Day One:

My mornings never changed. Get up, take a shower, get dressed, put down two toaster waffles in the toaster (obviously), then get makeup on, brush teeth & hair, and done.  I was out the door, with my sister, Laurel, and dad. Laurel, was prettier than me. We were twins. Laurel was popular, I was a loser. Lauren and Laurel: the twins that look identical, but one is uglier.

The car ride is short, we pull up to Iowa City Public School.

Just as Laurel and I walk out, I can hear her stupid friends yelling, “Laurel, you can not believe who texted me last night!” All I can think of is, ‘Let me guess, a jock?’ It was no doubt her loving boyfriend, Jake, who was the quarterback. Can you guess what Laurel’s friend is? Come on, I know you can do it! You guessed it, lead cheerleader!  Tiffany, is the head cheerleader, who is dating Marvin the quarterback. Such a stereotypical couple.

“Bye, Lauren,” Laurel says to me with her back facing me. I just wave, but what’s the point? She’s already mingling with her friends, talking nonstop about how a boy texted her last night. Was it that big of a deal?  No, but to her it is. Forgetting about Laurel, I walk over to my small group of friends. Bethany, Siena, and Meredith were really nice. Well, we all were nice, but also very shy. Of course, we were shy-we were the losers. The ones who people would come to get help with homework. Just to put it simply, we were the nobodies.

The bell rang, so we all start walking to class. For first hour we all had the same class, Advanced Math, because we were the smartest of our grade. The class was mostly made up of girls. This class had only 7 boys who were smart enough to get into this class. Luke, Elijah, Eli, Jake, Brandon, Kyle, and Preston were pretty good-looking for smart guys.

When he get to Advanced Maths, we all sit down together, in the front. Only because all  the other sit in the back before we get there. Whatever, we answer everything anyways. Whenever Ms. Regan calls on the back people, she says, “Well, if you don’t know, phone a friend who knows.” They ‘phone a friend’, which is really just picking someone smarter than you. Which is us, in the front row.

Today Ms. Regan isn’t the only one who walks in though, some student walks in. This boy, whoever it is, looks pale, like a natural pale. His green eyes, look good with his white-blond hair. He looks flawless, but also very nervous. Ms. Regan whispered something is his ear, not very well though, because we heard it.

“Go ahead, introduce yourself,” Ms. Regan whispered to the boy.

He clears his throat and begins, “Um, well, hello, my name is AJ. And I just moved here.”

As AJ said that, he partly blushed, which made it look like a lot because he had pale skin. He took his seat next to the guys, of course. Guys are guys, so it didn’t take him that long to be talking about the latest video game with them.

The class passed by very fast, due to looking at AJ for half of it, and answering questions the other. It seemed everyone was looking at AJ, well, it made sense, because he was the new kid. You could tell he was a popular, because he was talking to my sister. Well, he was talking, but my sister was flirting. ‘He just got here for Christs’ sake, Laurel! What the heck!’ I said to my sister, in my mind, anyways.

While they kept doing their thing, I just walked to my locker, annoyed as heck. I hated having a sister who would flirt with every jock on the planet. Like, Laurel wanted every guy. She could not just have one. Well, every guy wanted her, so it was pretty easy for her to have any guy. Just as I picked my stuff up, and slammed my locker shut, I saw my sister point to me. She was with AJ. Pointing to me.

I hate my sister, so I walked in the other direction. My class was that way anyways. Walking to History class, I was thinking about Laurel’s skinny finger pointing at me. It’s my sister we are talking about, she could have said something so embarrassing he wouldn’t even want to look at me anymore. When I get to History, guess who is sitting right next to my assigned seat? You guessed it again! AJ.

Walking over there, I sit down and look anywhere but at AJ.

“So, you’re Laurel’s sister?” AJ asks.

“Her twin,” I corrected.

He opens his mouth, probably amazed, “Oh, wow. Laurel didn’t tell me that.”

“Of course she didn’t,” I whisper. He looks at me with a confused look, but we can’t talk anymore because the History teacher walks in. Oh, but that didn’t stop AJ throughout History. He would slip me notes just to play “20 Questions”, he said.

By the end of the class, he knew my full name, favorite color, movie, food, and drink. Much more, too. AJ probably knew me better than my sister now. It was weird because when we got out of the classroom, he didn’t go to the jocks. He walked me to my locker. Was this a joke? Or a prank? I can’t handle this right now. Honestly, how is this happening. I guess the jocks didn’t teach him who to stay away from yet.

The rest of my day was a total blur.

When I got home, all Laurel would talk about was the new kid, AJ.  I was really tired, and I needed to get homework done. Even though I told her that, she kept me captive in her room, so she could tell me all about him.

“I got his phone number, Lauren! I really did!” Laurel shouted.

“Then text him, Laur,” I said in a ‘duh’ voice.

“No, I can’t that will make him think I’m clingy. You text him for me,” Laurel planned ahead I guess.

I huffed, but shook my head, “Give me his phone number then.”

My sister jumped and took my phone to set it in. See, I had a rusty old flip phone by Samsung, while Laurel had an iPhone that an old boyfriend gave her.

