His fingers found her hair and he smoothed it down, comforting her quietly.

"It's jealousy, my girl-"

Callie opened her mouth to talk but Old Mike raised a crooked finger warningly and she shut her mouth again. "Don't interrupt, just listen,"

Callie pressed her lips together in a firm line, but nodded reluctantly.

"There's a very fine line between love and hate," He continued in a low voice. "Much finer than you think, Callista."

She looked up at the old man in front of her, feeling frustration build in her chest. Part of her thought it couldn't be true. A smaller part, deep inside recognized that Old Mike was right. As usual.

"How-" She cleared her throat and started again. "How am I supposed to know when I've crossed that line?"

Old Mike gave her a small knowing smile. "You're a smart young woman, you'll figure it out,"


Chapter 1

She delicately raised her drink to her lips, the hint of a smile playing across her lips. Her legs were crossed elegantly at the knee and she glanced around the full bar with fluttering eyelashes.
A woman she'd never seen before had taken to the stage, but Cal wasn't complaining, she had some set of pipes on her that one.

There was a slight haze of cigarette smoke as swing music filled the air. Women in fabulous dresses in every colour of the rainbow decorated the club. Some had shawls, some had fur, all had their heels on, ready for a night out.

The men wore dapper suits, some had fedoras or pork pie hats. Cal's eyes flitted around the room lazily, relaxed in the peace of the music and the steady hum of conversation.

They passed to the door, where they flitted across another pair of eyes staring back at her. Cal stopped, backtracking to look at the figure who was looking at her.

A man, tall, well built, with a strong jaw and twinkling eyes, dipped his head in greeting. Cal found a smirk crossing her face.

She tilted her head up, jutting her chin out and looking down her nose at him slightly. The man laughed and shook his head slightly before taking off his coat and handing it to one of the employees.

He made his way through the crowd to the bar, sliding into the stool beside her.

Cal played with her drink, twirling the straw around the glass repeatedly.

"Can I get you somethin', ma'am?" Came the voice from beside her, a southern drawl.

She pursed her lips, tilting her head to the side and looking at the man sat beside her. "I don't know, can you?" She replied with raised eyebrows.

"Cal," Came the voice again, but this time it sounded different. The southern drawl was gone. It was familiar.

She frowned and twirled the straw in her glass some more.

"Cal!" There it was again.

"Cal, wake up!" Callie's eyelashes fluttered open, the sound of swing music and the haze of her 40s-esque dream rushing from her consciousness.

She blinked a few times, frowning slightly, trying to process where exactly she was.

"Caaaaaal," Came the voice again, sing-songing her name. Gavin's features floated into view.

Callie shot up into seated position, giving her brother a shove. "Go away," She grumbled half heartedly, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

His laugh echoed around the room, bringing a smile to her face. His laugh was one of her favourite sounds in the world. He had such a great laugh, always had. It was just so full, and so happy, you couldn't help but join in.

"C'mon, Cal, time to get up," He said again. She couldn't see him, but his grin was audible in his voice.

She groaned, dropping her hands from her face, pouting at her brother. "Do I have to?" She said pleadingly, earning more laughter from her barely older brother.

She rolled her eyes and swung her legs out of bed. "Fine, fine, whatever." She conceded, grumbling all the way to the bathroom.

She could hear Gavin's hearty laugh even from there.

Today was her first day at Gavin's school. As twins, they should have been in the same grade, but Cal hadn't been the best behaviour wise or academically in her last school so she was a junior, he was a senior.

Up until a few weeks ago she had been living with their mom in Pennsylvania and Gavin had been living in California with their dad.

She had been going to another school, but following an incident she refused to talk about, she had gotten expelled.

The expulsion didn't go down too well with her mother, and it had been decided that she would move to Cali to live with Gav and her dad for a while, hence Gavin's excitement to wake her up and her reluctance to do so.

She had never been good with making friends, or choosing friends for that matter. She always seemed to choose the wrong people, the people who'd betray her as quickly as look at her.

Gavin on the other hand, was popular wherever he went. At this new school she'd be in his shadow.

But hey, it wouldn't be so bad. At least now she got to see Gav a whole lot more. She barely knew anything about him anymore, now she had the chance to learn and be a better sister.

Apparently it was the talk around his school – their school, that Gavin's sister was about to join.

Her only hope was that because they weren't identical, people wouldn't realise she was Gav's sister and she could escape the whispers for at least a few days.

She eyed herself in the mirror, frowning distastefully. She envied her brother, he obtained his looks from her mother, who was stunning still.

She had these long toned legs and this always clear creamy peaches 'n' cream kind of skin. Her hair was like liquid silk, falling in blonde sheets down her back.

Callie's frown deepened as she looked back at her reflection. Gav, like their mother, had sandy blonde hair and clear blue eyes. His skin tanned quite easily, however, unlike her.

He was tall, much taller than Callie – she was probably only up to his shoulder. He was broad too, and had good bone structure and a gentle smile.

Callie, however, was like their father, and as guilty as she felt thinking it, resented that fact very much.

Their father was Hispanic, and was quite a short man, and not particularly broad. He was handsome in a grown up sort of way, like George Clooney. Her favourite thing about her father was his kind brown eyes, which always made him seem more open and welcoming.

She, like her father, had dark brown hair. When she was younger she'd refused to get it cut, it had been so long, probably down to her butt.

Sometime last year, purely to spite her mother, Cal had cut it right up to her collar bones and had dip-dyed the ends of it in an ombre fashion against her mother's wishes.

She had olive toned skin and deep brown eyes like her father. Hers weren't as nice, though, she thought. Hers had a colder colour, more like bitter coffee, while his were a warm melted chocolate colour.

Her almond shaped eyes were framed by dark eyelashes, one upside to having dark hair, she supposed.

Gavin started banging on the bathroom door, "Cal, c'mon, hurry up! I need to go," He said quickly.

Callie blinked at her reflection, drawing herself from her thoughts. "Oh, um, sorry," She called out tentatively, opening the door and escaping to her room to get ready for what would possibly be one of the worst days of her life.