Surviving to Soulmates

Chapter 2

"Lilith! Gabriel! Good to see you two," an old woman grinned at them. Lilith put on a bright smile. Regardless of whether or not she was happy to see the old woman greeting her and her brother, she was happy to finally stretch out her aching legs from the eight-hour flight it'd taken to arrive.

"Aunt Elizabeth!" Gabriel waved, "Lilith and I have been excited to see you as well."

Aunt Elizabeth laughed, "I'm happy to hear that. Come, come, my chauffeur is waiting for us outside." Taking the two twins by the arms, Aunt Elizabeth led the way.

The car was a sleek shade of black. A man stood before it in what appeared to be a suit of a similar shade.

"Smith, meet Lilith and Gabriel. These two will be staying with me for the next year or so and you'll oversee their transportation. Lilith and Gabriel, meet Michael Smith. He typically goes by Smith."

"Feel free to call me that," Smith chimed in, "I'll be at your service."

Taking their luggage to be placed into the trunk, Smith welcomed them into the limo.

So, this is what it would've been like if Mom hadn't cheated, Lilith thought, if Gabriel and her had been that man's child instead.

"You two will be attending Golden Gates High School," the woman said as the limo started driving. "You probably haven't heard of it before since the school doesn't advertise itself."

"Yes, I wanted to ask why I couldn't find anything about it online," Gabriel said.

Aunt Elizabeth laughed, "Well, Golden Gates tends to put more importance on the 'private' part of private school. It doesn't have any info on it available in the public domain. Because of this, many of the attendees are individuals who are either the children of rich conglomerates or public officials who've funded money into the school, making it also one of the best schools in the country for academics. Honestly, when I learned about it through one of my friends, I'd wished I came up with that business plan."

"Will we meet any of them while we're there?" Gabriel mused.

"No, most likely not. Based on your test scores you'll be sorted into certain classes. It's not that I don't believe you kids can't score well, it's just that you're up against teens who've gone to the best school in the country for three years already on top of additional, paid tutoring. Many of these kids could quite easily qualify for the math Olympiad if they wished to."

Gabriel nodded. The information from their aunt was useful, but biased. Something that Lilith and Gabriel had managed to hide for a long time was their own intelligence. When they'd lived with their father, Gabriel and Lilith stayed at the library for long stretches of time after school to avoid going home. They'd entertained themselves by challenging each other to math and science Olympiad problems. And, when the library was closed, they'd walk for miles to sneak into the symposiums universities held for their professors and students. While they hadn't visited the library since moving in with their mother three years ago, multivariable calculus was still child's play to them.

"What happens if we don't pass the test?" Lilith asked. After hearing that classes were ranked, she grew more interested.

"Don't stress too much. The only way you'd fail is on purpose, and this school is also exceedingly good at dealing with troubled children," Aunt Elizabeth laughed, "But if you happen to fail on purpose, I'm sure your father would be more than happy to have you back."

Lilith froze. So, this was a threat.

"Of course, I promised your mother I'd see you two through high school, so I dearly hope you won't fail on purpose. That would break my heart." The limo came to a stop. "Let me show you two your new home!" Aunt Elizabeth said, stepping out of the limo.

The home Aunt Elizabeth introduced them to was a two-story loft with two twin sized beds on the second floor. The only room with a door was the bathroom, and the large open windows make the place feel more like a greenhouse than a home. But, Lilith supposed, it did reflect their situation. Her and her brother were simply plants Aunt Elizabeth was asked to water for a year.

"I'll see you too off then, the test should be held in roughly a week, and I've left some study material my son Nicholas used last year for the test on the dining table." With that, Aunt Elizabeth left.

"Wanna bet on whether or not she bugged the room?" Lilith joked.

"I'd doubt it, she doesn't think much of our intelligence," Gabriel responded, dropping the luggage carefully placed by the home's entrance on its side.

Lilith walked over to the dining room table, plopping herself onto a chair and throwing open a book. "Hey Gabriel, some of these look entertaining."

She listened to the sound of her brother rummaging through the luggage, beginning to unpack, as she flipped through a book.

"Do they really?" He asked absentmindedly.

"No."

Gabriel rolled his eyes, "If those aren't interesting, you mind helping me unpack?"

"Hey, I'm doing some very important research here," Lilith said, "one of us has to figure out just how intelligent we should appear in order to not get bullied but not look like freaks."

"Alright whizz kid, whatever you want." Gabriel said. While it seemed like a lame excuse not to help, Gabriel knew that Lilith was working. She knew that if they came off too stupid, their aunt would kick them out of the house and they'd be forced back with their father, someone they had an exceedingly low chance of escaping. However, if they looked too smart, they'd have a target on their backs.

But Lilith had a crucial weakness – him. When they'd been in high school, Gabriel had been bullied relentlessly. Lilith got away from the bullying by being the local vandalizer, lending a hand to anyone who needed graffiti; however, Gabriel was more academically gifted than artistically. This led to him getting physically bullied, and when Lilith found out—Gabriel flinched at the thought. She'd gone mad. In a series of three weeks, Lilith had the entirety of the school wrapped around her finger.

Lost in thought, Gabriel suddenly jumped back into his body.

"Hey Lils!" He yelled, "You have to check this out!"

"Hm?" She glanced over.

"It's your old game boy from sixth grade."

Lilith jumped out of her seat, running over and snatching it out of his hands. It was roughed up but looked good for the amount of time that'd passed since she'd seen it.

"Whoa, it's been forever since I've seen this."

"Yeah, I have no idea how it got packed in here," Gabriel said.

After thanking him, Lilith walked back over to her seat at the dining table. The practice books had been tossed aside as she powered on the console. Surprisingly, it still had power left in it.

"Play Wisteria Falls in Love?" the game screen flashed.

"Yes."