"They did what?" My brother stares at me, his mouth hanging open. I slap him on the wrist, checking that mum hasn't heard.

"Shut it, stupid. Do you want me to go to reform?" I keep my voice low.

"Do you? If you don't report Dani then that's what'll happen!" he hisses back, eyes darting to the doorway. "Kyla, you've gotta be careful."

I nod. "I know. I just didn't know what to say, Caleb—it's not like I could shout to Frank 'Hey, buddy, guess what Dani's been doing?'"

"What's Dani been doing?"

We both jump at mum's calm, amused tone, before adopting the innocent grins we've practised since we were toddlers.

"Nothing," we singsong in unison.

Mum tilts her head, squinting at us suspiciously. "Mmmm. We'll see." She turns to the dishwasher and loads the plates from dinner. "Caleb, hun, will you be staying much longer, or should we call a cab?"

Caleb shoots me a look, speaking to me in the telepathy we’ve used since childhood. Whaddya think?

I shrug in return. I dunno, do what you want I'm not the boss of you.

He grins. "Got any cake, mum?"

"Oh, some things never change. I'm sure I can find something..." She chuckles to herself, wandering into the pantry.

Caleb leans in again quickly. "Last warning, okay? If they pull any shit like that in front of you again, you blow that fucking whistle, Kyla. I'm not playing."

I hold my hands up in surrender. "Okay, okay. I hear you."

Mum calls from the pantry down the corridor. "Lemon or chocolate?"

"Chocolate!" we both shout at once.

I flick Caleb's wrist, "How's Gemma?"

"Gemma..." he feigns forgetfulness, gazing off into the middle distance and stroking his bottom lip. "Dunno who you're talking about."

"Your big date?" Leaning my chin on my hands and elbows on the table, I pull my most doe-eyed, innocent face and make a girly, dreamy voice. "Gee, I hope I can go out with Gemma someday. She's so pretty, and clever, and—"

"Alright, shit. Yes, we had a date. It didn't go well."

Mum walks back in, chocolate cake in hand. "Aww, what happened?"

Caleb avoids eye contact, rubbing his wrist where I flicked him and looking everywhere else in the room. "She's looking for someone... better."

"Better?" Mum drops everything with a clatter, turning to Caleb. "How could she do better? What's so great about Gemma, huh?"

"Mum..." Caleb whines, "it's not like that. She wants, you know... security."

Mum scoffs, cutting a huge slice of cake for Caleb. "If she wants security she should have dated a Warden."

"Yeah." Caleb is crestfallen.

Shit.

I reach across the table to grab his hand. "Hey, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have teased. I hope they realise how dull she is and dump her."

He smiles, squeezing my hand back and bouncing our fists a few times. "S'okay. Just wasn't meant to be."

"You know what, fuck Gemma!" I shout.

"Kyla! Language!" Mum gasps.

"I'm twenty-one, mum!"

"And I'm fifty-two but you don't hear me using words like that in this house."

Caleb covers his mouth, his shoulders shaking as he chuckles silently into his fist. I kick his shin under the table. "Ow!"

Mum rolls her eyes and places a slice of cake in front of each of us. "Yeah, twenty-one—" she points a knife at me, "twenty-three—" at Caleb, "and both of you still act like teenagers. Real mature, you two..."

She wanders out of the kitchen, dropping the knife in the dishwasher on her way.

"Thanks, mum," we chant after her, grinning like kids.

"So, Dani aside," Caleb starts shovelling cake into his mouth but doesn't stop talking, so he sprays crumbs all over the table, "how was the rest of your first day at work?"

"Urgh." I move my plate further away from him and shield it from his line of fire. "Fine, I guess. The mixing is complicated. Like, one drink is easy enough, but then the next one is totally different. I do get a freebie every day, though, which is cool."

"Ah, now I really wish I'd stopped by earlier."

"Couldn't get out of classes?"

He rolls his eyes. "No. Finals are coming, it's neverending. I'm lucky I had a break to come here this evening."

"Well, it'll be worth it in the end. I bet Gemma will be gutted when you're promoted to VIP!"

