned, stretching on top of the stairs before climbing down the staircase to get to the kitchen. However, I stopped short whilst passing the living room on my way to the kitchen when I caught sight of Joe packing his things hurriedly.

“Hey, are you leaving already?” I asked him.

“Yeah, I need to go home and catch my dad coming home and stop him from throwing money everywhere again. We can’t have a repeat of last night.” Joe said in a rush, zipping up his bag and turning to me.

His face was still beat up. We were lucky that his head wasn’t split open, though he did get a concussion.

“Is it even okay for you to leave?” I asked him, unconvinced and worried for him.

“I have to, I can’t let my dad wander around and cause trouble.” He replied with a sad smile.

“Thank you for everything, man. I owe you a lot.” He said, walking towards me to pat my shoulder.

“Stay safe.” I pat his back, sending him out the door.

That was the last time I saw Joe.

“Come on, we need to leave for school.” I rushed Casey, pushing her towards the door.

“Can we take the bike?” She pleaded, craning her head to look at me.

“Nope,” I popped the ‘p’.

Casey made a face as she trudged along towards the car.

I drove us to school. Casey was a sophomore while I was a senior but our classes are in the same building so we see each other in the halls quite often.

“I have practice today,” I told her over the music playing on the radio.

“What time does it finish?” She asked, turning to me.

“Probably around 5?” I told her.

“My classes finish at 3:30. I’ll just wait on the bleachers.” She said.

I looked at her briefly, taking my eyes off the road for a split second. “Are you sure? You can just hitch a ride with one of your friends and I’ll pick you up afterwards.”

Casey shook her head, “It’s alright, I’ll just do my homework while waiting. I’d rather be productive.”

I took one last glance at her before shrugging, “Suit yourself.”

After parking the car once we reached school, Casey and I parted ways.

“I’ll see you later,” I waved.

“Yep,” Casey waved back before jogging towards where her friends were standing.

I turned around and found Maddison standing by the school’s entrance with my other mates.

I walked towards them and slung an arm across Maddy’s shoulder.

“Hi babe,” I smiled down at her when she turned.

She mirrored my smile and gave me a side hug, resting her head on my chest for a brief second.

Holland made a face, “Okay, lovebirds, enough PDA.” He walked in between us, forcing us apart.

I chuckled, slapping his arm with the back of my hand. “That’s nothing compared to how you always are when Sonia’s around.”

“She’s smitten by me,” He boasted, causing me to raise a brow at him.

“I believe it’s the other way around.” I commented.

Maddison rolled her eyes. Maddy never like Sonia, although I never understood why. I mean, yes, the girl does seem cold towards her boyfriend, but I was trying to think positively and assume that she’s the type of person who incapable of really expressing her emotions.

It was nothing to resent her for.

But I know Maddy and I know that there’s no way she’d judge someone based on that alone.

I just never bothered to dig deeper into her reasons because I honestly can’t care less about someone who has nothing to do with me.

“Dude, what time does practice end today?” Holland asked.

“I told you yesterday. At 5, you idiot.” I flicked his forehead.

Holland flinched. “Ouch,” he whined.

I chuckled under my breath, shaking my head at him.

“What about Casey?” Maddy asked.

“She said she wants to wait,” I shrugged.

“I can give her a lift if she wants?” Maddy offered.

I smiled at her, stroking her hair. “She said she wants to do her homework while waiting.”

Maddy nodded, looking at where Casey stood with her friends.

Casey didn’t have many friends although everyone was friendly towards her. She’s always been wary with people because she believes that most of the people that are nice to her wants to use her to make a good impression on me.

It wasn’t a secret that I adore my sister. Being the star player in every sport I play has given me more fame than I had originally thought it would.

But I can’t complain since at least they’re treating Casey nicely, sincere or not.

Casey has only trusted the friends that she made herself, those that don’t give a shit about social ladders and popularity.

One of them was a freshman that Casey had saved from being a bullied target of some seniors.

She was just a freshman then and no one knew we were siblings. The senior had thrown orange juice on Casey because she stood up to him and that was when hell broke loose and the school’s food chain got rearranged.

I was grateful that all my friends helped look out for Casey from then on. Having a kind heart is my sister’s strength and weakness as well and I wanted to protect her from it as well as help her maintain it.

The school bell rang and we all said our goodbyes, going to our respective classrooms.

Maddy gave me a kiss on the cheek, smiled and waved before she followed Holland to get to their class.

Unfortunately, Maddy and Holland were still juniors. In other words, we didn’t have any classes together.

I walked to my class and greeted my boys, settling into my seat in the middle of the class and got ready for it.

Contrary to what people might say about the guys in the football team being all brawns and no brains, we actually have to maintain an average of straight B’s to play every season.

It gets hard sometimes, between practices and studying, adding the occasional street fighting on top of that and of course, dating. But I enjoyed every excruciating second of my life. Life can’t get any better than this.

