The next Sunday, Lily's entire family came to church with her and it sort of gave her a boost. Se didn't understand what kind but it felt better than the previous week.

She looked around for Sarah but spotted no sign of her in the church. Her mum and dad were to her left while Cory was to her right.

The service started with an opening prayer, followed by the choir singing. Somehow, Lily could find herself getting lost in the hymns and songs they sang. It didn't feel like empty words anymore.

They and some kind of weight. The weight was comfortable to carry. She wanted that weight because it seemed to bring some kind of calmness to her.

'Maybe I'll join the choir then', she thought to herself.

The preaching started and Lily found herself listening attentively to the service. Her face had some glow when the pastor preached about the Sunday topic which is love.

She even jotted down some notes she grabbed from the sermon. After the service, she looked around for Sarah and found her with her family taking some snacks at the dining hall below the church.

"Hey Lily," they shared a hug.

"Sarah" they learned back and greeted both parents who nodded with smiles on their faces.

"I thought you wouldn't come," Lily said when they went to sit by an empty chair.

"Mum forgot her earrings so we had to turn back to get them for her" shrugged then ate the mince pie on her disposable plate. "You know how my mum is with her jewelry?"

"Do we want to talk about my older sister?" Lily shook her head. "I most of the time feel like she hates my guts a lot" Lily sighed.

"Why say that? She's your sister" Sarah frowned.

"Doesn't guarantee she'll like me"

"Still, why do you think that?"

"You might say normal siblings ruse and wish you weren't an only child"

"Try me"

Lily opened her mouth to say something but just brushed it off.

"Don't worry about it," Sarah was going to say something but she beat her to it "Did you do the assignment from Friday? I am sort of stuck in algebra. It's killing me"

"Come over so we can look into it together. I think I've done mine" Sarah shrugged.

"How are you not sure if you did your assignment?" Lily shook her head.

"Please, don't let's start with that" Sarah rolled her eyes playfully.

They talked about other matters and when it was time to go, Lily asked her mum if she could stay at Sarah's house for the next couple of hours for an assignment. She was given permission and Lily followed Sarah and her family.

***

"Wait, don't tell me this is the workings here" Lily frowned as she looked at Sarah's booklet again and again.

"That's it, I asked my cousin who's studying algebra at the uni and she confirmed for me. You weren't expecting it?"

"Actually I did solve it like this at first but it felt like it wasn't making sense so I kept redoing it till I got frustrated. But thanks for letting me see this, I'll work it out again."

Sarah yawned and then stood to her feet.

"I'm getting some snacks. Do you need anything?"

"What do you think I can eat"

"Soap?" Sarah joked.

Lily gasped "My favorite flavour" They laughed and Sarah went to get the snacks while Lily continued with the assignment.

Her phone beeped and she paused to see who that was and saw a notification from her sister.

She opened the message to know the content and saw that it was just some silly stickers she sent. Lily rolled her eyes and then put her phone on vibrate so she could concentrate.

Her phone kept vibrating but she didn't check because she needed to focus. After a while, a call came through and she looked at her phone screen to see Cory's name displayed.

Letting out a sigh, she picked it up and placed it on her ear. "Yes?"

"You wouldn't have picked up if you would sound this bored talking to me," Cory said in an annoyed tone.

"I'm in the middle of an assignment and you are aware of how much concentration I need to do my work"

"Ugh! You're boring, can't you live a bit?"

"I am, do you need anything?" She asked.

Sarah came inside with a medium-sized bag and tray. She placed the tray on the floor and poured out the contents of the bag on the tray.

Lily looked impressed at what she saw "Cory, if you don't need anything I'd like to get back to my assignment, please. Thank you."

"You didn't reply to my message"

"You sent stickers"

"You're supposed to reply the same"

Lily sighed. "I explained already that I don't have that time now, please can I get back to my homework?"

"Whatever" Cory hung up and Lily shook her head.

"Your sister?" Lily nods in response "Come before I finish all this sweetness"

Lily bookmarked where she was and sat on the floor so that they could eat together.

"What did your sister want?"

"To annoy me" she shrugged.

"Normal siblings fuss" Lily rolled her eyes.

After a while, she stood up to continue her homework and was done in no time. She checked the time and it was already almost evening.

Lily stood up stretched and packed up her assignment paper.

"I'll copy what I did here when I get home"

"You wouldn't have gone through all the stress, my assignment was right there waiting for you to copy from" Sarah pointed.

"I prefer to do my homework" Lily walked to her door.

Sarah got on her feet and stretched "I know, let's pack up this mess we made"

They packed all the nylon lying around before making their way downstairs. Sarah whispered something funny to Lily and she laughed hard at it.

When they disposed of the dirt, they walked to the living room where Sarah's parents were sitting drinking wine and giggling.

Lily turned to Sarah and noticed a dark look cross her face when she looked at her parents but it went away when she saw Lily look at her.

"Everything fine?"

Sarah smiled and then walked closer to her parents. "Mum, Dad, Lily is leaving already" she got their attention.

They turned to look at the two young girls and giggled. Sarah's mum, Felicia had pink tints on her cheeks her father, Daniel too.

"Let me go take you home then" Daniel stood up. He kissed Felicia on the cheek and took his keys on the table then led both girls to the door.

"Your mum's a sweetheart" he grinned at Sarah but Sarah didn't look like she liked it.

Lily would have asked what was wrong with her but she figured Sarah would want them to talk privately instead.

He got to her home on time and she jumped out and then smiled.

"Thank you, sir, bye Sarah"

"Bye Lily" Sarah waved and she turned and then walked inside her house.

Sarah looked troubled or not pleased and she hoped that everything was okay with her and her family.