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Jessica switched on her bedside lamp, sat up and stared at the silver star-shaped clock that sat on the wall opposite. It was 2:30 in the morning. She tried to remember the dream she had just had. She could only remember that it had involved her crush, Joe, asking her out. That was when she had woken up, not because she was frightened, but because she was shocked. It wasn't because she wasn't pretty or anything like that, but because he already had a girlfriend, Jessica's enemy, Maxine.

She grimaced as an image of Maxine's long, blond hair and ice-blue eyes appeared in her mind and she switched off the lamp. All was dark, but her sky blue eyes were still wide open. Eventually she went back to sleep.

Three and a half hours later, she woke up again, this time peacefully. She looked at her window where she could see a bright yellow glow shyly peeping through her lime green curtains. She smiled. 'Perfect start to the summer holidays.' she thought as she slipped off the bed and walked towards the window. Opening the curtains, she stared out into the garden. The brightly coloured flowers glittered like jewels in the July sunshine and the lawn seemed to be sending off sparks of rainbow coloured electricity as the sun rays hit the dew drops on the shoots of grass. Jessica smiled; it was the most beautiful thing she had seen in a long time.

Flicking her chocolate brown fringe off her face, she sat on the edge of the bed and began to daydream. She wondered what she and her stepbrother, Thomas, would be doing over the summer.

'Morning, Jess.' Suddenly Jessica, or Jess as she was known to her friends and family, was brought back down to Earth by Thomas jumping on the bed and wrapping one arm around her waist. 'How's my little princess?'

'Fine, Tom.' Jess snuggled into him. Not only was Tom her stepbrother, he was her best friend; she was very shy and only had two friends at school, Annie and Sean. But even they weren't her best friends. She only had one: Tom.

'Good.' Tom pulled her off of him and pushed her off the bed.

'Ow! What was that for?' Jess grabbed hold of Tom's leg and pulled him off the bed.

'It's fun, that's why.' Tom grinned a cheeky grin, the sort that makes both teenage girls and full grown women melt into ice-cream, and his bright grey blue eyes twinkled.

'Oh, you can be so irritating sometimes.' Jess playfully whacked him on the back, resulting in an equally playful whack from Tom. Soon they were lying on the floor, giggling. Tears were running down Jess's face as she sat up and checked the time.

'Get up, Tom, it's quarter to seven.'

'Yeah, and?' Tom sat up and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. 'Come on, it's the holidays.'

'Hmm, you're right.'

'As always.' Tom smiled cheekily and asked 'You been dreaming 'bout Joe again?'

'Shut up!' Jess replied, annoyed.

He stared into her eyes knowingly, his blue eyes piercing the air between him and Jess. She began to melt under his gaze.

'Ok, ok, I did.'

'What have I told you about him?' Tom asked, pulling her onto his lap.

'That there's no point trying together with him because he's already got a girlfriend.'

Jess tried to climb off Tom's lap, but he held her close to him by the waist, wrapping both arms around her waist and interlocking his hands, trapping her there. She began to cry.

'What are you crying for?' Tom asked, turning her face towards his own, watching tears running down her cheeks.

'I really like him, Tom.' Jess sobbed, 'but what does he do? Go off with that f***ing b****.'

'Shh.' Tom placed a finger on her lips and glanced at the clock. 'Look, it's seven 'o' clock, yeah. How about we get ready and go to Jake's?'

'Ok.'