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the door right away, anyway. Gently sliding down to the floor, she rested her head against the cool glass window and closed her eyes, thinking back to a time when everything was fine and nothing was complicated.
     
    “Would you like your usual today, sir? Black coffee and four pancakes – heavy on the syrup, right?” Sixteen-year-old Jasmine began writing a breakfast order for an elderly man who was a regular customer at The Morning Bell.
     
    “You know me so well, sweetheart,” he gave a kind smile.
     
    “Anytime, Oliver,” she smiled back, then ripped the small page out of her order pad and pinned it up in the chef’s window.
     
    The café was buzzing with a gentle, early morning murmur. Mrs. Jones sat at a table with her two young boys, urging them both to calm down and eat their breakfasts. Linda, a friend of Jasmine’s from school, sat up at the counter on a bar stool, sharing a plate of bacon and eggs with her boyfriend, Tom.
     
    Sheriff Richards coughed when he burned his mouth on still-hot coffee – a mistake he made nearly every morning. Her mother stood at the counter with a bright smile on her face as she handed a receipt to Rosie, an elderly woman who lived alone with several cats. Jasmine’s father, who worked as the chef of the café when Chef Bernard could not make it to work, was in the kitchen frying up several sausage patties to be placed on breakfast sandwiches for a to-go order – most likely for José, who was always on-the-go as a truck driver for local stores.
     
    Calvin, who had just turned fourteen-years-old at the time, handed Jasmine her backpack. She grabbed it from him and placed it on her back, letting out a groan of discomfort. Her backpack was stuffed to the brim and bursting at the seams, full of heavy books and papers from old assignments. As much as she loved working at The Morning Bell, she never was the best organizer when it came to managing schoolwork. Her brother gave her a pointed look with eyes full of anxiety.
     
    “It’s time to head to school, Jas,” he said, picking at his nails.
     
    She could practically feel his fear of starting his first day of high school. He looked visibly terrified – not that she could blame him. High school was a terrible place. People try to trick teenagers by saying that high school is the best time of your life, full of best friends and first dates while preparing you for a college education. What they don’t tell you is that high school is just a building full of hormonal teenagers who can be categorized as the heart breakers or the broken-hearted or possibly somewhere in-between. Jasmine always fell in the “in-between” category.
     
    Although she was very popular, Jasmine never dated much through high school. She was famous for her “flirtationships,” as dubbed by some lonely kid at school who thought he could start a rumor to knock her down. Unfortunately for him, the title backfired and made her even more desired among the boys at school. She had casual flirtatious friendships with many boys at school, but never felt the need to make anything official.
     
    Her ability to read others was often the downfall of many boys who aimed to win her heart, as she was able to find the true, deceitful intentions that most high schoolers carry. Regardless of her own popularity, she knew that Calvin was dreading being seen as her “little brother.”
     
    “Hey,” she said warmly. “It’ll be okay, I promise. We’ll get through high school together. You’ll make friends, study hard, and probably be bored out of your mind. Other than that, there’s nothing to worry about. I’m here for you, but from a distance so I don’t ruin your ‘cool guy’ persona.”
     
    His nervous exterior cracked to allow a small laugh. “Thanks, Sis. I needed to hear that.”
     
    “Anytime,” she ruffled his hair. Then, she removed her waitressing apron and untied her hair from its typical bun. Waving goodbye to their parents, Jasmine and