OPPOSITES.

Chapter One: First Day of Hell

"Evelyn! Hurry up, we're going to be late!" Treasure—my older sister—shouted upstairs, her hand cupped to her face.

I leaned against the wall behind me with my arms crossed over my chest, rolling my eyes. Evelyn, my twin sister—although we looked nothing alike—was always taking forever to get ready to go anywhere. It didn't matter if it was to school or the gas station down the street, she was dressing up in these pretty, frilly dresses and doing her makeup and fixing her hair up. I, on the other hand, put next to no effort into that sort of stuff. I didn't see the point in dressing up like that, not that I ever had anything to dress up for anyway. After an eternity of waiting, Evelyn came happily hopping down the stairs, wearing her usual  sweet smile. Her dark curly hair was pulled up into a perfect bun on the top of her head, leaving some out on the sides, adorned with those overly large hair clips Dad got us before our parents split up. He was always buying us things. She had on baby blue eye shadow and semi-thick eyeliner, and her lips were painted a light red that faded to pink towards the middle. She was wearing one of her iconic layered, poofy dresses, decorated with white lace around the edges of the skirt and sleeves. Her dress was matched with a pair of white and pink striped stockings, light, almost white pink leg warmers, and white fingerless gloves that reached just above her elbows. She wore those black Mary Janes with the heart shaped-buckles.

She was gorgeous—anyone with functional eyes could see that clearly. I couldn't help but envy her. She was smarter, sweeter, more energetic, better dressed, better. She seemed to have every amazing quality that I lacked. Sometimes I felt as if I hated her, but I didn't really. No one could ever hate Evelyn Liliac.

"You look pretty," the compliment rolled off of Treasure's tongue.

Evelyn smiled, perfect white teeth almost shining in the sunlight peeking through the glass in the front door. "As do you," she replied.

Oliver—my little brother—spoke up. "It's 7:13, we're gonna be late!"

He'd been worried sick about this day for months. He was starting middle school today, and he dreaded it. It wasn't like he had an issue with school itself; he, much like Evelyn, was a genius, and in fact he was actually skipping a grade, but people weren't really his thing. He was terrified. He didn't know anyone in seventh grade. What if they judged him as much as people in his grade had? What if they were worse? Despite all of our attempts to console him, nothing seemed to ease his fear.

I honestly wasn't too worried about it. I never liked school, and school never liked me. Everyone—students and teachers alike—either thought I was a total weirdo or didn't even know of my existence. I was used to it, it had been like that for as long as I could remember. Truth be told, I'd always struggled with pretty much everything, math, reading, etc, and my teachers never had the patience to deal with me. They tried to get me extra help, but every time they'd bring it up my mother would raise all hell. The only reason I didn't fail every single grade was because of Evelyn. She never had any sort of issues like that; she excelled in everything. I don't recall that she ever made anything lower than a ninety-five.

The four of us got in the car. Treasure got in the driver's seat, Evelyn in the front seat, meanwhile me and Oliver got in the back seat. Treasure was the only one of us that was old enough to drive, besides my oldest brother Devin. He was 23, meanwhile Treasure was 17. He was still in bed asleep. He worked at a local diner and a gas station in order to try to support the six of us—including our sorry excuse of a mother. It was hard to believe he was only 23, he looked far older. He'd been having to pay for us since Dad left, which was nearly 9 years ago by now. I felt sorry for him, he tried so hard for us, only to get hardly anything in return. He was the only person who didn't seem to favor me over my seemingly flawless sister, although we didn't interact much. I stared blankly out of the window, watching as the buildings and trees turned into colorful, meaningless blurs beyond the glass. Occasionally, I'd catch a glimpse of my own tired, gloomy expression staring back at me. I hadn't done much but sleep for most of the summer, yet still I looked like I hadn't slept at all. In front of me Evelyn went on and on about this and about that, seemingly rubbing salt in the wound, rubbing it in how much smarter than me she was—but I knew that wasn't true. She was far too nice to do something like that. She couldn't even hurt a fly, and I mean that literally. She was practically an angel.