It’s lunch break and the six of us are gathered at our usual table in the school canteen. The menu for today consists of an uninspiring conglomerate of brown foods. Naddie is performing an impressive juggling act of eating, studying, and listening to us. Max is shovelling food with such ferocity you'd think he hasn’t eaten in days. 

On my right side, Zach has fallen asleep on top of his Chemistry homework, while on the left, Richie has purloined the chocolate I left out for everyone to share. Jessica is the only one eating normally, with a side dish of non-stop chatter, happy to commandeer the conversation.

So a typical Monday. It’s routine with little variation ever since all of us entered secondary school, and if change does occur, it eventually sinks in the drying cement of the everyday. Even the halls have returned to their dreary damp despair as the school has finally taken down the Christmas decorations, three weeks into the new year.

‘Remember how I said new year, new me a while back?’ Jess asks between bites, not waiting for anyone to respond or to swallow before continuing. ‘Well, I applied for the volunteer program at the retirement home in town and they got back to me this morning saying I can come round today! Isn’t that great?’

‘Are you serious?’ I ask.

‘Those poor old souls,’ Naddie jokes, evoking laughter in everyone except the twins: Jess pulls a face back and Zach is still asleep.

‘Can I tag along to see how much of a train wreck this will be?’ Max asks, scraping every last bit of his meal onto his fork.

‘Normally I’d dare you to, but please, I want to take this seriously, show me some support,’ Jess whines.

‘No.’

‘Sorry.’

‘Why?’

‘You’re all as bad as my dear brother, he fell about laughing when I first told him,’ she says and flicks a fry at Zach. He stirs, then settles back into sleep. Naddie plucks the fry out of his hair, twirls it between her fingers before sighing.

‘I need more coffee to deal with life today,’ she says. ‘Richie, you want anything?’

‘Hot chocolate,’ he says.

‘You’ll turn into chocolate if you keep this up,’ Max snatches the last bit of the shared chocolate from him, knowing Richie won’t protest. Empty-handed, all Richie musters is a death stare in Max’s direction.

‘Will that offer ever be extended to any of us?’ I ask as Naddie stands up.

‘Corey, you’d bleed me dry, there are too many of you,’ she gestures dramatically, hand on chest. Her voice catches the attention of nearby tables and some snicker, but most don’t care. Everyone at school is used to our theatrics.

Jess throws another fry at Zach absent-mindedly. ‘Laugh all you want,’ she says. ‘I’m not messing around with this new year, new me stuff. This year will be different, I know it.’