The day went by fairly quickly and before I know it, I was already in the changing room, getting ready for practice.

“Hey, what are you doing tonight?” Justin, one of my teammates, asked as he leaned against the locker beside mine.

I slipped my uniform over my head before replying. “Not much. Why?”

“Craig’s throwing a party tonight, you wanna come?” He asked.

I raised an eyebrow at him. “Isn’t he the guy that got thrown into jail for being a drug dealer last week?”

Justin tilted his head as he looked at me with wide eyes. “Haven’t you heard? He got bailed out already.”

“That quickly?” I asked, taking my bottle from my locker as I shoved in my clothes into it.

“Apparently he’s got connections in the Mafia. That’s how he got the drugs. They bailed him out.” Justin explained, shaking his head. “Man, that’s fucking scary. Can you imagine being a part of the Mafia?”

I laughed lightly at what he said, “Why would you even think about what it’s like to be in a Mafia group? Thinking about joining one?”

Justin shook his head and shuddered. “I’d probably piss my pants continuously for the entire time I’m in it.”

I laughed once again at the ridiculous expression.

“Let’s get on the field before Coach gets his panties in a twist.” I suggested, closing my locket and hooking my arm around the back of Justin’s neck, dragging him along.

We got on the field and did warm-ups before we started practice.

Coach was giving us intense training since a lot of the juniors slacked off and missed training a few days ago.

“Okay, 2-minutes break then I want you all to get into positions, we’ll do the play we talked about last time!”

The juniors basically dropped dead on the floor once they heard the word “break”. I shook my head at the idiots. They brought this onto themselves.

I ran towards the sidelines to take a swig of water before the break is over. Scanning the bleachers, I saw Casey sitting on the top bleacher with papers on her lap and a pen in her hand. Beside her was Maddy who caught my eyes over her laptop screen.

She waved and nudged Casey who looked at her before noticing that she was waving at me.

Casey waved her pencil at me, smiling.

I waved back at two of my girls, giving them a grin before jogging back to where the rest of the team are.

One of the things that made me fall for Maddy must’ve been her considerate heart and kindness. She reminded me of Casey sometimes, good natured and always giving.

Whenever I see Casey in Maddy, I can only hope that Casey will find someone who’ll treat her right in the future.

When practice ended, I took a quick shower and changed into some fresh clothes before grabbing my bag and jogging to the bleachers.

“Hey babe,” I kissed Maddy’s forehead before ruffling Casey’s hair as she remained immersed in her thoughts, trying to solve her homework.

“Hey,” Maddy replied, intertwining her fingers with mine as she held my hand.

“Are you heading home after this?” I asked Maddy, letting Casey finish her homework.

Maddy nodded, “Yeah, Mom wants to have a family dinner.”

“Do you and Casey want to join us?” She invited.

I’ve met her family before when I dropped her off from school but we weren’t close enough for me to be comfortable with eating dinner with them just yet.

I shook my head, keeping my smile on. “Thanks, but maybe next time, I think Casey has a lot of homework to finish.”

I eyed the pile of papers sitting beside her with unfilled blanks.

“Maybe next time then,” Maddy smiled. “I better get going before I’m late for dinner,” Maddy said, standing up.

I followed her lead, “Thanks for keeping Casey company.”

Maddy smiled, “No problem.”

She turned to Casey and laid a hand on my sister’s shoulder. “Bye, Case. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Casey raised her head, taking her pen away from her lips as she smiled at Maddy. “Bye, Madd. Thanks for staying with me.”

“Oh, don’t mention it, I got to see your brother flex and do what he’s good at, I should be thanking you instead for giving me the golden opportunity.” Maddy winked slyly.

Casey made a disgusted face while looking at me. I shrugged in response, flexing my arm, causing Maddy to laugh.

“Alright, you two, I’m off now.” Maddy said, waving as she walked away.

Casey and I waved back before I helped Casey sort out her papers and pack up.

“I swear, you two are the cutest. Legit couple goals.” My sister commented in the car on our way back home.

I chuckled, “Couple goals?”

“Yep,” Casey said, popping the ‘p’.

“Whatever you say,” I said, going along with it as I shook my head slightly.

“So, what do you want to eat?” I asked her, keeping my eyes on the road.

“Pizza!” She shouted, bouncing on her seat like a little kid, doing her little dance.

I raised an eyebrow at her excitement. “How long have you been craving it this time?”

“Like the entire week?” She replied in a ‘duh’ voice.

“Step on it, big brother! 妹妹要 (little sister wants) some pizza!” She pointed to the road before us.

“Hold your horses. 这车不会飞啊 (This car can’t fly).” I reminded her, laughing at her childish antics.

“Make it fly then.” She huffed. “Let’s go!” She exclaimed, keeping her finger pointed straight ahead, causing me to laugh.

“Yes, Princess.” I complied, stepping on the gas pedal and cutting cars left and right to reach the pizza parlour we frequent at.