“Here ya go, just text him something nice about me,” Laurel nervously stated. She thought I was going to text something bad. Because that’s what sisters do, they do bad things to each other. Especially twin sisters.

I take my phone from my sister’s hands, and text AJ: “My Laurel (aka my sister) didn’t want to text you herself. She thought she would be too clingy.” I send it, and laugh hysterically. Thank god my sister wasn’t in my room. The beep from my phone indicated that AJ had seen the text, maybe I should just stop here? Nope, I had years and years of hatred for my sister to go on. His text read: “XD That’s funny I thought she was the confident 1.” My laughter filled my room, possibly carried out into our empty kitchen. 

My parents were rarely home, and if they were, they were on their iPads or MacBooks.  It’s how I learned to be independent.  My new text to AJ was ready: “That’s even more funny. Laurel? Confident? Ha.” I felt like I shouldn’t be saying things like Laurel isn’t confident, but it was only the truth. My fingers hit the send button without guilt.

Laurel pops in my room all of a sudden, “Did you text him!?”  Her arms are not still next her side, yet they a flaying in the air. Eyes are close to sliding out of their sockets, and he mouth forms a huge O.

“Don’t fuss, Laurel. I texted him minutes ago,” My mouth in a straight line, not caring about what she was about to scream. Instead of yelling off my ear of how I should have told her earlier, she just walked out silently. Almost like she was a ghost  fading away.

The night had gone by fast. My doing my Advanced Math, and History homework, I had grown tired . One last text to AJ saying “Good night”. Then, my eyes closed and I was off.

Day Two:

When I woke, my eyes were watery. Blinking away the water, I could see clearly. I could hear my sister blow drying her hair in the bathroom. Just by how I woke I knew that this wasn’t going to be a good day. My hair was tied in knots, and dark circles were formed under my eyes from lack of sleep.

I looked to my closet, the only thing looking appealing was sweatpants and a comfy orange shirt. My legs were like noodles. Getting out of bed was one of the last things I wanted to do, but it’s one thing I had to do. Finally, I decided to do something productive and get out of bed. Looking at the clock, it was seven-twenty, and now I was in a panic mode. Since I didn’t have time for even a short shower, I headed towards the sweatpants and shirt I had my eyes on earlier.

In a flash, my clothes were on, and my mouth was full of Lucky Charms. Currently, I was in the bathroom eating my cereal, getting my tooth brush ready. I was praying that I wouldn’t get milk stains on my sunset orange shirt. Once I had downed all my milk, I quickly picked up my readied toothbrush.

The minty taste of the toothpaste and the milk didn’t go well together. It almost made me want to vomit. I went on anyway, getting all the nasty gunk out. After it was all done, I flashed a quick smile to the mirror, just checking once again. It was all good, so I flew out the door, and down the stairs.

My sister was ready, peppy smile and all. Her outfit was basically perfection - every speck of material was in its place. Analyzing Laurel, I noticed how much we did look alike. How did people even pick us apart? This question was most likely never going to be answered to me.

“Lauren! You’re going to be late!” Laurel’s hands were waving in front of my face, getting me out of my trance.

I blink a few time before replying to her, “Oh, yeah. Let’s go.” She follows me out to our car, which was given to us on our sixteenth birthday. Almost everyday, Laurel drives, but today she threw my the car keys, complaining that, “my head hurts”. Like every other day, I didn’t know if she was just being a drama queen, or she was being serious. She never really tells me if she’s feeling bad or what not.

As I start the car up, I look at Laurel, really look at her. Past the clothes and the many layers of makeup. Nobody really saw this side of her - the normal side of her, not the sewed together perfect side.

“Lauren, what are you looking at?” Laurel is the one staring at me now.

I sigh, “Why do you always pretend to be someone you’re not, Laurel?”

Her lips were in a frown, picking off the little lint balls on her sweater. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’m myself.” Deep down I know she’s lying. Honestly, I didn’t want to push it any further, but now my mouth was thinking faster than my brain.

“You are kidding me, right?” I sneer. Now, I know I’m being completely rude to Laurel, but part of me says she deserves this. If she could just stop faking, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. I was beyond frustrated with it.

“Okay, I know.  I have been acting like myself,” she lets a big blow of air out, “I’ve tried, Lauren, I’ve really tried my hardest.” Her eyes are watering now, I could tell she’s really giving it her all. Letting it all go, tears streaming down her cheeks, her face turning red. “It’s just, when mom and dad ignored me, and just said how perfect you were, I tried everything to get their attention. They just,” she wiped some of her tears away, “wouldn’t even glance at me. So I turned into whatever I am now.”

Mascara that once coated her eyelashes were now smeared under her eyes, and her tears were black. My sweaty palms were petting the back of her head. I had never seen Laurel like this - even when we were younger. Soon, her cries turned into silent sobs, then she just sat there, me petting her head.

It was crazy to think it took a new guy, and my loser life to notice that Laurel didn’t want to be what she was. But, in the end I was extremely happy to have what I had, even if it wasn’t much.