Caleb snorts, spraying more crumbs in the air. "You of all people know it's not that simple, Ky."

Ouch. My cheeks flush and I pick at the crumbs on the edge of my plate, pressing them into the icing that oozes out of my cake wedge. "I wasn't cut out for astrophysics."

"What the hell ever made you think you would be? Seriously, why did you choose that course, of all things?"

I shrug. "Sciences are the quickest career path to VIP."

"For a reason. Don't get me wrong, I was impressed you got in at all, but—"

"Yeah, I get it, Cal. I'm an idiot. Can we change the subject?"

"That's not what I said." His face falls, but he's still got a mouthful of chocolate cake. The effect is endearing. But gross. Kinda sums Caleb up, really. "Hey," he reaches to me with his free hand. "You're not an idiot."

I scoff.

"You're not. You made a plan and you stuck to it. Straight A's in prep school Kyla—that was cool as hell."

"And then I drop out of college after three weeks. Yeah. Super cool."

Caleb shrugs with a grin. "Well, pobody's nerfect."

I chuckle—partly at his callback joke, and partly at the chocolate icing still on his front teeth. He's such a goof. "Gemma has no idea what she's missing."

"Yeah, who wouldn't want a piece of this?" He runs his hands over his chest—yuck—before brandishing his fork, saluting mid-air and gazing into the distance. "But fear not, Caleb Chase doesn't give up his conquests so easily!"

"Ew. Spare me the details of your 'conquests', please. I'd like to keep my cake down."

He kicks my shin under the table as mum comes back in. She raises her eyebrows at us and we burst into fits of laughter.

#

I see him out of the house a little while later, where a cab is waiting at the roadside. He gives me a peck on the cheek and I grab him for a hug, squeezing as hard as I can until he groans in mock pain.

Holding me at arm's length he stares straight into my eyes. We could be twins, age difference aside. Same long chestnut hair, same hazel eyes, same dark olive complexion. He even has my nose.

"Remember what I said?" he says, shaking my shoulders slightly. "Watch your step, blow your whistle. Wardens won't accept peer pressure as an excuse. They'll drag you to reform the second someone calls in a report."

I nod, trying to swallow the lump of bile forming in my throat. He's laying it on thick, but he's right. I can't risk it, I can't be dragged down with Dani, not for anything.

"I promise." I shake him back. "Anyway, it's fine. It's not like Dani's the only employee. I'll be with someone else for the next shift, I'm not stuck with them all the time."

He nods, seemingly mollified for now. "Good. That's good."

"Now go, I'll see you later this week?"

He points a finger at me, "Deathmatch! You and me!"

I grin. "You're on. Friday?"

"Friday!"

We fistbump and he strides to the cab, straightening his jacket after I mussed him up with my aggressive hugging. Man, what a goof.

My phone buzzes. It's a message from Frank.

Frank: "Hey, Kyla. I know you've only just finished your first day but I need help. One of my regulars called in sick. Think you can do a second shift with Dani tomorrow?"

I groan, my thumb hovering over the keyboard. I want to say 'no,' to protect myself, have at least one shift where I won't be under Dani's influence.

But this is a secure job, with good prospects. Emotiv is a huge employer for the worker class—making a good impression could give me the stability I need. Our neighbourhood has seen people moving up worker ranks with them for years. One guy even moved away from Skycross to work at their headquarters in France.

I could make enough to rent my own place, have some autonomy, finally get my life started.

Since dropping out of college, that's all I've wanted—to move on, make a fresh start and carve out a place for myself. It's not much to ask, but it does mean putting the work in.

I take a deep breath and let it out in a steady stream through my mouth. Typing slowly, I check for any auto-correct fails and think through every word.

Kyla: "Hey Frank. No problem, thanks for thinking of me. I'd be happy to work with Dani again. What time do you need me in?"

I hit send.

Not a moment goes by before Frank replies.

Frank: "Same time would be great. Thanks, Kyla, this is a positive start. I won't forget it."

You better not, Frank. You better not.